Enfield North is a peripheral

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

created in 1974 and represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

since 2019 by

Feryal Clark Feryal Demirci Clark (; ' Demirci; born 6 January 1979) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Enfield North since 2019. She has also served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for AI and Dig ...

of the Labour Party.

Constituency profile

The northernmost seat in

, Enfield North is deeply suburban, almost village-like in parts, particularly its rolling terrain, including Gordon Hill and Carterhatch. Green belt legislation has kept housing development at bay, and the area has much in common with the adjoining county of

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. The tree-lined avenues of

Enfield Chase Enfield Chase is an open space in the London Borough of Enfield, North London. Historically, the name applied to a large common occupying the western part of the ancient parish of Enfield, extending from Monken Hadley in the west to Bulls ...

are also quiet and affluent. However, much of the eastern part of the constituency is in the

Lea Valley The Lea Valley (also spelt Lee Valley), the valley of the River Lea, has been used as a transport corridor, a source of sand and gravel, an industrial area, a water supply for London, and a recreational area. The London 2012 Summer Olympics wer ...

industrial area, and includes some small areas with significant levels of multiple deprivation.

History

The seat was created for the February 1974 election from the former seats of

Enfield West Enfield West was a constituency which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 1950 general election and abolished for the February 1974 general election. ...

and Enfield East. The former was a safe

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

seat, at one point represented by

Iain Macleod Iain Norman Macleod (11 November 1913 – 20 July 1970) was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. A playboy and professional Contract bridge, bridge player in his twenties, after war service Macleod worked for the ...

, whereas the latter was a secure Labour seat. From its creation up until 2015, Enfield North was somewhat a

bellwether A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.bellwether
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Re ...

of the national result; it elected Labour MPs at both the 1974 elections, was taken by the Conservatives and held by comfortable margins in every election from 1979 to 1992, before being won back by Labour in 1997 (albeit with relatively narrow majorities throughout the party's time in government) and narrowly going to the Conservatives in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

in an election which nationally saw a

hung Parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system (typically employing Majoritarian representation, majoritarian electoral systems) to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing ...

. In 2015, however, the Conservatives lost the seat to Labour in an election which nationally saw them win an overall majority. Boundary alterations based on an increased population within the existing area made the seat notionally Conservative before the 6 May 2010 election, and

Nick de Bois Geoffrey Nicholas de Bois (born 23 February 1959) is a British broadcaster and former Conservative Party politician, who served as special adviser and chief of staff to Dominic Raab during his brief tenure as Secretary of State for Exiting t ...

won the seat. However, the former Labour MP Joan Ryan, who sat for the constituency from 1997 to 2010, regained it in 2015. The 2015 result gave the seat the 13th most marginal majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority. De Bois and Ryan stood against each other in this seat over five general elections, between 2001 and 2017, with Ryan winning four of those five.

Boundaries

The constituency is set in the northern third of the

London Borough of Enfield The London Borough of Enfield () is a London boroughs, London borough in Greater London, England. The main communities in the borough are Edmonton, London, Edmonton, Enfield, London, Enfield, Southgate, London, Southgate and Palmers Green. Enfi ...

, stretching from

in the west, and the

King George V Reservoir The King George V Reservoir, also known as King George's Reservoir, is located in the London Borough of Enfield and is part of the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain that supplies London with drinking water. The storage reservoir is bordered by Sewardst ...

in the east, incorporating

Brimsdown Brimsdown is a neighbourhood of eastern Enfield in the London Borough of Enfield, north London, on the west side of the mid-to-lower Lea Valley. Geography The east of Brimsdown, that is, east of the eastern Lea Valley line is one of the boroug ...

Enfield Lock Enfield Lock is an area in the London Borough of Enfield, north London. It is approximately located east of the Hertford Road between Turkey Street and the Holmesdale Tunnel overpass, and extends to the River Lee Navigation, including the En ...

, and the

M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major ring road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 th ...

interchange at the boundary with the borough of

Broxbourne Broxbourne is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, England, with a population of 15,303 at the 2011 Census.Broxbourne Town population 2011 It is located to the south of Hoddesdon and to the north of Cheshunt, north of London. ...

to the north. 1974–1983: The London Borough of Enfield wards of Bullsmoor, Bush Hill, Cambridge Road, Chase, Enfield Wash, Green Street, Ordnance, Ponders End, Town, and Willow. 1983–2010: The London Borough of Enfield wards of Bullsmoor, Chase, Enfield Lock, Enfield Wash, Green Street, Hoe Lane, Ponders End, Southbury, Town, Willow, and Worcesters. 2010–2024: The London Borough of Enfield wards of Chase, Enfield Highway, Enfield Lock, Highlands, Southbury, Town, and Turkey Street. :''Part of Highlands ward was transferred to Enfield North from the constituency of Enfield, Southgate. Part of Grange ward was transferred to Enfield, Southgate. Ponders End ward was transferred to

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, and part of Southbury ward was transferred from

to Enfield North.'' 2024–present: The London Borough of Enfield wards of Brimsdown, Bullsmoor, Carterhatch, Enfield Lock, Ponders End, Ridgeway, Southbury, Town, and Whitewebbs. :''The contents reflect the local government boundary review for Enfield which came into effect in May 2022. In order to bring the electorate within the permitted electoral range, the

Ponders End Ponders End is the southeasternmost part of Enfield, London, Enfield, North London, north London, England, around Hertford Road west of the Lee Navigation, River Lee Navigation. It became Industrial suburb, industrialised through the 19th centur ...

ward was transferred back from

.''

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Notes

References

External links

Politics Resources
(Election results from 1922 onwards)

(Election results from 1955 onwards)

(boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at ''MapIt UK''

(boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at ''MapIt UK''

(boundaries from June 2024) at ''MapIt UK'' {{Use dmy dates, date=August 2020 Politics of the London Borough of Enfield Parliamentary constituencies in London Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1974