Dagenham and Rainham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

. It elects one Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It was first contested in the 2010 general election.

Following their review of parliamentary representation in North London

North London

North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...

, the Boundary Commission for England created the constituency by merging the majority of the former constituencies of Dagenham

Dagenham (UK Parliament constituency)

Dagenham was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

 and Hornchurch

Hornchurch (UK Parliament constituency)

Hornchurch was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

. Following a review of ward boundaries a small part of River ward was also transferred from Barking

Barking (UK Parliament constituency)

Barking is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. It has elected Labour MPs since its creation in 1945, usually with strong majorities.- Boundaries :The...

.

Boundaries

The cross-border constituency of Dagenham and Rainham is made up of six electoral wards from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough had a total population of 1,937; and the area was characterised by farming, woodland and the fishing fleet at Barking. This last industry employed 1,370 men and boys by 1850, but by the end of the century had ceased to exist; replaced by...

 and three from the London Borough of Havering

London Borough of Havering

The London Borough of Havering is a London borough in North East London, England and forms part of Outer London. The principal town in Havering is Romford and the other main communities are Hornchurch, Upminster and Rainham. The borough is mainly characterised by suburban development with large...

.

• From Barking and Dagenham: Chadwell Heath (not to be confused with the Chadwell ward in neighbouring Redbridge), Eastbrook, Heath, River, Village, Whalebone
• From Havering: Elm Park, Rainham and Wennington, South Hornchurch

History

Before 1945 the Dagenham area was part of the Romford constituency

Romford (UK Parliament constituency)

Romford is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...

. 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, remains the longest-serving Labour MP in history.

In 2010 Labour's Jon Cruddas

Jon Cruddas

Jonathan Cruddas is a British Labour Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for Dagenham and Rainham. He was first elected in 2001 to the seat of Dagenham....

 took the seat despite a strong swing against him towards the Conservatives. BNP

BNP

-Politics:*Bahujana Nidahas Peramuna, a Sri Lankan political party*Balochistan National Party, a Pakistani political party*Bangladesh Nationalist Party, a Bangladeshi political party*Barbados National Party, a defunct political party in Barbados...

 candidate Michael Barnbrook came third with 11.2% of the vote, his party's second-best showing in the 2010 election.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	2010	Jon Cruddas Jon Cruddas Jonathan Cruddas is a British Labour Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for Dagenham and Rainham. He was first elected in 2001 to the seat of Dagenham....	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

Election results

* Served as MP for Dagenham

Dagenham (UK Parliament constituency)

Dagenham was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

in the 2005–2010 Parliament