Leyton and Wanstead is a borough 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.

Boundaries

Straddling the boundary of the boroughs of Redbridge

London Borough of Redbridge

The London Borough of Redbridge is a London borough in outer north-east London. Its administrative headquarters is at Redbridge Town Hall in Ilford. The local authority is Redbridge London Borough Council.-Etymology:...

 and Waltham Forest

London Borough of Waltham Forest

The London Borough of Waltham Forest is in northeast London, England. Officially, it forms part of Outer London as it borders Essex. However, it can be seen that the NE London boundary does not extend far compared to elsewhere in the city...

 in north-east London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, the constituency covers Leyton

Leyton

Leyton is an area of north-east London and part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, located north east of Charing Cross. It borders Walthamstow and Leytonstone; Stratford in Newham; and Homerton and Lower Clapton in the London Borough of Hackney....

, Wanstead

Wanstead

Wanstead is a suburban area in the London Borough of Redbridge, North-East London. The main road going through Wanstead is the A12. The name is from the Anglo-Saxon words wænn and stede, meaning "settlement on a small hill"....

, Leytonstone

Leytonstone

Leytonstone is an area of east London and part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is a high density suburban area, located seven miles north east of Charing Cross in the ceremonial county of Greater London and the historic county of Essex...

 and South Woodford

South Woodford

South Woodford is a suburb of north-east London in the London Borough of Redbridge, situated north-east of Charing Cross. Together with Woodford Green, Woodford Bridge and Woodford Wells it forms the area known as Woodford, the origins of which date back at least to the Saxon period...

. The seat was created for the 1997 election succeeding the Leyton constituency

Leyton (UK Parliament constituency)

Leyton was a parliamentary constituency, centred on the town of Leyton in North-East London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.-History:...

, with parts of what had been the Wanstead and Woodford

Wanstead and Woodford (UK Parliament constituency)

Wanstead and Woodford was a constituency in north-east London, 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...

 constituency. It has an electorate of approximately 60,000.

The constituency is made up of the following electoral wards:

• From the London Borough of Redbridge
  London Borough of Redbridge
  The London Borough of Redbridge is a London borough in outer north-east London. Its administrative headquarters is at Redbridge Town Hall in Ilford. The local authority is Redbridge London Borough Council.-Etymology:...
  
  : Snaresbrook; Wanstead.
• From the London Borough of Waltham Forest
  London Borough of Waltham Forest
  The London Borough of Waltham Forest is in northeast London, England. Officially, it forms part of Outer London as it borders Essex. However, it can be seen that the NE London boundary does not extend far compared to elsewhere in the city...
  
  : Cann Hall; Cathall; Forest; Grove Green; Leyton; Leytonstone.

Constituency profile

This seat combines deprived areas around Leyton with the more affluent Wanstead area. It is an ethnically diverse area with the biggest minority groups Pakistani and black Caribbean. The seat has been Labour since its creation in 1997.

Member of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1997 United Kingdom general election, 1997 The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...	Harry Cohen Harry Cohen Harry Michael Cohen is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Leyton and Wanstead from 1983 to 2010.-Early life:...	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...
	2010	John Cryer John Cryer John Robert Cryer is an English Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Leyton and Wanstead since the general election in May 2010...	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...

History

Leyton and Wanstead is one of the Labour Party's safest seats. Harry Cohen was MP for the Leyton area from 1983 and this seat from 1997. Cohen retired in 2010, and the seat was held for Labour by John Cryer, previously MP for Hornchurch from 1997 to 2005.

Elections in 2010s

Elections in 2000s

External links

• BBC constituency profile