2005 United Kingdom general election in Wales

Last updated

2005 United Kingdom general election in Wales
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg
  2001 5 May 2005 2010  

All 40 Welsh seats to the House of Commons
 First partySecond party
  Tony Blair WEF (cropped).jpg Charles Kennedy MP (cropped).jpg
Leader Tony Blair Charles Kennedy
Party Labour Liberal Democrats
Leader since 21 July 1994 9 August 1999
Last election34 seats, 48.6%2 seats, 13.8%
Seats won294
Seat changeDecrease2.svg5Increase2.svg2
Popular vote594,821256,249
Percentage42.7%18.4%
SwingDecrease2.svg5.9%Increase2.svg4.6%

 Third partyFourth party
  Michael Howard (cropped).jpg Ieuan Wyn Jones 2011 (cropped).jpg
Leader Michael Howard Ieuan Wyn Jones
Party Conservative Plaid Cymru
Leader since 6 November 2003 3 August 2000
Last election0 seats, 21.0%4 seats, 14.3%
Seats won33
Seat changeIncrease2.svg3Decrease2.svg1
Popular vote297,830174,838
Percentage21.4%12.6%
SwingIncrease2.svg0.4%Decrease2.svg1.7%

WalesParliamentaryConstituency2005Results.svg

These are the results of the 2005 United Kingdom general election in Wales. The election was held on 5 May 2005 and all 40 seats in Wales were contested.

Contents

Results

Below is a table summarising the results of the 2005 general election in Wales. [1]

PartySeatsVotes
TotalGainsLossesNet +/-% seatsTotal% votesChange
Labour 2905Decrease2.svg572.5594,82142.7Decrease2.svg5.9
Conservative 330Increase2.svg37.5297,83021.4Increase2.svg0.4
Liberal Democrats 420Increase2.svg210.0256,24918.4Increase2.svg4.6
Plaid Cymru 301Decrease2.svg17.5174,83812.6Decrease2.svg1.7
Independent 110Increase2.svg12.523,2301.7Increase2.svg1.1
UKIP 000Steady2.svg20,2971.5Increase2.svg0.6
Green 000Steady2.svg7,1440.5Increase2.svg0.2
Forward Wales 000Steady2.svg3,4610.2N/A
Legalise Cannabis 000Steady2.svg1,7720.1N/A
BNP 000Steady2.svg1,6890.1Increase2.svg0.1
Socialist Labour 000Steady2.svg1,6050.1Decrease2.svg0.1
Veritas 000Steady2.svg1,4370.1N/A
 Others000Steady2.svg8,3460.6Increase2.svg0.5
Total401,392,71962.4

Outcome and changes

The election saw Labour lose ground in Wales although it still won 29 of Wales' 40 constituencies and 42.7% of the vote. In what the BBC described as a "sensational defeat". Labour lost Blaenau Gwent, its "safest seat in Wales" to Independent Peter Law, a member of the Welsh Assembly who had left Labour to contest the election following a dispute about the use of an all-women shortlist in the selection of Labour's candidate. [2]

Plaid Cymru, also fell back losing Ceredigion (to the Liberal Democrats) and failing to regain Ynys Môn which they had narrowly lost to Labour in 2001. [2] This followed on from what the BBC described as "a poor performance" by Plaid Cymru at the 2003 National Assembly for Wales election, when it was reduced from 17 seats to 12. [3] Elfyn Llwyd, Plaid Cymru's parliamentary leader who was re-elected as MP for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy, said the result was "extremely disappointing". However he also stated that while the result was "a set back...but it's not half as bad as the media speculation would suggest", noting he and Plaid's two other MPs increased their majorities, and that "If 1,400 votes had gone the other way, we would have won Ynys Mon and held Ceredigion." [3]

The Conservatives made three gains from Labour (Clwyd West, Preseli Pembrokeshire and Monmouth, the first time there had been Conservative MPs from Welsh constituencies since the party had been wiped out in Wales in the 1997 election. [2] The Shadow Secretary of State for Wales, Bill Wiggin, said after the result "Never again will Wales be a Conservative-free zone". [4] However, the Conservatives failed to win two other target Labour-held seats, Vale of Glamorgan and Cardiff North, which the BBC described as "disappointments" for them, and Wiggin admitted that he would have liked the Party to win more seats in Wales. [4] [5]

The Liberal Democrats gained two seats (taking Cardiff Central from Labour in addition to their gain of Ceredigion), thereby doubling their Welsh total to four seats. [2] Lembit Öpik, the Welsh Liberal Democrats leader, described this as a "fantastic night" for his party in Wales, and called their gaining of Ceredigion the "result of the night". [6] He also added that by having the second highest number of Welsh MPs the Welsh Liberal Democrats were now "the official opposition" to Labour at Westminster. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

Plaid Cymru is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. It campaigns on a platform of social democracy and civic nationalism. The party is a strong supporter of the European Union and is a member of the European Free Alliance (EFA). The party holds 4 of 32 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament, 12 of 60 seats in the Senedd, and 202 of 1,231 principal local authority councillors. Plaid was formed in 1925 under the name Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru and Gwynfor Evans won the first Westminster seat for the party at the 1966 Carmarthen by-election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Thomas (politician)</span> British politician & former librarian (born 1963)

Simon George Thomas is a Welsh former politician who was a member of Plaid Cymru. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Ceredigion from 2000 to 2005, and an Assembly Member in the National Assembly for Wales representing the Mid and West Wales list between 2011 and 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ieuan Wyn Jones</span> Welsh politician

Ieuan Wyn Jones is a Welsh politician who was the Deputy First Minister in the Welsh Government from 2007 to 2011. He was the Member of the National Assembly for Wales for the Ynys Môn constituency from 1999 to 2013, and he was also leader of Plaid Cymru from 2000 to 2012. Jones served as Member of Parliament for Ynys Môn constituency from 1987 to 2001, when he retired to focus on his work in the Welsh Assembly. In 2007, Jones was named Wales' "Politician of the Year" by the BBC Wales am.pm programme. He resigned from the Welsh Assembly on 20 June 2013. In 2017 he unsuccessfully sought to return to the House of Commons for his former constituency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2005 United Kingdom general election</span>

The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect 646 members to the House of Commons. The governing Labour Party led by the prime minister Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, with Blair becoming the second Labour leader after Harold Wilson to form three majority governments. However, its majority fell to 66 seats; the majority it won four years earlier had been of 167 seats. The UK media interpreted the results as an indicator of a breakdown in trust in the government, and especially in Blair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Williams (politician)</span> Former Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats

Mark Fraser Williams is a British politician who served as leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats from 2016 to 2017. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ceredigion constituency, between 2005 and 2017. He sat on the Welsh Affairs Select Committee, and in 2006 he became a Shadow Minister for Wales under Menzies Campbell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Wales</span>

Politics in Wales forms a distinctive polity in the wider politics of the United Kingdom, with Wales as one of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (UK).

Welsh Labour, formerly known as the Labour Party in Wales, is an autonomous section of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears have won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every UK general election since 1922, every Assembly and Senedd election since 1999, and all elections to the European Parliament in the period 1979–2004 and in 2014. Welsh Labour holds 27 of the 32 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament, 30 of the 60 seats in the Welsh Senedd and 576 of the 1,264 councillors in principal local authorities including overall control of 10 of the 22 principal local authorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welsh Liberal Democrats</span> Welsh branch of the Liberal Democrats

The Welsh Liberal Democrats are a branch of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats that operates in Wales. The party is led by Jane Dodds, who has served as an MS for Mid and West Wales since May 2021. The party currently has one elected member in the Senedd and one Welsh seat in the UK House of Commons. It also has several members of the House of Lords. The party had 69 local councilors serving in principal authorities as of the 2022 local authority elections, up 10 from 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 National Assembly for Wales election</span>

The 2011 National Assembly for Wales election was an election for the National Assembly. The poll was held on 5 May 2011 and decided the incumbency for all the Assembly's seats. It was the fourth election for seats in the National Assembly for Wales, and the second election taken under the rules of the Government of Wales Act 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2007 National Assembly for Wales election</span>

The 2007 National Assembly for Wales election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the National Assembly for Wales. It was the third general election. On the same day local elections in England and Scotland, as well as the Scottish Parliament election took place. This election was preceded by the previous Assembly election in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2001 United Kingdom general election in Wales</span>

These are the results of the 2001 United Kingdom general election in Wales. The election was held on 7 June 2001 and all 40 seats in Wales were contested. The overall result remained exactly the same as in the previous election in 1997, with only two changes - Labour gained Ynys Môn from Plaid Cymru and Plaid gained Carmarthen East and Dinefwr from Labour. The Conservatives, despite taking the second largest number of votes in Wales, once again won no seats; this was only the second election since 1918 to leave them with no representation in Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Senedd election</span> General election held in Wales on 6 May 2021

The 2021 Senedd election took place on Thursday 6 May 2021 to elect 60 members to the Senedd. It was the sixth devolved general election since the Senedd was established in 1999. The election was held alongside the Scottish Parliament election, English local elections, London Assembly and mayoral election and the Hartlepool by-election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Welsh local elections</span>

The 2017 Welsh local elections were held on 4 May 2017 to elect members of all 22 local authorities in Wales. This included the Isle of Anglesey, which was previously up for election in 2013 due to having its elections delayed for a year. Community council elections also took place on the same day. These local elections were held as part of the 2017 local elections in the United Kingdom. Apart from Anglesey, the last elections were held in 2012. Normally these elections take place every four years, but the 2017 elections were postponed for a year in order to avoid clashing with the 2016 Welsh Assembly election, which itself had been postponed by a year to avoid clashing with the 2015 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 United Kingdom general election in Wales</span>

The 2017 United Kingdom general election in Wales was held on 8 June 2017; all 40 seats in Wales were contested. The election for each seat was conducted on the basis of first-past-the-post.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 United Kingdom general election in Wales</span> United Kingdom general election held in Wales

The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on 12 December 2019 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons, including the 40 Welsh seats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Welsh local elections</span>

The 2022 Welsh local elections took place on 5 May 2022 to elect members of all twenty-two local authorities in Wales. They were held alongside other local elections in the United Kingdom. The previous elections were held in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 United Kingdom general election in Wales</span>

The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024. Thirty-two seats were up for election in Wales as the general election occurred after the recently completed boundary review took effect. The Labour Party won a landslide victory of Welsh MPs, gaining six seats for a total of 27. Both Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats made gains, taking them to four seats and one seat respectively. The Conservatives lost all thirteen seats they had held previously, leaving the party without Westminster representation from Wales for the first time since 2005.

References

  1. "Election 2005 | Wales". BBC News. 23 May 2005. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Labour loses safest seat in Wales". BBC Election 2005. BBC. 6 May 2005. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Plaid reeling after double blow". BBC Election 2005. BBC. 6 May 2005. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Tories back on the electoral map". BBC Election 2005. BBC. 6 May 2005. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  5. 1 2 "Leaders assess election shake-up". BBC Election 2005. BBC. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  6. "Lib Dems win Cardiff, Ceredigion". BBC Election 2005. BBC. 6 May 2005. Retrieved 14 November 2021.