Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Aberavon (UK Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Aberavon County constituency |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Aberavon shown within Wales | |
| Created: | 1918 |
| MP: | Hywel Francis |
| Party: | Labour |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| Preserved county: | West Glamorgan |
| EP constituency: | Wales |
Aberavon is a county constituency of the House of commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Contents |
The constituency is in south Wales, situated on the right bank of the River Afan, near its mouth in Swansea Bay. The original village of Aberavon or Aberafan is now a district of Port Talbot (so named to reflect the involvement of wealthy local landowner and MP Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot in improving Aberavon's harbour). The valley of the Afan as from about 1840 a place of much metallurgical activity, resulting in tinplate and engineering works (now mostly closed down).
The town derives its name from the river Avon (corrupted from Afan), which also gave its name to a mediæval lordship. On the Norman conquest of Glamorgan, Caradoc, the eldest son of the defeated prince, Iestyn ab Gwrgant, continued to hold this lordship, and for the defence of the passage of the river built a castle whose foundations now lie underneath the streets around St Mary's church. His descendants (who from the 13th century onwards styled themselves De Avan or D'Avene) established, under line protection of the castle, a chartered town, which in 1372 received a further charter from Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer, into whose family the lordship had come on an exchange of lands. In modern times these charters were not acted upon, the town being deemed a borough by prescription, but in 1861 it was incorporated under the Municipal Corporations Act. From 1832 it belonged to the Swansea parliamentary district of boroughs, uniting with Kenfig, Loughor, Neath and Swansea to return one member; later it acquired its own MP, the most famous to hold the constituency having been Ramsay MacDonald who would become the first Labour prime minister. Aberavon has been one of the Labour Party's safest seats since its creation.
Aberavon village hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1932 and 1966.
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1918 | John Edwards | Labour | |
| 1922 | Ramsay Macdonald | Labour | |
| 1929 | William George Cove | Labour | |
| 1959 | John Morris | Labour | |
| 2001 | Hywel Francis | Labour | |
The boundaries of this constituency have not been changed by boundary changes due to take effect in time for the next UK General Election. No notional results are required.
| General Election 2005: Aberavon | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Hywel Francis | 18,077 | 60.0 | -3.1 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Claire Waller | 4,140 | 13.8 | +4.0 | |
| Plaid Cymru | Philip Evans | 3,545 | 11.8 | +2.1 | |
| Conservative | Annunziata Rees-Mogg | 3,064 | 10.2 | +2.6 | |
| Veritas | Jim Wright | 768 | 2.6 | +2.6 | |
| Green | Miranda La Vey | 510 | 1.7 | +1.7 | |
| Majority | 13,937 | 46.3 | -7.1 | ||
| Turnout | 30,104 | 58.9 | -1.9 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | -3.6 | |||
| General Election 2001: Aberavon | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Hywel Francis | 19,063 | 63.1 | -8.2 | |
| Plaid Cymru | Lisa Turnbull | 2,955 | 9.8 | +4.0 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Chris Davies | 2,933 | 9.7 | -1.6 | |
| Conservative | Ali Miraj | 2,296 | 7.6 | -0.3 | |
| Independent | Andrew Tutton | 1,960 | 6.5 | N/A | |
| New Millennium Bean | Captain Beany | 727 | 2.4 | +1.4 | |
| Socialist Alliance | Martin Chapman | 256 | 0.8 | N/A | |
| Majority | 16,108 | 53.3 | |||
| Turnout | 30,190 | 61.0 | -10.9 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | {{{swing}}} | |||
| General Election 1997: Aberavon | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | John Morris | 25,650 | 71.3 | ||
| Liberal Democrat | Ronald McConville | 4,079 | 11.3 | ||
| Conservative | Peter Harper | 2,835 | 7.9 | ||
| Plaid Cymru | Philip Cockwell | 2,088 | 5.8 | ||
| Referendum Party | Peter David | 970 | 2.7 | ||
| Independent | Captain Beany | 341 | 1.0 | ||
| Majority | 21,571 | 62.8 | |||
| Turnout | 35,963 | 71.9 | |||
| Constituencies in Wales | |
|---|---|
| Labour |
Aberavon | Alyn and Deeside | Bridgend | Caerphilly | Cardiff North | Cardiff South and Penarth | Cardiff West | Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire | Clwyd South | Conwy | Cynon Valley | Delyn | Gower | Islwyn | Llanelli | Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney | Neath | Newport East | Newport West | Ogmore | Pontypridd | Rhondda | Swansea East | Swansea West | Torfaen | Vale of Clwyd | Vale of Glamorgan | Wrexham | Ynys Môn |
| Liberal Democrat |
Brecon and Radnorshire | Cardiff Central | Ceredigion | Montgomeryshire |
| Conservative | |
| Plaid Cymru |
Caernarfon | Carmarthen East and Dinefwr | Meirionnydd Nant Conwy |
| Independent | |
| Wales European constituency: Labour (2) | Conservative (1) | Plaid Cymru (1) | |