West Ham constituency to disappear under proposed boundary changes

The plans, outlined by the Boundary Commission this morning, will see the total number of seats nationally cut from 650 to 600.

The East Ham seat, currently held by Stephen Timms, will consist of Beckton, Boleyn, Custom House, East Ham Central, East Ham North, East Ham South, Plaistow South, Royal Docks and Wall End wards.

The wards of Canning Town North, Canning Town South, Stratford and New Town will combine with five wards in neighbouring Tower Hamlets to form Bow and Canning Town.

Forest Gate North, Forest Gate South, Green Street East, Green Street West, Little Ilford, Manor Park and Plaistow North wards will join with Clementswood and Loxford wards in Redbridge to form Forest Gate and Loxford.

The changes, planned to be used from the 2020 general election, are taking place to balance the number of voters in each constituency.

Periodic boundary reviews are deemed necessary to try to minimise variations in the size of constituency electorates.

The current review uses the electorate figures from December 2015.

On this basis, a constituency should have 74,769 voters - but the rules for the review allow a variation of 5 per cent above or below this, meaning constituencies should be no smaller than 71,031 and no larger than 78,507.

Both the current West Ham seat, held by Lyn Brown, and East Ham seat are above the upper limit.

Mr Timms said: “These boundary reforms across the country do not include 2 million people who registered to vote for the EU Referendum.

“The proposed changes are for the benefit of the Conservative Party and should not go ahead. I hope everyone will be able to contribute to the public consultation.”

The boundary commissions for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be carrying out consultation exercises involving public hearings and written representations before producing their final reports and sending them to Parliament in October 2018.