Post by John Chanin on Aug 25, 2023 12:38:58 GMT
Islington North lacks glamour. It is a very ordinary chunk of north London, with few landmarks, its main distinction being that it covers the smallest geographical area (and therefore has the highest occupation density) of any seat in the country. The main exception is Arsenal’s Emirates football ground built on the site of an old waste transfer station just off the Holloway Road, which bisects the seat from north to south. Just to the south of the stadium is the main building of the London Metropolitan University (formerly the North London Polytechnic). On the other side of the railway line north from Moorgate is Highbury. The old Arsenal ground has been redeveloped into gated up market flats (although the name of the underground station has not been changed). Highbury is the best residential area in the seat. It has the highest white population, a noticeably higher proportion of managerial jobs and people with degrees, and higher levels of owner-occupation in the predominantly Victorian housing. There is less social housing there too, although like inner London in general it is still substantial. As Highbury blends into Finsbury Park to the north, the housing becomes smaller, renting becomes higher, and there are more routine workers. The park itself is in Haringey, but the station - an interchange between two tube lines and the overground - is in Islington. North of here, on both sides of the Holloway Road is Upper Holloway - with lots of council housing, but better off than Finsbury Park. At the far north-west corner is Archway, on the borders of Camden and Haringey, and the bottom of the hill that leads up to Highgate. There is indeed a bridge here along the ridge, connecting Highgate with Hornsey, that forms the northern edge of the seat. This area is a little down market. At the north-east corner around Stroud Green Road, this seat has a small southern extension of the trendy Crouch Hill district, most of which is in Haringey.
Overall this seat has the 8th highest social housing in the country. Right to buy has generally had little impact in inner London - a combination of high values, poor tenants, and less than desirable properties. However where it has been exercised around half the properties have reverted to rental use at twice the council rents and a poorer repair service, under private ownership. They tend to be occupied by exactly the same sort of people who would have been council tenants in the past, and unsurprisingly tend to be dissatisfied with their lot. Private tenants form the strongest Labour group these days, at least among the white population. Perhaps surprisingly this is one of the best educated and most middle class seats in the country, despite the high levels of renting. There is a sizeable black population in this seat, but like its neighbours it has a very low south Asian population for London, resulting in an unusually high white British population for inner London of over 40%.
And indeed this is a very safe Labour seat, unchanged since 1983, and still unchanged in the latest boundary review. At local level there has been competition from the Liberal Democrats, who won most of the wards and took control of the council in 2002, and remained competitive in 2006, but currently all the wards are Labour with the exception of Greens in Highbury. The MP here since 1983 is Jeremy Corbyn, long-standing left winger who was leader from 2015 to 2020. He originally won the seat in curious fashion from two sitting SDP MPs, after both defected, but Islington was reduced to two seats throwing them into competition. John Grant won the selection battle, but Michael O’Halloran, in high dudgeon, then stood as an independent, getting half of the vote of his former colleague. After this initial contest, Corbyn has received over 50% of the vote at every subsequent election, no doubt including in the amusingly named Corbyn Street in Holloway.
There was much interest in this seat at the 2024 election, as Corbyn, cast into outer darkness by the Labour leadership, decided to stand as an independent. Clearly the people of Islington felt their MP of 40 years had been harshly treated, as he must have received some unlikely votes, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats both losing their deposits, and the Greens not surging as they did in neighbouring seats. In the end Corbyn won very easily, albeit with just under 50% this time, to continue his parliamentary career.
Census data: Owner-occupied 31% (559/575 in England & Wales), private rented 32% (59th), social rented 38% (8th).
: White 62%(498th), Black 15%(30th), South Asian 5%(205th), Mixed 8%(7th), Other 11%(49th)
: Managerial & professional 58% (17th), Routine & Semi-routine 18% (521st)
: Degree 58% (15th), Minimal qualifications 19% (535th)
: Students 9% (112th), Over 65: 9% (550th)
Boundaries : This seat is unchanged
Overall this seat has the 8th highest social housing in the country. Right to buy has generally had little impact in inner London - a combination of high values, poor tenants, and less than desirable properties. However where it has been exercised around half the properties have reverted to rental use at twice the council rents and a poorer repair service, under private ownership. They tend to be occupied by exactly the same sort of people who would have been council tenants in the past, and unsurprisingly tend to be dissatisfied with their lot. Private tenants form the strongest Labour group these days, at least among the white population. Perhaps surprisingly this is one of the best educated and most middle class seats in the country, despite the high levels of renting. There is a sizeable black population in this seat, but like its neighbours it has a very low south Asian population for London, resulting in an unusually high white British population for inner London of over 40%.
And indeed this is a very safe Labour seat, unchanged since 1983, and still unchanged in the latest boundary review. At local level there has been competition from the Liberal Democrats, who won most of the wards and took control of the council in 2002, and remained competitive in 2006, but currently all the wards are Labour with the exception of Greens in Highbury. The MP here since 1983 is Jeremy Corbyn, long-standing left winger who was leader from 2015 to 2020. He originally won the seat in curious fashion from two sitting SDP MPs, after both defected, but Islington was reduced to two seats throwing them into competition. John Grant won the selection battle, but Michael O’Halloran, in high dudgeon, then stood as an independent, getting half of the vote of his former colleague. After this initial contest, Corbyn has received over 50% of the vote at every subsequent election, no doubt including in the amusingly named Corbyn Street in Holloway.
There was much interest in this seat at the 2024 election, as Corbyn, cast into outer darkness by the Labour leadership, decided to stand as an independent. Clearly the people of Islington felt their MP of 40 years had been harshly treated, as he must have received some unlikely votes, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats both losing their deposits, and the Greens not surging as they did in neighbouring seats. In the end Corbyn won very easily, albeit with just under 50% this time, to continue his parliamentary career.
Census data: Owner-occupied 31% (559/575 in England & Wales), private rented 32% (59th), social rented 38% (8th).
: White 62%(498th), Black 15%(30th), South Asian 5%(205th), Mixed 8%(7th), Other 11%(49th)
: Managerial & professional 58% (17th), Routine & Semi-routine 18% (521st)
: Degree 58% (15th), Minimal qualifications 19% (535th)
: Students 9% (112th), Over 65: 9% (550th)
Boundaries : This seat is unchanged
| 2017 | % | 2019 | % | 2024 | % | |
| Labour | 40,086 | 73.0 | 34,603 | 64.3 | 16,873 | 34.4 |
| Conservative | 6,871 | 12.5 | 5,483 | 10.2 | 1,950 | 4.0 |
| Liberal Democrat | 4,946 | 9.0 | 8,415 | 15.6 | 1,661 | 3.4 |
| UKIP/Brexit/Reform | 413 | 0.8 | 742 | 1.4 | 1,710 | 3.5 |
| Green | 2,229 | 4.1 | 4,326 | 8.0 | 2,660 | 5.4 |
| Other/Corbyn | 383 | 0.7 | 236 | 0.4 | 24,152 | 49.3 |
| Majority | 33,215 | 60.5 | 26,188 | 48.7 | -7,247 | -14.8 |
