Blaenau Gwent (UK Parliament constituency)

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Not to be confused with Blaenau Gwent (Senedd constituency).

Blaenau Gwent
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of Blaenau Gwent in Wales
Preserved countyGwent
Population69,814 (2011 census)[1]
Electorate53,791 (December 2010)[2]
Major settlementsEbbw Vale, Abertillery, Brynmawr, Tredegar
Current constituency
Created1983
Member of ParliamentNick Smith (Labour)
SeatsOne
Created fromAbertillery, Brecon and Radnor and Ebbw Vale[3]
Overlaps
SeneddBlaenau Gwent, South Wales East

Blaenau Gwent is a constituency in South Wales, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Nick Smith of the Labour Party.

The constituency is set to be abolished, as part of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies and under the June 2023 final recommendations of the Boundary Commission for Wales for the next United Kingdom general election. The entire constituency would be part of Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney.[4]

Constituency profile[edit]

Blaenau Gwent is a post-industrial area which formerly had significant coal and steel sectors.[5]

History[edit]

Predecessor seats[edit]

Blaenau Gwent incorporates most of the area of Aneurin Bevan's old constituency and other areas as population expansion has been low or negative following the 1960s. The constituency was created in 1983, twenty-three years after Bevan's death, from the upper part of the former Abertillery constituency, the town of Brynmawr from Brecon and Radnor, and Bevan's old Ebbw Vale seat with the exception of the area of the Rhymney Community (formerly Rhymney Urban District). The then-Labour party leader Michael Foot, who had won Ebbw Vale in the by-election following Bevan's death, was the seat's first MP.

Strong Labour Party majorities[edit]

Until 2005, the constituency statistically ranked in the top 20 safest Labour seats in the country by size of majority and by continuous representation by candidates from that party. In the 1983 and 1992 general elections, it was Labour's safest seat.

In the 2010 general election, Labour candidate Nick Smith gained the seat with a 29.2% swing from Independent back to Labour; as one of three seats Labour gained in that election where its government fell. The 2015 result made the seat the 30th safest of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.[6]

Period of independent representation[edit]

At the 2005 general election, the Labour Welsh Assembly Member Peter Law ran as an independent and won the seat. He had resigned from the Labour Party in protest at the imposition of an all-women candidates' shortlist following the retirement of incumbent MP Llew Smith and he overturned a 19,313 (60%) Labour majority with a significant 9,121 (25%) majority. In 2006 the Labour Party decided not to require an all-women shortlist at the next general election.[7]

Law died of a brain tumour on 25 April 2006, prompting a by-election in the seat on 29 June. Labour failed to regain the seat as Law's former campaign manager, Dai Davies, was elected to replace him, beating Owen Smith, the Labour candidate who later became MP for Pontypridd.

Opposition parties[edit]

The Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats have both been very weak in the seat. From 1987 until 2017 neither had ever won 10% of the vote and the Conservatives had never achieved one eighth of the total votes cast. However, in 2015 the Conservatives achieved just under 15% of the vote, with Plaid Cymru in second place after Labour. In 2005 the Liberal Democrats received their lowest share of the vote in the United Kingdom and the Conservatives their second lowest, and both lost their deposits, though this particular election saw unusual circumstances.

The 2010 result was one of few where an Independent candidate kept their deposit, winning in excess of 5% of the votes cast, and pushed one of the main three parties into fourth place; the independent Blaenau Gwent People's Voice group fielded no candidate in 2015. Three non-Labour candidates exceeded 5% of the vote (the deposit threshold) in 2015, the foremost locally being UKIP (who achieved nearly 18% of the vote), but the Lib Dem and Green candidates failed to retain their deposits.

Boundaries[edit]

Map
Map of current boundaries

The constituency boundaries are coterminous with those of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The main towns are Ebbw Vale, Abertillery, Brynmawr and Tredegar.

Members of Parliament[edit]

Election Member[8] Party
1983 Michael Foot Labour
1992 Llew Smith Labour
2005 Peter Law Independent
2006 by-election Dai Davies Blaenau Gwent People's Voice
2010 Nick Smith Labour

Elections[edit]

Elections in the 1980s[edit]

General election 1983: Blaenau Gwent[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Michael Foot 30,113 70.0 N/A
Liberal Gareth Atkinson 6,488 15.1 N/A
Conservative Talmai Morgan 4,816 11.2 N/A
Plaid Cymru Stephen Morgan 1,624 3.7 N/A
Majority 23,625 54.9 N/A
Turnout 43,041 76.8 N/A
Registered electors 55,948
Labour win (new seat)
General election 1987: Blaenau Gwent[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Michael Foot 32,820 75.9 +5.9
Conservative Andrew Taylor 4,959 11.5 +0.3
Liberal David McBride 3,847 8.9 −6.2
Plaid Cymru Stephen Morgan 1,621 3.7 ±0.0
Majority 27,861 64.4 +9.5
Turnout 43,247 77.2 +0.4
Registered electors 56,011
Labour hold Swing +2.8

Elections in the 1990s[edit]

General election 1992: Blaenau Gwent[11][12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Llew Smith 34,333 79.0 +3.1
Conservative David Melding 4,266 9.8 −1.7
Liberal Democrats Alistair Burns 2,774 6.4 −2.5
Plaid Cymru (Green) Alun Davies 2,099 4.8 +1.1
Majority 30,067 69.2 +4.8
Turnout 43,472 78.1 +0.9
Registered electors 55,638
Labour hold Swing +2.4
General election 1997: Blaenau Gwent[13][14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Llew Smith 31,493 79.5 +0.5
Liberal Democrats Geraldine Layton 3,458 8.7 +2.3
Conservative Margrit A. Williams 2,607 6.6 −3.2
Plaid Cymru Jim B. Criddle 2,072 5.2 +0.4
Majority 28,035 70.8 +1.6
Turnout 39,630 72.3 -5.8
Registered electors 54,815
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 2000s[edit]

General election 2001: Blaenau Gwent[15][16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Llew Smith 22,855 72.0 −7.5
Plaid Cymru Adam Rykala 3,542 11.2 +6.0
Liberal Democrats Charles Townsend 2,945 9.3 +0.6
Conservative Huw Williams 2,383 7.5 +0.9
Majority 19,313 60.8 −10.0
Turnout 31,725 59.5 −12.8
Registered electors 53,353
Labour hold Swing
General election 2005: Blaenau Gwent[17][18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Peter Law 20,505 58.2 N/A
Labour Maggie Jones 11,384 32.3 −39.7
Liberal Democrats Brian Thomas 1,511 4.3 −5.0
Plaid Cymru John Price 843 2.4 −8.8
Conservative Phillip Lee 816 2.4 −5.1
UKIP Peter Osborne 192 0.5 N/A
Majority 9,121 25.9 N/A
Turnout 35,251 66.1 +6.6
Registered electors 53,301
Independent gain from Labour Swing +48.9
2006 Blaenau Gwent by-election[19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Blaenau Gwent PV Dai Davies[n 1] 12,543 46.2 -12.0
Labour Owen Smith 10,055 37.0 +4.7
Plaid Cymru Steffan Lewis 1,755 6.5 +4.1
Liberal Democrats Amy Kitcher 1,477 5.4 +1.1
Conservative Margrit Williams 1,013 3.7 +1.3
Monster Raving Loony Alan "Howling Laud" Hope 318 1.2 N/A
Majority 2,488 9.2 −16.7
Turnout 27,161 50.5 −15.6
Registered electors 52,512
Independent hold Swing −8.4

Elections in the 2010s[edit]

General election 2010: Blaenau Gwent[20][21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Nick Smith 16,974 52.4 +20.1
Blaenau Gwent PV Dai Davies 6,458 19.9 N/A
Liberal Democrats Matt Smith 3,285 10.1 +5.8
Conservative Liz Stevenson 2,265 7.0 +4.6
Plaid Cymru Rhodri Davies 1,333 4.1 +1.7
BNP Anthony King 1,211 3.7 N/A
UKIP Michael Kocan 488 1.5 +1.0
Socialist Labour Alyson O'Connell 381 1.2 N/A
Majority 10,516 32.5 N/A
Turnout 32,395 61.8 −4.3
Registered electors 52,442
Labour gain from Blaenau Gwent PV Swing +29.2
General election 2015: Blaenau Gwent[22][23][24]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Nick Smith 18,380 58.0 +5.6
UKIP Susan Boucher 5,677 17.9 +16.4
Conservative Tracey West[25] 3,419 10.8 +3.8
Plaid Cymru Steffan Lewis 2,849 9.0 +4.9
Green Mark Pond 738 2.3 N/A
Liberal Democrats Samuel Rees 620 2.0 −8.1
Majority 12,703 40.1 +7.6
Turnout 31,683 61.7 −0.1
Registered electors 51,335
Labour hold Swing −5.4
General election 2017: Blaenau Gwent[26][27]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Nick Smith 18,787 58.0 ±0.0
Plaid Cymru Nigel Copner 6,880 21.2 +12.2
Conservative Tracey West 4,783 14.8 +4.0
UKIP Dennis May 973 3.0 −14.9
Independent Vicki Browning 666 2.1 N/A
Liberal Democrats Cameron Sullivan 295 0.9 −1.1
Rejected ballots 35
Majority 11,907 36.8 -3.3
Turnout 32,384 63.3 +1.6
Registered electors 51,176
Labour hold Swing −6.1

Of the 35 rejected ballots:

  • 25 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.[26]
  • 9 voted for more than one candidate.[26]
  • 1 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified.[26]
General election 2019: Blaenau Gwent[28][29][30]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Nick Smith 14,862 49.2 −8.8
Brexit Party Richard Taylor 6,215 20.6 N/A
Conservative Laura Anne Jones 5,749 19.0 +4.2
Plaid Cymru Peredur Owen Griffiths 1,722 5.7 −15.5
Liberal Democrats Chelsea-Marie Annett 1,285 4.3 +3.4
Green Stephen Priestnall 386 1.3 N/A
Rejected ballots 84
Majority 8,647 28.6 −8.2
Turnout 30,219 59.6 −3.7
Registered electors 50,736
Labour hold Swing −14.7

Of the 84 rejected ballots:

  • 44 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.[29]
  • 30 voted for more than one candidate.[29]
  • 10 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified.[29]

This was the largest decrease in the Plaid Cymru vote share at the 2019 general election.[31]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Dai Davies, Peter Law's former agent, stood as an independent with the support of the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Blaenau Gwent: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 31 January 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  2. ^ "Beyond 20/20 WDS - Table view". 2011 Electorate Figures. StatsWales. 1 December 2010. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  3. ^ "'Blaenau Gwent', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  4. ^ 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies - The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies in Wales (PDF). Boundary Commission for Wales. 28 June 2023.
  5. ^ UK Polling Report http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/blaenaugwent/
  6. ^ "Labour Members of Parliament 2015". UK Political.info. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018.
  7. ^ Tweedie, Neil (23 June 2006). "No welcome in these valleys for Labour". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  8. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 3)
  9. ^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  10. ^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  11. ^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  12. ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  13. ^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  14. ^ "BBC NEWS>VOTE 2001>Results and Constituencies>Blaenau Gwent". Vote 2001. BBC News. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
  15. ^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  16. ^ "BBC NEWS >Blaenau Gwent". Vote 2001. BBC News. 7 June 2001. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  17. ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  18. ^ "Election 2005, Result: Blaenau Gwent". BBC. 6 May 2005. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  19. ^ Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 2005-2010 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 27 December 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  20. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  21. ^ "Election 2010: Blaenau Gwent". BBC. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  22. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  23. ^ "General Elections Online". General Elections Online. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  24. ^ "Blaenau Parliamentary constituency". Election 2015. BBC News. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  25. ^ "Tracey West". Archived from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  26. ^ a b c d "Election Results" (PDF). Blaenau Gwent Council. Blaenau Gwent Council. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  27. ^ "Blaenau Gwent Parliamentary constituency". Election 2017 Results. BBC. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  28. ^ "Candidates Nominated for the Parliamentary Election Thursday 12 December 2019" (PDF). Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council. Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  29. ^ a b c d "Election-Results/General-Election-2019" (PDF). Blaenau Gwent Council. Blaenau Gwent Council. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  30. ^ "Blaenau Gwent Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  31. ^ "General Election 2019 results and analysis" (PDF). House of Commons Library. U.K. Parliament. Retrieved 3 June 2021.

External links[edit]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Constituency represented by the leader of the opposition
1980–1983 		Succeeded by

51°46′37″N 3°11′42″W / 51.777°N 3.195°W / 51.777; -3.195

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