County Greater London Created 1997 Member of parliament Stephen Timms Party Labour Party | Electorate 91,531 (December 2010) European Parliament constituency London Number of members 1 | |
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Created from Newham North East, Newham South Replaced by Newham North East, Newham South | ||
East Ham is a constituency in the London Borough of Newham represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its creation in 1997 by Stephen Timms of the Labour Party.
Contents
History
The seat was formed in 1997 when Newham North East was replaced by the seat and by part of Newham South.
East Ham's wards have long been Labour strongholds: Ron Leighton was MP for the old Newham North East from 1979 until his death in 1994, Stephen Timms has represented the seat since. The RESPECT Coalition stood a candidate once, hoping to benefit from opposition to the Iraq war in the 2005 general election which saw elsewhere their first MP, and took second place. At the 2010 general election, Stephen Timms received the most individual votes of any MP (35,471) and largest majority (27,826) of any MP.
Constituency profile
Comprising the eastern part of the London Borough of Newham, East Ham is, as of the 2015 to 2020 Parliament, the safest Labour seat in London, with the highest numerical majority and fourth-safest in the country, behind three in Merseyside. Every component ward has only Labour councillors (resulting from local elections), and the party's general election candidate has achieved an absolute majority the five elections since creation, against a wide assortment of political parties.
The urban constituency has the largest proportion of non-white people in the UK; Greater London's highest proportion of British Asians, many of whom are Muslims, live in the seat. In the London Borough of Newham 43.5% of people are British Asian in 2011. Around two-thirds of constituents are non-white, and more than 40% of the population are immigrants to the UK.
The constituency takes in several run-down, deprived, lower working-class areas with low incomes and high unemployment that in 2000 ranked high in the Index of Multiple Deprivation including Beckton, Silvertown and East Ham itself. London City Airport is in the seat, as are the former Royal Docks.
Boundaries
1997–2010: The London Borough of Newham wards of Castle, Central, Greatfield, Kensington, Little Ilford, Manor Park, Monega, St Stephen's, South, and Wall End.
2010–present: The London Borough of Newham wards of Beckton, Boleyn, East Ham Central, East Ham North, East Ham South, Green Street East, Little Ilford, Manor Park, Royal Docks, and Wall End.
The constituency covers the eastern half of Newham, including East Ham, Beckton, Little Ilford and Manor Park.
Based on the 2010 list of eligible electors compiled by local authorities, this seat has the second-largest electorate of any in the UK, behind only the Isle of Wight. This will make the seat at an extreme of malapportionment—based on the figures compiled in 2010, it will have more than four times the electorate of the smallest constituency.
Elections in the 2010s
This was the largest numerical majority of any seat in the 2010 general election.