Cardiff South and Penarth (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Cardiff South and Penarth (Senedd constituency).

For the geographical area, see Cardiff South (disambiguation).

Cardiff South and Penarth
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Interactive map of boundaries from 2024
Boundary of Cardiff South and Penarth in Wales
Preserved county	South Glamorgan
Population	107,455 (2011 census) [1]
Electorate	72,269 (March 2020) [2]
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Stephen Doughty (Labour Co-op)
Seats	One
Created from	Cardiff South East & parts of Barry and Monmouth [3]
Overlaps
Senedd	Cardiff South and Penarth, South Wales Central

Cardiff South and Penarth (Welsh : De Caerdydd a Phenarth) is a constituency created in 1983 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2012 by Stephen Doughty, a Labour Co-op MP. ^{[n 1]} It was the largest constituency in Wales, with an electorate of 75,175 and one of the most ethnically diverse. ^[4]

The constituency retained its name, but with altered boundaries, as part of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies and under the June 2023 final recommendations of the Boundary Commission for Wales for the 2024 general election. ^[5]

History

Creation and boundary history

Prior to 1983 Penarth had been part of the abolished Barry constituency, represented by the Conservative backbencher Sir Raymond Gower. Most of the electorate of the new constituency had previously fallen into the abolished seat of Cardiff South East, represented by former Prime Minister, James Callaghan.

Its boundaries remained unchanged until the 2010 redistribution, when Sully was added to this constituency from the Vale of Glamorgan seat.

Political history

Cardiff South and Penarth has had three MPs since its creation, containing some very safe Labour wards from Cardiff such as Butetown, Grangetown and Splott, and several wards from the neighbouring borough of the Vale of Glamorgan, with Penarth mostly favourable to Labour, but with some areas such as Plymouth and Sully in the southern end of the seat where the Conservatives attracted more support. The first, elected at the 1983 general election, was the former Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan, who secured the seat with a 5.4% majority over Conservative David Tredinnick. Callaghan had immediately prior to the dissolution of Parliament, represented Cardiff South East. Callaghan first became an MP at the 1945 general election, for Cardiff South .

The second MP was Alun Michael (Labour and Co-operative Party) who served 25 years from 1987 before choosing to stand down in 2012. Michael's affiliation with the Co-operative Party did not appear on ballot papers at the 2010 general election because the Electoral Commission ruled that any joint candidates who wanted the names of both their parties included on the ballot paper could not also display the Labour red rose logo. ^[6] Michael opted to drop the reference to the Co-operative Party but after the election denounced the ruling as "an outrageous piece of incompetence by the Electoral Commission". ^[7] Michael briefly became Secretary of State for Wales in 1998. Michael held the seat at the 2010 general election with a majority of 10.6% following a 6% swing to the Conservative candidate. ^[8]

In 2012, Michael was selected by the Labour and Co-operative Parties as their candidate for the election of a Police and Crime Commissioner for the South Wales Police force area and announced he would be standing down from Parliament. ^{[9] [10]}

At a by-election held on 15 November 2012, Labour's decline was reversed coupled with very low turnout (down 38.2% on the previous election). Labour's Stephen Doughty succeeded Alun Michael winning 47.3% of the overall vote. This was an increase (in share-of-the-vote terms) on Michael's 2010 performance. However, in terms of actual votes cast (9,193 compared with 17,262 in 2010), it was Labour's lowest in this constituency. The 2015 result gave the seat the 83rd-smallest majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority. ^[11] Labour's result in 2017 saw them secure their largest ever margin in the constituency in terms of raw votes.

Other parties

Five parties' candidates achieved more than the deposit-retaining threshold of 5% of the vote in 2015. The second-placed candidate has been a Conservative candidate since the seat was formed. The closest result was in 1983, when Callaghan won by 5.5% of the vote.

Turnout

Turnout at general elections has ranged between 77.2% in 1992 and 56.2% in 2005.

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 2010–2024

1983–2010: The City of Cardiff wards of Butetown, Grangetown, Llanrumney, Rumney, Splott, and Trowbridge, and the Borough of Vale of Glamorgan wards of Alexandra (became Plymouth and St Augustine's from 2004), Cornerswell, Llandough, and Stanwell.

2010–2024: The Cardiff electoral divisions of Butetown, Grangetown, Llanrumney, Rumney, Splott, and Trowbridge, and the Vale of Glamorgan County Borough electoral divisions of Cornerswell, Dinas Powys (from 2024), Llandough, Plymouth, St Augustine's, Stanwell, and Sully.

2024–present: From the 2024 general election, the constituency gained Cathays and Dinas Powys, ^[12] though lost Llanrumney, Rumney, and Trowbridge to the new Cardiff East constituency. ^[13]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [14] [15]	Party
	1983	James Callaghan	Labour
	1987	Alun Michael	Labour and Co-operative
	2012 by-election	Stephen Doughty	Labour and Co-operative

Elections

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Cardiff South and Penarth ^{[16] [17]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Callaghan	17,448	41.3	N/A
	Conservative	David Tredinnick	15,172	35.9	N/A
	Liberal	Winston Roddick	8,816	20.8	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Sian Edwards	673	1.6	N/A
	Freedom from World Domination	Benjamin Lewis	165	0.4	N/A
Majority			2,276	5.4	N/A
Turnout			42,274	71.0	N/A
Registered electors			59,520
	Labour win (new seat)

General election 1987: Cardiff South and Penarth ^{[18] [19]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Alun Michael	20,956	46.7	+5.4
	Conservative	Gareth Neale	16,382	36.5	+0.6
	Liberal	Jenny Randerson	6,900	15.4	−5.4
	Plaid Cymru	Sian Edwards	599	1.3	−0.3
Majority			4,574	10.2	+4.8
Turnout			44,837	76.4	+5.4
Registered electors			58,714
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	+1.5

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Cardiff South and Penarth ^{[20] [21]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Alun Michael	26,383	55.5	+8.8
	Conservative	Thomas Jarvie	15,958	33.6	−2.9
	Liberal	Prabhat Verma	3,707	7.8	−7.6
	Plaid Cymru	Barbara Anglezarke	776	1.6	+0.3
	Green	Lester Davey	676	1.4	N/A
Majority			10,425	21.9	+11.7
Turnout			47,500	77.2	+0.8
Registered electors			61,484
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	+5.9

General election 1997: Cardiff South and Penarth ^{[22] [23]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Alun Michael	22,647	53.4	−2.1
	Conservative	Caroline E. Roberts	8,786	20.7	−12.9
	Liberal Democrats	Simon J. Wakefield	3,964	9.3	+1.5
	New Labour	John Foreman	3,942	9.3	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	David B. L. Haswell	1,356	3.2	+1.6
	Referendum	Phillip S. E. Morgan	1,211	2.9	N/A
	Socialist Alternative	Mike K. Shepherd	344	0.8	N/A
	Natural Law	Barbara Caves	170	0.4	N/A
Majority			13,861	32.7	+10.8
Turnout			42,420	68.3	−8.9
Registered electors			62,138
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	+5.3

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: Cardiff South and Penarth ^{[24] [25]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Alun Michael	20,094	56.2	+2.8
	Conservative	Maureen Owen	7,807	21.8	+1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Rodney Berman	4,572	12.8	+3.5
	Plaid Cymru	Lila Haines	1,983	5.5	+2.3
	UKIP	Justin Callan	501	1.4	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	David Bartlett	427	1.2	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Anne Savoury	367	1.0	N/A
Majority			12,287	34.4	+1.7
Turnout			35,751	57.1	−11.2
Registered electors			62,627
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	+0.8

General election 2005: Cardiff South and Penarth ^{[26] [27]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Alun Michael	17,447	47.3	−8.9
	Conservative	Victoria Green	8,210	22.2	+0.4
	Liberal Democrats	Gavin Cox	7,529	20.4	+7.6
	Plaid Cymru	Jason Toby	2,023	5.5	±0.0
	Green	John Matthews	729	2.0	N/A
	UKIP	Jennie Tuttle	522	1.4	±0.0
	Socialist Alternative	David Bartlett	269	0.7	N/A
	Independent	Andrew Taylor	104	0.3	N/A
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Catherine Taylor-Dawson	79	0.2	N/A
Majority			9,237	25.1	−9.3
Turnout			36,912	56.2	−0.9
Registered electors			65,786
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	-4.7

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2010: Cardiff South and Penarth ^{[28] [29] [30]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Alun Michael	17,262	38.9	−7.7
	Conservative	Simon Hoare	12,553	28.3	+4.4
	Liberal Democrats	Dominic Hannigan	9,875	22.3	+2.4
	Plaid Cymru	Farida Aslam	1,851	4.2	−1.1
	UKIP	Simon Zeigler	1,145	2.6	+1.2
	Independent	George Burke	648	1.5	N/A
	Green	Matthew Townsend	554	1.2	−0.6
	Christian	Clive Bate	285	0.6	N/A
	Communist	Robert Griffiths	196	0.4	N/A
Majority			4,709	10.6	−14.4
Turnout			44,369	60.2	+2.0
Registered electors			73,707
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−6.0

2012 Cardiff South and Penarth by-election ^[31]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Stephen Doughty	9,193	47.3	+8.4
	Conservative	Craig Williams	3,859	19.9	−8.4
	Liberal Democrats	Bablin Molik	2,103	10.8	−11.5
	Plaid Cymru	Luke Nicholas	1,854	9.5	+5.3
	UKIP	Simon Zeigler	1,179	6.1	+3.5
	Green	Anthony Slaughter	800	4.1	+2.9
	Socialist Labour	Andrew Jordan	235	1.2	N/A
	Communist	Robert Griffiths	213	1.1	+0.7
Rejected ballots			135
Majority			5,334	27.4	+16.8
Turnout			19,436	25.7	−34.5
Registered electors			76,764
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	+8.4

Of the 135 rejected ballots:

• 63 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for. ^[31]
• 69 voted for more than one candidate. ^[31]
• 3 had writing or a mark by which the voter could be identified. ^[31]

General election 2015: Cardiff South and Penarth ^{[32] [33] [34]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Stephen Doughty [35]	19,966	42.8	+3.9
	Conservative	Emma Warman	12,513	26.8	−1.5
	UKIP	John Rees-Evans [36]	6,423	13.8	+11.2
	Plaid Cymru	Ben Foday [37]	3,443	7.4	+3.2
	Liberal Democrats	Nigel Howells	2,318	5.0	−17.3
	Green	Anthony Slaughter	1,746	3.7	+2.5
	TUSC	Ross Saunders	258	0.6	N/A
Rejected ballots			121
Majority			7,453	16.0	+5.4
Turnout			46,667	61.4	+1.2
Registered electors			76,006
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	+2.7

Of the 121 rejected ballots:

• 82 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for. ^[33]
• 35 voted for more than one candidate. ^[33]
• 4 had writing or a mark by which the voter could be identified. ^[33]

General election 2017: Cardiff South and Penarth ^{[38] [39] [40]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Stephen Doughty	30,182	59.5	+16.7
	Conservative	Bill Rees [41]	15,318	30.2	+3.4
	Plaid Cymru	Ian Titherington [42]	2,162	4.3	−3.1
	Liberal Democrats	Emma Sands	1,430	2.8	−2.2
	UKIP	Andrew Bevan	942	1.9	−11.9
	Green	Anthony Slaughter [43] [44]	532	1.0	−2.7
	Pirate	Jebediah Hedges	170	0.3	N/A
Rejected ballots			107
Majority			14,864	29.3	+13.3
Turnout			50,736	66.3	+4.9
Registered electors			76,499
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	+6.7

Of the 107 rejected ballots:

• 76 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for. ^[40]
• 29 voted for more than one candidate. ^[40]
• 2 had writing or a mark by which the voter could be identified. ^[40]

General election 2019: Cardiff South and Penarth ^{[45] [46] [47]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Stephen Doughty	27,382	54.1	−5.4
	Conservative	Phillippa Broom	14,645	29.0	−1.2
	Liberal Democrats	Dan Schmeising	2,985	5.9	+3.1
	Plaid Cymru	Nasir Adam	2,386	4.7	+0.4
	Brexit Party	Tim Price	1,999	4.0	N/A
	Green	Ken Barker	1,182	2.3	+1.3
Rejected ballots			160
Majority			12,737	25.1	−3.8
Turnout			50,579	64.2	−2.1
Registered electors			78,837
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−2.1

Of the 160 rejected ballots:

• 132 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for. ^[47]
• 27 voted for more than one candidate. ^[47]
• 1 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified. ^[47]

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Cardiff South and Penarth ^[48]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Stephen Doughty	17,428	44.5	–9.2
	Green	Anthony Slaughter	5,661	14.5	+12.2
	Conservative	Ellis Smith	5,459	13.9	–16.2
	Reform UK	Simon Llewellyn	4,493	11.5	+8.7
	Plaid Cymru	Sharifah Rahman [a]	3,227	8.2	+4.0
	Liberal Democrats	Alex Wilson	2,908	7.4	+0.4
Majority			11,767	30.0	+4.9
Turnout			39,176	54.0	–15.7
Registered electors			72,613
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−10.7

See also

• Cardiff South and Penarth (Senedd constituency)
• List of parliamentary constituencies in South Glamorgan
• List of UK Parliament constituencies in Wales

Notes

1. A borough constituency in terms of election expenses and type of returning officer

1. Plaid Cymru withdrew their support for Rahman on 7 June 2024, after nominations closed the same day, so she still appeared as the Plaid Cymru candidate on the ballot paper. ^[49]

References

1. "Cardiff South and Penarth: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
2. Mrs Justice Jefford; Thomas, Huw Vaughan; Hartley, Sam A (June 2023). "Appendix 1: Recommended Constituencies" (PDF). The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies in Wales. Cardiff: Boundary Commission for Wales. p. 250. ISBN   978-1-5286-3901-9 . Retrieved 13 July 2024.
3. "'Cardiff South and Penarth', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
4. "Election 2015 – Cardiff South & Penarth". BBC . Retrieved 5 April 2015.
5. 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies – The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies in Wales (PDF). Boundary Commission for Wales. 28 June 2023.
6. David Ottewell (21 April 2010). "Labour candidates barred from using red rose emblem". Manchester Evening News . Retrieved 9 June 2021.
7. Alun Michael (27 May 2010). "Party facts". Penarth Times . Retrieved 9 June 2021.
8. A notional calculation using estimated 2005 results for the boundary-changed constituency. "Cardiff South and Penarth". BBC News Online . Retrieved 22 July 2012.
9. "Alun Michael stands down as Cardiff South and Penarth MP today". Wales Online . 21 October 2012.
10. "Date set for three parliamentary by-elections". BBC News Online . 23 October 2012.
11. "Labour Members of Parliament 2015". UK Political.info. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018.
12. "Map of Welsh MPs seats redrawn as number to be cut to 32". BBC News. 28 June 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
13. "Cardiff South and Penarth Parliamentary constituency reorganised". Penarth Times. 29 June 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
14. "Cardiff South and Penarth 1983–". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . Retrieved 2 February 2015.
15. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 2)
16. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
17. "Politics Resources". Election 1983. Politics Resources. 9 June 1983. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
18. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
19. "Politics Resources". Election 1987. Politics Resources. 11 June 1987. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
20. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
21. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
22. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
23. "BBC NEWS>VOTE 2001>Results and Constituencies>Cardiff South and Penarth". Vote 2001. BBC News. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
24. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
25. "BBC NEWS > Cardiff South and Penarth". Vote 2001. BBC News. 7 June 2001. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
26. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
27. "Cardiff South and Penarth parliamentary constituency – Election 2005". BBC.
28. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
29. Cardiff South and Penarth Archived 9 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Cardiff County Council – candidates Cardiff South and Penarth
30. BBC Election Results BBC News – Election Results – Cardiff South and Penarth
31. "Cardiff South and Penarth result". Election results for Cardiff South and Penarth. City of Cardiff Council. 2 October 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
32. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
33. "Cardiff South and Penarth result". Election results for Cardiff South and Penarth. City of Cardiff Council. 7 May 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
34. "Cardiff South and Penarth Parliamentary constituency". Election 2015. BBC News. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
35. "Labour MP Stephen Doughty Is Nominated To Stand Again In 2015 general election" Archived 21 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine , Penarth Daily News (blog), 15 July 2013.
36. "UKIP Takes Its 2015 Parliamentary Election Challenge Onto The Streets Of Penarth" Archived 4 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine , Penarth Daily News (blog), 25 November 2014.
37. "UK ELECTION RESULTS: CARDIFF SOUTH & PENARTH 2015". UK Election Results. Election Blog. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
38. "Statement of Persons Nominated & Notice of Poll". Caerphilly County Borough Council . Retrieved 25 May 2017.
39. "Cardiff South and Penarth Parliamentary constituency". Election 2017 Results. BBC . Retrieved 18 January 2020.
40. "Election Results". Cardiff Council. 8 June 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
41. "Norfolk North and Penistone & Stocksbridge choose their candidates. Latest selection news". Conservative Home. 2 May 2017.
42. "GENERAL ELECTION: First candidates for Penarth seat are announced". Penarth Times. 4 May 2017.
43. "Back on the campaign trail as @WalesGreenParty candidate for #GE2017 in Cardiff South and Penarth". Twitter. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
44. "GENERAL ELECTION: First candidates for Penarth seat are announced". Penarth Times. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
45. "Scheduled elections and polls" (PDF). Cardiff Council. Retrieved 16 November 2019.^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}
46. "Cardiff South and Penarth parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News . Retrieved 18 January 2020.
47. "Election-Results/General-Election-2019". Cardiff Council. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
48. "Cardiff South and Penarth results". BBC News Online . 5 July 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
49. Lewis, Rhodri; Grey, Jack (7 June 2024). "Plaid Cymru withdraws candidate support over social media posts". BBC News Online . Retrieved 7 June 2024.

External links

• nomis Constituency Profile for Cardiff South and Penarth – presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.
• Politics Resources (Election results from 1922 onwards)
• Electoral Calculus (Election results from 1955 onwards)
• 2017 Election House of Commons Library 2017 Election report
• A Vision Of Britain Through Time (Constituency elector numbers)
• "Results: Cardiff South & Penarth". BBC News: Election 2005. BBC News. 6 May 2005. Retrieved 25 May 2006.
• "News Release – South Glamorgan" (PDF). Boundary Commission for Wales. 10 November 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 December 2004. Retrieved 25 May 2006.
• "Aristotle: Cardiff South and Penarth". The Guardian . London. 8 May 2004. Archived from the original on 24 March 2007. Retrieved 25 May 2006.
• Cardiff South and Penarth UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
• Cardiff South and Penarth UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
• Cardiff South and Penarth UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Dagenham	Constituency represented by the father of the House 1983–1987	Succeeded by Castle Point

51°28′08″N3°07′37″W / 51.469°N 3.127°W / 51.469; -3.127