West Ham (UK Parliament constituency)

West Ham
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of West Ham in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	86,400 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1997 (1997)
Member of Parliament	Lyn Brown (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Newham North West, Newham South
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

West Ham is a parliamentary constituency in the London Borough of Newham, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1997 when the constituency of Newham North West was merged with part of Newham South.

Boundaries

The constituency covers the western half of Newham, including the areas of West Ham, Forest Gate, Plaistow, Stratford, Maryland and Upton Park.

The boundary changes that took effect at the May 2010 election expanded the constituency by adding Canning Town from the Poplar and Canning Town constituency, whilst losing Silvertown to East Ham. The boundary with the East Ham constituency was modified to align with local government ward boundaries.

The constituency now comprises ten wards: Canning Town North, Canning Town South, Custom House, Forest Gate North, Forest Gate South, Green Street West, Plaistow North, Plaistow South, Stratford & New Town and West Ham.

Politics and history of the constituency

The area is generally considered a safe Labour seat; West Ham South had in 1892 sent Keir Hardie to the Commons. Labour's Tony Banks was MP for first Newham North West and then West Ham from 1983 until his retirement in 2005. He held the seat at the 2001 general election with nearly 70% of the vote. The constituency has been one of the fastest growing in recent years and in 2006 was the second largest constituency of all, with only the Isle of Wight having more voters. The neighbouring constituency of East Ham was the third largest constituency.

In the 1991 census just over 43% of residents were non-white. By the time of the 2001 census, whites made up 44.1% of the population, with 35.3% of residents born outside the UK. Over a quarter of the population are Afro-Caribbean. There is also a significant Asian population, many of whom are Muslims. By the time of the 2005 General Election, only seven of the 646 constituencies had more Muslims than West Ham. As a result the RESPECT Coalition targeted it for the 2005 election, hoping to benefit from opposition to the Iraq war; in the end it was not enough to unseat Labour's replacement for Banks, Lyn Brown, but they managed to take nearly 20% of the vote away from Labour.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1997	Tony Banks	Labour
	2005	Lyn Brown	Labour

Election results

General Election 2010: West Ham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lyn Brown	29,422	62.7	+10.9
	Conservative	Virginia Morris	6,888	14.7	+2.6
	Liberal Democrat	Martin Pierce	5,392	11.5	+1.3
	Christian Peoples	Stan Gain	1,327	2.8	+1.7
	Independent	Kamran Malik	1,245	2.7	N/A
	National Front	Michael Davidson	1,089	2.3	N/A
	UKIP	Kim Gandy	766	1.6	+0.6
	Green	Jane Lithgow	645	1.4	-1.6
	Independent	Grace Agbogun-Toko	177	0.4	N/A
Majority			22,534	48.0
Turnout			46,951	55.0	+10.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.2

General Election 2005: West Ham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lyn Brown	15,840	51.2	-18.7
	Respect	Lindsey German	6,039	19.5	N/A
	Conservative	Chris Whitbread	3,618	11.7	-4.7
	Liberal Democrat	Alexandra Sugden	3,364	10.9	+3.5
	Green	Jane Lithgow	894	2.9	-1.2
	Christian Peoples	Stephen Hammond	437	1.4	N/A
	UKIP	Henry Mayhew	409	1.3	-0.9
	Veritas	Generoso Alcantara	365	1.2	N/A
Majority			9,801	31.7
Turnout			30,966	49.8	+0.9
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 2001: West Ham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Banks	20,449	69.9	-3.0
	Conservative	Syed Kamall	4,804	16.4	+1.4
	Liberal Democrat	Paul Fox	2,166	7.4	0.0
	Green	Jackie Chandler-Oatts	1,197	4.1	N/A
	UKIP	Gerard Batten	657	2.2	N/A
Majority			15,645	53.5	-4.4
Turnout			29,273	48.9	-9.5
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1997: West Ham
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Banks	24,531	72.9	N/A
	Conservative	Mark McGregor	5,037	15.0	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Samantha McDonough	2,479	7.4	N/A
	BNP	Kenneth Francis	1,198	3.6	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Toby Jug	300	0.9	N/A
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Jonathan Rainbow	116	0.3	N/A
Majority			14,494	57.9	N/A
Turnout			33,361	58.5	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

External links

• BBC Election 2005: West Ham

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London