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Brecon and Radnorshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Brecon and Radnorshire (Welsh: Brycheiniog a Sir Faesyfed) was a county constituency in Wales of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Created in 1918, it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.

The constituency was abolished as part of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies and under the June 2023 final recommendations of the Boundary Commission for Wales. The entire constituency became part of the newly named constituency of Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe.[3]

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 1983-2024

The boundaries of the constituency corresponded broadly with the ancient counties of Brecknockshire and Radnorshire. Radnorshire is included in full, and the only significantly populated area from Brecknockshire not in this constituency is Brynmawr, which is in Blaenau Gwent. This is the largest constituency in England and Wales by area.[4] No town in the constituency exceeds a population of 10,000, the largest being Ystradgynlais at roughly 9,000. Other towns in the constituency were Brecon, Knighton, Crickhowell and Llandrindod Wells. The remainder of the constituency is largely made up of small villages and land used for farming sheep: sheep outnumber humans in Powys as a whole by around ten to one.[5]

Under planned constituency changes announced in September 2016 ahead of the next general election, it was proposed to merge this seat with the southern half of Montgomeryshire, including Newtown, to form a new constituency called Brecon, Radnor and Montgomery.[6]

History

The constituency was created in the boundary changes of 1918 by merging Breconshire and Radnorshire, both previously constituencies in their own right. As part of the Third Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies there were changes to the boundaries in 1983, when the constituency lost several small areas in the south.[7] While once a Labour stronghold, the constituency was captured from the Conservative government by the SDP–Liberal Alliance at a dramatic by-election in 1985. It was regained by the Conservatives in 1992, taken back by the Liberal Democrats in 1997, and then returned to the Conservatives in 2015. It was the Conservatives' fifteenth target seat at the 2005 election, but the party's share of the vote fell, leaving it as the Conservatives' 95th target seat in 2010, requiring a swing of 5.09%. In the event, the swing to the Conservatives was 0.3%, and the Liberal Democrats retained the seat, with Roger Williams remaining the MP. In 2015 the seat was reclaimed for the Conservatives by Chris Davies, whose majority of 5,102 was the largest in the constituency since Tom Hooson won the seat, also for the Conservatives, in 1983. Roger Williams stood for the Liberal Democrats in 2015 but shed over 6,500 votes from his 2010 result, a loss of 17.8%.

In 2019, Davies pleaded guilty to filing false expenses claims, triggering a recall petition, the third such petition in the UK. The petition was successful, forcing Davies to vacate the seat.[8][9] A by-election was held on 1 August, which was won by Liberal Democrat candidate Jane Dodds.[10] Dodds was then defeated by Conservative Fay Jones at the general election in December 2019.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Brecon & Radnor election results, prior to the 2019 United Kingdom general election

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1920s

W.A. Jenkins

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1939–40:

Another general election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1990s

The Labour candidate, Chris Mann, won the selection over future AMs Carwyn Jones and Jeffrey Cuthbert, and future AM and MP Peter Law.[25]

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 2010s

Following the successful recall petition of Christopher Davies, a by-election was held on 1 August 2019.

Of the 73 rejected ballots:

Changes in vote share are compared to the 2017 general election, not the 2019 by-election.

Of the 110 rejected ballots:

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ "Brecon and Radnorshire: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 2 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Public notice of petition to remove the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire Chris Davies". Powys County Council. 25 April 2019. Archived from the original on 25 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  3. ^ 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies - The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies in Wales (PDF). Boundary Commission for Wales. 28 June 2023.
  4. ^ "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 2 Jul 2001 (pt 22)". parliament.uk.
  5. ^ "Jubilee tour diary: Powys picnic". BBC News. 13 June 2002.
  6. ^ "A radical shake-up of the constituency". Shropshire Star. 13 September 2016. p. 10.Report by Mark Andrews, dealing with constituencies in or bordering Shropshire.
  7. ^ "Brecon and Radnor". UK Parliament.
  8. ^ "Recall petition for convicted MP confirmed". BBC News. 24 April 2019.
  9. ^ "Welsh Tory MP unseated after petition". BBC News. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  10. ^ "Brecon and Radnorshire by-election: Lib Dems beat Conservatives". BBC News. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  11. ^ "Brecon and Radnorshire 1997-". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  12. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 5)
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Craig, F. W. S. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (1 ed.). Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0-900178-019. Page 525
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Craig, F. W. S. (1971). British parliamentary election results 1950-1970 (1 ed.). Chichester: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 9780900178023. Page 566
  15. ^ "Politics Resources". Election February 1974. Politics Resources. 28 February 1974. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  16. ^ "Politics Resources". Election October 1974. Politics Resources. 10 October 1974. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  17. ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1979. Politics Resources. 3 May 1979. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  18. ^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  19. ^ Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1983-87 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  20. ^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  21. ^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  22. ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  23. ^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  24. ^ "BBC NEWS>VOTE 2001>Results and Constituencies>Brecon and Radnorshire". Vote 2001. BBC News. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
  25. ^ "National Assembly for Wales, page 20" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  26. ^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  27. ^ "BBC NEWS > Brecon and Radnorshire". Vote 2001. BBC News. 7 June 2001. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  28. ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  29. ^ "Brecon and Radnorshire parliamentary constituency - Election 2005". BBC News.
  30. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  31. ^ Brecon and Radnorshire BBC Election - Brecon and Radnorshire
  32. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  33. ^ "Powys election results". 2015 general election results. Powys County Council. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  34. ^ "Brecon and Radnorshire Parliamentary constituency". Election 2015. BBC News. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  35. ^ "UKIP candidate row in Brecon and Radnorshire". BBC News. 12 February 2015.
  36. ^ "Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll" (PDF). Powys County Council. 11 May 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  37. ^ "Brecon and Radnorshire Parliamentary constituency". Election 2017 Results. BBC. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  38. ^ "Brecon and Radnorshire by-election: Lib Dems beat Conservatives". BBC News. 2 August 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  39. ^ "Brecon and Radnorshire by-election: Six candidates confirmed". talkradio.co.uk.
  40. ^ a b c d "Parliamentary Election for the Brecon and Radnorshire Constituency - 1st August 2019". Powys County Council. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  41. ^ "Statement of Persons Nominated" (PDF). Powys County Council. 14 November 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  42. ^ "Brecon and Radnorshire parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  43. ^ a b c d "Election-Results/General-Election-2019". Powys County Council. Retrieved 3 January 2020.

External links

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