David Rowlands (Welsh politician)
| David Rowlands AM | |
|---|---|
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| Member of the Welsh Assembly for South Wales East | |
|
Assumed office 5 May 2016 | |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | Welsh |
| Political party | UK Independence Party |
David Rowlands AM is a Welsh politician who has been a UK Independence Party Member of the National Assembly for Wales for South Wales East region since the National Assembly for Wales election, 2016.[1]
Born in the Welsh mining town of Argoed, he was educated at Ponllanfraith Grammar School obtaining A Levels in Economics and Geography before studying for a degree in business studies.[2]
Summary
David Rowlands, along with 6 fellow UKIP region AMs became the first ever UKIP representatives to gain a seat in the National Assembly for Wales since it began in 1997.
He was the first UKIP candidate to stand for the Welsh Assembly for Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney. His campaign team canvased the constituency, building on their vote from the general election campaign, gaining 4,277 votes and coming second to Welsh Labour's Dawn Bowden.
After gaining enough votes in the regional ballots, David was elected as Assembly Member for the South Wales East region along with Mark Reckless.
Being the third UKIP candidate for the Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney's parliamentary constituency, taking over from Gwyn Parry in 2005 and Adam Brown in 2010, David saw the greatest success for UKIP in a general election campaign for the constituency. The votes cast for UKIP grew from 699 in 2005 and 872 in 2010 to 6,106 in 2015; creating a 15.9% increase in the total vote share.
Elections
David has stood in 2 elections - the 2015 General Election and also the 2016 National Assembly for Wales Election where he gained his seat in the South Wales East region.
2016 National Assembly for Wales Election;
| Welsh Assembly Election 2016: Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney[3] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Dawn Bowden | 9,763 | 47.2% | -7.1% | |
| UKIP | David Rowlands | 4,277 | 20.7% | +20.7% | |
| Plaid Cymru | Brian Thomas | 3,721 | 18% | +9.2% | |
| Conservative | Elizabeth Simon | 1,331 | 6.4% | +0.1% | |
| Liberal Democrats | Bob Griffin | 1,122 | 5.4% | -7.4% | |
| Green | Julie Colbran | 469 | 2.3% | +2.3% | |
| Majority | 5,486 | ||||
| Turnout | 20,683 | 38.5% | |||
| Labour hold | Swing | -13.9 | |||
2015 General Election;
| General Election 2015: Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney [4] [5][6][7][8] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Gerald Jones | 17,619 | 53.9 | +10.2 | |
| UKIP | Dave Rowlands | 6,106 | 18.7 | +15.9 | |
| Conservative | Bill Rees | 3,292 | 10.1 | +2.5 | |
| Plaid Cymru | Rhayna Pritchard | 3,099 | 9.5 | +4.4 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Bob Griffin[9] | 1,351 | 4.1 | −26.9 | |
| Green | Elspeth Parris | 603 | 1.8 | n/a | |
| Independent | Eddy Blanche | 459 | 1.4 | n/a | |
| Communist | Robert David Griffiths | 186 | 0.6 | n/a | |
| Majority | 11,513 | 35.2 | +22.6 | ||
| Turnout | 32,715 | 53.0 | −5.6 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | -2.8 | |||
References
- ↑ "Welsh Election 2016: Labour just short as UKIP wins seats". BBC News. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
- ↑ "David Rowlands". UKIP Wales. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
- ↑ "Wales elections > Aberavon". BBC News. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
- ↑ "Merthyr result". Election results for Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney. Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
- ↑ http://wales.greenparty.org.uk/news.html/2014/10/22/elspeth-parris-announced-as-ge-candidate-for-merthyr/
- ↑ http://labourlist.org/2014/12/gerald-jones-selected-as-candidate-for-merthyr-tydfil-and-rhymney/
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eddy-Blanche-for-Merthyr-Tydfil-Rhymney/720106281411913
- ↑ http://www.ukipwales.org.uk/our-candidates/4587404460
- ↑ http://www.libdems.org.uk/general_election_candidates#South West
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