Cardiff Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 51°30′14″N 3°09′00″W / 51.504°N 3.150°W

Cardiff Central
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Cardiff Central in Wales.
Preserved county	South Glamorgan
Population	88,097 (2011 census)[1]
Electorate	64,225 (December 2010)[2]
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Jo Stevens (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Cardiff North and Cardiff South East[3]
1918–1950
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Replaced by	Cardiff North
Created from	Cardiff
Overlaps
Welsh Assembly	Cardiff Central, South Wales Central
European Parliament constituency	Wales

Cardiff Central (Canol Caerdydd in Welsh) is a borough constituency in the city of Cardiff. It returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

Boundaries

1918–1950: The County Borough of Cardiff wards of Canton, Cathays, Central, and Riverside.

1983–2010: The City of Cardiff wards of Adamsdown, Cathays, Cyncoed, Pentwyn, Plasnewydd, and Roath.

2010–present: The Cardiff electoral divisions of Adamsdown, Cathays, Cyncoed, Pentwyn, Penylan, and Plasnewydd.

As its name suggests, Cardiff Central covers the central area of the City of Cardiff. It extends from the area around the Millennium Stadium in the south to Llanishen Golf Course in the north, taking in the City Centre and the University.

History

This was a Conservative-held three-way marginal constituency throughout the 1980s but since 1997 Labour and the Liberal Democrats have pushed the Conservative candidate into third place. The Liberal Democrats won the equivalent Welsh Assembly seat in 1999 and 2003 and also dominate the wards which make up the seat in elections to Cardiff Council.

The constituency is socially diverse, with both very affluent and very deprived areas. It has a large student population which seems to have helped Labour to win in 1992 and 1997 but thereafter increasingly switched to the Liberal Democrats due to opposition to government plans for reforming student support. This switched yet again in the 2015 general election where students were disillusioned by the broken promises the Liberal Democrats made regarding tuition fees.^[4]

The seat was unchanged in the Fifth Periodical Report of the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for Wales, which took effect at the 2010 general election.

Since the seat's re-creation in 1983, it has been held successively by each of the three main political parties; the Liberal Democrats gained it at the 2005 election after 13 years of Labour representation.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1918–1950

Election		Member[5][6]	Party
	1918	James Childs Gould	Conservative
	1924	Lewis Lougher	Conservative
	1929	Ernest Bennett	Labour
	1931		National Labour
	1945	George Thomas	Labour
	1950	constituency abolished

MPs since 1983

Election		Member[6]	Party
	1983	Ian Grist	Conservative
	1992	Jon Owen Jones	Labour
	2005	Jenny Willott	Liberal Democrat
	2015	Jo Stevens	Labour

Election

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2015: Cardiff Central [7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jo Stevens[8]	15,462	40.0	+11.2
	Liberal Democrat	Jenny Willott[8]	10,481	27.1	−14.3
	Conservative	Richard Hopkin	5,674	14.7	−6.9
	UKIP	Anthony Raybould[9]	2,499	6.5	+4.4
	Green	Chris Von Ruhland [9]	2,461	6.4	+4.8
	Plaid Cymru	Martin Pollard	1,925	5.0	+1.5
	TUSC	Steve Williams[10]	110	0.3	−0.2
	Independent	Kazimir Hubert[8]	34	0.1	N/A
Majority			4,981	12.9
Turnout			38,646	67.3	+8.2
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrat		Swing	+12.8

General election 2010: Cardiff Central[11][12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Jenny Willott	14,976	41.4	−8.4
	Labour	Jenny Rathbone	10,400	28.8	−5.5
	Conservative	Karen Robson	7,799	21.6	+12.3
	Plaid Cymru	Chris Williams	1,246	3.4	−0.1
	UKIP	Sue Davies	765	2.1	+1.1
	Green	Sam Coates	575	1.6	+1.6
	TUSC	Ross Saunders	162	0.4	+0.4
	Monster Raving Loony	Mark Beech	142	0.4	+0.4
	Independent	Alun Mathias	86	0.2	+0.2
Majority			4,576	12.7
Turnout			36,151	59.1	+0.0
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing	−1.4

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Jenny Willott	17,991	49.8	+13.1
	Labour Co-op	Jon Owen Jones	12,398	34.3	−4.3
	Conservative	Gotz Mohindra	3,339	9.2	−6.7
	Plaid Cymru	Richard Rhys Grigg	1,271	3.5	−1.3
	Respect	Raja Gul-Raiz	386	1.1	N/A
	UKIP	Frank Hughes	383	1.1	+0.5
	Independent	Anne Savoury	168	0.5	N/A
	New Millennium Bean Party	Captain Beany	159	0.4	N/A
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Catherine Taylor-Dawson	37	0.1	N/A
Majority			5,593	15.5
Turnout			36,132	59.2	+0.9
	Liberal Democrat gain from Labour Co-op		Swing	8.7

General election 2001: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Jon Owen Jones	13,451	38.6	−5.1
	Liberal Democrat	Jenny Willott	12,792	36.7	+11.8
	Conservative	Gregory Walker	5,537	15.9	−4.2
	Plaid Cymru	Richard Rhys Grigg	1,680	4.8	+1.3
	Green	Stephen Bartley	661	1.9	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	Julian Goss	283	0.8	N/A
	UKIP	Frank Hughes	221	0.6	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Madeleine Jeremy	217	0.6	N/A
Majority			659	1.9
Turnout			34,842	58.3	−11.7
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Jon Owen Jones	18,464	43.7	+1.7
	Liberal Democrat	Jennifer Elizabeth Randerson	10,541	24.9	+3.6
	Conservative	David Melding	8,470	20.0	−13.9
	Socialist Labour	Terence Burns	2,230	5.3	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Wayne Vernon	1,504	3.6	+1.8
	Referendum	Nick Lloyd	760	1.8	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Craig James	204	0.5	N/A
	Natural Law	Anthony Hobbs	80	0.2	N/A
Majority			7,923	18.8
Turnout			42,253	70.0
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing

General election 1992: Cardiff Central[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Jon Owen Jones	18,014	42.0	+9.7
	Conservative	Ian Grist	14,549	33.9	−3.2
	Liberal Democrat	Jennifer Elizabeth Randerson	9,170	21.4	−8.0
	Plaid Cymru	Huw Marshall	748	1.7	+0.4
	Green	Christopher John Von Ruhland	330	0.8	N/A
	Natural Law	Brian Morgan Francis	105	0.2	N/A
Majority			3,465	8.1	+3.2
Turnout			42,916	74.3	−3.3
	Labour Co-op gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.5

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Grist	15,241	37.1	−4.3
	Labour	Jon Owen Jones	13,255	32.3	+8.1
	Liberal	Michael James German	12,062	29.3	−3.3
	Plaid Cymru	Siân Caiach	535	1.3	−0.5
Majority			1,986	4.8	−4.0
Turnout			41,093	77.6	+5.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	−6.2

General election 1983: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Grist	16,090	41.4	N/A
	Liberal	Michael James German	12,638	32.6	N/A
	Labour	Raymond Thomas Davies	9,387	24.2	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Andrew Paul Morgan	704	1.8	N/A
Majority			3,452	8.8	N/A
Turnout			38,819	72.1	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas George Thomas	16,506	49.11
	Conservative	Charles Stuart Hallinan	11,982	35.65
	Liberal	Peter Hopkin Morgan	5,121	15.24
Majority			4,524	13.46
Turnout				72.27
	Labour gain from National Labour		Swing

General election 1939/40: Another general election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• National Labour: Sir Ernest Nathaniel Bennett
• Labour: John Ramage

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1935: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Labour	Sir Ernest Nathaniel Bennett	16,954	51.51
	Labour	John Dugdale	12,094	36.75
	Liberal	William Glanville Brown	3,863	11.74
Majority			4,860	14.77
Turnout				68.69
	National Labour hold		Swing

General election 1931: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Labour	Sir Ernest Nathaniel Bennett	24,120	69.16
	Labour	Edward Archbold	10,758	30.84
Majority			13,362	38.31
Turnout				72.56
	National Labour gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1929: Cardiff Central [14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ernest Nathaniel Bennett	14,469	39.1	+5.3
	Unionist	Sir Lewis Lougher	12,903	34.9	-14.8
	Liberal	Barnett Janner	9,623	26.0	++9.5
Majority			1,566	4.2	20.1
Turnout				78.2	+1.4
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing	+10.0

General election 1924
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Lewis Lougher	14,537	49.7
	Labour	David Graham Pole	9,864	33.8
	Liberal	Aneurin John Glyn Edwards	4,805	16.5
Majority			4,673	15.9
Turnout				76.8
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1923: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	James Childs Gould	10,261	38.4	-11.6
	Labour	James Ewart Edmunds	8,563	32.0	+2.6
	Liberal	Ieuan Watkins Evans	7,923	29.6	+9.0
Majority			1,698	6.4	-14.2
Turnout				71.4	-3.0
	Unionist hold		Swing	-7.1

General election 1922: Cardiff Central [15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	James Childs Gould	13,885	50.0	+8.9
	Labour	James Ewart Edmunds	8,169	29.4	+7.0
	Liberal	C.F. Sanders	5,732	20.6	+0.5
Majority			5,716	20.6	+1.9
Turnout				74.4
	Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	James Childs Gould	8,542	41.1
	Labour	James Ewart Edmunds	4,663	22.4
	Liberal	George Frederick Forsdyke	4,172	20.1
	Independent Unionist	Robert Hughes	3,419	16.4
Majority			3,879	18.7
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

• coupon issued but withdrawn.

See also

• Cardiff Central (Assembly constituency)
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in South Glamorgan

Notes and references

References

1. "Cardiff Central: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
2. "Beyond 20/20 WDS – Table view". 2011 Electorate Figures. StatsWales. 1 December 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
3. "'Cardiff Central', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
4. WalesOnline http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/lib-dem-jenny-willott-loses-9043442. Retrieved 11 September 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
5. "Cardiff Central 1918–1950". Hansard 1803–2005. UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
6. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 2)
7. "Cardiff Central result". Election results for Cardiff Central. City of Cardiff Council. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
8. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-wales-32335516
9. Alexander Norton (4 March 2015). "General Election candidates tackle gender inequality". Gair Rhydd. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
10. "TUSC Candidates" (PDF). Retrieved 7 March 2015.
11. Cardiff Central Cardiff County Council – candidates Cardiff Central
12. Cardiff Central BBC Election – Cardiff Central
13. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
14. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
15. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig

Sourtces

• BBC Vote 2001
• BBC Election 2005
• UK Constituency Maps

External links

• nomis Constituency Profile for Cardiff Central — presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.