Cardiff Central (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Cardiff Central (Assembly constituency).

For other uses, see Cardiff Central (disambiguation).

Cardiff Central
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Cardiff Central in Wales.
Preserved county	South Glamorgan
Electorate	64,225 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1983 (1983)
Member of Parliament	Jenny Willott (Liberal Democrat)
Number of members	One
Created from	Cardiff South
1918 (1918)–1950 (1950)
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Replaced by	Cardiff South
Created from	Cardiff
Overlaps
Welsh Assembly	South Wales Central
European Parliament constituency	Wales

Cardiff Central (Caerdydd Canolog in Welsh) is a borough constituency in the city of Cardiff. It returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

Boundaries

As its name suggests, Cardiff Central covers the central area of the City of Cardiff. It extends from the area around the Millennium Stadium in the south to Llanishen Golf Course in the north, taking in the City Centre and the University. It is made up of the electoral wards of Adamsdown, Cathays, Cyncoed, Pentwyn, Penylan, and Plasnewydd.

History

A Conservative-held three-way marginal throughout the 1980s, in recent years this constituency has become a race between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats won the equivalent Welsh Assembly seat in 1999 and 2003, and also dominate the wards which make up the seat in elections to Cardiff Council.

The constituency is socially diverse, with both very affluent and very deprived areas. It has a large student population which seems to have helped Labour to win in 1992 and 1997 but thereafter increasingly switched to the Liberal Democrats due to opposition to government plans for reforming student support.

The seat was unchanged in the Fifth Periodical Report of the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for Wales, which took effect at the 2010 general election.

Since the seat's re-creation in 1983, it has been held successively by each of the three main political parties; the Liberal Democrats gained it at the 2005 election after 13 years of Labour representation.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1918–1950

Election		Member	Party
	1918	James Childs Gould	Conservative
	1924	Lewis Lougher	Conservative
	1929	Ernest Bennett	Labour
	1931		National Labour
	1945	George Thomas	Labour
	1950	constituency abolished

MPs since 1983

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Ian Grist	Conservative
	1992	Jon Owen Jones	Labour Co-operative
	2005	Jenny Willott	Liberal Democrat

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Jenny Willott	14,976	41.4	-8.4
	Labour	Jenny Rathbone	10,400	28.8	-5.5
	Conservative	Karen Robson	7,799	21.6	+12.3
	Plaid Cymru	Chris Williams	1,246	3.4	-0.1
	UKIP	Sue Davies	765	2.1	+1.1
	Green	Sam Coates	575	1.6	+1.6
	Trade Unionist & Socialist	Ross Saunders	162	0.4	+0.4
	Monster Raving Loony	Mark Beech (A.K.A.- 'The Good Knight Sir NosDa')	142	0.4	+0.4
	Independent	Alun Mathias	86	0.2	+0.2
Majority			4,576	12.7
Turnout			36,151	59.1	+0.0
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing	-1.4

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Jenny Willott	17,991	49.8	+13.1
	Labour Co-op	Jon Owen Jones	12,398	34.3	-4.3
	Conservative	Gotz Mohindra	3,339	9.2	-6.7
	Plaid Cymru	Richard Rhys Grigg	1,271	3.5	-1.3
	Respect	Raja Gul-Raiz	386	1.1
	UKIP	Frank Hughes	383	1.1	+0.5
	Independent	Anne Savoury	168	0.5
	New Millennium Bean Party	Captain Beany	159	0.4
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Catherine Taylor-Dawson	37	0.1
Majority			5,593	15.5
Turnout			36,132	59.2	+0.9
	Liberal Democrat gain from Labour Co-op		Swing	8.7

General Election 2001: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Jon Owen Jones	13,451	38.6	-5.1
	Liberal Democrat	Jenny Willott	12,792	36.7	+11.8
	Conservative	Gregory Walker	5,537	15.9	-4.2
	Plaid Cymru	Richard Rhys Grigg	1,680	4.8	+1.3
	Green	Stephen Bartley	661	1.9	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	Julian Goss	283	0.8	N/A
	UKIP	Frank Hughes	221	0.6	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Madeleine Jeremy	217	0.6	N/A
Majority			659	1.9
Turnout			34,842	58.3	-11.7
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Jon Owen Jones	18,464	43.7	+1.7
	Liberal Democrat	Jenny Randerson	10,541	24.9	+3.6
	Conservative	David Melding	8,470	20.0	-13.9
	Socialist Labour	Terence Burns	2,230	5.3	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	W Vernon	1,504	3.6	+1.8
	Referendum Party	N Lloyd	760	1.8
	Monster Raving Loony	C James	204	0.5
	Natural Law	A Hobbs	80	0.2
Majority			7,923	18.8
Turnout				70.0
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Jon Owen Jones	18,014	42.0	+9.7
	Conservative	Ian Grist	14,549	33.9	−3.2
	Liberal Democrat	Jenny Randerson	9,170	21.4	−8.0
	Plaid Cymru	Huw Marshall	748	1.7	+0.4
	Green	Christopher J. Von Ruhland	330	0.8	N/A
	Natural Law	Brian M. Francis	105	0.2	N/A
Majority			3,465	8.1	+3.2
Turnout			42,916	74.3	−3.3
	Labour Co-op gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.5

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Grist	15,241	37.1	-4.3
	Labour	Jon Owen Jones	13,255	32.3	+8.1
	Liberal	Mike German	12,062	29.3	-3.3
	Plaid Cymru	Siân Caiach	535	1.3	-0.5
Majority			1,986	4.8	-4.0
Turnout				77.6	+5.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	-6.2

General Election 1983: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Grist	16,090	41.4
	Liberal	Mike German	12,638	32.6
	Labour	R. T. Davies	9,387	24.2
	Plaid Cymru	A. P. Morgan	704	1.8
Majority			3,452	8.8
Turnout				72.1
	Conservative win (new seat)

See also

• Cardiff Central (Assembly constituency)
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in South Glamorgan

Sources

• UK Constituency Maps
• BBC Vote 2001
• BBC Election 2005