Bethnal Green and Stepney (UK Parliament constituency)

Bethnal Green and Stepney is a parliamentary constituency in Greater London, which returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Bethnal Green and Stepney
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Bethnal Green and Stepney in Greater London for the 2024 general election
County	Greater London
Electorate	77,000 (March 2020)[1]
Current constituency
Created	2024
Member of Parliament	Rushanara Ali (Labour)
Created from	Bethnal Green and Bow (the most part) & Poplar and Limehouse (smaller part)
1983–1997
Seats	One
Created from	Bethnal Green and Bow and Stepney and Poplar
Replaced by	Bethnal Green and Bow (the most part) Poplar and Canning Town (small parts)

The seat first existed between 1983 and 1997 and was re-established under the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election. In the intervening period, the seat was largely replaced by Bethnal Green and Bow.^[2]

The constituency is represented by Rushanara Ali who had been MP for Bethnal Green and Bow from 2010 to 2024.

History

In its first incarnation, from 1983 to its abolition in 1997, the constituency was only ever represented by the former cabinet minister Peter Shore, who held the seat for the Labour Party. Shore was noted for his opposition to the United Kingdom's entry into the European Economic Community.^[3]

Boundaries

1983–1997

The constituency was made up of nine electoral wards of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets: Holy Trinity, Redcoat, St Dunstan's, St James', St Katharine's, St Mary's, St Peter's, Spitalfields, and Weavers. It was abolished in 1997, and largely replaced by the larger Bethnal Green and Bow constituency, in line with the Boundary Commission's recommendation that one seat should be lost in the paired boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham. 297 electors moved to the new Cities of London and Westminster constituency.

Map of boundaries from 2024

2024–present

Further to the 2023 boundary review, the composition of the constituency is as follows (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

• The London Borough of Tower Hamlets wards of: Bethnal Green; St. Dunstan’s; St. Peter’s; Shadwell; Spitalfields & Banglatown; Stepney Green; Weavers; Whitechapel.^[4]

Apart from Shadwell and a small part of Whitechapel ward, previously part of Poplar and Limehouse, the constituency replaced Bethnal Green and Bow - excluding Bow, which was included in the newly created seat of Stratford and Bow. It is the smallest constituency in the UK by geographical area.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[5]	Party
	1983	Peter Shore	Labour
	1997	constituency abolished: see Bethnal Green and Bow
	2024	Rushanara Ali	Labour

Elections

Election results 2019-2024

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Bethnal Green and Stepney^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rushanara Ali	15,896	34.1	39.4
	Independent	Ajmal Masroor	14,207	30.5	N/A
	Green	Phoebe Gill	6,391	13.7	9.5
	Liberal Democrats	Rabina Khan	4,777	10.2	0.9
	Reform UK	Peter Sceats	1,964	4.2	2.2
	Conservative	Oscar Reaney	1,920	4.1	6.0
	Animal Welfare	Vanessa Hudson	348	0.7	0.2
	Independent	Sham Uddin	325	0.7	N/A
	Independent	Md Somon Ahmed	315	0.7	N/A
	Independent	Reggie Adams	271	0.6	N/A
	SDP	Jon Mabbutt	233	0.5	N/A
Majority			1,689	3.6	59.8
Turnout			46,647	56.9	8.0
Registered electors			81,922
	Labour hold

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result [a] [7]
Party		Vote	%
	Labour	36,720	73.5
	Conservative	5,065	10.1
	Liberal Democrats	4,634	9.3
	Green	2,101	4.2
	Brexit Party	992	2.0
	Others	439	0.9
Majority		31,655	63.4
Turnout		49,951	64.9
Electorate		77,000

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Bethnal Green and Stepney^[8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Shore	20,350	55.8	+7.5
	Liberal Democrats	Jeremy Shaw	8,120	22.3	−9.5
	Conservative	Jane Emmerson	6,507	17.9	−1.3
	BNP	Richard Edmonds	1,310	3.6	New
	Communist (PCC)	Stanley Kelsey	156	0.4	−0.3
Majority			12,230	33.5	+17.0
Turnout			36,443	65.5	+7.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+8.6

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Bethnal Green and Stepney^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Shore	15,490	48.3	−2.7
	Liberal	Jeremy Shaw	10,206	31.8	+1.4
	Conservative	Olga Maitland	6,176	19.2	+5.2
	Communist	Sarah Gasquoine	232	0.7	−0.1
Majority			5,284	16.5	−4.1
Turnout			32,104	57.6	+1.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1983: Bethnal Green and Stepney^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Shore	15,740	51.0
	Liberal	Stephen Charters	9,382	30.4
	Conservative	Demitri Argyropulo	4,323	14.0
	National Front	Victor Clark	800	2.6
	Communist	J. Rees	243	0.8
	Independent	B. N. Chaudhuri	214	0.7
	Independent	P. J. Mahoney	136	0.4
Majority			6,358	20.6
Turnout			30,838	55.7
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in London

Notes

1. Estimate of the 2019 general election result as if the revised boundaries recommended under the 2023 boundary review were in place