Islington South and Finsbury (UK Parliament constituency)

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Islington South and Finsbury Borough constituency
Islington South and Finsbury shown within Greater London
Created:	1974
MP:	Emily Thornberry
Party:	Labour
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Greater London
EP constituency:	London

Islington South and Finsbury is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Contents 1 Boundaries 2 Member of Parliament 3 Election results 4 References 5 Politics and history of the constituency 6 See also

[edit] Boundaries

The seat covers the southern part of the London Borough of Islington, including Barnsbury, Canonbury, parts of Holloway and Kings Cross and the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury, which includes Bunhill, Pentonville and Clerkenwell.

[edit] Member of Parliament

• 1974 - 1983: George Cunningham, Labour then Social Democrat
• 1983 - 2005: Chris Smith, Labour
• 2005 - present: Emily Thornberry, Labour

[edit] Election results

Confirmed candidates for the next UK general election [1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Emily Thornberry
	Liberal Democrat	Bridget Fox

General Election 2005: Islington South and Finsbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Emily Thornberry	12,345	39.9	-14.0
	Liberal Democrat	Bridget Fox	11,861	38.3	+10.2
	Conservative	Melanie McLean	4,594	14.8	+1.1
	Green	James Humphreys	1,471	4.8	N/A
	UK Independence	Patricia Theophanides	470	1.5	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Andy the Hat Gardner	189	0.6	N/A
	Independent	Chris Gidden	31	0.1	N/A
Majority			484	1.6
Turnout			30,961	53.6	+6.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-12.1

General Election 2001: Islington South & Finsbury
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Chris Smith	15,217	53.9	-8.6
	Liberal Democrat	Keith Sharp	7,937	28.1	+6.8
	Conservative	Nicky Morgan	3,860	13.7	+0.7
	Socialist Alliance	Janine Booth	817	2.9	N/A
	Independent	Thomas McCarthy	276	1.0	+0.5
	Stuckist Party	Charles Thomson	108	0.4	N/A
Majority			7,280	25.8
Turnout			28,215	47.4	-16.3
	Labour hold		Swing

[edit] References

1. ^ Islington South and Finsbury, UKPollingReport

[edit] Politics and history of the constituency

Islington was an early stronghold for the Social Democratic Party in which all three sitting Labour MPs defected to the party together with a majority of the Borough Council. However, in the 1983 general election Labour managed to retain the constituency narrowly. The new MP, Chris Smith, was the first MP to come out as gay and was identified with the Labour left, and kept the seat with a slight increase in his majority in 1987. By 1992 the Liberal Democrats had faded and no longer had the former MP as a candidate and Smith managed a five figure majority.

The Liberal Democrat revival in local elections in Islington, which saw them take control of the council in 2000, began to translate to Parliamentary elections in 2001. In 2002, the Liberal Democrats won every council seat in Islington South & Finsbury, and Smith's subsequent retirement and the resultant loss of incumbency made the constituency vulnerable once again in 2005. However Smith's successor, Emily Thornberry, retained the seat with a narrow majority (484 votes) over the Liberal Democrat challenger, Bridget Fox. The seat is now one of the ten most marginal in the UK. However, in the local council elections a year later, Labour experienced something of a resurgence and won a majority of the seats in Islington South & Finsbury, defeating both Bridget Fox and the then council leader Steve Hitchins.

[edit] See also

• The sitting MP's website
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Islington

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