Monmouth (UK Parliament constituency)

History

The constituency was considered a safe seat of the Conservative Party although the seat has been won by the Labour Party in three general elections – in addition to the 1991 by-election.

The last MP for Monmouth was the Conservative David T. C. Davies, elected in 2005 and a former member for the Senedd seat of the same name. To avoid confusion with the Yorkshire Conservative David Davis, he is named in Hansard as "David T. C. Davies".

Boundaries

1983 to 2024

The constituency was one of eight covering the preserved county of Gwent. The other seven were Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Islwyn, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, Newport East, Newport West and Torfaen. Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, however, straddles the boundary with the preserved county of Mid Glamorgan. It covered most of the local authority of Monmouthshire, with the main towns being Chepstow, Monmouth and Abergavenny.

For the 2010 general election, there were no changes to the boundaries of the Monmouth constituency stemming from the Fifth Review of the Boundary Commission for Wales. Likewise there were no boundary changes in 1997.

1918 to 1983

As first used in the 1918 general election, the constituency was a creation of the Representation of the People Act 1918 as one of six constituencies covering the county of Monmouth. Prior to the 1918 election the county had been covered, nominally, by the county constituencies of Northern Monmouthshire, Southern Monmouthshire, and Western Monmouthshire, and the Monmouth Boroughs borough constituency. By 1918, however, administrative county boundaries were out of alignment with constituency boundaries. The new constituency boundaries took account of the new local government boundaries.

The other Monmouthshire constituencies defined by the 1918 legislation were the county constituencies of Abertillery, Bedwellty, Ebbw Vale and Pontypool, and the borough constituency of Newport. This general pattern was maintained until 1983, nine years after the administrative county they were based on had been abolished, but there were some boundary changes during the 1918 to 1983 period.

In 1918 the Monmouth constituency was defined as consisting of the municipal boroughs of Abergavenny, and Monmouth, the urban districts of Caerleon, Chepstow, and Usk, the rural districts of Abergavenny, Chepstow, Magor, Monmouth, Cwmbran and Pontypool, and part of the rural district of St Mellons. The same boundaries were used for the general elections of 1922, 1923, 1924, 1929, 1931, 1935 and 1945.

New boundaries, created by the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949, were used for the 1950 general election, and the Monmouth constituency was defined as consisting of the municipal boroughs of Abergavenny and Monmouth, the urban districts of Caerleon, Chepstow, Cwmbran and Usk, and the rural districts of Abergavenny, Chepstow, Magor and St Mellons, Monmouth, and Pontypool.

For the 1951 general election, there was some alteration to the boundaries of rural district of Magor and St Mellons.

The constituency was redefined again for the 1955 general election, taking account of new local government boundaries. The result was the same list of boroughs and districts as for the 1951 election. 1951 boundaries were used also in the general elections of 1959, 1964, 1966, 1970, February 1974, October 1974 and 1979.

In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the local government county of Monmouth was abolished. For the 1983 general election, new constituency boundaries were drawn, taking account of new local government boundaries.

Members of Parliament

The following list does not include MPs who actually represented Monmouth Boroughs:

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

|reg. electors = 27,575

Elections in the 1920s

|reg. electors = 29,779

|reg. electors = 29,889

|reg. electors = 31,031

|reg. electors = 42,070

Elections in the 1930s

|reg. electors = 44,929

|reg. electors = 45,885

|reg. electors = 47,792

|reg. electors = 49,690

Elections in the 1940s

|reg. electors = 59,359

|reg. electors = 60,013

Elections in the 1950s

|reg. electors = 47,725

|reg. electors = 48,314

|reg. electors = 49,252

|reg. electors = 53,628

Elections in the 1960s

|reg. electors = 60,803

|reg. electors = 64,356

Elections in the 1970s

|reg. electors = 75,602

|reg. electors = 74,173

|reg. electors = 74,838

|reg. electors = 80,085

Elections in the 1980s

|reg. electors = 56,112

|reg. electors = 58,468

Elections in the 1990s

|reg. electors = 59,460

|reg. electors = 59,147

|reg. electors = 60,873

Elections in the 2000s

|reg. electors = 62,200

|reg. electors = 62,233

Elections in the 2010s

|reg. electors = 64,538 Of the 75 rejected ballots:

• 54 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.
• 20 voted for more than one candidate.
• 1 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified.

|reg. electors = 62,248 Of the 104 rejected ballots:

• 70 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.
• 30 voted for more than one candidate.
• 4 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified.

|reg. electors = 64,909 Of the 64 rejected ballots:

• 57 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.
• 7 voted for more than one candidate.

|reg. electors = 67,094 Of the 136 rejected ballots:

• 112 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.
• 24 voted for more than one candidate.

Notes

References

References

1. (28 June 2023). "2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies – The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies in Wales". [[Boundary Commission for Wales]].
2. [http://www.bcomm-wales.gov.uk/ Boundary Commission for Wales website]
   [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/20061041.htm ''The Parliamentary Constituencies and Assembly Electoral Regions (Wales) Order 2006'', OPSI website]
3. ''[[Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972]]'' ({{ISBN. 0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig 1972
   Craig attributes the 1951 alteration to ''SI 1851/1390'' under section 2(3) of the [[House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949]]
4. {{Rayment-hc. m. 3. (March 2012)
5. Etholiadau'r ganrif 1885–1997, Beti Jones
6. Craig, F. W. S. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918–1945 (1 ed.). Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. {{ISBN. 0-900178-019. p.567
7. Craig, F. W. S. (1971). British parliamentary election results 1950–1970 (1 ed.). Chichester: Political Reference Publications. {{ISBN. 9780900178023. Page 587
8. (28 February 1974). "Politics Resources". Politics Resources.
9. (10 October 1974). "Politics Resources". Politics Resources.
10. (3 May 1979). "Politics Resources". Politics Resources.
11. "Election Data 1983". [[Electoral Calculus]].
12. "Election Data 1987". [[Electoral Calculus]].
13. Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1987–92 Parliament".
14. "Election Data 1992". [[Electoral Calculus]].
15. (9 April 1992). "Politics Resources". Politics Resources.
16. "Election Data 1997". [[Electoral Calculus]].
17. (1 May 1997). "BBC NEWS>VOTE 2001>Results and Constituencies>Monmouth". BBC News.
18. "Election Data 2001". [[Electoral Calculus]].
19. (7 June 2001). "BBC NEWS > Monmouth". BBC News.
20. "Election Data 2005". [[Electoral Calculus]].
21. "Monmouth parliamentary constituency – Election 2005".
22. "Election Data 2010". [[Electoral Calculus]].
23. "BBC News | Election 2010 | Constituency | Monmouth". news.bbc.co.uk.
24. "Results".
25. "Election Data 2015". [[Electoral Calculus]].
26. "Monmouth Parliamentary constituency". BBC.
27. "Monmouth Results". Monmouthshire County Council.
28. "Monmouth Parliamentary constituency". [[BBC]].
29. (8 June 2017). "2017 Results".
30. (14 November 2019). "Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll".
31. "Monmouth parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News.
32. (December 2019). "Election-Results/General-Election-2019".