Finchley and Golders Green
Notional 2005 Results:
Labour: 16933 (39.7%)
Conservative: 16902 (39.7%)
Liberal Democrat: 7123 (16.7%)
Other: 1670 (3.9%)
Majority: 31 (0.1%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 16746 (38.8%)
Labour: 17487 (40.5%)
Liberal Democrat: 7282 (16.9%)
Green: 1136 (2.6%)
UKIP: 453 (1%)
Other: 110 (0.3%)
Majority: 741 (1.7%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 16489 (37.8%)
Labour: 20205 (46.3%)
Liberal Democrat: 5266 (12.1%)
UKIP: 330 (0.8%)
Green: 1385 (3.2%)
Majority: 3716 (8.5%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 19991 (39.7%)
Labour: 23180 (46.1%)
Liberal Democrat: 5670 (11.3%)
Referendum: 684 (1.4%)
Other: 781 (1.6%)
Majority: 3189 (6.3%)
Boundary changes: Relatively minor. Gains part of Woodhouse ward from Chipping Barnet, small parts of Golders Green, Finchley Church End and Garden Suburb wards from Hendon, while losing most of Coppetts ward to Chipping Barnet.
Profile: Covers Finchley, Golders Green, Childs Hill and Hampstead Garden Suburb. A well-to-do residential seat with a large Jewish population. Was represented by Margaret Thatcher and considered a safe Conservative seat prior Rudi Vis` unexpected victory in 1997. In Rallings and Thrasher`s notional figures Finchley & Golders Green has a notional Conservative majority, meaning that the mainstream media will treat it as a Tory held seat in terms of whether it is a Gain or a Hold on election night
Outgoing MP: Rudi Vis(Labour) born 1941, the Netherlands. A former economics lecturer, Vis is strongly pro-European and to the left of the Labour party. Opposed to foundation hospitals, the war in Iraq and top-up fees. He will stand down at the next election (more information at They work for you)
Candidates: 
Mike Freer (Conservative) born 1960, Manchester. Educated at Chadderton Grammar School and Stirling University. Works as an area manager for Barclays Bank. Barnet councillor since 2000 and currently Leader of Barnet council. Contested Harrow West in 2005.
Alison Moore (Labour) Educated at University of London. Barnet councillor and leader of the Labour group on Barnet council.
Laura Edge (Liberal Democrat) Housing solicitor. Haringey councillor. 
Donald Lynn (Green)
2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 106378
Male: 47.3%
Female: 52.7%
Under 18: 21%
Over 60: 19%
Born outside UK: 35.9%
White: 74.2%
Black: 5.2%
Asian: 12.3%
Mixed: 3.2%
Other: 5.1%
Christian: 40%
Hindu: 6.8%
Jewish: 19.6%
Muslim: 6%
Full time students: 7.3%
Graduates 16-74: 44.6%
No Qualifications 16-74: 15.8%
Owner-Occupied: 63.1%
Social Housing: 11.9% (Council: 7.2%, Housing Ass.: 4.7%)
Privately Rented: 21.6%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 6.4%
According to the 2001 census Garden Suburb was slightly more Jewish. It will be interesting to see the figures in 2011. I suspect the figures in Edgware may have declined somewhat in Garden Suburb probably less so if at all and we may find that one of the Hertsmere wards now tops the list (they are much smaller wards of course than those in Barnet)
Of the ten most Jewish wards in 2001 three are in this constituency with two each in Hendon, Harrow East and Hertsmere. The odd man out (some might think very odd) is Kersal in Salford
1. Garden Suburb 37.1
2. Edgware 36.7
3. Canons 35.9
4. Elstree 34.8
5. Kersal 33.7
6. Bushey Heath 30.9
7. Hendon 30.4
8. Golders Green 29.5
9. Finchley Church End 28.6
10. Stanmore Park 27.3
‘Harry do you actually bother to read these threads to see if you have received an answer to your questions? I have always said I am happy to answer these kind of questions but it is a little irritating when, as in this case, I have done so in some detail only for you to repeat the question again several posts later’
Sorry Pete. I do read the threads but perhaps in future I should leave a comment if a query of mine has been answered to show that I’ve read it. I might also press the ‘all comments’ button and search the thread when I call up a particular thread and have a query that may have been already answered.
Pete – I am surprised that the Stamford Hill wards in Hackney (especially Springfield) are not on the list
Do the Hackney Wards covering Stamford Hill have larger Jewish populations than the Barnet Wards listed above?
Was Stamford Hill once divided by the Stoke Newington and Hackney council areas.
I believe the Roman Road which runs Northwards through the middle of Stamford Hill was the boundary?
For part of the length of the boundary yes, at the southern end. Of the wards covering Stamford Hill, Springfield and Cazenove are entirely within the old Hackney LB, Lordship mostly in Stoke Newington and New River split between the two. The ward boudnaries before 2002 still more or less stayed within the boundaries of the old boroughs with New River being entirely within the old Stoke Newington LB.
The Jewish percentage reported in those four wards in 2001 was:
Springfield 23.5
New River 20.4
Lordship 17.2
Cazenove 13.2
A large proportion in all these wards had ‘religion not stated’ which may well have included a significant number of Jews who chose not to identify themselves as such for various reasons.
Its interesting that the four wards of Hackney with a significant Jewish population returned 9 Conservative and 3 Liberal Democrat councillors in 2006.
The remainder of Hackney besides these four wards returned 44 Labour councillors and 1 Green.
I would agree with that – I know Seven Sisters ward in Haringey also contains an Orthodox Jewish population (I remember some exchanges during that by election which inferred around a quarter of the seat was Jewish)
Nothing odd about Kersal. It is to Manchester what Stamford Hill is to London – a centre for, essentially, lower-middle-class Orthodox (often ultra-Orthdox) Jews. I still have relatives there myself. I think Kersal has gone back to being Labour after some years when it was won by the Conservatives. The only surprising thing is that no wards in Bury South are included in the list; it has a high Jewish population as a parliamentary seat, and yet contains areas, especially Radcliffe but also Besses-o’the-Barn, which have quite low proportions of Jews.
When I described Kersal as the odd man out I meant in the geographical sense in that all the other wards in the top ten are in the same area (they infact form a contiguous bloc but for one ward seperating the three wards of this constituency from the six in Hendon/Harrow/Hertsmere).
I did suggest that some may find it very odd because to the untutored Salford may be a very unexpected place to contain one of the most heavy concentrations of Jewish people. Obviously the term ‘untutored’ would not apply to you Barnaby, nor to me, nor to the majoirty of people who frequent this site.
Incidentally Sedgeley ward in Bury would have come in at number 11 on the list (26.1%) and Pilkington Park at number 14 (22.4%)
Ah yes – I remember a by-election in Sedgley Park (I was staying with my grandmother nearby at the time) in which all 3 main party candidates & 1 independent were Jewish. Indeed, the SDP candidate was the Rebbitzen (Rabbi’s wife).