Local elections profile: Barnet

Ahead of the local elections on Thursday 7 May, we have produced short guides to London's 32 boroughs.

Where is it? The London Borough of Barnet is in north London, bordered by Camden, Haringey, Enfield, Harrow, Brent and Hertfordshire.

What's it like? From leafy suburbs to picture postcard villages and Green Belt countryside, Barnet is one of London's least urban-looking boroughs.

Neighbourhoods: Hendon, Finchley, Golders Green, Friern Barnet, Chipping Barnet, Whetstone, Edgware, Mill Hill, Cricklewood, Totteridge and Arkley.

Places of interest: The RAF Museum, the Jewish Museum, the Battle of Barnet monument, Hadley Wood, Hill Garden and Pergola, Dollies Brook Walk, Barnet Market, Trent Park House... and lots of golf courses.

Pub quiz fact: In the 1960s when plans for the new borough were being drawn up, one proposed name was Northern Heights. Barnet - which means land cleared by burning - prevailed.

Population (2024 estimate): 405,050.

Demographics: According to the 2021 census, 57.7% of residents identify as White (36.2% White British), 19.3% Asian, 7.9% Black, 5.4% Mixed, and 9.8% Other.

The borough has a significant Jewish population (14.5%).

Average property price: According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the provisional average house price in Barnet in December 2025 was £617,000.

Average monthly rent: The ONS says the average monthly private rent in Barnet was £1,805 in January 2026.

Council tax: Band D council tax in the borough for 2026/27 is £2,132.

Transport: TfL says there are 13 Tube stations in Barnet, all on the Northern line. Thameslink and Great Northern trains both run through the borough towards central London. The new Brent Cross West railway station opened in 2023. There are also 855 bus stops in Barnet.

Local history: The area now called Barnet has a long history, with evidence of Roman pottery and coins discovered along the old road from Londinium to Verulamium (St Albans).

In 1471 the Battle of Barnet, a decisive Yorkist victory in the War of the Roses, was fought in Monken Hadley, just within the present borough.

Barnet was created in 1965, a merger of five boroughs that were part of Hertfordshire and Middlesex, which transferred to Greater London.

The borough has actually shrunk since its creation: in 1993 Barnet's northern boundary was altered and some of its more rural northern parts, including Elstree, were transferred to Hertfordshire.

What is the borough's electoral history? Barnet was traditionally seen as a safe seat for the Conservatives who controlled the borough since it was created - except from 1994 to 2002 when it was no overall control, with the Tories as the largest party. In 2022 the Labour Party won Barnet for the first time.

What happened in 2022? The turnout was 37.9% and there was a 7% swing from the Conservatives to Labour.

Labour: 41 seats (+16)

Conservative: 22 seats (-16)

Since the election there have been six by-elections but all were held by either Labour or the Tories.

Two Conservative councillors defected to Reform and one of them, Dan Thomas, later resigned from the council to become leader of Reform UK in Wales and his seat is vacant.

One councillor went from Labour to independent to the Greens.

Professor Tony Travers, of the London School of Economics, said Barnet was won by Labour last time, but it's a Conservative/Labour marginal.

Given what we know about the swing between those two parties, leaving everything else out, there's a fair chance that the Conservatives will win it back, but Reform are likely to win some seats.

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