Clwyd South West (UK Parliament constituency)

Clwyd South West
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Preserved county	Clwyd
Major settlements	Denbigh, Llangollen, Rhosllanerchrugog, Ruthin
1983–1997
Seats	One
Created from	Denbigh, Wrexham and Merioneth [1]
Replaced by	Clwyd South, Clwyd West and Vale of Clwyd [1]

Clwyd South West (Welsh : De-orllewin Clwyd) was a county constituency in Clwyd, North Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system of election.

The constituency was created for the 1983 general election, and abolished for the 1997 general election. It was a marginal seat throughout its lifetime.

Boundaries

This was a constituency of a varied nature, being made up of former mining villages close to Wrexham (such as Rhosllannerchrugog), the towns of Denbigh, Llangollen, and Ruthin, and a large area of sparsely populated countryside. ^[2] The seat was abolished and split into three new constituencies on the recommendation of the Boundary Commission for Wales to create an extra seat in Clwyd for the 1997 general election. ^[3]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [4]	Party
	1983	Robert Harvey	Conservative
	1987	Martyn Jones	Labour
	1997	constituency abolished: see Clwyd South, Clwyd West and Vale of Clwyd

Elections

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Clwyd South West ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Harvey	14,575	33.8
	SDP	Tom Ellis	13,024	30.2
	Labour	Dennis Carter	11,829	27.4
	Plaid Cymru	Antoni Schiavone	3,684	8.6
Majority			1,551	3.6
Turnout			43,112	77.3
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1987: Clwyd South West ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Martyn Jones	16,701	35.4	+8.0
	Conservative	Robert Harvey	15,673	33.2	―0.6
	SDP	Tom Ellis	10,778	22.9	―7.3
	Plaid Cymru	Eifion Lloyd Jones	3,987	8.5	―0.1
Majority			1,028	2.2	N/A
Turnout			47,139	81.1	+3.8
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.4

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Clwyd South West ^{[7] [8]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Martyn Jones	21,490	43.5	+8.1
	Conservative	Gwilym G.V. Owen	16,549	33.5	+0.3
	Liberal Democrats	W. Gwyn Williams	6,027	12.2	―10.7
	Plaid Cymru	Eifion Lloyd Jones	4,835	9.8	+1.3
	Green	Nigel C. Worth	351	0.7	New
	Natural Law	Jean B. Leadbetter	155	0.3	New
Majority			4,941	10.0	+7.8
Turnout			49,407	81.5	+0.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.9

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Clwyd

Notes and references

1. "'Clwyd South West', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
2. "Clwyd South West". Vision of Britain. Vision of Britain, University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
3. C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, pp.12,205 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995).
4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 5)
5. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
6. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
7. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
8. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.