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.

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.

Election		Member	Party
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1950	Elwyn Jones	Labour
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1951	Peter Thomas	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1966	Ednyfed Hudson Davies	Labour
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1970	Wyn Roberts	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" |	1997	Betty Williams	Labour
	2010	Constituency abolished: see Aberconwy

Elections

File:Conwy election history.png

Election results since 1950

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Conway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Elwyn Jones	Template:Replace	38.4
		David Price-White	14,373	36.4
		Emlyn Hooson	9,937	25.2
Majority			803	2.0
Turnout			39,486	84.6
	win (new seat)

General election 1951: Conway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Peter Thomas	Template:Replace	43.4
		Elwyn Jones	16,532	41.9
		Emlyn Hooson	5,791	14.7
Majority			583	1.5
Turnout			39,438	84.9
	gain from		Swing

General election 1955: Conway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Peter Thomas	Template:Replace	48.2
		Elwyn Jones	13,881	35.8
		Herbert Mostyn Lewis	3,217	8.2
		Ioan Bowen Rees	3,019	7.8
Majority			4,824	12.4
Turnout			38,822
	hold		Swing

General election 1959: Conway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Peter Thomas	Template:Replace	47.1
		Silvan Jones	13,260	35.1
		John H. Bellis	3,845	10.2
		Ioan Bowen Rees	2,852	7.6
Majority			4,535	12.0
Turnout			37,752
	hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Conway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Peter Thomas	Template:Replace	50.6
		Gwilym Roberts	15,234	41.1
		Gwilym Hughes	3,058	8.3
Majority			3,519	9.5
Turnout			37,045	80.3
	hold		Swing

General election 1966: Conway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Ednyfed Davies	Template:Replace	47.5
		Peter Thomas	17,622	45.9
		Robert E. Jones	2,552	6.6
Majority			581	1.6
Turnout			38,377	83.7
	gain from		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Conway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Wyn Roberts	Template:Replace	42.4
		Ednyfed Davies	16,024	40.2
		Dafydd Elis-Thomas	4,311	10.8
		Elfyn Lloyd Morris	2,626	6.6
Majority			903	2.2
Turnout			48,662	82.0
	gain from		Swing

General election February 1974: Conway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Wyn Roberts	Template:Replace	40.2
		David Benjamin Rees	12,214	29.3
		David Thomas Jones	8,546	20.4
		Pryce Michael Farmer	4,203	10.1
Majority			4,549	10.9
Turnout			41,726	81.2
	hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Conway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Wyn Roberts	Template:Replace	39.6
		David Benjamin Rees	12,808	32.5
		David Thomas Jones	6,344	16.1
		Pryce Michael Farmer	4,668	11.8
Majority			2,806	7.1
Turnout			39,434	76.2
	hold		Swing

General election 1979: Conway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Wyn Roberts	Template:Replace	44.7
		Gerson Wyn Davies	12,069	29.8
		Roger Roberts	6,867	16.9
		Emyr Price	3,497	8.6
Majority			6,073	14.9
Turnout			40,575	79.0
	hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Conwy

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Wyn Roberts	Template:Replace	41.7
		Roger Roberts	12,145	30.8
		Ira Walters	6,731	17.1
		Dafydd Iwan	4,105	10.4
Majority			4,268	10.8
Turnout			39,394	76.4
	hold		Swing

General election 1987: Conwy

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Wyn Roberts	Template:Replace	38.7
		Roger Roberts	12,706	31.2
		Betty Williams	9,049	22.3
		Rhodri Davies	3,177	7.8
Majority			3,024	7.5
Turnout			40,662	77.8
	hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Conwy

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Wyn Roberts	Template:Replace	33.7
		Roger Roberts	13,255	31.4
		Betty Williams	10,883	25.8
		Rhodri Davies	3,108	7.4
		Owen Wainwright	637	1.5
		David Hughes	114	0.3
Majority			995	2.3
Turnout			42,247	78.7
	hold		Swing	−2.5

General election 1997: Conwy

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Betty Williams	Template:Replace	35.0
		Roger Roberts	12,965	31.2
		David Jones	10,085	24.3
		Rhodri Davies	2,844	6.8
		Allan Barham	760	1.8
		Richard Bradley	250	0.6
		David Hughes	95	0.2
Majority			1,596	3.8
Turnout			41,560	75.4
	gain from		Swing	+9.3

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: Conwy

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		Betty Williams	Template:Replace	41.8
		David Logan	8,147	23.7
		Victoria MacDonald	5,800	16.9
		Ann Owen	5,665	16.5
		Allan Barham	388	1.1
Majority			6,219	18.1
Turnout			34,366	62.9
	hold		Swing	+3.7

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	%	±%
		Betty Williams	Template:Replace	37.1
		Guto Bebb	9,398	27.9
		Gareth Roberts	6,723	20.0
		Paul Rowlinson	3,730	11.1
		Jim Killock	512	1.5
		David Jones	324	1.0
		Ken Khambatta	298	0.9
		Tim Evans	193	0.6
Majority			3,081	9.2
Turnout			33,723	62.6
	hold		Swing	−4.5

• Official declaration of result of the poll (in PDF)

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Clwyd
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Gwynedd

External links

• Conwy UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK