List of UK Parliament constituencies in Wales

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Wales is currently divided into forty constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which elect Members of Parliament to the House of Commons. After the general election of December 2019, 22 of the Welsh constituencies are represented by Labour MPs, 14 by Conservative MPs, and 4 by Plaid Cymru MPs.^[1]

On 28 June 2023, the boundary commission for Wales published its final recommendations for the new constituencies of Wales, reducing the number from 40 to 32,^[2] with the commission first drawing up proposals in 2021.^[3] As of June 2023, the same constituencies are used for elections to the Senedd, with the same boundaries used to make up the Senedd constituencies; however, proposed changes to Westminster constituencies are not automatically applied to Senedd ones, and there are proposals to increase the number of Senedd constituencies.

Constituencies[edit]

  ‡Labour   †Conservative   ₪Plaid Cymru   ¤Liberal Democrat   *Brexit Party/Reform UK   ¢Independent

Constituency	Electorate[4]	Majority[5]	Member of Parliament[5]		Nearest opposition[5]		Map
Aberavon	50,750	10,490		Stephen Kinnock‡		Charlotte Lang†
Aberconwy	44,699	2,034		Robin Millar†		Emily Owen ‡
Alyn and Deeside	62,789	213		Mark Tami‡		Sanjoy Sen†
Arfon	42,215	2,781		Hywel Williams₪		Steffie Williams Roberts‡
Blaenau Gwent	50,739	8,647		Nick Smith‡		Richard Taylor*
Brecon and Radnorshire	55,490	7,131		Fay Jones†		Jane Dodds¤
Bridgend	63,303	1,157		Jamie Wallis†		Madeleine Moon‡
Caerphilly	63,166	6,833		Wayne David‡		Jane Pratt†
Cardiff Central	64,037	17,179		Jo Stevens‡		Meirion Jenkins†
Cardiff North	68,438	6,982		Anna McMorrin‡		Mo Ali†
Cardiff South and Penarth	78,837	12,737		Stephen Doughty‡		Philippa Broom†
Cardiff West	68,508	10,986		Kevin Brennan‡		Carolyn Webster†
Carmarthen East and Dinefwr	57,419	1,809		Jonathan Edwards¢		David Darkin‡
Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire	59,158	7,745		Simon Hart†		Marc Tierney‡
Ceredigion	56,250	6,329		Ben Lake₪		Amanda Jenner†
Clwyd South	53,919	1,239		Simon Baynes†		Susan Elan Jones‡
Clwyd West	57,714	6,747		David Jones†		Jo Thomas‡
Cynon Valley	51,134	8,822		Beth Winter‡		Pauline Church†
Delyn	54,560	865		Rob Roberts¢		David Hanson‡
Dwyfor Meirionnydd	44,362	4,740		Liz Saville-Roberts₪		Tomos Davies†
Gower	61,762	1,837		Tonia Antoniazzi‡		Francesca O'Brien†
Islwyn	55,423	5,464		Christopher James Evans‡		Gavin Chambers†
Llanelli	60,518	4,670		Nia Griffith‡		Tamara Reay†
Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney	56,322	10,606		Gerald Jones‡		Sara Jones†
Monmouth	67,098	9,982		David Davies†		Yvonne Murphy‡
Montgomeryshire	48,997	12,138		Craig Williams†		Kishan Devani¤
Neath	56,419	5,637		Christina Rees‡		Jon Burns†
Newport East	58,554	1,992		Jessica Morden‡		Mark Brown†
Newport West	66,657	902		Ruth Jones‡		Matthew Evans†
Ogmore	57,581	7,805		Chris Elmore‡		Sadie Vidal†
Pontypridd	60,327	5,887		Alex Davies-Jones‡		Sam Trask†
Preseli Pembrokeshire	59,606	5,062		Stephen Crabb†		Philippa Thompson‡
Rhondda	50,262	11,440		Chris Bryant‡		Hannah Jarvis
Swansea East	58,450	11,440		Carolyn Harris‡		Denise Howard†
Swansea West	57,078	8,116		Geraint Davies₵		James Price†
Torfaen	62,330	3,742		Nick Thomas-Symonds‡		Graham Smith†
Vale of Clwyd	56,649	1,827		James Davies†		Chris Ruane‡
Vale of Glamorgan	76,508	3,562		Alun Cairns†		Belinda Loveluck-Edwards‡
Wrexham	49,737	2,131		Sarah Atherton†		Mary Wimbury‡
Ynys Môn (Anglesey)	51,925	1,968		Virginia Crosbie†		Mary Roberts‡

Proposed boundary changes[edit]

Failed sixth periodic review[edit]

Under the terms of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster Constituencies (the 2018 review) was based on reducing the total number of MPs from 650 to 600 and a strict electoral parity requirement that the electorate of all constituencies should be within a range of 5% either side of the electoral quota.

The Boundary Commission for Wales submitted their final proposals in respect of the Sixth Review in September 2018. Although the proposals were immediately laid before Parliament they were not brought forward by the Government for approval. Accordingly, they did not come into effect for the 2019 election which took place on 12 December 2019, and which was contested using the constituency boundaries in place since 2010.

On 24 March 2020, the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, Chloe Smith, issued a written statement to Parliament setting out the Government's thinking with regard to parliamentary boundaries.^[6] Subsequently, the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020^[7] was passed into law on 14 December 2020 which formally removed the duty to implement the 2018 review and set out the framework for future boundary reviews.

2023 periodic review[edit]

Map of the final recommendations of the 32 constituencies of Wales, overlayed on the previous 40 constituencies (greyscale). P means 'Protected constituency'.

Map of the final recommendations of the 32 constituencies of Wales, overlayed on the previous 40 constituencies (greyscale), with previous 2021–22 proposals in lines. P means 'Protected constituency'.

  2022 revised proposal boundaries (may overlay initial proposals)

  2021 initial proposal boundaries

Both images have existing constituencies in greyscale, with final recommendations in orange lines.

The Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020 was passed in December 2020, and the publication of the most recent data of electorate sizes of constituencies on 5 January 2021, lead the Boundary Commission for Wales to begin its review of the parliamentary constituencies in Wales, with the commission required to publish its final recommendations for boundary changes by 1 July 2023. By December 2021, the commission published the responses collected during the consultation period, and then conducted a six-week 'secondary consultation. Unlike the previous periodic review, the total UK constituencies was kept at 650.

When proportionally dividing the total 2021 electoral population of the United Kingdom using a statutory formula between the constituent countries of the UK, it results in England having 543 constituencies, Scotland having 57, Wales having 32 and Northern Ireland with the remaining 18. Each constituency recommended to have no more than 77,062 electors and no less than 69,724.^[8] The figure from Wales is calculated to be 8 seats lower from the total constituencies used for the 2019 UK general election when there were 40 constituencies, the largest decrease of any UK country or region. Wales has one 'protected constituency' not subject to UK electoral quotas, Ynys Môn on the Isle of Anglesey, where boundary changes are not applied. The decrease in constituencies in Wales has been described by the commission to represent "the most significant change to Wales's constituencies in a century", and the commission has no control over the number of constituencies in Wales. The final proposal published by the commission no longer required parliamentary approval and the recommendations in the final report were implemented automatically, however the second consultation period allowed public hearing about the proposals. The commission stated that it tried wherever possible to use existing local government boundaries, such as those of existing constituencies and principal areas.

Final recommendations[edit]

The final recommendations on the new constituencies in Wales were published on 28 June 2023 by the Boundary Commission for Wales.^[2][9] This followed years of proposals and consultations since 2021, with initial proposals published in 2021^[3] and revised in 2022.^[8]

Categorisation of status is purely based on the names used by the constituencies, if a new constituency largely overlaps with a previous one but was renamed, it is considered a new constituency.

New – Did not exist previously with either the name or boundaries.
Expanded – Keeps name but gains wards.
Redefined – Keeps name but with other altered boundaries.
Revived – Former constituency revived under the same name(s).

Results history[edit]

Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing – General election results from 1918 to 2019^[10]

2019[edit]

The numbers of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Wales in the 2019 general election were as follows:

Party	Votes	%	Change from 2017	Seats	Change from 2017
Labour	632,035	40.9%	8.0%	22	6
Conservative	557,234	36.1%	2.5%	14	6
Plaid Cymru	153,265	9.9%	0.5%	4	0
Liberal Democrats	92,171	6.0%	1.5%	0	0
Brexit	83,908	5.4%	new	0	0
Greens	15,828	1.0%	0.7%	0	0
Others	9,916	0.6%	1.6%	0	0
Total	1,544,357	100.0		40

Percentage votes[edit]

Key:

CON – Conservative Party, including National Liberal Party up to 1966

LAB – Labour Party

LIB – Liberal Party up to 1979; SDP-Liberal Alliance 1983 & 1987; Liberal Democrats from 1992

PC – Plaid Cymru

UKIP/Br – UK Independence Party 2010 to 2017 (included in Other up to 2005 and in 2019); Brexit Party in 2019

Green – Green Party of England and Wales (included in Other up to 2005)

Seats[edit]

CON – Conservative Party, including National Liberal Party up to 1966

LAB – Labour Party

LIB – Liberal Party up to 1979; SDP-Liberal Alliance 1983 & 1987; Liberal Democrats from 1992

OTH – 1970 – Independent (S. O. Davies); 2005 – Independent (Peter Law)

PC – Plaid Cymru

Maps[edit]

• 
  2010
• 
  2015
• 
  2017
• 
  2019 by-elections
• 
  December 2019

These are maps of the results of the last four general elections in Wales and changes in 2019 following a by-election and a change of affiliation.

• Red represents the Labour Party's MPs.
• Blue represents the Conservative Party's MPs.
• Amber represents the Liberal Democrats' MPs.
• Green represents Plaid Cymru's MPs.
• Grey represents Independent MPs.

2019 by-elections[edit]

Two by-elections were held in 2019:

• 2019 Newport West by-election
• 2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election

See also[edit]

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Clwyd
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Dyfed
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Gwent
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Gwynedd
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Mid Glamorgan
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Powys
• List of parliamentary constituencies in South Glamorgan
• List of parliamentary constituencies in West Glamorgan
• Senedd constituencies and electoral regions

References[edit]