Hackney North and Stoke Newington

Hackney North and Stoke Newington
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Hackney North and Stoke Newington in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	74,780 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1950
Member of parliament	Diane Abbott (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Hackney North; Stoke Newington
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Hackney North and Stoke Newington is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom since 1987 by Diane Abbott of the Labour Party, who has served as Shadow Home Secretary since 6 October 2016.

The constituency has always elected Labour MPs since its creation in 1950. While well connected to Central London, including the City of London, the seat generally has moderate incomes rather than high, and a narrow majority of wards had a relatively high ranking when placed in the Index of Multiple Deprivation, compiled in 2000. In line with most of Greater London since 2000 many parts, especially Stamford Hill, Upper Clapton, Lower Clapton have become marginal in terms of local councillors and these districts, with to a lesser extent the eponymous Hackney and Stoke Newington, are in the process of becoming re-gentrified with ongoing increases in land value, proximity to the London 2012 venues and a council that successfully reduced the level of crime by about 30 per cent within a four-year period. Demographically, almost 60 per cent of households are singletons and households have a higher than average level of unemployment. Through all this change, under incumbent Diane Abbott, the seat has become a safe seat for Labour. Prior to her promotion to the Shadow Cabinet, Abbott for many years was Labour's regular commentator opposite Michael Portillo on the light-hearted political round-up series This Week, and still appears on the show periodically.