Conway (UK Parliament Constituency)
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Conwy (Conway prior to 1983) was an
electoral An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated s ...
constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
represented in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...
. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) by the single-member district plurality (also known as first-past-the-post) system of voting. The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the 2010 general election.


History

It was a marginal between the Conservative Party and the Labour Party throughout its existence. The Conwy Welsh Assembly constituency was created with the same boundaries as the Conwy House of Commons constituency in 1999.


Boundaries

The constituency was, geographically, relatively small for its region, as it followed and tended to keep to the coast, taking in parts of two separate densely populated coastal conurbations. As well as the walled castle town of
Conwy Conwy (, ), previously known in English as Conway, is a walled market town, community and the administrative centre of Conwy County Borough in North Wales. The walled town and castle stand on the west bank of the River Conwy, facing Deganwy ...
from which it bore its name, the constituency mainly comprised the popular holiday resort and retail centre of
Llandudno Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community (Wales), community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 UK census, the community â ...
to the east, and the city of Bangor, which is home to the
University of Wales, Bangor Bangor University () is a public research university in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It was established by Royal Charter in 1885 as the University College of North Wales (UCNW; ), and in 1893 became one of the founding institutions of the federal ...
, to the west. It also included the smaller coastal towns of
Penmaenmawr Penmaenmawr (, ) is a town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, which was formerly in the parish of Dwygyfylchi and the traditional county of Caernarfonshire. It is on the North Wales coast between Conwy and Llanfairfechan and was an ...
and
Llanfairfechan ; ) is a town and community in the Conwy County Borough, Wales. It is known as a seaside resort and had a population at the 2001 Census of 3,755, reducing to 3,637 at the 2011 Census. The history of the area dates back to at least Roman time ...
, as well as some sparser inland areas including former
slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
-quarrying communities in the
Ogwen Valley The Ogwen Valley, or in Welsh, is a valley mostly located in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The upper section of the valley, east of Llyn Ogwen, lies in the county borough of Conwy. Geography The valley lies to the south of Bangor. It is bor ...
. The constituency, notably, did ''not'' include
Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay () is a town, Community (Wales), community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic counties of Wales, historic county boundaries of Denbighshire (h ...
(or outlying
Rhos-on-Sea Rhos-on-Sea () is a seaside resort and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales. The population was 7,593 at the 2011 census. It adjoins Colwyn Bay and is named after the Welsh kingdom of Rhos established there in late Roman Britain as a sub- ...
), which forms part of a coastal conurbation (and the
Conwy county borough Conwy County Borough () is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the north Wales, north of Wales. It borders Gwynedd to the west and south and Denbighshire to the east. The largest settlement is Colwyn Bay, and Conwy is the administrativ ...
) with Llandudno and its outlying town of
Penrhyn Bay Penrhyn Bay ( "headland bay") is a seaside town on the northern coast of Wales, in Conwy county borough, within the parish or community of Llandudno, and part of the ''ecclesiastical'' parish of Llanrhos. It is a prosperous village, with a clus ...
—both in the constituency; this area comes under the constituency of Clwyd West to the east. Nor did it include the town of
Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a List of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom, royal town, Community (Wales), community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the easter ...
—just southwest of Bangor—which was in a constituency of the same name. The constituency was also bordered by Meirionnydd Nant Conwy to the south, and the insular constituency of Ynys Mon to the west. Following the decisions of the Welsh Boundary Commission, the Conwy seat was significantly altered, forming the base of a new Aberconwy constituency established for the 2010 general election. Part of the constituency (notably Bangor) became part of the new Arfon constituency.


Profile

Although the constituency included a student population from the university, most of the voters were towards the older end of the age spectrum as it was a popular retirement area. The constituency was also linguistically diverse, with mainly
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...
speakers in the east and mainly
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...
speakers in the west and inland areas.


Members of Parliament

The last MP was
Betty Williams Elizabeth Williams ( Smyth; 22 May 1943 – 17 March 2020) was a peace activist from Northern Ireland. She was a co-recipient with Mairead Corrigan of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her work as a cofounder of Community of Peace People, a ...
of the Labour Party, who held the seat from 1997 (when she gained 35.04% of the vote—a 9.4% swing from the
Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
) until its abolition in 2010. Williams increased her share of the vote in 2001 (by 6.8%), but it was reduced in 2005 (by 4.7%). She is also the first female MP to hold the seat. The seat was previously held (since its renaming in 1983) by Sir
Wyn Roberts Ieuan Wyn Pritchard Roberts, Baron Roberts of Conwy, PC (10 July 1930 – 13 December 2013) was a Welsh Conservative politician. His father was a Minister in a chapel in Llansadwrn, Anglesey, and they lived in the schoolhouse. He was Membe ...
for the Conservative Party, who was first elected for Conway, the old anglicised name of the constituency, in 1970.


Elections


Elections in the 1950s


Elections in the 1960s


Elections in the 1970s


Elections in the 1980s


Elections in the 1990s


Elections in the 2000s

In the 2005 general election, the seat was the 81st easiest seat for the Liberal Democrats to gain, and the 153rd easiest seat for the Conservative Party to gain. The Labour Party did not include the seat on its list of vulnerable seats and eventually held the seat (with a reduced proportion of the vote).
Official declaration of result of the poll (in PDF)


See also

* List of parliamentary constituencies in Clwyd *
List of parliamentary constituencies in Gwynedd Three constituencies cover the preserved county of Gwynedd for the House of Commons (UK), House of Commons of the UK Parliament (Palace of Westminster, Westminster), and are used also for elections to the Senedd. The current boundaries have been ...


References


External links


Conwy UK Parliament constituency
(boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at ''MapIt UK'' {{coord, 53.191, -3.688, display=title, region:GB_scale:100000 Historic parliamentary constituencies in North Wales Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1950 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 2010