David Floyd with an overview of the contest in the Barnet seat where the Conservatives are most hopeful

Result in 2019:

Matthew Offord	Conservative	26,878 – 48.8%
David Pinto-Duschinsky	Labour	22,646 – 41.1%
Clareine Enderby	Liberal Democrats	4,628 – 8.4%
Portia Vincent-Kirby	Green	921 – 1.7%

Majority – 4,230 / 7.7%

The contest in Hendon could have seen a rematch between Labour’s David Pinto-Dushchinsky and incumbent Conservative Matthew Offord.

But it isn’t because Offord – who won the seat for his party from Labour’s Andrew Dismore in 2010 – has stepped down.

As a result, Pinto-Dushchinky, a management consultant and former adviser to the previous Labour government, faces Conservative Ameet Jogia, currently an adviser to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Boundary changes mean the constituency has lost the Conservative-held Edgwarebury seat to Chipping Barnet, which makes a tough task for Jogia even tougher.

Jogia has run an engaging, community-focused campaign and this is the Barnet seat where both main parties say the Conservatives have the strongest chance but – given current polling – it’s still not a very big chance.

Statements from the eight candidates: Gabrielle Bailey – Green Party, Clareine Enderby – Liberal Democrats, Jane Gibson – Social Democratic Party, Ameet Jogia – Conservative, Imtiaz Palekar – Workers Party, Joshua Pearl – Reform UK, David Pinto-Dushchinsky – Labour, Ben Rend – Rejoin EU

Note: Barnet Post approached all candidates for the borough’s seats and offered them the opportunity to make a 250-word statement. The purpose of these statements is to give voters the clearest possible understanding of the perspectives of people who are asking for their support. In doing this, we acknowledge that some views expressed my cause offence and distress and apologise if this is the case.

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