Vale of Glamorgan (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Vale of Glamorgan (Senedd constituency).

Vale of Glamorgan
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Vale of Glamorgan in Wales
Preserved county	South Glamorgan
Electorate	76,508 (December 2019) [1]
Major settlements	Barry, Llantwit Major, Dinas Powys, Cowbridge
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Alun Cairns (Conservative)
Seats	One
Created from	Barry and Pontypridd [2]
Overlaps
Senedd	Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales Central

Vale of Glamorgan (Welsh : Bro Morgannwg) is a constituency ^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Alun Cairns, a Conservative. ^{[n 2]}

It is a bellwether constituency, having been won by the party with a plurality of seats in every general election since the seat was created in 1983.

The constituency is to retain its name but its boundaries altered, 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. ^[3]

Boundaries

Map of current boundaries

1983–2010: The Borough of Vale of Glamorgan wards of Baruc, Buttrills, Cadoc, Castleland, Court, Cowbridge, Dinas Powys, Dyfan, Gibbonsdown, Illtyd, Llandow, Llantwit Major, Peterson-super-Ely, Rhoose, St Athan, Sully, and Wenvoe.

2010–present: The Vale of Glamorgan County Borough electoral divisions of Baruc, Buttrills, Cadoc, Castleland, Court, Cowbridge, Dinas Powys, Dyfan, Gibbonsdown, Illtyd, Llandow and Ewenny, Llantwit Major, Peterston-super-Ely, Rhoose, St Athan, St Bride's Major, and Wenvoe.

This marginal constituency to the west of Cardiff takes in the Labour-voting seaside resort of Barry and a number of Conservative villages and small towns, such as Cowbridge. There have been some close shaves for both parties here in the past: Conservative Walter Sweeney got home by a mere 19 votes in 1992; and John Smith (the namesake of the late previous Labour leader) had a majority of under 2,000 in 2005. John Smith stood down from Parliament due to ill health, and the seat went Conservative at the 2010 election.

Sully ward was transferred to Cardiff South and Penarth in 2010.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [4]	Party
	1983	Sir Raymond Gower	Conservative
	1989 by-election	John Smith	Labour
	1992	Walter Sweeney	Conservative
	1997	John Smith	Labour
	2010	Alun Cairns	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Vale of Glamorgan ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Gower	22,241	48.0	N/A
	Labour	Michael Sharp	12,028	25.8	N/A
	SDP	William Evans	11,154	23.9	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	John Dixon	1,068	2.3	N/A
Majority			10,393	22.2	N/A
Turnout			46,671	74.2	N/A
Registered electors			62,885
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1987: Vale of Glamorgan ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Raymond Gower	24,229	46.8	-1.2
	Labour	John Smith	17,978	34.7	+8.9
	SDP	David Davies	8,633	16.7	-7.2
	Plaid Cymru	Penri Williams	946	1.8	-0.5
Majority			6,251	12.1	-10.1
Turnout			51,786	79.3	+5.1
Registered electors			65,310
	Conservative hold		Swing	−5.1

1989 Vale of Glamorgan by-election ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Smith	23,342	48.9	+14.2
	Conservative	Rod Richards	17,314	36.3	−10.5
	SLD	Frank Leavers	2,017	4.2	-12.5
	Plaid Cymru	John Dixon	1,672	3.5	+1.7
	SDP	David Keith Davies	1,098	2.3	N/A
	Green	Marilyn Wakefield	971	2.0	N/A
	Protect the Health Service	Christopher Tiarks	847	1.8	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	266	0.5	N/A
	Independent Welsh Socialist	Eric Roberts	148	0.3	N/A
	Corrective Party	Lindi St Claire	39	0.1	N/A
	Christian Alliance	David Black	32	0.1	N/A
Majority			6,028	12.6	N/A
Turnout			47,746	70.7	-8.6
Registered electors			67,549
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	−12.4

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Vale of Glamorgan ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Walter Sweeney	24,220	44.3	-2.5
	Labour	John Smith	24,201	44.3	+9.6
	Liberal Democrats	David Davies	5,045	9.2	-7.5
	Plaid Cymru	David Haswell	1,160	2.1	+0.3
Majority			19	0.0	-12.1
Turnout			54,626	81.9	+2.6
Registered electors			66,672
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1997: Vale of Glamorgan ^{[10] [11]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Smith	29,054	53.9	+9.6
	Conservative	Walter Sweeney	18,522	34.4	-9.9
	Liberal Democrats	Suzanne Campbell	4,945	9.2	±0.0
	Plaid Cymru	Melanie Corp	1,393	2.6	+0.5
Majority			10,532	19.5	N/A
Turnout			53,914	80.0	−1.9
Registered electors			67,413
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	-9.8

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: Vale of Glamorgan ^{[12] [13]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Smith	20,524	45.4	-8.5
	Conservative	Susan Inkin	15,824	35.0	+0.6
	Liberal Democrats	Dewi Smith	5,521	12.2	+3.0
	Plaid Cymru	Chris Franks	2,867	6.3	+3.7
	UKIP	Timothy Warry	448	1.0	N/A
Majority			4,700	10.4	-9.1
Turnout			45,184	66.7	−13.3
Registered electors			67,774
	Labour hold		Swing	-4.6

General election 2005: Vale of Glamorgan ^{[14] [15]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Smith	19,481	41.2	-4.2
	Conservative	Alun Cairns	17,673	37.3	+2.3
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Hooper	6,140	13.0	+0.8
	Plaid Cymru	Barry Shaw	2,423	5.1	-1.2
	UKIP	Richard Suchorzewski	840	1.8	+0.8
	Liberal	Karl-James Langford	605	1.3	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Paul Mules	162	0.3	N/A
Majority			1,808	3.9	-6.5
Turnout			47,324	68.9	+2.2
Registered electors			68,657
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.3

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2010: Vale of Glamorgan ^{[16] [17] [18]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alun Cairns	20,341	41.8	+4.4
	Labour	Alana E. Davies	16,034	32.9	-7.8
	Liberal Democrats	Eluned Parrott	7,403	15.2	+2.0
	Plaid Cymru	Ian Johnson	2,667	5.5	+0.4
	UKIP	Kevin Mahoney	1,529	3.1	+1.4
	Green	Rhodri H. Thomas	457	0.9	N/A
	Christian	John Harrold	236	0.5	N/A
Majority			4,307	8.9	N/A
Turnout			48,667	69.3	+0.7
Registered electors			70,211
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+6.1

See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Vale of Glamorgan

General election 2015: Vale of Glamorgan ^{[19] [20] [21]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alun Cairns	23,607	46.0	+4.2
	Labour	Chris Elmore	16,727	32.6	-0.3
	UKIP	Kevin Mahoney	5,489	10.7	+7.6
	Plaid Cymru	Ian Johnson	2,869	5.6	+0.1
	Liberal Democrats	David Morgan	1,309	2.6	-12.6
	Green	Alan Armstrong	1,054	2.1	+1.2
	CISTA	Steve Reed	238	0.5	N/A
Majority			6,880	13.4	+4.5
Turnout			51,293	71.1	+1.8
Registered electors			72,794
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.3

General election 2017: Vale of Glamorgan ^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alun Cairns	25,501	47.5	+1.5
	Labour	Camilla Beaven	23,311	43.4	+10.8
	Plaid Cymru	Ian Johnson	2,295	4.3	−1.3
	Liberal Democrats	Jennifer Geroni	1,020	1.9	−0.7
	UKIP	Melanie Hunter-Clarke	868	1.8	−8.1
	Green	Stephen Davis-Barker	419	0.8	−1.3
	Women's Equality	Sharon Lovell	177	0.3	N/A
	Pirate	David Elston	127	0.2	N/A
Majority			2,190	4.1	−9.3
Turnout			53,718	72.6	+1.5
Registered electors			73,959
	Conservative hold		Swing	−4.6

General election 2019: Vale of Glamorgan ^{[23] [24] [25]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alun Cairns	27,305	49.8	+2.3
	Labour	Belinda Loveluck-Edwards	23,743	43.3	−0.1
	Green	Anthony Slaughter	3,251	5.9	+5.1
	Gwlad Gwlad	Laurence Williams	508	0.9	N/A
Rejected ballots			294
Majority			3,562	6.5	+2.4
Turnout			54,807	71.6	−1.0
Registered electors			76,508
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.2

Of the 294 rejected ballots:

• 255 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for. ^[25]
• 37 voted for more than one candidate. ^[25]
• 2 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified. ^[25]

See also

• Vale of Glamorgan (Senedd constituency)
• List of parliamentary constituencies in South Glamorgan
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Wales

Notes

1. A borough 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. "Vale of Glamorgan parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
2. "'Vale of Glamorgan', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
3. 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies - The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies in Wales (PDF). Boundary Commission for Wales. 28 June 2023.
4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "V"
5. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
6. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
7. Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1987-92 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
8. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
9. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
10. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
11. "BBC NEWS>VOTE 2001>Results and Constituencies>Vale of Glamorgan". Vote 2001. BBC News. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
12. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
13. "BBC NEWS > Vale of Glamorgan". Vote 2001. BBC News. 7 June 2001. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
14. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
15. "Vale of Glamorgan parliamentary constituency - Election 2005" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
16. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
17. Vale of Glamorgan, Vale of Glamorgan County Borough Council – candidates – Vale of Glamorgan
18. Vale of Glamorgan BBC Election – Vale of Glamorgan
19. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
20. "Vale of Glamorgan result" (PDF). Statement of Results. Vale of Glamorgan Council. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
21. "Vale of Glamorgan Parliamentary constituency". Election 2015 Results. BBC. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
22. "Vale of Glamorgan Parliamentary constituency". Election 2017 Results. BBC . Retrieved 11 April 2020.
23. "Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll" (PDF). Vale of Glamorgan Council. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
24. "Vale of Glamorgan parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
25. "Election-Results/General-Election-2019" (PDF). Vale of Glamorgan Council. Vale of Glamorgan Council. Retrieved 11 April 2020.

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)

51°25′44″N3°21′04″W / 51.429°N 3.351°W / 51.429; -3.351