Barnet (UK Parliament constituency)

Barnet was a parliamentary constituency in what is now the London Borough of Barnet, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

History

The constituency was created for the 1945 general election, and abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Boundaries

1945-1950: The Urban Districts of Barnet and East Barnet, and the Rural District of Elstree.

1950-1955: The Urban Districts of Barnet and East Barnet, and the Rural Districts of Elstree and Hatfield.

1955-1974: As 1945.

The constituency was created in 1945 when the number of parliamentary constituencies in Hertfordshire was increased from five to six. Previously the area had been part of the St Albans seat. This was one of the English constituencies divided as an emergency measure, before the general review of parliamentary constituencies due later in the decade, because its electorate exceeded 100,000 voters.

In 1965 the Barnet and East Barnet urban districts were transferred to Greater London, becoming part of the London Borough of Barnet, while Elstree Rural District remained part of Hertfordshire. This did not affect parliamentary boundaries for nine years, however.

When seats were next redistributed, with effect from the February 1974 general election, the Greater London parts of the old constituency moved to the new seat of Chipping Barnet. The Elstree Rural District was transferred to South Hertfordshire.^[1]

Members of Parliament

Elections

Election in the 1970s

Reginald Maudling

General Election 1970: Barnet

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Reginald Maudling	26,845	52.29
	Labour	Joan E. M. Baker	18,166	35.38
	Liberal	John D. O. Henchley	6,329	12.33
Majority			8,679	16.91
Turnout			51,340
	Conservative hold		Swing

References and sources

References

Sources

• Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)