Edmonton was a battleground seat in 1997. After narrowly failing to win it in 1992 from the incumbent Conservative Ian Twinn, Labour's Andy Love polled twice the number of votes as Dr Twinn in 1997 to win the seat with a 30% majority. In 2001 his vote share dropped slightly but he still has a 28% gap over the Tories. The constituency is located in the borough of Enfield - bordering Hertfordshire - but is more characteristic of an inner London seat, despite its outer London location. The strip of wards on the west bank of the River Lea between Tottenham to the south and working class Ponders End (where Norman Tebbit grew up) is more ethnically diverse than the area north of the Lea, which is more middle class and Conservative. A quarter of the population come from an ethnic minority community, with a high proportion of Chinese and African-Caribbean people. There is also a substantial Cypriot community - Greek and Turkish - many of whom settled here following the invasion and division of the island in 1974. Much of the industry for which Edmonton was famous - furniture, electrical goods and electronics - has moved out. The replacement jobs have often been low skilled with low wages. However, the area looks set for a boost with the arrival of the latest Ikea store in 2005. There will also be considerable benefits if the Olympic Games come to London in 2012.
