Conwy (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 53°11′28″N 3°41′17″W / 53.191°N 3.688°W / 53.191; -3.688

Conwy
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons

Outline map

Boundary of Conwy in Wales for the 2005 general election.
Preserved county Clwyd, Gwynedd
Major settlements Conwy, Bangor, Llandudno
19502010
Number of members One
Replaced by Aberconwy

Conwy was an electoral constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) by the single-member district plurality (also known as first-past-the-post) system of voting.

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the 2010 general election.

History

It was a marginal between the Conservative Party and the Labour Party throughout its existence.

The Conwy Welsh Assembly constituency was created with the same boundaries as the Conwy House of Commons constituency in 1999.

Boundaries

The constituency was, geographically, relatively small for its region, as it followed and tended to keep to the coast, taking in parts of two separate densely populated coastal conurbations.

As well as the walled castle town of Conwy from which it bore its name, the constituency mainly comprised the popular holiday resort and retail centre of Llandudno to the east, and the city of Bangor, which is home to the University of Wales, Bangor, to the west. It also included the smaller coastal towns of Penmaenmawr and Llanfairfechan, as well as some sparser inland areas including former slate-quarrying communities in the Ogwen Valley.

The constituency, notably, did not include Colwyn Bay (or outlying Rhos-on-Sea), which forms part of a coastal conurbation (and the Conwy county borough) with Llandudno and its outlying town of Penrhyn Bayboth in the constituency; this area comes under the constituency of Clwyd West to the east. Nor did it include the town of Caernarfonjust southwest of Bangorwhich was in a constituency of the same name.

The constituency was also bordered by Meirionnydd Nant Conwy to the south, and the insular constituency of Ynys Mon to the west.

Following the decisions of the Welsh Boundary Commission, the Conwy seat was significantly altered, forming the base of a new Aberconwy constituency established for the 2010 general election. Part of the constituency (notably Bangor) became part of the new Arfon constituency.

Profile

Although the constituency included a student population from the university, most of the voters were towards the older end of the age spectrum as it was a popular retirement area. The constituency was also linguistically diverse, with mainly English speakers in the east and mainly Welsh speakers in the west and inland areas.

Members of Parliament

The last MP was Betty Williams of the Labour Party, who held the seat from 1997 (when she gained 35.04% of the votea 9.4% swing from the Conservatives) until its abolition in 2010. Williams increased her share of the vote in 2001 (by 6.8%), but it was reduced in 2005 (by 4.7%). She is also the first female MP to hold the seat. The seat was previously held (since its renaming in 1983) by Sir Wyn Roberts for the Conservative Party, who was first elected for Conway, the old anglicised name of the constituency, in 1970.

ElectionMember[1]Party
1950 William Elwyn Edwards Jones Labour
1951 Peter Thomas Conservative
1966 Ednyfed Hudson Davies Labour
1970 Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts Conservative
1997 Betty Williams Labour
2010 Constituency abolished: see Aberconwy

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950

Electorate 46,669

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour William Elwyn Edwards Jones 15,176
Conservative David Archibald Price-White 14,373
Liberal Hugh Emlyn Hooson 9,937
Majority 803
Turnout
Labour hold Swing
General Election 1951

Electorate 46,425

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter John Mitchell Thomas 17,115
Labour William Elwyn Edwards Jones 16,532
Liberal Hugh Emlyn Hooson 5,791
Majority 583
Turnout
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
General Election 1955

Electorate 45,846

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter John Mitchell Thomas 18,705 48.2
Labour William Elwyn Edwards Jones 13,881 35.8
Liberal Dr Herbert Mostyn Lewis 3,217 8.2
Plaid Cymru Ioan Bowen Rees 3,019 7.8
Majority 4,824 12.4
Turnout 38,822
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1959

Electorate 45,660

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter John Mitchell Thomas 17,795 47.1
Labour Silvan Jones 13,260 35.1
Liberal John H Bellis 3,845 10.2
Plaid Cymru Ioan Bowen Rees 2,852 7.6
Majority 4,535 12.0
Turnout 37,752
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

[2]

General Election 1964

Electorate 46,669

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter John Mitchell Thomas 18,753 50.6
Labour Gwilym Edffrwd Roberts 15,234 41.1
Plaid Cymru G Hughes 3,058 8.3.
Majority 3,519
Turnout 80.3
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1966

Electorate 45,825

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ednyfed Hudson Davies 18,203 47.5
Conservative Peter John Mitchell Thomas 17,622 45.9
Plaid Cymru R. E. Jones 2,552 6.6
Majority 581
Turnout 83.7
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Conwy[3]

Electorate 45,825

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts 16,927 42.4
Labour Ednyfed Hudson Davies 16,024 40.2
Plaid Cymru Dafydd Elis-Thomas 4,311 10.8
Liberal Elfyn Lloyd Morris 2,626 6.6
Majority 903
Turnout 48,662 82.0
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
General Election February 1974: Conwy

Electorate 51,361

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts 16,763 40.2
Labour David Benjamin Rees 12,214 29.3
Liberal Dr D. T. Jones 8,546 20.4
Plaid Cymru M. Farmer 4,203 10.1
Majority 4,549
Turnout 81.2
Conservative hold Swing
General Election October 1974: Conwy

Electorate 51,730

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts 15,614 39.6
Labour David Benjamin Rees 12,808 32.5
Liberal Dr D. T. Jones 6,344 16.1
Plaid Cymru M. Farmer 4,668 11.8
Majority 2,806
Turnout 76.2
Conservative hold Swing
General Election October 1979: ConwyElectorate 51,350
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts 18,142 44.7
Labour G W Davies 12,069 29.8
Liberal Rev. John Roger Roberts 6,867 16.9
Plaid Cymru Emyr Price 3,497 8.6
Majority 6,073
Turnout 79
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1980s

[4] retrieved 23 Sept 2013

General Election 1983: Conwy

Electorate 51,567

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts 16,413 41.7
Liberal Rev. John Roger Roberts 12,145 30.8
Labour I G Walters 6,731 17.1
Plaid Cymru Dafydd Iwan 4,105 10.4
Majority 4,268 10.9
Turnout 79
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1987: Conwy

Electorate 52,294

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts 15,730 38.7
Liberal Rev. John Roger Roberts 12,706 31.2
Labour Betty Helena Williams 9,049 22.3
Plaid Cymru Rhodri Vaughan Davies 3,177 7.8
Majority 3,024 7.5
Turnout 77.8
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: Conwy[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts 14,250 33.7 5.0
Liberal Democrat Rev. John Roger Roberts 13,255 31.4 +0.1
Labour Betty Williams 10,883 25.8 +3.5
Plaid Cymru Rhodri Vaughan Davies 3,108 7.4 0.5
Independent Conservative Owen Wainwright 637 1.5 +1.5
Natural Law Ms David E. Hughes 114 0.3 +0.3
Majority 995 2.4 5.1
Turnout 42,247 78.7 +1.0
Conservative hold Swing 2.5
General Election 1997: Conwy
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Betty Williams 14,561 35.0 +9.2
Liberal Democrat Rev. John Roger Roberts 12,965 31.2 0.2
Conservative David Ian Jones 10,085 24.3 9.4
Plaid Cymru Rhodri Vaughan Davies 2,844 6.8 0.6
Referendum Alan C. Barham 760 1.8 N/A
Independent Richard B. Bradley 250 0.6 N/A
Natural Law Ms David E. Hughes 95 0.2 0.1
Majority 1,596 3.8
Turnout 41,560 75.4
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +9.3

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2001: Conwy
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Betty Williams 14,366 41.8 +6.8
Conservative David Logan 8,147 23.7 0.6
Liberal Democrat Vicky MacDonald 5,800 16.9 14.3
Plaid Cymru Ann Owen 5,665 16.5 +9.6
UKIP Allan Barham 388 1.1 N/A
Majority 6,219 18.1
Turnout 34,366 62.9 12.5
Labour hold Swing

In the 2005 general election, the seat was the 81st easiest seat for the Liberal Democrats to gain, and the 153rd easiest seat for the Conservative Party to gain. The Labour Party did not include the seat on its list of vulnerable seats and eventually held the seat (with a reduced proportion of the vote).

General Election 2005: Conwy
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Betty Williams 12,479 37.1 4.7
Conservative Guto Bebb 9,398 27.9 +4.2
Liberal Democrat Gareth Roberts 6,723 20.0 +3.1
Plaid Cymru Paul Rowlinson 3,730 11.1 5.4
Green Jim Killock 512 1.5 +1.5
Socialist Labour David Lloyd Jones 324 1.0 +1.0
UKIP Ken Khambatta 298 0.9 0.2
Legalise Cannabis Tim Evans 193 0.6 +0.6
Majority 3,081 9.2
Turnout 33,723 62.6 0.3
Labour hold Swing 4.5

See also

References

  1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 5)
  2. Wales at Westminster a History of Parliamentry representation in Wales 1800-1979 Arnold J James and John E Thomas Gwasg Gomer 1981 ISBN 0 85088 684 8
  3. Wales at Westminster a History of Parliamentry representation in Wales 1800-1979 Arnold J James and John E Thomas Gwasg Gomer 1981 ISBN 0 85088 684 8
  4. http://www.election.demon.co.uk/1983WC.html
  5. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 Dec 2010.
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