West Ham (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 51°32′24″N 0°00′47″E / 51.540°N 0.013°E / 51.540; 0.013
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West Ham
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of West Ham in Greater London
CountyGreater London
Electorate86,400 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlementsCanning Town, Forest Gate, Maryland Plaistow, Stratford and West Ham
Current constituency
Created1997
Member of ParliamentLyn Brown (Labour)
SeatsOne
Created fromNewham North West, Newham South

West Ham is a constituency[n 1] created in 1997 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Lyn Brown, a member of the Labour Party.[n 2]

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be subject to major boundary changes. The two Forest Gate wards, Stratford and New Town, and the Green Street West ward will form the majority of the new constituency of Stratford and Bow. To compensate, the Beckton and Royal Docks wards will be transferred from East Ham. Accordingly, the constituency will be renamed West Ham and Beckton, to be first contested at the next general election.[2]

Boundaries[edit]

Map
Map of current boundaries

1997–2010: The London Borough of Newham wards of Bemersyde, Forest Gate, Hudsons, New Town, Park, Plaistow, Plashet, Stratford, Upton, and West Ham.

2010–present: The London Borough of Newham wards of Canning Town North, Canning Town South, Custom House, Forest Gate North, Forest Gate South, Green Street West, Plaistow North, Plaistow South, Stratford and New Town, and West Ham.

The constituency covers the western half of Newham stretching from the Thames just east of Canary Wharf to Stratford. The boundary changes that took effect for the 2010 general election expanded the constituency by adding Canning Town from the abolished Poplar and Canning Town constituency, whilst losing Silvertown to the redrawn East Ham. The boundary with the East Ham constituency was modified to align with local government ward boundaries.[3]

History[edit]

The seat was created in 1997 by the fourth periodic review (following the first such review in 1945), undertaken by the Boundary Commission, from portions of the Newham North West and Newham South seats.

The area's elections to date, including both forerunner seats have returned safe majorities for the Labour Party since the last Conservative for the smaller, denser divisions from 1931 to 1934;[n 3] going back further, West Ham South had in 1892 sent Keir Hardie to the Commons who co-founded the party.

The first member, Tony Banks, served the main predecessor seat, Newham North West from 1983 and was Minister for Sport (1997-1999). He held this seat at the 2001 general election with nearly 70% of the vote and a local record majority of 53.5% of the vote. He retired from the House of Commons at the 2005 general election.

The 2010 result, not only on the notional result, accommodating boundary changes, but also on predecessor-successor seat analysis shows that the main beneficiary of the runner-up Respect vote, as they did not have a candidate in that year, was the Labour candidate. The 2015 result made the seat the 14th safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.[4]

Constituency profile[edit]

Helped by proximity to the City of London and exporting businesses in areas such as Hackney, Shoreditch and the Thames Gateway, the area is only gradually recovering in terms of employment rates from the deep East End decline, particularly decline of the dockers' industry here of the 1950s to the 1980s, with an immediate boost from the 2010 creation of the London Olympic Village and Park. In November 2012, workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were significantly higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 7.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian, though not the highest in London. Within this figure is a skew toward male unemployment which was at 9.8%[5]

Now that the Olympic stadium has become West Ham United's home the club is located in the constituency that shares its name; their previous ground at Upton Park was actually in the neighbouring East Ham seat.

Demographics[edit]

In the 1991 census just over 43% of residents were non-white.[6] By the time of the 2001 census, people who identified as white made up 44.1% of the population and 35.3% of residents were born outside the UK, and in the 2011 census the borough saw an increase in those of mixed colour ethnicity at 4.6%, and saw the lowest proportion of people of solely white ethnicity at 29.0%, the figure for those of black ethnicity had fallen to 19.6%, and those of South Asian ethnicity had risen to 43.5% of the population.[7][8]

In terms of religion the British Asian population is more than 50% Muslim in this constituency. By the time of the 2005 general election, only seven of the 646 constituencies had more Muslims than West Ham.[9] Respect fielded a candidate for the 2005 election, hoping to benefit from opposition to the Iraq war; in the end this was not enough to unseat Labour's replacement for Banks, Lyn Brown, but Respect managed to take nearly 20% of the vote.[9]

Members of Parliament[edit]

Election Member[10] Party
1997 Tony Banks Labour
2005 Lyn Brown Labour

Election results[edit]

Elections in the 2010s[edit]

2019 general election: West Ham[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Lyn Brown 42,181 70.1 -6.6
Conservative Sara Kumar 9,793 16.3 +0.1
Liberal Democrats Eimear O’Casey 4,161 6.9 +3.9
Green Danny Keeling 1,780 3.0 +1.4
Brexit Party Emma Stockdale 1,679 2.8 New
CPA Paul Jobson 463 0.8 +0.2
Communities United Humera Kamran 143 0.2 New
Majority 32,388 53.8 -6.7
Turnout 60,200 61.5 -4.2
Registered electors 97,942
Labour hold Swing -3.4
2017 general election: West Ham[12][13] [14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Lyn Brown 46,591 76.7 +8.3
Conservative Patrick Spencer 9,837 16.2 +0.8
Liberal Democrats Paul Reynolds 1,836 3.0 +0.3
UKIP Rosamund Beattie 1,134 1.9 -5.6
Green Michael Spracklin 957 1.6 -3.4
CPA Kayode Shedowo 353 0.6 -0.1
Majority 36,754 60.5 +7.5
Turnout 60,708 65.7 +7.5
Registered electors 92,418
Labour hold Swing +3.8
2015 general election: West Ham[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Lyn Brown 36,132 68.4 +5.7
Conservative Festus Akinbusoye 8,146 15.4 +0.7
UKIP Jamie Ross-McKenzie[16] 3,950 7.5 +5.9
Green Rachel Collinson[17] 2,651 5.0 +3.6
Liberal Democrats Paul Reynolds[18] 1,430 2.7 -8.8
CPA Andy Uzoka 369 0.7 -2.1
Communities United Cydatty Bogie 115 0.2 New
Majority 27,986 53.0 +5.0
Turnout 52,793 58.2 +3.2
Registered electors 90,640
Labour hold Swing +2.5
2010 general election: West Ham
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Lyn Brown 29,422 62.7 +10.9[n 4]
Conservative Virginia Morris 6,888 14.7 +2.6
Liberal Democrats Martin Pierce 5,392 11.5 +1.3
CPA Stan Gain 1,327 2.8 +1.7
Independent Kamran Malik 1,245 2.7 New
National Front Michael Davidson 1,089 2.3 New
UKIP Kim Gandy 766 1.6 +0.6
Green Jane Lithgow 645 1.4 -1.6
Independent Grace Agbogun-Toko 177 0.4 New
Majority 22,534 48.0 +16.3
Turnout 46,951 55.0 +10.2
Registered electors 85,313
Labour hold Swing +4.2

The Green Party originally selected Jane Lithgow as their candidate for the 2010 election.[19]

Elections in the 2000s[edit]

2005 general election: West Ham
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Lyn Brown 15,840 51.2 -18.7
Respect Lindsey German 6,039 19.5 New
Conservative Chris L. Whitbread 3,618 11.7 -4.7
Liberal Democrats Alexandra E. Sugden 3,364 10.9 +3.5
Green Jane A. Lithgow 894 2.9 -1.2
CPA Stephen C. Hammond 437 1.4 New
UKIP Henry E.B. Mayhew 409 1.3 -0.9
Veritas Generoso Alcantara 365 1.2 New
Majority 9,801 31.7 -21.8
Turnout 30,966 49.8 +0.9
Registered electors 62,188
Labour hold Swing -19.1
2001 general election: West Ham
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Tony Banks 20,449 69.9 -3.0
Conservative Syed Kamall 4,804 16.4 +1.4
Liberal Democrats Paul J. Fox 2,166 7.4 0.0
Green Jackie M. Chandler-Oatts 1,197 4.1 New
UKIP Gerard Batten 657 2.2 New
Majority 15,645 53.5 -4.4
Turnout 29,273 48.9 -9.6
Registered electors 59,828
Labour hold Swing -2.2

Elections in the 1990s[edit]

1997 general election: West Ham
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Tony Banks 24,531 72.9
Conservative Mark MacGregor 5,037 15.0
Liberal Democrats Samantha L.C. McDonough 2,479 7.4
BNP Kenneth Francis 1,198 3.6
Monster Raving Loony Toby Jug 300 0.9
Rainbow Dream Ticket Jonathan P. Rainbow 116 0.3
Majority 14,494 57.9
Turnout 33,361 58.5
Registered electors 57,589
Labour win (new seat)

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. ^ As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
  3. ^ Upton
  4. ^ Percentages are notional (based on extrapolation from combining two whole constituency results overlaid onto the redrawn constituency), with the Canning Town vote therefore deemed to be slightly stronger towards Labour rather than the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties than in the non-identical seat in 2005.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  2. ^ "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report – London | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  3. ^ "Boundary Commission for England Fifth Periodical Report Cm 7032" (PDF). Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  4. ^ "Labour Members of Parliament 2015". UK Political.info. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018.
  5. ^ Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
  6. ^ "West Ham profile, BBC Vote 2001, accessed 25 January 2010". BBC News. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  7. ^ "2011 census interactive maps". Archived from the original on 29 January 2016.
  8. ^ "UK polling report". UK polling report. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  9. ^ a b Casciani, Dominic (6 May 2005). "Muslim vote shifts against Labour, BBC Vote 2005". BBC News. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  10. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 2)
  11. ^ "West Ham Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  12. ^ "West Ham parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
  13. ^ "Research Briefings" (PDF). UK Parliament.
  14. ^ "West Ham - UK Parliament Constituency - Election Polling". www.electionpolling.co.uk.
  15. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  16. ^ "UKIP Election Leaflet". 25 April 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  17. ^ "General Election Candidates 2015 | Green Party Members' Website". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  18. ^ "General Election Candidates". Archived from the original on 20 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  19. ^ "Jane Lithgow". Yournextmp.com. Retrieved 4 August 2016.

External links[edit]

51°32′24″N 0°00′47″E / 51.540°N 0.013°E / 51.540; 0.013

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