Labour’s Anne Clarke has retained her seat with an increased majority in Barnet and Camden’s London Assembly election.
With a 2.2% swing, Clarke, who has represented the constituency since 2021, was re-elected with a majority of nearly 20,000 today.
Speaking to North West Londoner after the announcement, Clarke focused on the impact of free school meals and the success of the new bus route Superloop, two key policies from re-elected mayor Sadiq Khan.
She said: “Providing free school meals in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis is transformative.
“Improving our bus services, and importantly promising an extension to the 210 and another Superloop, it’s incredible stuff.
“It’s a really great result for Labour, it’s a great result locally, it’s a great result for Sadiq.
“I think that these very much indicate good news for our parliamentary candidates in Barnet and for all the elections across the country.
“It also is about choices. The choice to improve air quality against a bitter Conservative campaign.”
Clarke’s local campaign focused on free school meals, house building, and police officers, echoing Labour’s national campaign.
Labour’s victory comes with a decrease in the party’s vote in Barnet and Camden, with Clarke receiving almost 5,000 fewer votes than in 2021.
However, the Conservatives saw a steeper decline in their votes, with candidate Julie Redmond getting more than 10,000 fewer votes than her predecessor Roberto Weeden-Sanz.
Voter turnout in Barnet and Camden this year was lower than other Assembly constituencies, with 39.59% this year, down from 43% in 2021, and lower than the overall 2024 London average of 40.5%.
Speaking to North West Londoner, Clarke attributed this decline to the new voter ID laws, changes to the voting system for Mayor, and Labour’s popularity in national polls.
She said: “When you’re so far ahead in the polls that doesn’t help. People think it’s in the bag and won’t bother voting this year.”
Tweeting on polling day, Clarke said she won her first council election by two votes.
From 2018 to 2022, Clarke served on the Barnet Council, representing the Childs Hill and Cricklewood wards.
Barnet and Camden also voted Labour in the Mayor of London ballot, with a swing away from the Conservatives of 3.6%.
Sadiq Khan increased his vote on last year, with 70984 compared to 67,610 first preference votes in 2021.
The Conservatives saw a similar decline in their vote share in the mayoral ballot, with Susan Hall receiving almost 10,000 fewer votes than in 2021.
Raj Forhad, Reform UK’s Assembly Member candidate for Barnet and Camden, said: “I think Reform is doing really great throughout the country but also particularly for the London mayoral election where they have done so many campaigns in various boroughs.”
Barnet and Camden has been a Labour seat since 2012, having previously been a Conservative marginal seat since it was created in 2000.
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