The Guardian: "Poll puts Labour ahead in Margaret Thatcher's former stronghold"

"The Conservatives regained symbolic, suburban Finchley and Golders Green in 2010, and a Labour victory there would be a huge one"

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"A new poll by Lord Ashcroft of marginal parliamentary seats has put Labour ahead of the Conservatives in one of its most challenging and symbolic London targets, suburban Finchley and Golders Green in the north-western Tory-run borough of Barnet, which it lost by some distance in 2010 having held it since its creation in 1997. Ashcroft has Labour two points in front of the Tories in the area Margaret Thatcher represented for 33 years.

"This is the latest poll suggesting Labour is on course to make big gains in the capital. With national surveys stubbornly indicating a neck-and-neck finish between Ed Miliband and David Cameron in the race for Number 10, here in the Big Smoke Labour has been given recent leads of 11 and 14 percent by YouGov and ComRes respectively. Last week, Ashcroft found Labour to be leading in another of its London targets, Harrow East where a 3.5% swing is required to unseat the Tory incumbent Bob Blackman.

"In Finchley and Golders Green, Labour’s Sarah Sackman needs a swing of no less than 6.2% to oust former Barnet council leader Mike Freer. The Ashcroft snapshot gives her 7%. The seat is tenth on Labour’s London hit list. It would be a huge victory."