West Ham was a constituency[n 1] created in 1997 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2005 until its abolition for the 2024 general election by Lyn Brown, a member of the Labour Party.

[2] 1997–2010: The London Borough of Newham wards of Bemersyde, Forest Gate, Hudsons, New Town, Park, Plaistow, Plashet, Stratford, Upton, and West Ham.

The first member, Tony Banks, served the main predecessor seat, Newham North West from 1983 and was Minister for Sport (1997-1999).

[4] Helped by proximity to the City of London and exporting businesses in areas such as Hackney, Shoreditch and the Thames Gateway, the area is only gradually recovering in terms of employment rates from the deep East End decline, particularly decline of the dockers' industry here of the 1950s to the 1980s, with an immediate boost from the 2010 creation of the London Olympic Village and Park.

In November 2012, workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were significantly higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 7.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian, though not the highest in London.