Dagenham (UK Parliament constituency)

Dagenham
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Dagenham in Greater London for the 2005 general election.
County	Greater London
1945 (1945)–2010 (2010)
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Dagenham and Rainham
Created from	Romford

Dagenham was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It was replaced at the 2010 general election by the new Dagenham and Rainham constituency.

Boundaries

Dagenham in Essex, showing boundaries used from 1945 to 1950.

Dagenham covers the area of Dagenham, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in North London, the Boundary Commission for England have created a new constituency of Dagenham and Rainham.

History

Before 1945, the Dagenham area was part of the Romford constituency. The MP for the latter seat since 1935, Labour's John Parker, continued to represent the Dagenham seat until 1983. Parker was the last serving MP to have been elected before the Second World War, and with 48 years in Parliament, remains the longest-serving Labour MP in history.

Dagenham has been held by Labour since World War II and is considered a safe seat. The far-right British National Party is very active in this area and its support has been steadily rising.^{[citation needed]} It is home to a declining skilled manual industry such as the Ford Motor Company works, which downscaled production in 2001.

The British National Party received nearly 10% of the vote in the 2005 general election and in the 2006 local elections returned 12 councillors to Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council.

As of 2009 the new constituency of Dagenham & Rainham includes wards which have not traditionally supported the BNP or Labour, and the leaks of BNP databases has shown that membership in the area shown is diminishing.^{[citation needed]}

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1945	John Parker	Labour
	1983	Bryan Gould	Labour
	1994 by-election	Judith Church	Labour
	2001	Jon Cruddas	Labour
	2010	constituency abolished: see Dagenham and Rainham

Election results

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Dagenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jon Cruddas	15,446	50.1	-7.1
	Conservative	Michael White	7,841	25.4	-0.3
	Liberal Democrat	James Kempton	3,106	10.1	-0.1
	BNP	Lawrence Rustem	2,870	9.3	+4.3
	UKIP	Gerard Batten	1,578	5.1	N/A
Majority			7,605	24.7
Turnout				51.3
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.4

General Election 2001: Dagenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jon Cruddas	15,784	57.2	-8.5
	Conservative	Michael White	7,091	25.7	+7.2
	Liberal Democrat	Adrian Gee-Turner	2,820	10.2	+2.7
	BNP	David Hill	1,378	5.0	+2.5
	Socialist Alliance	Bill Hamilton	262	0.9	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Robert Siggins	245	0.9	N/A
Majority			8,693	31.5
Turnout			27,580	46.5	-15.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997:Dagenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Judith Church	23,759	65.7	-6.3
	Conservative	James Fairrie	6,705	18.54	+8.63
	Liberal Democrat	T Dobrashian	2,704	7.48	-0.91
	Referendum Party	S Kraft	1,411	3.9	N/A
	BNP	William Binding	900	2.49	-4.54
	Independent	R Dawson	349	0.97	N/A
	National Democrats	Mike Hipperson	183	0.51	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	K Goble	152	0.4	N/A
Majority			17,054	47.16
Turnout			36,162	62.1

Dagenham by-election, 1994
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Judith Church	15,474	72.0	+19.74
	Conservative	James Fairrie	2,130	9.91	-26.38
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Dunphy	1,804	8.39	-3.06
	BNP	John Tyndall	1,511	7.03	N/A
	UKIP	Peter Compobassi	457	2.13	N/A
	Natural Law	Mark Leighton	116	0.54	N/A
Majority			13,344
Turnout			21,492
	Labour hold		Swing

1992 General Election:Dagenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bryan Gould	22,027	52.26
	Conservative	D Rossiter	15,294	36.29
	Liberal Democrat	CNH Marquand	4,824	11.45
Majority			6,733	15.98
Turnout			42,145	70.66
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Dagenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bryan Gould	18,454	44.44
	Conservative	R Neill	15,985	38.49
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	J Carter	7,088	17.07
Majority			2,469	5.95
Turnout			41,527	67.29

General Election 1983: Dagenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bryan Gould	15,665	39.26
	Conservative	R Neill	12,688	31.77
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	J Horne	10,679	27
	National Front	Joe Pearce	645	1.62
	Communist	D Walshe	141	0.35
Majority			2,997	7.49
Turnout			39,878	63.34

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Dagenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Parker	24,707	52.57
	Conservative	G Hyams	14,600	31.07
	Liberal	M Long	5,583	11.88
	National Front	J Roberts	1,553	3.3
	Communist	D Connor	553	1.18
Majority			10,107	21.51
Turnout			46,994	69.12

General Election, October 1974: Dagenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Parker	29,678	65.23
	Conservative	A Hamilton	7,684	16.89
	Liberal	G Poole	7,564	16.63
	Communist	G Wake	569	1.25
Majority			21,994	48.34
Turnout			45,495	64.99

General Election February 1974: Dagenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Parker	35,765	72.68
	Conservative	A Hamilton	12,275	24.94
	Communist	G Wake	1,169	2.38
Majority			23,490	47.74
Turnout			49,209	71.02

General Election 1970: Dagenham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Parker	31,335	70.74
	Conservative	H McLancy	11,976	27.04
	Communist	G Wake	982	2.22
Majority			19,359	43.71
Turnout			44,290	59.05

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

References

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Vauxhall	Constituency represented by the Father of the House 1979–1983	Succeeded by Cardiff South and Penarth