Ilford South (UK Parliament constituency)

Ilford South
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Ilford South in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	86,401 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Ilford
Current constituency
Created	1945
Member of parliament	Mike Gapes (Labour Co-operative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Ilford
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Ilford South is a constituency created in 1945 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1992 by Mike Gapes of the Labour Party and of the Co-operative Party.

The area comprising the seat since 1997 is denser than Ilford North and has similar population density to neighbouring seats to the south and west closer to central London. The most common housing kind by a large margin is terraced housing in the boundaries as drawn. The town of Ilford and most outlying areas are well connected by either London Underground stations or tube stations to central London and an arterial road route cuts through the area, partially segregated from adjoining buildings. Before 1900 Ilford was a market town with few commuters a situation which has changed significantly during the following century — much housing was built to rehouse people from the formerly smaller East End of London which covers a wide area to the immediate west; this urbanisation of the area was completed as part of a 20 year housing expansion in the area following the damage caused in the London Blitz.

This constituency was created in 1945. The current MP since 1992, Mike Gapes, is the fourth Labour Party MP, each of whose tenures was interspersed or preceded by one of a Conservative MP serving the area.

The 2015 result made the seat the 38th safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority. The narrowest result since 1997 (inclusive) was in 2005 at a majority of 21.6%; the 2015 majority is the greatest in this period at 38.1%

1945–1950: The Municipal Borough of Ilford wards of Clementswood, Cranbrook, Goodmayes, Loxford, and Park.

1950–1974: The Municipal Borough of Ilford wards of Clementswood, Cranbrook, Goodmayes, Loxford, Mayfield, and Park.

1974–1983: The London Borough of Redbridge wards of Clementswood, Cranbrook, Goodmayes, Ilford, Mayfield, and Park.