Conwy (UK Parliament constituency)

Conwy (Conway prior to 1983) 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.

Not to be confused with Conwy (National Assembly for Wales constituency).

Conwy
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of Conwy in Wales for the 2005 general election
Preserved countyClwyd, Gwynedd
Major settlementsConwy, Bangor, Llandudno
1950–2010
SeatsOne
Created fromCaernarvon Boroughs and Caernarvonshire
Replaced byAberconwy

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 Bay—both in the constituency; this area comes under the constituency of Clwyd West to the east. Nor did it include the town of Caernarfon—just southwest of Bangor—which 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 vote—a 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 Elwyn Jones Labour
1951 Peter Thomas Conservative
1966 Ednyfed Hudson Davies Labour
1970 Wyn Roberts Conservative
1997 Betty Williams Labour
2010 Constituency abolished: see Aberconwy

Elections
Election results since 1950

Elections in the 1950s
General election 1950: Conway
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Elwyn Jones 15,176 38.4
Conservative David Price-White 14,373 36.4
Liberal Emlyn Hooson 9,937 25.2
Majority 803 2.0
Turnout 39,486 84.6
Labour win (new seat)
General election 1951: Conway
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Thomas 17,115 43.4 +7.0
Labour Elwyn Jones 16,532 41.9 +4.5
Liberal Emlyn Hooson 5,791 14.7 -10.5
Majority 583 1.5 N/A
Turnout 39,438 84.9 +0.3
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
General election 1955: Conway
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Thomas 18,705 48.2 +4.8
Labour Elwyn Jones 13,881 35.8 -6.1
Liberal Herbert Mostyn Lewis 3,217 8.2 -6.5
Plaid Cymru Ioan Bowen Rees 3,019 7.8 New
Majority 4,824 12.4 +11.9
Turnout 38,822
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1959: Conway
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Thomas 17,795 47.1 −1.1
Labour Silvan Jones 13,260 35.1 −0.7
Liberal John H. Bellis 3,845 10.2 +2.0
Plaid Cymru Ioan Bowen Rees 2,852 7.6 −0.2
Majority 4,535 12.0 -0.4
Turnout 37,752
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s
General election 1964: Conway[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Thomas 18,753 50.6 +3.5
Labour Gwilym Roberts 15,234 41.1 +6.0
Plaid Cymru Gwilym Hughes 3,058 8.3 +0.7
Majority 3,519 9.5 -2.5
Turnout 37,045 80.3
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1966: Conway
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ednyfed Davies 18,203 47.5 +6.4
Conservative Peter Thomas 17,622 45.9 −4.7
Plaid Cymru Robert E. Jones 2,552 6.6 −1.7
Majority 581 1.5 -8.0
Turnout 38,377 83.7 +3.4
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in the 1970s
General election 1970: Conway[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Wyn Roberts 16,927 42.4 −3.5
Labour Ednyfed Davies 16,024 40.2 −7.3
Plaid Cymru Dafydd Elis-Thomas 4,311 10.8 +4.2
Liberal Elfyn Lloyd Morris 2,626 6.6 New
Majority 903 2.3 +0.8
Turnout 48,662 82.0 -1.7
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
General election February 1974: Conway
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Wyn Roberts 16,763 40.2 −2.2
Labour David Benjamin Rees 12,214 29.3 −10.9
Liberal David Thomas Jones 8,546 20.4 +13.8
Plaid Cymru Pryce Michael Farmer 4,203 10.1 −0.7
Majority 4,549 10.9 +8.6
Turnout 41,726 81.2 -0.8
Conservative hold Swing
General election October 1974: Conway
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Wyn Roberts 15,614 39.6 −0.6
Labour David Benjamin Rees 12,808 32.5 +3.2
Liberal David Thomas Jones 6,344 16.1 −4.3
Plaid Cymru Pryce Michael Farmer 4,668 11.8 +1.8
Majority 2,806 7.1 -3.8
Turnout 39,434 76.2 -5.0
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1979: Conway
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Wyn Roberts 18,142 44.7 +5.1
Labour Gerson Wyn Davies 12,069 29.8 −2.7
Liberal Roger Roberts 6,867 16.9 +0.8
Plaid Cymru Emyr Price 3,497 8.6 −3.2
Majority 6,073 15.0 +7.9
Turnout 40,575 79.0 +2.8
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1980s
General election 1983: Conwy[4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Wyn Roberts 16,413 41.7 −1.5
Liberal Roger Roberts 12,145 30.8 +12.6
Labour Ira Walters 6,731 17.1 −12.0
Plaid Cymru Dafydd Iwan 4,105 10.4 +0.8
Majority 4,268 10.8 -4.2
Turnout 39,394 76.4 -2.6
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1987: Conwy[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Wyn Roberts 15,730 38.7 −3.0
Liberal Roger Roberts 12,706 31.2 +0.4
Labour Betty Williams 9,049 22.3 +5.2
Plaid Cymru Rhodri Davies 3,177 7.8 −2.6
Majority 3,024 7.5 -3.3
Turnout 40,662 77.8 +1.4
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s
General election 1992: Conwy[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Wyn Roberts 14,250 33.7 −5.0
Liberal Democrats Roger Roberts 13,255 31.4 +0.2
Labour Betty Williams 10,883 25.8 +3.5
Plaid Cymru Rhodri Davies 3,108 7.4 −0.4
Ind. Conservative Owen Wainwright 637 1.5 New
Natural Law David Hughes 114 0.3 New
Majority 995 2.4 −5.1
Turnout 42,247 78.7 +1.0
Conservative hold Swing −2.5
General election 1997: Conwy[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Betty Williams 14,561 35.0 +9.2
Liberal Democrats Roger Roberts 12,965 31.2 −0.2
Conservative David Jones 10,085 24.3 −9.4
Plaid Cymru Rhodri Davies 2,844 6.8 −0.6
Referendum Allan Barham 760 1.8 New
Independent Richard Bradley 250 0.6 New
Natural Law David Hughes 95 0.2 −0.1
Majority 1,596 3.8 N/A
Turnout 41,560 75.4 -3.3
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +9.3

Elections in the 2000s
General election 2001: Conwy[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Betty Williams 14,366 41.8 +6.8
Conservative David Logan 8,147 23.7 −0.6
Liberal Democrats Victoria MacDonald 5,800 16.9 −14.3
Plaid Cymru Ann Owen 5,665 16.5 +9.7
UKIP Allan Barham 388 1.1 New
Majority 6,219 18.1 +14.3
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[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Betty Williams 12,479 37.1 −4.7
Conservative Guto Bebb 9,398 27.9 +4.2
Liberal Democrats Gareth Roberts 6,723 20.0 +3.1
Plaid Cymru Paul Rowlinson 3,730 11.1 −5.4
Green Jim Killock 512 1.5 New
Socialist Labour David Jones 324 1.0 New
UKIP Ken Khambatta 298 0.9 −0.2
Legalise Cannabis Tim Evans 193 0.6 New
Majority 3,081 9.2 -8.9
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 Parliamentary 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 Parliamentary representation in Wales 1800–1979 Arnold J James and John E Thomas Gwasg Gomer 1981 ISBN 0-85088-684-8
  4. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  5. "1983: Wales Counties". Election Demon. Archived from the original on 8 August 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  6. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  7. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  8. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  9. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  10. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  11. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

53.191°N 3.688°W / 53.191; -3.688

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