Blaenau Gwent (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 51°46′37″N 3°11′42″W / 51.777°N 3.195°W

Blaenau Gwent
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Blaenau Gwent in Wales.
Preserved county	Gwent
Population	69,814 (2011 census)[1]
Electorate	53,791 (December 2010)[2]
Major settlements	Ebbw Vale, Abertillery, Brynmawr, Tredegar
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Nick Smith (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Abertillery, Brecon and Radnor and Ebbw Vale[3]
Overlaps
Welsh Assembly	South Wales East
European Parliament constituency	Wales

Blaenau Gwent is a county constituency in South Wales, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The current MP is Nick Smith of the Labour Party.

History

Blaenau Gwent is often referred to as Aneurin Bevan's old constituency. However, 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 the Brecon and Radcor constituency, 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.

Until 2005, the constituency was considered one of the safest Labour seats in the country. In the 1983 and 1992 general elections, it was Labour's safest seat. The Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats have both been very weak in the seat. Neither has won 10% of the vote since 1987 and the Conservatives have never achieved one eighth of the total votes cast. 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 seat came to prominence at the 2005 general election when 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 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.^[4]

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.

In the 2010 general election, Labour candidate Nick Smith gained the seat with a 29.2% swing from Independent back to Labour; it became one of only three seats Labour gained in that election. The seat was still notable as one of the few where an Independent candidate kept their deposit or pushed one of the main parties into fourth place.

Boundaries

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

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[5]	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

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Blaenau Gwent ^[6][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Nick Smith	18,380	58.0	+5.6
	UKIP	Susan Boucher [8]	5,677	17.9	+16.4
	Conservative	Tracey Michelle West [9]	3,419	10.8	+3.8
	Plaid Cymru	Steffan Lewis	2,849	9.0	+4.9
	Green	Mark Robert Pond	738	2.3	New
	Liberal Democrat	Samuel Ellis Rees	620	2.0	−8.2
Majority			12,703	40.1	+5.3
Turnout			31,683	61.7	−0.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−5.4

General Election 2010: Blaenau Gwent^[10][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Nick Smith	16,974	52.4	+20.1
	Blaenau Gwent PV	Dai Davies	6,458	19.9	−38.2
	Liberal Democrat	Matt Smith	3,285	10.1	+5.9
	Conservative	Liz Stevenson	2,265	7.0	+4.7
	Plaid Cymru	Rhodri Davies	1,333	4.1	−2.4
	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	+1.2
Majority			10,516	32.5
Turnout			32,395	61.8	−4.4
	Labour gain from Blaenau Gwent PV		Swing	+29.2

Elections in the 2000s

Blaenau Gwent by-election, 2006

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Independent	Dai Davies[12][13]	12,543	46.2	N/A
	Labour	Owen Smith	10,055	37.0	+4.7
	Plaid Cymru	Steffan Lewis	1,755	6.5	+4.1
	Liberal Democrat	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	9.1	−16.8
Turnout			27,161	50.5	−14.4
	Independent hold		Swing	−8.4

General Election 2005: Blaenau Gwent^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Independent	Peter Law	20,505	58.2	N/A
	Labour	Margaret Beryl Jones	11,384	32.3	−39.7
	Liberal Democrat	Brian Thomas	1,511	4.3	−5.0
	Plaid Cymru	John Price	843	2.4	−8.8
	Conservative	Dr Phillip James Lee	816	2.4	−5.2
	UKIP	Peter Osborne	192	0.5	N/A
Majority			9,121	25.9
Turnout			35,251	66.1	+6.6
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 2001: Blaenau Gwent

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Llew Smith	22,855	72.0	−7.4
	Plaid Cymru	Adam John Rykala	3,542	11.2	+5.9
	Liberal Democrat	Charles Edward Townsend	2,945	9.3	+0.6
	Conservative	Huw Benedict Williams	2,383	7.5	+0.9
Majority			19,313	60.8	−9.9
Turnout			31,725	59.5	−12.8
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Blaenau Gwent

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Llew Smith	31,493	79.5	+0.5
	Liberal Democrat	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	70.7	+1.5
Turnout			39,630	72.3	−5.8
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Blaenau Gwent^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Llew Smith	34,333	79.0	+3.1
	Conservative	David Melding	4,266	9.8	−1.7
	Liberal Democrat	Alistair Burns	2,774	6.4	−2.5
	Plaid Cymru (Green)	Thomas Alun Rhys Davies	2,099	4.8	+1.1
Majority			30,067	69.2	+4.8
Turnout			43,472	78.1	+0.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.4

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Blaenau Gwent

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Michael Foot	32,820	75.9	+5.9
	Conservative	Andrew Robert Taylor	4,959	11.5	+0.3
	Liberal	David Ian 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
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.8

General Election 1983: Blaenau Gwent

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Michael Foot	30,113	70.0	N/A
	Liberal	Gareth Martin Atkinson	6,488	15.1	N/A
	Conservative	Talmai Phillip 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
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• Blaenau Gwent (Assembly constituency)
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Gwent

Notes and references

1. "Blaenau Gwent: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
2. "Beyond 20/20 WDS - Table view". 2011 Electorate Figures. StatsWales. 1 December 2010. 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. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/kevinmaguire/#story2
5. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 3)
6. "Blaenau Gwent result". Blaenau Gwent Parliamentary Constituency Election 2015. Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
7. total electorate 51,335 email from Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council 24Aug15
8. https://www.ukipWales.org.uk/OurTeam/Prospective_Parliamentary_Candidates/Boucher[] Susan.aspx
9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-02-19. Retrieved 2015-02-19.
10. Blaenau Gwent Archived June 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Notice of Poll: Blaenau Gwent
11. "Election 2010: Blaenau Gwent". BBC. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
12. http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/7990008.Your_election_candidates___so_far/
13. Dai Davies, Peter Law's former agent, stood as an independent with the support of the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group.
14. "Election 2005, Result: Blaenau Gwent". BBC. 6 May 2005. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
15. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.

External links

• nomis Constituency Profile for Blaenau Gwent presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.
• Election results, 1997 - 2001 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 - 2001 (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1983 - 1992 (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1992 - 2005 (Guardian)