Monmouth (UK Parliament constituency)

Monmouth (Welsh: Sir Fynwy) is a county constituency[n 1] of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (at Westminster). The seat was created for the 1918 general election. Since 2005 the MP has been David Davies of the Conservative Party.[n 2]

Not to be confused with Monmouth (Senedd Cymru constituency).
For other constituencies which may be confused with this constituency, see Monmouth constituency (disambiguation).

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Monmouth
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Monmouth in Wales
Preserved countyGwent
Electorate65,432 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlementsAbergavenny, Chepstow, Monmouth
Current constituency
Created1918
Member of ParliamentDavid Davies (Conservative)
Number of membersOne
Created fromMonmouth Boroughs, North Monmouthshire and South Monmouthshire
Overlaps
Senedd Cymru – Welsh ParliamentSouth East Wales

The Monmouth Welsh Assembly constituency, created in 1999, has normally the same boundaries as the Westminster constituency. These cover a large area, omitting the mainly urban areas of Blaenau Gwent in the west and Newport, Wales in the south.

History

The constituency is considered a safe seat of the Conservative Party although the seat has been won by the Labour Party in three general elections – in addition to the 1991 by-election.

The current MP is the Conservative David Davies, elected in 2005 and a former member for the Welsh Assembly seat of the same name. To avoid confusion with the Yorkshire Conservative David Davis, he is named in Hansard as "David T.C. Davies".

Boundaries
Preserved county of Gwent
boundaries as defined in 2003.

1983 onwards

The constituency is one of eight covering the preserved county of Gwent. The other seven are Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Islwyn, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, Newport East, Newport West and Torfaen. Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, however, straddles the boundary with the preserved county of Mid Glamorgan. It covers most of current local authority of Monmouthshire, with the main towns being Chepstow and Monmouth.

For the 2010 general election, there were no changes to the boundaries of the Monmouth constituency stemming from the Fifth Review of the Boundary Commission for Wales.[2] Likewise there were no boundary changes in 1997.

1918 to 1983

As first used in the 1918 general election, the constituency was a creation of the Representation of the People Act 1918 as one of six constituencies covering the county of Monmouth. Prior to the 1918 election the county had been covered, nominally, by the county constituencies of Northern Monmouthshire, Southern Monmouthshire, and Western Monmouthshire, and the Monmouth Boroughs borough constituency. By 1918, however, administrative county boundaries were out of alignment with constituency boundaries. The new constituency boundaries took account of the new local government boundaries.

The other Monmouthshire constituencies defined by the 1918 legislation were the county constituencies of Abertillery, Bedwellty, Ebbw Vale and Pontypool, and the borough constituency of Newport. This general pattern was maintained until 1983, nine years after the administrative county they were based on had been abolished, but there were some boundary changes during the 1918 to 1983 period.

County of Monmouth

In 1918 the Monmouth constituency was defined as consisting of the municipal boroughs of Abergavenny, and Monmouth, the urban districts of Caerleon, Chepstow, and Usk, the rural districts of Abergavenny, Chepstow, Magor, Monmouth, Cwmbran and Pontypool, and part of the rural district of St Mellons.[3] The same boundaries were used for the general elections of 1922, 1923, 1924, 1929, 1931, 1935 and 1945.

New boundaries, created by the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949, were used for the 1950 general election, and the Monmouth constituency was defined as consisting of the municipal boroughs of Abergavenny and Monmouth, the urban districts of Caerleon, Chepstow, Cwmbran and Usk, and the rural districts of Abergavenny, Chepstow, Magor and St Mellons, Monmouth, and Pontypool.[3]

For the 1951 general election, there was some alteration to the boundaries of rural district of Magor and St Mellons.[3]

The constituency was redefined again for the 1955 general election, taking account of new local government boundaries. The result was the same list of boroughs and districts as for the 1951 election.[3] 1951 boundaries were used also in the general elections of 1959, 1964, 1966, 1970, February 1974, October 1974 and 1979.

In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the local government county of Monmouth was abolished. For the 1983 general election, new constituency boundaries were drawn, taking account of new local government boundaries.

Members of Parliament

The following list does not include MPs who actually represented Monmouth Boroughs:

ElectionMember[4]Party
1918 Leolin Forestier-Walker Conservative
1934 by-election John Herbert Conservative
1939 by-election Leslie Pym Conservative
1945 by-election Peter Thorneycroft Conservative
1966 Donald Anderson Labour
1970 Sir John Stradling Thomas Conservative
1991 by-election Huw Edwards Labour
1992 Roger Evans Conservative
1997 Huw Edwards Labour
2005 David Davies Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 1910s
General election 1918: Monmouth[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Leolin Forestier-Walker 9,164 59.7
Liberal Hubert Martineau 6,189 40.3
Majority 2,975 19.4
Turnout 15,353 55.7
Registered electors 27,575
Unionist win (new seat)

Elections in the 1920s
General election 1922: Monmouth[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Leolin Forestier-Walker Unopposed
Registered electors 29,779
Unionist hold
General election 1923: Monmouth[6][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Leolin Forestier-Walker 12,697 59.9 N/A
Liberal Morgan Griffith 8,487 40.1 New
Majority 4,210 19.8 N/A
Turnout 21,184 80.9 N/A
Registered electors 29,889
Unionist hold Swing N/A
General election 1924: Monmouth[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Leolin Forestier-Walker 16,510 71.8 +11.9
Labour Luke Bateman 6,469 28.2 New
Majority 10,041 43.6 -20.2
Turnout 22,979 74.1 +3.2
Registered electors 31,031
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1929: Monmouth[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Leolin Forestier-Walker 16,353 49.3 -22.5
Liberal Richard Charles Williams 8,582 25.8 New
Labour Luke Bateman 8,268 24.9 -3.3
Majority 7,771 23.5 -20.1
Turnout 33,203 78.9 +4.8
Registered electors 42,070
Unionist hold Swing

Elections in the 1930s
General election 1931: Monmouth[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Leolin Forestier-Walker 24,829 70.8 +21.5
Labour D. Hughes 10,217 29.2 +4.3
Majority 14,612 41.6 +18.1
Turnout 45,046 78.0 -0.9
Registered electors 44,929
Conservative hold Swing
1934 Monmouth by-election[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Herbert 20,640 65.0 -5.8
Labour D. Hughes 11,094 35.0 +5.8
Majority 9,546 30.0 -11.6
Turnout 31,734 69.2 -8.8
Registered electors 45,885
Conservative hold Swing -5.8
General election 1935: Monmouth[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Herbert 23,262 63.4 -7.4
Labour Michael Mackintosh Foot 13,454 36.6 +7.4
Majority 9,808 26.8 -14.8
Turnout 36,716 76.8 -1.4
Registered electors 47,792
Conservative hold Swing -1.6
1939 Monmouth by-election[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Leslie Pym 17,358 60.1 -3.3
Labour Frank Rivers Hancock 11,543 39.9 +3.3
Majority 5,815 20.2 -6.6
Turnout 28,901 58.2 -18.6
Registered electors 49,690
Conservative hold Swing -3.3

Elections in the 1940s
General election 1945: Monmouth[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Leslie Pym 22,195 51.9 -11.5
Labour A B L Oakley 20,543 48.1 +11.5
Majority 1,652 3.8 -23.0
Turnout 42,738 72.0 -4.8
Registered electors 39,359
Conservative hold Swing -8.2
1945 Monmouth by-election[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Thorneycroft 21,092 52.7 +0.8
Labour A B L Oakley 18,953 47.3 -0.8
Majority 2,139 5.4 +1.6
Turnout 40,045 39.8 -32.2
Registered electors 60,013
Conservative hold Swing +0.8

Elections in the 1950s
General election 1950: Monmouth[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Thorneycroft 21,956 55.3 +3.4
Labour G P Thomas 17,725 44.7 -3.4
Majority 4,231 10.7 +6.9
Turnout 39,681 83.1 +11.1
Registered electors 47,725
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1951: Monmouth[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Thorneycroft 22,475 55.6 +0.3
Labour Josephine Richardson 17,952 44.4 -0.3
Majority 4,523 11.2 +0.5
Turnout 40,247 83.7 +0.6
Registered electors 48,314
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1955: Monmouth[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Thorneycroft 22,970 57.2 +1.6
Labour Josephine Richardson 17,173 42.8 -1.6
Majority 5,797 14.4 +3.2
Turnout 40,143 81.5 -2.2
Registered electors 49,252
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1959: Monmouth[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Thorneycroft 25,422 57.0 -0.2
Labour Gordon Parry 19,165 43.0 +0.2
Majority 6,257 14.0 -0.4
Turnout 44,587 83.1 +1.6
Registered electors 53,628
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s
General election 1964: Monmouth[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Peter Thorneycroft 22,365 44.1 -12.9
Labour A Calvin Kerr 21,921 42.7 -0.3
Liberal D Hywell Davies 6,764 13.2 New
Majority 714 1.4 -12.6
Turnout 51,050 84.4 +1.3
Registered electors 60,803
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1966: Monmouth[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Donald Anderson 28,619 52.7 +10.0
Conservative Peter Thorneycroft 25,654 47.3 +3.2
Majority 2,965 5.4 N/A
Turnout 54,273 84.3 -0.1
Registered electors 64,356
Labour gain from Conservative Swing

Elections in the 1970s
General election 1970: Monmouth[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Thomas 28,312 46.5 -0.8
Labour Donald Anderson 26,957 44.3 -8.4
Liberal David H Hando 4,601 6.7 New
Plaid Cymru Stuart K Neale 1,501 2.5 New
Majority 1,355 2.2 N/A
Turnout 61,371 80.5 -3.8
Registered electors 75,602
Conservative gain from Labour Swing
General election February 1974: Monmouth
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Thomas 27,269 43.7 -2.8
Labour F R Thompson 22,707 36.4 -7.9
Liberal David H Hando 11,506 18.4 +11.7
Plaid Cymru E H Spanwick 930 1.5 -1.0
Majority 4,562 7.3 +5.1
Turnout 62,412 84.1 +3.6
Registered electors 74,173
Conservative hold Swing
General election October 1974: Monmouth
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Thomas 25,460 42.8 -0.9
Labour Richard Faulkner 23,118 36.9 +0.5
Liberal David H Hando 10,076 16.9 -1.5
Plaid Cymru T Brimmacombe 839 1.4 -0.1
Majority 2,342 3.9 -4.4
Turnout 59,493 79.5 -4.6
Registered electors 74,838
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1979: Monmouth
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Thomas 33,547 50.5 +7.7
Labour T M Steel 23,785 35.8 -1.1
Liberal David H Hando 8,494 12.8 -4.1
Plaid Cymru G Williams 641 1.0 -0.4
Majority 9,762 14.7 +10.8
Turnout 66,467 83.0 +3.5
Registered electors 80,085
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1980s
General election 1983: Monmouth[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Stradling Thomas 21,746 49.2 -1.3
SDP Clive Lindley 12,403 28.0 New
Labour Christopher Short 9,593 21.7 -14.1
Plaid Cymru Gwynddri Williams 493 1.1 +0.1
Majority 9,343 21.2 +6.5
Turnout 44,235 78.8 -4.2
Registered electors 56,112
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1987: Monmouth[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative John Stradling Thomas 22,387 47.5 −1.7
Labour Katrina Gass 13,037 27.7 +6.0
SDP Clive Lindley 11,313 24.0 −4.0
Plaid Cymru Sian Meredudd 363 0.8 −0.3
Majority 9,530 19.8 −1.4
Turnout 47,100 80.8 +2.0
Registered electors 58,468
Conservative hold Swing −2.2

Elections in the 1990s
1991 Monmouth by-election[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Huw Edwards 17,733 39.3 +11.6
Conservative Roger Evans 15,327 34.0 −13.5
Liberal Democrats Frances David 11,164 24.8 New
Monster Raving Loony Screaming Lord Sutch 314 0.7 New
Plaid Cymru (Green) Melvin Witherden 277 0.6 -0.2
Unitax Independent Peter Carpenter 164 0.4 New
Corrective Party Lindi St Clair 121 0.3 New
Majority 2,406 5.3 N/A
Turnout 45,100 75.8 -5.0
Registered electors 59,460
Labour gain from Conservative Swing -12.6
General election 1992: Monmouth[11][12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Roger Evans 24,059 47.3 −0.2
Labour Huw Edwards 20,855 41.0 +13.3
Liberal Democrats Frances David 5,562 10.9 −13.1
Plaid Cymru (Green) Melvin Witherden 431 0.8 ±0.0
Majority 3,204 6.3 -13.5
Turnout 50,907 86.1 +5.3
Registered electors 59,147
Conservative hold Swing −6.8
General election 1997: Monmouth[13][14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Huw Edwards 23,404 47.7 +6.7
Conservative Roger Evans 19,226 39.2 -8.1
Liberal Democrats Mark Williams 4,689 9.6 -1.3
Referendum Timothy Warry 1,190 2.4 New
Plaid Cymru Alan Cotton 516 1.1 +0.3
Majority 4,178 8.5 N/A
Turnout 49,025 80.5 −5.6
Registered electors 60,873
Labour gain from Conservative Swing +7.4

Elections in the 2000s
General election 2001: Monmouth[15][16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Huw Edwards 19,021 42.8 −4.9
Conservative Roger Evans 18,637 41.9 +2.7
Liberal Democrats Neil Parker 5,080 11.4 +1.8
Plaid Cymru Marc Hubbard 1,068 2.4 +1.3
UKIP David Rowlands 656 1.5 New
Majority 384 0.9 −7.6
Turnout 44,462 71.5 −9.0
Registered electors 62,200
Labour hold Swing −3.8
General election 2005: Monmouth[17][18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Davies 21,396 46.9 +5.0
Labour Huw Edwards 16,869 37.0 −5.8
Liberal Democrats Phylip A. D. Hobson 5,852 12.8 +1.4
Plaid Cymru Jonathan Clark 993 2.2 −0.2
UKIP John Bufton 543 1.2 −0.3
Majority 4,527 9.9 N/A
Turnout 45,653 72.4 +0.9
Registered electors 62,233
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +5.4

Elections in the 2010s
General election 2010: Monmouth[19][20][21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Davies 22,466 48.3 +1.4
Labour Hamish Sandison 12,041 25.9 −11.1
Liberal Democrats Martin Blakebrough 9,026 19.4 +6.6
Plaid Cymru Jonathan Clark 1,273 2.7 +0.5
UKIP Derek Rowe 1,126 2.4 +1.2
Green Steve Millson 587 1.3 New
Rejected ballots 75
Majority 10,425 22.4 +12.5
Turnout 46,519 72.2 −0.2
Registered electors 64,538
Conservative hold Swing +6.2

Of the 75 rejected ballots:

  • 54 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.[21]
  • 20 voted for more than one candidate.[21]
  • 1 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified.[21]
General election 2015: Monmouth[22][23][24]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Davies 23,701 49.9 +1.6
Labour Ruth Jones 12,719 26.8 +0.9
UKIP Gareth Dunn 4,942 10.4 +8.0
Liberal Democrats Veronica German 2,496 5.3 −14.1
Plaid Cymru Jonathan Clark 1,875 3.9 +1.2
Green Christopher Were 1,629 3.4 +2.1
English Democrat Stephen Morris 100 0.2 New
Rejected ballots 104
Majority 10,982 23.1 +0.7
Turnout 47,462 76.2 +4.0
Registered electors 62,248
Conservative hold Swing +0.3

Of the 104 rejected ballots:

  • 70 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.[24]
  • 30 voted for more than one candidate.[24]
  • 4 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified.[24]
General election 2017: Monmouth[25][26]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Davies 26,411 53.1 +3.2
Labour Ruth Jones 18,205 36.6 +9.8
Liberal Democrats Veronica German 2,064 4.2 −1.1
Plaid Cymru Carole Damon 1,338 2.7 -1.2
Green Ian Chandler 954 1.9 -1.5
UKIP Roy Neale 762 1.5 -8.9
Rejected ballots 64
Majority 8,206 16.5 -6.6
Turnout 49,734 76.6 +0.4
Registered electors 64,909
Conservative hold Swing -3.3

Of the 64 rejected ballots:

  • 57 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.[26]
  • 7 voted for more than one candidate.[26]
General election 2019: Monmouth[27][28][29]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Davies 26,160 52.1 -1.0
Labour Yvonne Murphy 16,178 32.2 -4.4
Liberal Democrats Alison Willott 4,909 9.8 +5.6
Green Ian Chandler 1,353 2.7 +0.8
Plaid Cymru Hugh Kocan 1,182 2.4 -0.3
Independent Martyn Ford 435 0.9 New
Rejected ballots 136
Majority 9,982 19.9 +3.4
Turnout 59,217 74.8 -1.8
Registered electors 67,094
Conservative hold Swing +1.7

Of the 136 rejected ballots:

  • 112 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.[29]
  • 24 voted for more than one candidate.[29]

See also

Notes
  1. A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

References
  1. "Beyond 20/20 WDS – Table view". 2011 Electorate Figures. StatsWales. 1 December 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  2. Boundary Commission for Wales website
    The Parliamentary Constituencies and Assembly Electoral Regions (Wales) Order 2006, OPSI website
  3. Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 (ISBN 0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig 1972
    Craig attributes the 1951 alteration to SI 1851/1390 under section 2(3) of the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949
  4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 3)
  5. Craig, F. W. S. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918–1945 (1 ed.). Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0-900178-019. p.567
  6. Etholiadau'r ganrif 1885–1997, Beti Jones
  7. Craig, F. W. S. (1971). British parliamentary election results 1950-1970 (1 ed.). Chichester: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 9780900178023. Page 587
  8. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  9. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  10. Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1987–92 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  11. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  12. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  13. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  14. "BBC NEWS>VOTE 2001>Results and Constituencies>Monmouth". Vote 2001. BBC News. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  15. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  16. "BBC NEWS > Monmouth". Vote 2001. BBC News. 7 June 2001. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  17. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  18. "Monmouth parliamentary constituency - Election 2005" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  19. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  20. "BBC News | Election 2010 | Constituency | Monmouth". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  21. "Results" (PDF). Monmouthshire Council. Monmouthshire Council. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  22. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  23. "Monmouth Parliamentary constituency". Election 2015 Results. BBC. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  24. "Monmouth Results" (PDF). UK Parliamentary Elections May 2015 results. Monmouthshire County Council. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  25. "Monmouth Parliamentary constituency". Election 2017 Results. BBC. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  26. "2017 Results". Monmouthshire Council. Monmouthshire Council. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  27. "Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll" (PDF). Monmouthshire County Council. 14 November 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  28. "Monmouth parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  29. "Election-Results/General-Election-2019". Monmouthshire Council. Monmouthshire Council. Retrieved 4 April 2020.

Further reading
  • Iain Dale, ed. (2003). The Times House of Commons 1929, 1931, 1935. Politico's (reprint). ISBN 1-84275-033-X.
  • The Times House of Commons 1945. The Times. 1945.
  • Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Bromley		 Constituency represented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer
1957–1958		 Succeeded by
Tiverton
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