General election campaigning kicks off in Enfield – but the Tories are yet to choose their candidates

The Conservatives are still looking for candidates to oppose the three local Labor incumbents

Voters in Enfield will head to the polls for the second time in two months on the 4th^th July – this time to select three members of parliament in the general election.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a snap summer election on Wednesday (22), kicking off six weeks of frantic political campaigning.

While the Tories are defending an 80-seat majority from 2019, Labor currently has an average opinion poll lead over the Tories of more than 20 points, suggesting they could win by a healthy margin. However, polls tend to narrow during election campaigns.

In Enfield, the district’s three Labor MPs – Bambos Charalambous for Enfield Southgate, Feryal Clark for Enfield North and Kate Osamor for Edmonton – will all defend their seats, albeit with newly named constituencies in the cases of Southgate and Wood Green and Edmonton and Winchmore Hill.

As for who will fill these seats for the other major parties, the Conservatives have yet to announce a single candidate, while the Lib Dems have announced all three. Reform UK and the UK Labor Party have also selected candidates for each seat, while the Green Party has announced its candidate for Southgate and Wood Green, but no others.

The Dispatch understands that Conservative candidates will be selected by the first week of June, with selection processes being accelerated.

In addition, a newly formed political group called the Enfield Community Action Group has announced will run three independent candidates locally on a left-wing platform, with candidates to be confirmed next week.

Based on the candidates announced so far and the parties yet to announce, at least seven candidates are expected to be present in each Enfield seat.

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The former Enfield Southgate constituency was previously a marginal seat that has swung between Labor and the Conservatives several times, most recently in 2017 when Charalambous defeated David Burrowes, but the newly extended constituency boundary brings Labor voting areas into Haringey, mainly Wood Green and Bounds Green, in the seat.

Enfield North also has a recent history as a Tory seat, having been held by Tory Nick de Bois between 2010 and 2015. The addition of Ponders End to the constituency should make it a safer Labor seat, however.

Edmonton has been held by Labor since 1997 and has been one of the safest seats in the country since then, but the addition of Winchmore Hill means the Conservative vote share could increase.

Both Charalambous and Osamor were suspended by Labor for tin months and there on Monday respectively in the last year, but both were given back the Labor whip in the spring of this year following the investigations carried out by the party headquarters.

The known candidates for the three local constituencies as of now (4.30pm Friday 24 May) are listed below. For updates visit whocanivotefor.co.uk.

Edmonton and Winchmore Hill

• Seton during (UK Labor Party)
• Tim Martin (Liberal Democrat)
• Kate Osamor (work)
• Neville Watson (Reform Britain)

Enfield North

• Aishat Anifowoshe (UK Labor Party)
• Stephen Bird (Reform Britain)
• Feryal Clark (work)
• Guy Russo (Liberal Democrats)

Southgate and Wood Green

• Lauren Fulbright (Liberal Democrats)
• Charith Gunawardena (Green Party)
• Christopher Menon (UK Labor Party)
• David Schofield (Reform Britain)

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