Post by John Chanin on Aug 23, 2023 16:14:56 GMT
Most of the seat is a densely packed area of terraced housing in the south of the borough of Waltham Forest, to the east of the river Lea. To the north is Walthamstow, to the east the discontinuous open space of Wanstead Flats, Bush Wood, and Hollow Ponds (all part of Epping Forest), and to the south it blends imperceptibly into Stratford. Through the middle runs the M11 extension (A12) alongside the Central Line of the Underground, forming a substantial barrier. South of here the housing is evenly distributed between owner-occupation, private, and social renting, with the large Cathall Estate renovated as part of the Housing Action Trust programme in the 1990s, and therefore not in council control. There is a very high black population here, as large as the Asian population, and particularly concentrated in the social housing, and this is the poorest part of the seat. To the north-west is Leyton proper. In the south-west corner it includes part of the Olympic Park. Alongside the marshes are the Spitalfields vegetable market, and Leyton Orient football club, and another large ex-council HAT estate. Around Leyton High Street much of the two-storey terraced housing was built as flats for the working classes in Edwardian times. As elsewhere in London much of this is now rented privately - in the central Grove Green ward over 40%. To the east of the Gospel Oak-Barking line, part of the London Overground, which meanders through north-east London, is Leytonstone. This is a bit more up market, with more owner-occupation, and a higher proportion of managerial occupations. There is some fine Victorian housing adjoining the open spaces, much now occupied by Asian households, and at the far north-east corner the giant Whipps Cross hospital which serves north-east London. The Waltham Forest section is particularly notable for its high proportion of ‘other white’, which is as large as ‘white British’ in Leyton. Overall this is very much a working class area, with low managerial jobs for London.
At the boundary review which came into effect in 1997, the Wanstead wards from Redbridge were added. This is a different, much more middle-class world, with larger, mostly Victorian, houses, much higher levels of owner-occupation, managerial occupations, and much whiter, and has nothing in common with Leyton except for the E11 postcode, and the Central line of the Underground. To the east it adjoins the river Roding, including the splendid and extensive Wanstead Park, once an aristocratic estate, although the house is long demolished. Between here and the Wanstead Flats, which form the boundary with Newham, is the curiously isolated small residential district of Aldersbrook, mostly comprised of Edwardian semis and terraces. Wanstead ‘village’ (and yes the ward is now called this) is full of restaurants and coffee bars, while Snaresbrook to the north is more conventionally suburban and inter-war, best known for its crown court, which serves north-east London and is housed in a listed Victorian building. It was a curious decision by the Boundary Commission to create this merger, crossing the boundary with Redbridge in two places, but they have stuck resolutely to it, including in the latest boundary review, where the seat has been adjusted to new ward boundaries, and extended into the centre of South Woodford, with its large shopping centre.
Locally there was for many years a strong Liberal Democrat presence in Leyton. Cann Hall ward in the far south was a stronghold, and most of the other wards were marginal. At parliamentary level they were generally second until 2015. After the coalition Liberal support collapsed, and all wards are now safely Labour with the Greens a distant second. Going further back in time Leyton was where senior Labour politician Patrick Gordon Walker famously failed to return to parliament at a by-election after losing his seat in 1964. Local residents do not always take kindly to being used instrumentally in this way. Wanstead and South Woodford were once in the very safe Conservative seat of Wanstead & Woodford, but political change in recent years has swung them inexorably to Labour, like many middle-class London areas, and Labour now hold all the seats on the council here too. The 2024 General Election saw the Greens transfer their distant second place at local elections to the national level. As elsewhere in the inner city there was a sharp decline in the Labour vote, as well as the Conservative, with Reform, Workers, and a (non-muslim) independent all polling significant numbers as well as the Greens. But this remains a very safe seat.
The MP from 2010 to 2024 was John Cryer, the son of two other MPs, and formerly MP for Hornchurch from 1997 to 2005. He succeeded Harry Cohen, one of the villains of the expenses scandal, who claimed for his home in Leyton as a second home, and was quite unrepentant, being quoted as saying that these expenses were de facto a part of the salary. The new MP is Calvin Bailey, one of Labour’s ex-servicemen, having seen active service in the RAF in Afghanistan.
Census data: Owner-occupied 49% (508/575 in England & Wales), private rented 32% (54th), social rented 19% (184th).
: White 52%(529th), Black 13%(34th), South Asian 19%(46th), Mixed 6%(31st), Other 9%(69th)
: Managerial & professional 46% (111th), Routine & Semi-routine 21% (476th)
: Degree 47% (50th), Minimal qualifications 24% (427th)
: Students 8% (143rd), Over 65: 11% (531st)
: Muslim 22%(32nd)
Boundaries : The new seat is made up of 91% from Leyton and Wanstead, 5% from Ilford N, and 3% from Chingford & Woodford Green
All of the old Leyton & Wanstead seat is in the new one.
At the boundary review which came into effect in 1997, the Wanstead wards from Redbridge were added. This is a different, much more middle-class world, with larger, mostly Victorian, houses, much higher levels of owner-occupation, managerial occupations, and much whiter, and has nothing in common with Leyton except for the E11 postcode, and the Central line of the Underground. To the east it adjoins the river Roding, including the splendid and extensive Wanstead Park, once an aristocratic estate, although the house is long demolished. Between here and the Wanstead Flats, which form the boundary with Newham, is the curiously isolated small residential district of Aldersbrook, mostly comprised of Edwardian semis and terraces. Wanstead ‘village’ (and yes the ward is now called this) is full of restaurants and coffee bars, while Snaresbrook to the north is more conventionally suburban and inter-war, best known for its crown court, which serves north-east London and is housed in a listed Victorian building. It was a curious decision by the Boundary Commission to create this merger, crossing the boundary with Redbridge in two places, but they have stuck resolutely to it, including in the latest boundary review, where the seat has been adjusted to new ward boundaries, and extended into the centre of South Woodford, with its large shopping centre.
Locally there was for many years a strong Liberal Democrat presence in Leyton. Cann Hall ward in the far south was a stronghold, and most of the other wards were marginal. At parliamentary level they were generally second until 2015. After the coalition Liberal support collapsed, and all wards are now safely Labour with the Greens a distant second. Going further back in time Leyton was where senior Labour politician Patrick Gordon Walker famously failed to return to parliament at a by-election after losing his seat in 1964. Local residents do not always take kindly to being used instrumentally in this way. Wanstead and South Woodford were once in the very safe Conservative seat of Wanstead & Woodford, but political change in recent years has swung them inexorably to Labour, like many middle-class London areas, and Labour now hold all the seats on the council here too. The 2024 General Election saw the Greens transfer their distant second place at local elections to the national level. As elsewhere in the inner city there was a sharp decline in the Labour vote, as well as the Conservative, with Reform, Workers, and a (non-muslim) independent all polling significant numbers as well as the Greens. But this remains a very safe seat.
The MP from 2010 to 2024 was John Cryer, the son of two other MPs, and formerly MP for Hornchurch from 1997 to 2005. He succeeded Harry Cohen, one of the villains of the expenses scandal, who claimed for his home in Leyton as a second home, and was quite unrepentant, being quoted as saying that these expenses were de facto a part of the salary. The new MP is Calvin Bailey, one of Labour’s ex-servicemen, having seen active service in the RAF in Afghanistan.
Census data: Owner-occupied 49% (508/575 in England & Wales), private rented 32% (54th), social rented 19% (184th).
: White 52%(529th), Black 13%(34th), South Asian 19%(46th), Mixed 6%(31st), Other 9%(69th)
: Managerial & professional 46% (111th), Routine & Semi-routine 21% (476th)
: Degree 47% (50th), Minimal qualifications 24% (427th)
: Students 8% (143rd), Over 65: 11% (531st)
: Muslim 22%(32nd)
Boundaries : The new seat is made up of 91% from Leyton and Wanstead, 5% from Ilford N, and 3% from Chingford & Woodford Green
All of the old Leyton & Wanstead seat is in the new one.
| 2017 | % | 2019 | % | Notional | % | 2024 | % | |
| Labour | 32,234 | 69.8 | 28,836 | 64.7 | 30,823 | 63.1 | 20,755 | 47.5 |
| Conservative | 9,627 | 20.8 | 8,028 | 18.0 | 9,702 | 19.9 | 4,846 | 11.1 |
| Liberal Democrat | 2,961 | 6.4 | 4,666 | 10.5 | 5,209 | 10.7 | 2,815 | 6.4 |
| Brexit/Reform | 785 | 1.8 | 836 | 1.7 | 2,475 | 5.7 | ||
| Green | 1,351 | 2.9 | 1,805 | 4.1 | 1,868 | 3.8 | 6,791 | 15.5 |
| Workers | 1,633 | 3.7 | ||||||
| Other | 427 | 1.0 | 427 | 0.9 | 4,417 | 10.1 | ||
| Majority | 22,607 | 49.0 | 20,808 | 46.7 | 21,121 | 43.2 | 13,964 | 31.9 |