The area covers the largely Georgian conservation area on a stand-alone, partly park-lined hill which hosts the famous Harrow School; it also includes the urban Harrow town centre, as well as suburban streets of homes with good-sized gardens and well-kept small parklands. The seat has fast London Underground links to the city centre and rail services, few dual carriageways and few high speed roads.
Political historyedit
Summary of results
The Labour Party have held the seat since 1997, with the Conservative Party second-placed in each election. The 2015 result made the seat the 215th safest of the party's 232 seats (by majority percentage), and thus the 18th most marginal seat.[2] Thomas's majority has ranged from 2.3% in 1997 to 26.4% in 2017.
Unlike Harrow East, it had always been won by the Conservative Party until Labour's landslide in 1997, when a swing of 17.5% was the eighth-highest swing in that election; it was the safest Tory seat lost to Labour.[3] Its electorate produced another better than average result for Labour in 2001, with a swing from the Conservatives to Labour of 5.4%, bettered in only four seats out of 650. The 2005 challenge by future Conservative MP Mike Freer produced a pro-Conservative swing of 4.5%.[3]
The 2010 inceptive seat saw a notional swing to the Tories in line with that nationally of 5.7%; in overall outcome the incumbent Labour MP's swing increased. The Harrow West and East seats now present as less marginal than they were in previous decades.
After a 1.1% swing to the Tories in 2015, the seat swung to Labour in 2017 by around 11%, with a local record number of votes for their incumbent candidate. At 34.4%, the Conservative vote share was the lowest in the seat's history, but the party received more votes in 2017 than in 2001 and 2010.
Harrow-on-the-Hill and Greenhill, Headstone, Pinner North, Pinner South, Roxeth, West Harrow; part of Harrow Weald.
1950–1955
Urban District of Harrow
Pinner North and Hatch End, Pinner South, Roxbourne, Roxeth.
1955–1983
Municipal Borough of Harrow
Headstone, Pinner North and Hatch End, Pinner South, Roxbourne, Roxeth.
1983–2010
London Borough of Harrow
Harrow on the Hill, Hatch End, Headstone North, Headstone South, Pinner, Pinner West, Rayners Lane, Ridgeway, Roxbourne, Roxeth.
2010–present
London Borough of Harrow
Greenhill, Harrow on the Hill, Headstone North, Headstone South, Marlborough (an easterly projection centred on Harrow and Wealdstone station and its compact urban hub), Rayners Lane, Roxbourne, Roxeth, West Harrow.
Labour's union leader Tony McNulty lost the neighbouring Harrow East in 2010 to Blackman, who held on in 2015 and 2017. However, Harrow West's Gareth Thomas retained his seat with a reduced majority.
2010 boundariesedit
Reviewing such representation in North London, the Boundary Commission for England (de facto), as is custom agreed by Parliament, altered the area's limits to avoid malapportionment, as London's housing and rates of occupancy have altered. The western border district, town or neighbourhood of Pinner went to a new cross-Borough seat, Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, making its source, based on a ward breakdown of the last result, and mirrored by local election results, a stronger seat for Labour; this was coupled with the inclusion of Marlborough ward which had returned many Labour councillors since World War II.
Proposededit
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, from the next general election, due by January 2025, the constituency will be composed of the following wards of the London Borough of Harrow (as they existed on 4 May 2022):
Greenhill; Harrow on the Hill; Headstone; Marlborough; North Harrow; Rayners Lane; Roxbourne; Roxeth; Wealdstone North; Wealdstone South; West Harrow.[4]
Wealdstone will be transferred in from Harrow East. Other minor changes to align boundaries with new ward structure.
Note: From 2010 historically Conservative-strong Pinner formed part of the new seat Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner. The 2010 changes are not based on the 2005 result as the constituency underwent major changes.
^"Electorate Figures – Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
^"Labour Members of Parliament 2015". UK Political.info. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018.
^ ab"Highest constituency swings in each general election since 1951". www.election.demon.co.uk.
^"The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 3 London region.
^Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 1)
^Harrow West Conservatives [@HarrowWestCA] (29 November 2023). "Congratulations to Abbas Merali, our PCC and commiserations to the other candidates. Let's turn Harrow West blue!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^Gareth Thomas [@Gareth Thomas MP] (1 August 2022). Thomas MP/status/1554175380382269442 "Always an honour. Thank you to Harrow West Labour Party Members and affiliates for unanimously re-selecting me as our Parliamentary candidate.🌹 Onwards to the next election and to a Labour Government!" (Tweet) – via Twitter. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
^"Find My PPC" (PDF). Reform UK. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
^Statement of persons nominated and notice of poll harrow.gov.uk
^"Harrow West parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
^"Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^"Election results for Harrow West, 7 May 2015". 1 January 2004.
^"Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.