West Ham (UK Parliament constituency)
West Ham | |
---|---|
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons | |
![]() Boundary of West Ham in Greater London | |
County | Greater London |
Electorate | 86,400 (December 2010)[1] |
Major settlements | Canning Town, Forest Gate, Maryland Plaistow, Stratford and West Ham |
1997–2024 | |
Seats | One |
Created from | Newham North West, Newham South |
Replaced by | Stratford and Bow, West Ham and Beckton |
West Ham was a constituency[n 1] created in 1997 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2005 until its abolition for the 2024 general election by Lyn Brown, a member of the Labour Party.[n 2]
Under the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished and the majority incorporated into the new constituency of West Ham and Beckton. The two Forest Gate wards, Stratford and New Town, and the Green Street West ward now form the majority of the new constituency of Stratford and Bow.[2]
Boundaries
[edit]1997–2010: The London Borough of Newham wards of Bemersyde, Forest Gate, Hudsons, New Town, Park, Plaistow, Plashet, Stratford, Upton, and West Ham.
2010–2024: 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 covered 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]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 |
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 |
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 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Lyn Brown | 29,422 | 62.7 | +10.9 | |
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]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 |
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]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]- ^ A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
- ^ 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.
- ^ Upton
References
[edit]- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Boundary Commission for England Fifth Periodical Report Cm 7032" (PDF). Retrieved 4 August 2016.
- ^ "Labour Members of Parliament 2015". UK Political.info. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018.
- ^ Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
- ^ "West Ham profile, BBC Vote 2001, accessed 25 January 2010". BBC News. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
- ^ "2011 census interactive maps". Archived from the original on 29 January 2016.
- ^ "UK polling report". UK polling report. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
- ^ a b Casciani, Dominic (6 May 2005). "Muslim vote shifts against Labour, BBC Vote 2005". BBC News. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 2)
- ^ "West Ham Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
- ^ "West Ham parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
- ^ "Research Briefings" (PDF). UK Parliament.
- ^ "West Ham - UK Parliament Constituency - Election Polling". www.electionpolling.co.uk.
- ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "UKIP Election Leaflet". 25 April 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
- ^ "General Election Candidates 2015 | Green Party Members' Website". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
- ^ "General Election Candidates". Archived from the original on 20 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
- ^ "Jane Lithgow". Yournextmp.com. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
External links
[edit]- Politics Resources (Election results from 1922 onwards)
- Electoral Calculus (Election results from 1955 onwards)
- BBC Election 2005: West Ham
- West Ham UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
- West Ham UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK