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, and Upton Park.

Members of Parliament

Election results

Politics and history of the constituency

The area is generally considered a safe Labour seat; West Ham South had in 1906 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 is one of the few in the country where white people are in the minority; there is a significant Asian population, many of whom are Muslims. 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.

External links

• BBC Election 2005: West Ham

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

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