Monmouth (UK Parliament constituency)

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".

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

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.^[3] Likewise there were no boundary changes in 1997.

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.^[4] 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.^[4]

For the 1951 general election, there was some alteration to the boundaries of rural district of Magor and St Mellons.^[4]

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.^[4] 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.

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

Election		Member[5]	Party
	1918	Leolin Forestier-Walker	Conservative
	1934 by-election	John Herbert	Conservative
	1939 by-election	Leslie Pym	Conservative
	1945 by-election	Peter Thorneycroft	Conservative
	1966	Donald Anderson	Labour
	1970	Sir John Stradling Thomas	Conservative
	1991 by-election	Huw Edwards	Labour
	1992	Roger Evans	Conservative
	1997	Huw Edwards	Labour
	2005	David Davies	Conservative
	2024	Constituency abolished

Summarize Timeline Top Qs Fact Check

General election 1918: Monmouth^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Leolin Forestier-Walker	9,164	59.7	N/A
	Liberal	Hubert Martineau	6,189	40.3	N/A
Majority			2,975	19.4	N/A
Turnout			15,353	55.7	N/A
Registered electors			27,575
	Unionist win (new seat)

General election 1922: Monmouth^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Leolin Forestier-Walker	Unopposed
Registered electors			29,779
	Unionist hold

General election 1923: Monmouth^[7][6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Leolin Forestier-Walker	12,697	59.9	N/A
	Liberal	Morgan Griffith	8,487	40.1	N/A
Majority			4,210	19.8	N/A
Turnout			21,184	80.9	N/A
Registered electors			29,889
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1924: Monmouth^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Leolin Forestier-Walker	16,510	71.8	+11.9
	Labour	Luke Bateman	6,469	28.2	N/A
Majority			10,041	43.6	−20.2
Turnout			22,979	74.1	+3.2
Registered electors			31,031
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1929: Monmouth^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Leolin Forestier-Walker	16,353	49.3	−22.5
	Liberal	Richard Charles Williams	8,582	25.8	N/A
	Labour	Luke Bateman	8,268	24.9	−3.3
Majority			7,771	23.5	−20.1
Turnout			33,203	78.9	+4.8
Registered electors			42,070
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1931: Monmouth^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Leolin Forestier-Walker	24,829	70.8	+21.5
	Labour	D. Hughes	10,217	29.2	+4.3
Majority			14,612	41.6	+18.1
Turnout			45,046	78.0	−0.9
Registered electors			44,929
	Conservative hold		Swing

1934 Monmouth by-election^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Herbert	20,640	65.0	−5.8
	Labour	D. Hughes	11,094	35.0	+5.8
Majority			9,546	30.0	−11.6
Turnout			31,734	69.2	−8.8
Registered electors			45,885
	Conservative hold		Swing	-5.8

General election 1935: Monmouth^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Herbert	23,262	63.4	−7.4
	Labour	Michael Mackintosh Foot	13,454	36.6	+7.4
Majority			9,808	26.8	−14.8
Turnout			36,716	76.8	−1.4
Registered electors			47,792
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.6

1939 Monmouth by-election^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Leslie Pym	17,358	60.1	−3.3
	Labour	Frank Rivers Hancock	11,543	39.9	+3.3
Majority			5,815	20.2	−6.6
Turnout			28,901	58.2	−18.6
Registered electors			49,690
	Conservative hold		Swing	-3.3

General election 1945: Monmouth^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Leslie Pym	22,195	51.9	−11.5
	Labour	A B L Oakley	20,543	48.1	+11.5
Majority			1,652	3.8	−23.0
Turnout			42,738	72.0	−4.8
Registered electors			59,359
	Conservative hold		Swing	-8.2

1945 Monmouth by-election^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Thorneycroft	21,092	52.7	+0.8
	Labour	A B L Oakley	18,953	47.3	−0.8
Majority			2,139	5.4	+1.6
Turnout			40,045	39.8	−32.2
Registered electors			60,013
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.8

General election 1950: Monmouth^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Thorneycroft	21,956	55.3	+3.4
	Labour	G P Thomas	17,725	44.7	−3.4
Majority			4,231	10.6	+6.8
Turnout			39,681	83.1	+11.1
Registered electors			47,725
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1951: Monmouth^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Thorneycroft	22,475	55.6	+0.3
	Labour	Josephine Richardson	17,952	44.4	−0.3
Majority			4,523	11.2	+0.6
Turnout			40,247	83.7	+0.6
Registered electors			48,314
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1955: Monmouth^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Thorneycroft	22,970	57.2	+1.6
	Labour	Josephine Richardson	17,173	42.8	−1.6
Majority			5,797	14.4	+3.2
Turnout			40,143	81.5	−2.2
Registered electors			49,252
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1959: Monmouth^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Thorneycroft	25,422	57.0	−0.2
	Labour	Gordon Parry	19,165	43.0	+0.2
Majority			6,257	14.0	−0.4
Turnout			44,587	83.1	+1.6
Registered electors			53,628
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1964: Monmouth^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Thorneycroft	22,635	44.1	−12.9
	Labour	A Calvin Kerr	21,921	42.7	−0.3
	Liberal	D Hywell Davies	6,764	13.2	N/A
Majority			714	1.4	−12.6
Turnout			51,050	84.4	+1.3
Registered electors			60,803
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1966: Monmouth^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Donald Anderson	28,619	52.7	+10.0
	Conservative	Peter Thorneycroft	25,654	47.3	+3.2
Majority			2,965	5.4	N/A
Turnout			54,273	84.3	−0.1
Registered electors			64,356
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General election 1970: Monmouth^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Stradling Thomas	28,312	46.5	−0.8
	Labour	Donald Anderson	26,957	44.3	−8.4
	Liberal	David H Hando	4,601	6.7	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Stuart K Neale	1,501	2.5	N/A
Majority			1,355	2.2	N/A
Turnout			61,371	80.5	−3.8
Registered electors			75,602
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election February 1974: Monmouth^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Stradling Thomas	27,269	43.7	−2.8
	Labour	F R Thompson	22,707	36.4	−7.9
	Liberal	David H Hando	11,506	18.4	+11.7
	Plaid Cymru	E H Spanwick	930	1.5	−1.0
Majority			4,562	7.3	+5.1
Turnout			62,412	84.1	+3.6
Registered electors			74,173
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Monmouth^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Stradling Thomas	25,460	42.8	−0.9
	Labour	Richard Faulkner	23,118	36.9	+0.5
	Liberal	David H Hando	10,076	16.9	−1.5
	Plaid Cymru	T Brimmacombe	839	1.4	−0.1
Majority			2,342	3.9	−4.4
Turnout			59,493	79.5	−4.6
Registered electors			74,838
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1979: Monmouth^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Stradling Thomas	33,547	50.5	+7.7
	Labour	T M Steel	23,785	35.8	−1.1
	Liberal	David H Hando	8,494	12.8	−4.1
	Plaid Cymru	Gwyn Williams	641	1.0	−0.4
Majority			9,762	14.7	+10.8
Turnout			66,467	83.0	+3.5
Registered electors			80,085
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1983: Monmouth^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Stradling Thomas	21,746	49.2	−1.3
	SDP	Clive Lindley	12,403	28.0	+15.2
	Labour	Christopher Short	9,593	21.7	−14.1
	Plaid Cymru	Gwynddri Williams	493	1.1	+0.1
Majority			9,343	21.2	+6.5
Turnout			44,235	78.8	−4.2
Registered electors			56,112
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1987: Monmouth^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Stradling Thomas	22,387	47.5	−1.7
	Labour	Katrina Gass	13,037	27.7	+6.0
	SDP	Clive Lindley	11,313	24.0	−4.0
	Plaid Cymru	Sian Meredudd	363	0.8	−0.3
Majority			9,530	19.8	−1.4
Turnout			47,100	80.8	+2.0
Registered electors			58,468
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.2

1991 Monmouth by-election^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Huw Edwards	17,733	39.3	+11.6
	Conservative	Roger Evans	15,327	34.0	−13.5
	Liberal Democrats	Frances David	11,164	24.8	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	314	0.7	N/A
	Green (Plaid Cymru)	Melvin Witherden	277	0.6	−0.2
	Unitax Independent	Peter Carpenter	164	0.4	N/A
	Corrective Party	Lindi St Clair	121	0.3	N/A
Majority			2,406	5.3	N/A
Turnout			45,100	75.8	−5.0
Registered electors			59,460
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	-12.6

General election 1992: Monmouth^[15][16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Roger Evans	24,059	47.3	−0.2
	Labour	Huw Edwards	20,855	41.0	+13.3
	Liberal Democrats	Frances David	5,562	10.9	−13.1
	Green (Plaid Cymru)	Melvin Witherden	431	0.8	±0.0
Majority			3,204	6.3	−13.5
Turnout			50,907	86.1	+5.3
Registered electors			59,147
	Conservative hold		Swing	−6.8

General election 1997: Monmouth^[17][18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Huw Edwards	23,404	47.7	+6.7
	Conservative	Roger Evans	19,226	39.2	−8.1
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Williams	4,689	9.6	−1.3
	Referendum	Timothy Warry	1,190	2.4	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Alan Cotton	516	1.1	+0.3
Majority			4,178	8.5	N/A
Turnout			49,025	80.5	−5.6
Registered electors			60,873
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+7.4

General election 2001: Monmouth^[19][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Huw Edwards	19,021	42.8	−4.9
	Conservative	Roger Evans	18,637	41.9	+2.7
	Liberal Democrats	Neil Parker	5,080	11.4	+1.8
	Plaid Cymru	Marc Hubbard	1,068	2.4	+1.3
	UKIP	David Rowlands	656	1.5	N/A
Majority			384	0.9	−7.6
Turnout			44,462	71.5	−9.0
Registered electors			62,200
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.8

General election 2005: Monmouth^[21][22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Davies	21,396	46.9	+5.0
	Labour	Huw Edwards	16,869	37.0	−5.8
	Liberal Democrats	Phylip A. D. Hobson	5,852	12.8	+1.4
	Plaid Cymru	Jonathan Clark	993	2.2	−0.2
	UKIP	John Bufton	543	1.2	−0.3
Majority			4,527	9.9	N/A
Turnout			45,653	72.4	+0.9
Registered electors			62,233
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+5.4

General election 2010: Monmouth^[23][24][25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Davies	22,466	48.3	+1.4
	Labour	Hamish Sandison	12,041	25.9	−11.1
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Blakebrough	9,026	19.4	+6.6
	Plaid Cymru	Jonathan Clark	1,273	2.7	+0.5
	UKIP	Derek Rowe	1,126	2.4	+1.2
	Green	Steve Millson	587	1.3	N/A
Rejected ballots			75
Majority			10,425	22.4	+12.5
Turnout			46,519	72.2	−0.2
Registered electors			64,538
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.2

Of the 75 rejected ballots:

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

General election 2015: Monmouth^[26][27][28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Davies	23,701	49.9	+1.6
	Labour	Ruth Jones	12,719	26.8	+0.9
	UKIP	Gareth Dunn	4,942	10.4	+8.0
	Liberal Democrats	Veronica German	2,496	5.3	−14.1
	Plaid Cymru	Jonathan Clark	1,875	3.9	+1.2
	Green	Christopher Were	1,629	3.4	+2.1
	English Democrat	Stephen Morris	100	0.2	N/A
Rejected ballots			104
Majority			10,982	23.1	+0.7
Turnout			47,462	76.2	+4.0
Registered electors			62,248
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.3

Of the 104 rejected ballots:

• 70 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.^[28]
• 30 voted for more than one candidate.^[28]
• 4 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified.^[28]

General election 2017: Monmouth^[29][30]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Davies	26,411	53.1	+3.2
	Labour	Ruth Jones	18,205	36.6	+9.8
	Liberal Democrats	Veronica German	2,064	4.2	−1.1
	Plaid Cymru	Carole Damon	1,338	2.7	−1.2
	Green	Ian Chandler	954	1.9	−1.5
	UKIP	Roy Neale	762	1.5	−8.9
Rejected ballots			64
Majority			8,206	16.5	−6.6
Turnout			49,734	76.6	+0.4
Registered electors			64,909
	Conservative hold		Swing	-3.3

Of the 64 rejected ballots:

• 57 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.^[30]
• 7 voted for more than one candidate.^[30]

General election 2019: Monmouth^[31][32][33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Davies	26,160	52.1	−1.0
	Labour	Yvonne Murphy	16,178	32.2	−4.4
	Liberal Democrats	Alison Willott	4,909	9.8	+5.6
	Green	Ian Chandler	1,353	2.7	+0.8
	Plaid Cymru	Hugh Kocan	1,182	2.4	−0.3
	Independent	Martyn Ford	435	0.9	N/A
Rejected ballots			136
Majority			9,982	19.9	+3.4
Turnout			50,217	74.8	−1.8
Registered electors			67,094
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.7

Of the 136 rejected ballots:

• 112 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.^[33]
• 24 voted for more than one candidate.^[33]

• Monmouth (Senedd constituency)
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Gwent
• List of UK Parliament constituencies in Wales