Enfield Southgate (UK Parliament constituency)

Enfield, Southgate
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Enfield, Southgate in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	64,932 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1950 (1950)
Member of Parliament	David Burrowes (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Enfield, Southgate is a borough 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. The current MP is David Burrowes (Conservative), and its best-known representative was Michael Portillo (1984–1997).

History

Prior to the February 1974 general election, this constituency was known as Southgate. Strictly a London Borough prefix to the constituency name (in this case Enfield) was introduced in 1974.

The seat gained national attention in the 1997 general election when the Secretary of State for Defence Michael Portillo was unexpectedly defeated on a massive swing. Portillo had been widely expected to contest the Conservative leadership and his defeat was taken by many to epitomise the Labour party landslide victory. The victorious candidate, Stephen Twigg, increased his majority at the following election.

In the 2005 general election Twigg's majority was the largest overturned, with a swing of 8.7% to the Conservative candidate David Burrowes.

Constituency profile

This is the affluent, leafy western part of the London Borough of Enfield. It is more cosmopolitan than the Conservative suburbs of south-east London - there are sizeable Muslim, Jewish and Cypriot communities. The Bowes Park area to the south of the constituency is solidly Labour, but overall Southgate tends to be a middle-class Conservative area. To the north the seat becomes semi-rural as it takes in Trent Park and the Middlesex University campus and stretches into the hugely expensive Hadley Wood area. There are small pockets of deprivation to the south of the constituency.

Boundaries

The constituency covers the western and southwestern part of the London Borough of Enfield. It is made up of seven electoral wards from the borough:

• Bowes, Cockfosters, Grange, Palmers Green, Southgate, Southgate Green, Winchmore Hill

Boundary review

Following its review of parliamentary representation in North London, the Boundary Commission for England made some changes to Enfield, Southgate. Part of Highlands ward was transferred to the constituency of Enfield North, and part of Grange ward was transferred from Enfield North to Enfield, Southgate. Parts of Grange ward, Bowes ward and Palmers Green ward were transferred to Enfield, Southgate from Edmonton. Part of Bush Hill Park ward, and a tiny part of Upper Edmonton were transferred to Edmonton.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Sir Beverley Baxter	Conservative
	1964	Sir Anthony Berry	Conservative
	1984 by-election	Michael Portillo	Conservative
	1997	Stephen Twigg	Labour
	2005	David Burrowes	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Enfield, Southgate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Burrowes	21,928	49.4	+5.7
	Labour	Bambos Charalambous	14,302	32.2	-8.8
	Liberal Democrat	Johar Khan	6,124	13.8	+2.7
	Green	Peter Krakowiak	632	1.4	-1.4
	UKIP	Bob Brock	505	1.1	-0.1
	Independent	Asit Mukhopadhyay	391	0.9	+0.9
	Respect	Samad Billoo	174	0.4	+0.4
	English Democrats	Ben Weald	173	0.4	+0.4
	Independent	Mal the Warrior Malakounides	88	0.2	+0.2
	Better Britain Party	Jeremy Sturgess	35	0.1	+0.1
Majority			7,626	17.2
Turnout			44,352	69.2	+5.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.2

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Enfield, Southgate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Burrowes	18,830	44.6	+6.0
	Labour	Stephen Twigg	17,083	40.5	−11.3
	Liberal Democrat	Ziz Kakoulakis	4,724	11.2	+4.2
	Green	Trevor Doughty	1,083	2.6	+1.0
	UKIP	Brian Hall	490	1.2	+0.5
Majority			1,747	4.1
Turnout			42,210	66.4	+2.9
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+8.7

General Election 2001: Enfield, Southgate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stephen Twigg	21,727	51.8	+7.6
	Conservative	John Flack	16,181	38.6	-2.5
	Liberal Democrat	Wayne Hoban	2,935	7.0	-3.7
	Green	Elaine Amanda Graham-Leigh	662	1.6	N/A
	UKIP	Roy Andrew Freshwater	298	0.7	N/A
	Independent	Andrew Malakouna	105	0.3	-0.2
Majority			5,546	13.2
Turnout			41,908	63.5	-7.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Enfield, Southgate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stephen Twigg	20,570	44.2	+18.0
	Conservative	Michael Portillo	19,137	41.1	-16.8
	Liberal Democrat	Jeremy Browne	4,966	10.7	-3.8
	Referendum Party	Nicholas Luard	1,342	2.9	N/A
	Christian Democrat	Alan Storkey	289	0.6	N/A
	Mal - Voice of the People	Andrew Malakouna	229	0.5	N/A
Majority			1,433	3.1
Turnout				70.6
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+17.4

General Election 1992: Enfield, Southgate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Portillo	28,422	58.0	-0.8
	Labour	Karen Livney	12.859	26.2	+7.3
	Liberal Democrat	Kevin Keane	7,080	11.2	-6.5
	Green	Mrs. M.C.P.H. Hollands	696	1.4	0.0
Majority			15,563	31.8	-6.1
Turnout			49,057	76.3	+3.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	-4.1

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Enfield, Southgate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Portillo	28,445	58.8	+9.2
	Liberal	Nick Harvey	10,100	20.9	-14.7
	Labour	R. Course	9,114	18.9	+7
	Green	S. Rooney	696	1.4	N/A
Majority			18,345	37.9
Turnout			48,355	72.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

1984 by-election: Enfield, Southgate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Portillo	16,684	49.6	-8.5
	Liberal	Timothy Slack	11,973	35.6	+12.2
	Labour	Peter Hamid	4,000	11.9	-6
	Turkish Troops Out of Cyprus	Andreas Polydrou	687	2	N/A
	Nationalist Party	James Kershaw	80	0.2	N/A
	English National	Raymond Shenton	78	0.2	N/A
	Abolish Greater London, Restore Middlesex	Iain Burgess	50	0.2	N/A
	Captain Rainbow's Universal Party	George Weiss	48	0.2	N/A
	Death off Roads: Freight on Rail	Helen Anscomb	45	0.1	N/A
Majority			4,711
Turnout			33,645
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.27

General Election 1983: Enfield, Southgate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Berry	26,451	58.09	-3.55
	Liberal	D Morgan	10,632	23.35	+9.29
	Labour	M Honeyball	8,132	17.86	-4.69
	BNP	M Braithwaite	318	0.7	N/A

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Southgate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Berry	31,663	61.64	+7.74
	Labour	I S Wilson	11,584	22.55	-0.28
	Liberal	A Baker	7,223	14.06	-6.6
	National Front	R Pert	895	1.74	-0.87

General Election Oct 1974: Southgate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Berry	25,888	53.9	+1.76
	Labour	J P Sheppard	10,966	22.83	+2.64
	Liberal	G J Bridge	9,922	20.66	-4.81
	National Front	B W Pell	1,255	2.61	+0.41

General Election Feb 74: Southgate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Berry	28,620	52.14	-
	Liberal	G Bridge	13,806	25.47	-
	Labour	F Sealey	10,945	20.19	-
	National Front	B W Pell	1,192	2.2	-

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 2)