Conwy (UK Parliament constituency)

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

Conwy
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
200px Boundary of Conwy in Wales for the 2005 general election.
Preserved county	Clwyd, Gwynedd
Major settlements	Conwy, Bangor, Llandudno
1950–2010
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Aberconwy

Conwy 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
	1950	William Elwyn Edwards Jones	Labour
	1951	Peter Thomas	Conservative
	1966	Ednyfed Hudson Davies	Labour
	1970	Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts	Conservative
	1997	Betty Williams	Labour
	2010	Constituency abolished: see Aberconwy

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950 Electorate 46,669

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Elwyn Edwards Jones	15,176
	Conservative	David Archibald Price-White	14,373
	Liberal	Hugh Emlyn Hooson	9,937
Majority			803
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951 Electorate 46,425

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter John Mitchell Thomas	17,115
	Labour	William Elwyn Edwards Jones	16,532
	Liberal	Hugh Emlyn Hooson	5,791
Majority			583
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1955 Electorate 45,846

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter John Mitchell Thomas	18,705	48.2
	Labour	William Elwyn Edwards Jones	13,881	35.8
	Liberal	Dr Herbert Mostyn Lewis	3,217	8.2
	Plaid Cymru	Ioan Bowen Rees	3,019	7.8
Majority			4,824	12.4
Turnout			38,822
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1959 Electorate 45,660

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter John Mitchell Thomas	17,795	47.1
	Labour	Silvan Jones	13,260	35.1
	Liberal	John H Bellis	3,845	10.2
	Plaid Cymru	Ioan Bowen Rees	2,852	7.6
Majority			4,535	12.0
Turnout			37,752
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964 Electorate 46,669

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter John Mitchell Thomas	18,753	50.6
	Labour	Gwilym Edffrwd Roberts	15,234	41.1
	Plaid Cymru	G Hughes	3,058	8.3.
Majority			3,519
Turnout				80.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1966 Electorate 45,825

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ednyfed Hudson Davies	18,203	47.5
	Conservative	Peter John Mitchell Thomas	17,622	45.9
	Plaid Cymru	R. E. Jones	2,552	6.6
Majority			581
Turnout				83.7
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Conwy Electorate 45,825

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts	16,927	42.4
	Labour	Ednyfed Hudson Davies	16,024	40.2
	Plaid Cymru	Dafydd Elis-Thomas	4,311	10.8
	Liberal	Elfyn Lloyd Morris	2,626	6.6
Majority			903
Turnout			48,662	82.0
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election February 1974: Conwy Electorate 51,361

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts	16,763	40.2
	Labour	David Benjamin Rees	12,214	29.3
	Liberal	Dr D. T. Jones	8,546	20.4
	Plaid Cymru	M. Farmer	4,203	10.1
Majority			4,549
Turnout				81.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Conwy Electorate 51,730

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts	15,614	39.6
	Labour	David Benjamin Rees	12,808	32.5
	Liberal	Dr D. T. Jones	6,344	16.1
	Plaid Cymru	M. Farmer	4,668	11.8
Majority			2,806
Turnout				76.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1979: ConwyElectorate 51,350

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts	18,142	44.7
	Labour	G W Davies	12,069	29.8
	Liberal	Rev. John Roger Roberts	6,867	16.9
	Plaid Cymru	Emyr Price	3,497	8.6
Majority			6,073
Turnout				79
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

retrieved 23 Sept 2013

General Election 1983: Conwy Electorate 51,567

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts	16,413	41.7
	Liberal	Rev. John Roger Roberts	12,145	30.8
	Labour	I G Walters	6,731	17.1
	Plaid Cymru	Dafydd Iwan	4,105	10.4
Majority			4,268	10.9
Turnout				79
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1987: Conwy Electorate 52,294

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts	15,730	38.7
	Liberal	Rev. John Roger Roberts	12,706	31.2
	Labour	Betty Helena Williams	9,049	22.3
	Plaid Cymru	Rhodri Vaughan Davies	3,177	7.8
Majority			3,024	7.5
Turnout				77.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: Conwy

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts	14,250	33.7	−5.0
	Liberal Democrat	Rev. John Roger Roberts	13,255	31.4	+0.1
	Labour	Betty Williams	10,883	25.8	+3.5
	Plaid Cymru	Rhodri Vaughan Davies	3,108	7.4	−0.5
	Independent Conservative	Owen Wainwright	637	1.5	+1.5
	Natural Law	Ms David E. Hughes	114	0.3	+0.3
Majority			995	2.4	−5.1
Turnout			42,247	78.7	+1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.5

General Election 1997: Conwy

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Betty Williams	14,561	35.0	+9.2
	Liberal Democrat	Rev. John Roger Roberts	12,965	31.2	−0.2
	Conservative	David Ian Jones	10,085	24.3	−9.4
	Plaid Cymru	Rhodri Vaughan Davies	2,844	6.8	−0.6
	Referendum	Alan C. Barham	760	1.8	N/A
	Independent	Richard B. Bradley	250	0.6	N/A
	Natural Law	Ms David E. Hughes	95	0.2	−0.1
Majority			1,596	3.8
Turnout			41,560	75.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+9.3

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2001: Conwy

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Betty Williams	14,366	41.8	+6.8
	Conservative	David Logan	8,147	23.7	−0.6
	Liberal Democrat	Vicky MacDonald	5,800	16.9	−14.3
	Plaid Cymru	Ann Owen	5,665	16.5	+9.6
	UKIP	Allan Barham	388	1.1	N/A
Majority			6,219	18.1
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

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Betty Williams	12,479	37.1	−4.7
	Conservative	Guto Bebb	9,398	27.9	+4.2
	Liberal Democrat	Gareth Roberts	6,723	20.0	+3.1
	Plaid Cymru	Paul Rowlinson	3,730	11.1	−5.4
	Green	Jim Killock	512	1.5	+1.5
	Socialist Labour	David Lloyd Jones	324	1.0	+1.0
	UKIP	Ken Khambatta	298	0.9	−0.2
	Legalise Cannabis	Tim Evans	193	0.6	+0.6
Majority			3,081	9.2
Turnout			33,723	62.6	−0.3
	Labour 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