Torfaen | |
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County constituency for the House of Commons | |
![]() Interactive map of the constituency. | |
![]() Location of the constituency within Wales | |
Preserved county | Gwent |
Electorate | 70,591 (March 2020) [1] |
Major settlements | Cwmbran, Pontypool, Blaenavon |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1983 |
Member of Parliament | Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour) |
Seats | One |
Created from | Pontypool |
Overlaps | |
Senedd | Torfaen, South Wales East |
Torfaen is a constituency [n 1] in Wales represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Nick Thomas-Symonds, a member of the Labour Party who also serves as the Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office under the government of Keir Starmer. [n 2] It was established for the 1983 general election.
The constituency retained its name and gained wards, as part of the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies and under the June 2023 final recommendations of the Boundary Commission for Wales for the 2024 general election. [2]
1983–2024: The Borough of Torfaen, excluding the communities of Croesyceiliog and Llanyrafon which were part of the Monmouth constituency.
2024–present: Under the 2023 review, the constituency was defined as being composed of the whole of the County Borough of Torfaen, with Croesyceiliog and Llanyrafon being transferred from the now abolished constituency of Monmouth, which was replaced by Monmouthshire. [3]
The constituency covers the new town of Cwmbran, Pontypool, and its surrounding districts and stretches as far north as Blaenavon.
The area is traditionally a Labour Party stronghold with a majority of around 9,000. The community of New Inn is the only strong Conservative area. It voted Labour even amidst the huge Conservative majorities of 1983 and 1987. However, 2019 saw the lowest Labour majority in Torfaen in the seat's history, of only 3,742 votes, in part due to 60.8% of voters choosing the Leave vote in the 2016 EU membership referendum. [4] In the 2024 United Kingdom general election Labour increased their majority to 7,322 votes.
Election | Member [5] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1983 | Leo Abse | Labour | |
1987 | Paul Murphy | Labour | |
2015 | Nick Thomas-Symonds | Labour |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Nick Thomas-Symonds | 15,176 | 42.5 | −0.2 | |
Reform UK | Ian Williams | 7,854 | 22.0 | +8.8 | |
Conservative | Nathan Edmunds | 5,737 | 16.1 | −17.2 | |
Plaid Cymru | Matthew Jones | 2,571 | 7.2 | +3.6 | |
Green | Philip Davies | 1,705 | 4.8 | +2.6 | |
Liberal Democrats | Brendan Roberts | 1,644 | 4.6 | −0.4 | |
Independent | Lee Dunning | 881 | 2.5 | N/A | |
Heritage | Nikki Brooke | 137 | 0.4 | N/A | |
Majority | 7,322 | 20.5 | +10.5 | ||
Turnout | 35,705 | 49.9 | −10.3 | ||
Registered electors | 71,738 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | −4.5 |
2019 notional result [n 3] [7] | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Vote | % | |
Labour | 18,616 | 42.7 | |
Conservative | 14,506 | 33.3 | |
Brexit Party | 5,742 | 13.2 | |
Liberal Democrats | 2,157 | 5.0 | |
Plaid Cymru | 1,566 | 3.6 | |
Green Party | 966 | 2.2 | |
Majority | 4,110 | 9.4 | |
Turnout | 43,553 | 61.7 | |
Electorate | 70,591 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Nick Thomas-Symonds | 15,546 | 41.8 | −15.8 | |
Conservative | Graham Smith | 11,804 | 31.8 | +0.8 | |
Brexit Party | David Thomas | 5,742 | 15.4 | N/A | |
Liberal Democrats | John Miller | 1,831 | 4.9 | +2.7 | |
Plaid Cymru | Morgan Bowler-Brown | 1,441 | 3.9 | −1.5 | |
Green | Andrew Heygate-Browne | 812 | 2.2 | N/A | |
Rejected ballots | 126 | ||||
Majority | 3,742 | 10.0 | −16.6 | ||
Turnout | 37,176 | 60.2 | −2.0 | ||
Registered electors | 61,743 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | −8.3 |
Of the 126 rejected ballots:
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Nick Thomas-Symonds | 22,134 | 57.6 | +13.0 | |
Conservative | Graham Smith | 11,894 | 31.0 | +7.9 | |
Plaid Cymru | Jeff Rees | 2,059 | 5.4 | −0.3 | |
UKIP | Ian Williams | 1,490 | 3.9 | −15.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Andrew Best | 852 | 2.2 | −1.2 | |
Rejected ballots | 62 | ||||
Majority | 10,240 | 26.6 | +5.1 | ||
Turnout | 38,494 | 62.2 | +0.9 | ||
Registered electors | 61,839 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | +2.5 |
Of the 62 rejected ballots:
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Nick Thomas-Symonds | 16,938 | 44.6 | −0.2 | |
Conservative | Graham Smith | 8,769 | 23.1 | +3.1 | |
UKIP | Ken Beswick | 7,203 | 19.0 | +16.7 | |
Plaid Cymru | Boydd Hackley-Green | 2,169 | 5.7 | +0.4 | |
Liberal Democrats | Alison Willott | 1,271 | 3.4 | −13.2 | |
Green | Matt Cooke [17] | 746 | 2.0 | +0.8 | |
Socialist Labour | John Cox | 697 | 1.8 | N/A | |
Communist | Mark Griffiths | 144 | 0.4 | N/A | |
Rejected ballots | 68 | ||||
Majority | 8,169 | 21.5 | −3.3 | ||
Turnout | 37,937 | 61.3 | −0.2 | ||
Registered electors | 61,896 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | −1.6 |
Of the 68 rejected ballots:
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Paul Murphy | 16,847 | 44.8 | −12.1 | |
Conservative | Jonathan H. Burns | 7,541 | 20.0 | +4.2 | |
Liberal Democrats | David P. Morgan | 6,264 | 16.6 | +0.8 | |
Plaid Cymru | Rhys G. ab Elis | 2,005 | 5.3 | −0.9 | |
BNP | Jennifer Noble | 1,657 | 4.4 | N/A | |
Independent | Fred Wildgust | 1,419 | 3.8 | N/A | |
UKIP | Gareth Dunn | 862 | 2.3 | −0.9 | |
Independent | Richard Turner-Thomas | 607 | 1.6 | −0.5 | |
Green | Owen Clarke | 438 | 1.2 | N/A | |
Rejected ballots | 46 | ||||
Majority | 9,306 | 24.8 | −16.3 | ||
Turnout | 37,640 | 61.5 | +2.2 | ||
Registered electors | 61,183 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | −8.2 |
Of the 46 rejected ballots:
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Paul Murphy | 20,472 | 56.9 | −5.2 | |
Conservative | Nick Ramsay | 5,681 | 15.8 | −0.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Veronica Watkins | 5,678 | 15.8 | +4.6 | |
Plaid Cymru | Aneurin Preece | 2,242 | 6.2 | −1.5 | |
UKIP | David Rowlands | 1,145 | 3.2 | +1.3 | |
Independent | Richard Turner-Thomas | 761 | 2.1 | N/A | |
Majority | 14,791 | 41.1 | −5.1 | ||
Turnout | 35,979 | 59.3 | +1.6 | ||
Registered electors | 60,665 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | −2.5 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Paul Murphy | 21,883 | 62.1 | −7.0 | |
Conservative | Jason Evans | 5,603 | 15.9 | +3.6 | |
Liberal Democrats | Alan Masters | 3,936 | 11.2 | −0.9 | |
Plaid Cymru | Stephen Smith | 2,720 | 7.7 | +5.3 | |
UKIP | Brenda Vipass | 657 | 1.9 | N/A | |
Socialist Alliance | Stephen Bell | 443 | 1.3 | N/A | |
Majority | 16,280 | 46.2 | −10.4 | ||
Turnout | 35,242 | 57.7 | −14.0 | ||
Registered electors | 61,115 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | −5.3 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Paul Murphy | 29,863 | 69.1 | +5.0 | |
Conservative | Neil Parish | 5,327 | 12.3 | −8.0 | |
Liberal Democrats | Jean Gray | 5,249 | 12.1 | −1.0 | |
Referendum | Deborah Holler | 1,245 | 2.9 | N/A | |
Plaid Cymru | Robert Gough | 1,042 | 2.4 | −0.2 | |
Green | Roger Coghill | 519 | 1.2 | N/A | |
Majority | 24,536 | 56.8 | +13.0 | ||
Turnout | 43,245 | 71.7 | −5.8 | ||
Registered electors | 60,343 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | +6.5 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Paul Murphy | 30,352 | 64.1 | +5.4 | |
Conservative | Mark Watkins | 9,598 | 20.3 | +1.2 | |
Liberal Democrats | Malcolm Hewson | 6,178 | 13.1 | −6.8 | |
Plaid Cymru (Green) | John Cox | 1,210 | 2.6 | +1.4 | |
Majority | 20,754 | 43.8 | +5.0 | ||
Turnout | 47,338 | 77.5 | +1.9 | ||
Registered electors | 61,104 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | +2.1 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Paul Murphy | 26,577 | 58.7 | +11.4 | |
Liberal | Graham Blackburn | 9,027 | 19.9 | −8.4 | |
Conservative | Robert Gordon | 8,632 | 19.1 | −3.2 | |
Plaid Cymru | Jill Evans | 577 | 1.2 | −0.9 | |
Green | Melvin John Witherden | 450 | 1.0 | N/A | |
Majority | 17,550 | 38.8 | +19.8 | ||
Turnout | 45,263 | 75.6 | +1.2 | ||
Registered electors | 59,896 | ||||
Labour hold | Swing | +9.9 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Leo Abse | 20,678 | 47.3 | N/A | |
Liberal | Graham Blackburn | 12,393 | 28.3 | N/A | |
Conservative | Peter Martin | 9,751 | 22.3 | N/A | |
Plaid Cymru | Phyllis Cox | 896 | 2.1 | N/A | |
Majority | 8,285 | 19.0 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 43,718 | 74.4 | N/A | ||
Registered electors | 58,739 | ||||
Labour win (new seat) |