Dagenham and Rainham (UK Parliament constituency)

Dagenham and Rainham is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 creation by Jon Cruddas of the Labour Party.[n 2]

Not to be confused with Gillingham and Rainham (UK Parliament constituency).

Dagenham and Rainham
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Dagenham and Rainham in Greater London
County	Greater London
Electorate	70,187 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created	2010
Member of Parliament	Jon Cruddas (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Dagenham, Hornchurch, Barking

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [2]	Party
	2010	Jon Cruddas	Labour

Boundaries

Electoral wards	Local authority
(North to south) Whalebone, Chadwell Heath[n 3], Heath, Eastbrook, Village, River	London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
Elm Park, Rainham and Wennington, South Hornchurch	London Borough of Havering

Constituency profile

The constituency may retain significant pockets of poverty indicated by a high ranking in the Index of Multiple Deprivation compiled in the year 2000 however average incomes were in four large wards close to the national average.[3] The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham saw the most rapid decrease in people of White British ethnicity in the 10 years to the 2011 census, of 31.4 percentage points. However the same dataset shows that 58.3% of people are white in the seat, which is similar to the Greater London average. An established area of settlement for British people of Asian ethnicity with 15.9% of this background, the neighbouring London Borough of Newham has a much higher proportion of residents with Asian heritage, 43.5%.[4]

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 Dagenham until 1983. Parker was the last serving MP to have been elected before the Second World War, and with 48 years in Parliament, was the longest-serving Labour MP in history, a record he held until December 2017. The seat was first contested in the 2010 general election which resulted from the Boundary Commission's report that recommended merging the majority of the former constituencies of Dagenham and Hornchurch and added to existing electoral wards a small part of River ward was also transferred from Barking.

In 2010 Labour's Jon Cruddas took the seat gaining a marginal 5.9% win, facing a strong nominal (ward-by-ward) Lab–Con swing measured against the previous forerunner seats and candidates. BNP candidate Michael Barnbrook came third with 11.2% of the vote, his party's second-best showing in the election. In 2015, Cruddas, incumbent won an 11.6% majority; the runner-up party changed to being UKIP closely followed by the Conservative candidate.

In 2019, Cruddas' majority was cut to just 293 votes, the lowest Labour majority in Dagenham ever, which has been represented by Labour MPs since 1945.

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Dagenham and Rainham[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jon Cruddas	19,468	44.5	5.6
	Conservative	Damian White	19,175	43.8	3.9
	Brexit Party	Tom Bewick	2,887	6.6
	Liberal Democrats	Sam Fisk	1,182	2.7	1.7
	Green	Azzees Minott	602	1.4	0.2
	Independent	Ron Emin	212	0.5
	Independent	Terry London	209	0.5	0.3
Majority			293	0.7	9.5
Turnout			43,735	61.7	3.2
Registered electors			71,045
	Labour hold		Swing	-4.8

General election 2017: Dagenham and Rainham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jon Cruddas	22,958	50.1	8.7
	Conservative	Julie Marson	18,306	39.9	15.6
	UKIP	Peter Harris	3,246	7.1	22.8
	Green	Denis Breading	544	1.2	0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathan Fryer	465	1.0	0.7
	BNP	Paul Sturdy	239	0.5	0.1
	Concordia	Terence London	85	0.2	0.1
Majority			4,652	10.1	1.4
Turnout			45,843	64.9	2.6
Registered electors			70,616
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.4

General election 2015: Dagenham and Rainham[7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jon Cruddas	17,830	41.4	1.1
	UKIP	Peter Harris	12,850	29.8	26.3
	Conservative	Julie Marson	10,492	24.4	10.0
	Green	Kate Simpson[9]	806	1.9	1.2
	Liberal Democrats	Denise Capstick[10][11]	717	1.7	6.9
	BNP	Tess Culnane	151	0.4	10.8
	Independent	Terry London	133	0.3	0.3
	English Democrat	Kim Gandy	71	0.2	0.2
Majority			4,980	11.6	5.7
Turnout			43,050	62.3	0.9
Registered electors			69,128
	Labour hold		Swing	-12.6

General election 2010: Dagenham & Rainham[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Jon Cruddas*	17,813	40.3	N/A
	Conservative	Simon Jones	15,183	34.3	N/A
	BNP	Michael Barnbrook	4,952	11.2	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Joseph Bourke	3,806	8.6	N/A
	UKIP	Craig Litwin	1,569	3.5	N/A
	Independent	Gordon Kennedy[13]	308	0.7	N/A
	Christian	Paula Watson[14]	305	0.7	N/A
	Green	Debbie Rosaman	296	0.7	N/A
Majority			2,630	5.9	N/A
Turnout			44,232	63.4	N/A
Registered electors			69,764
	Labour win (new seat)

* Served as MP for Dagenham in the 2005–2010 Parliament

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London

Notes and references

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. 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.
3. cf. Chadwell in neighbouring London Borough of Redbridge

References

1. "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.
2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "D" (part 1)
3. "Local statistics - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk.
4. "Forest Heath (East of England) was the only local authority to see an increase in White British between 2001 and 2011 (by 0.8 percentage points). The proportion of White British decreased in the remaining local authorities in England and Wales, with the largest decrease in Barking and Dagenham at 31.4 percentage points." 2011 Census statistics
5. https://www.lbbd.gov.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/Statement%20of%20Persons%20Nominated%20-%20Dagenham%20and%20Rainham_0.pdf
6. http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7979/CBP-7979.pdf
7. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
9. "2015 general elections". Archived from the original on 2015-01-08. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
10. http://www.libdems.org.uk/list_of_selected_candidates
11. http://www.libdems.org.uk/denise_capstick
12. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
13. Gordon Kennedy. "Just Vote Them Out". Archived from the original on 2010-05-12. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
14. "Dagenham and Rainham". Christian Party. Archived from the original on 20 April 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2010.

External links

• Politics Resources (Election results from 1922 onwards)
• Electoral Calculus (Election results from 1955 onwards)