Torfaen (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Torfaen (Senedd constituency).

Torfaen
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Torfaen in Wales
Preserved county	Gwent
Electorate	61,806 (December 2010) [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 Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade. ^{[n 2]} It was established for the 1983 general election.

The constituency is to retain its name and gain wards, 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 next United Kingdom general election. ^[2]

Boundaries

Map of current boundaries

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, perhaps due to the constituency registering a strong Leave vote in the 2016 EU membership referendum. The area covers the new town of Cwmbran, Pontypool, and its surrounding districts and stretches as far north as Blaenavon.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [3]	Party
	1983	Leo Abse	Labour
	1987	Paul Murphy	Labour
	2015	Nick Thomas-Symonds	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Torfaen ^[4]

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)

General election 1987: Torfaen ^[5]

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

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Torfaen ^{[6] [7]}

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

General election 1997: Torfaen ^{[8] [9]}

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

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: Torfaen ^{[10] [11]}

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

General election 2005: Torfaen ^{[12] [13] [14]}

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

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2010: Torfaen ^{[15] [16] [17]}

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:

• 26 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for. ^[17]
• 19 voted for more than one candidate. ^[17]
• 1 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified. ^[17]

General election 2015: Torfaen ^{[18] [19] [20]}

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 [21]	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:

• 47 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for. ^[19]
• 21 voted for more than one candidate. ^[19]

General election 2017: Torfaen ^{[22] [23] [24]}

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:

• 39 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for. ^[24]
• 23 voted for more than one candidate. ^[24]

General election 2019: Torfaen ^{[25] [26] [27]}

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:

• 100 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for. ^[27]
• 26 voted for more than one candidate. ^[27]

Elections in the 2020s

Next general election: Torfaen

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nathan Edmunds [28]
	Labour	Nick Thomas-Symonds [29]
	Plaid Cymru	Matthew Jones [30]
	Reform UK	Ian Williams [31]
Rejected ballots
Majority
Turnout
Registered electors
			Swing

See also

• Torfaen (Senedd constituency)
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Gwent
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Wales

Notes

1. A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

References

1. "Beyond 20/20 WDS - Table view". 2011 Electorate Figures. StatsWales. 1 December 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
2. 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies - The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies in Wales (PDF). Boundary Commission for Wales. 28 June 2023.
3. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "T" (part 2)
4. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
5. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
6. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
7. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
8. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
9. "BBC NEWS>VOTE 2001>Results and Constituencies>Torfaen". Vote 2001. BBC News. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
10. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
11. "BBC NEWS >Torfaen". Vote 2001. BBC News. 7 June 2001. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
12. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
13. "Torfaen parliamentary constituency - Election 2005" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
14. "2005 Results" (PDF). Torfaen County Borough Council. Torfaen County Borough Council. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
15. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
16. BBC News Election Coverage - Torfaen
17. "Results" (PDF). Torfaen County Borough Council. Torfaen County Borough Council. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
18. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
19. "May 2015 Election Result" (PDF). Declaration of the result of the poll. Torfaen County Borough Council. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
20. "Torfaen Parliamentary constituency". Election 2015 Results. BBC. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
21. "Greens announce candidate for Torfaen". South Wales Argus.
22. "Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll" (PDF). Torfaen County Borough Council. 18 June 2017.
23. "Torfaen Parliamentary constituency". Election 2017 Results. BBC . Retrieved 11 April 2020.
24. "2017 Results" (PDF). Torfaen County Borough Council. Torfaen County Borough Council. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
25. "Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll" (PDF). Torfaen County Borough Council. 14 November 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
26. "Torfaen Parliamentary constituency". Election 2019 Results. BBC. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
27. "Election-Results/General-Election-2019" (PDF). Torfaen County Borough Council. Torfaen County Borough Council. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
28. https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/23796074.conservatives-announce-torfaen-general-election-candidate/
29. https://twitter.com/NickTorfaen/status/1596219629898432512
30. https://www.cwmbranlife.co.uk/plaid-cymru-announce-general-election-candidate
31. https://www.reformparty.uk/find_my_ppc

External links

• 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)

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