The current seat was formed from Mr Banks’s old Newham North West seat, which was deemed to have too few voters in the 1995 boundary review, 46,000 compared with the English average of 69,000. Three wards were added to the old Newham North west seat; Bemeryside, Hudsons and Plaistow. These wards were previously part of the old Newham South seat.

As with many east London seats, there is a growing ethnic minority population. In the 1991 census just over 43% of residents were non-white. Over a fifth of the population here is Afro-Caribbean, and over a fifth Asian.