History
Before 1945, the Dagenham area was part of the Romford constituency. The MP for the latter seat since 1935, Labour's John Parker, continued to represent the Dagenham seat 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.
Dagenham has been held by Labour since World War II and is considered a safe seat. The far-right British National Party is very active in this area and its support has been steadily rising. It is home to a declining skilled manual industry such as the Ford Motor Company works, which downscaled production in 2001.
The British National Party received nearly 10% of the vote in the 2005 general election and in the 2006 local elections returned 12 councillors to Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council.
As of 2009 the new constituency of Dagenham & Rainham includes wards which have not traditionally supported the BNP or Labour, and the leaks of BNP databases has shown that membership in the area shown is diminishing.
Read more about this topic: Dagenham (UK Parliament Constituency)
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