Clwyd South West
UK Parliament constituency (1983–1997)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
| 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] |
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
| 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) | |||||
| 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
| 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 | |||