Cardiff North (UK Parliament constituency)

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

For the geographical area, see Cardiff North (geographical area).

Cardiff North
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Cardiff North in Wales.
Preserved county	South Glamorgan
Electorate	67,194 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1950 (1950)
Member of Parliament	Jonathan Evans (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Overlaps
Welsh Assembly	South Wales Central
European Parliament constituency	Wales

Cardiff North (Welsh: Gogledd Caerdydd) 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 voting system.

History

This seat is the residential quarter of Wales' capital. It normally elects Conservative MPs but Labour has won in their better election performances. A traditional Tory section of northern Cardiff, mainly owner-occupied suburban housing with a resolutely middle class population, the Conservatives have recovered from the low points of the mid-1990s, and now hold the majority of the council seats forming the constituency (13, against five Liberal Democrats, three independents and no Labour). Success in the 2004 local elections was not repeated in the 2005 general election, with Labour's Julie Morgan retaining the seat with a reduced majority.

Nick Robinson profiled the constituency as part of the BBC's build-up to the 2010 General Election saying:

"Labour's support here slumped from over 50% of the vote in 1997 to 39% at the last election when, it's worth remembering, Labour won a third term with the lowest-ever vote share obtained by a governing party. However, the Tories failed to gain from this decline, picking up just 227 votes in those eight years. Thanks to a lower turnout, their vote share crept up from 33.7% to 36.5%. The reason? Voters who deserted Labour switched, in the main, to the Lib Dems - even though they are outsiders in this seat with just under 19% of the vote.

"The Tories are hopeful of winning the seat, having topped the Euro poll not just here but in Wales as a whole. They have 13 councillors in this constituency as against Labour's none and the Lib Dems' five - even though in Cardiff as a whole, the Lib Dems control the city council.

"Labour hopes depend on stressing the independence and hard work of the local MP - Julie (wife of Rhodri) Morgan - and persuading those Lib Dems not to switch to the Tories."

In the event Julie Morgan once again stood for Labour in 2010 to try to retain the seat. The Conservatives chose Jonathan Evans MEP to stand for them, who had previously been the MP for Brecon and Radnor. Ladbrokes had forecast that Cardiff North had a 80% chance of becoming Conservative. Evans won, but only by 194 votes.

Boundaries

It comprises the electoral wards of Birchgrove, Cathays, Gabalfa, Heath, Llandaff North, Llanishen, Lisvane, Pontprennau/Old St Mellons, Rhiwbina and Whitchurch/Tongwynlais.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1950	David Llewellyn	Conservative
	1959	Donald Box	Conservative
	1966	Ted Rowlands	Labour
	1970	Michael Roberts	Conservative
	Feb 1974	Ian Grist	Conservative
	1983	Gwilym Jones	Conservative
	1997	Julie Morgan	Labour
	2010	Jonathan Evans	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Cardiff North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jonathan Evans	17,860	37.5	+1.0
	Labour	Julie Morgan	17,666	37.1	-1.9
	Liberal Democrat	John Dixon	8,724	18.3	-0.4
	Plaid Cymru	Llywelyn Rhys	1,588	3.3	-0.9
	UKIP	Lawrence Gwynn	1,130	2.4	+1.2
	Green	Christopher von Rhuland	362	0.8	+0.8
	Christian	Derek Thomson	300	0.6	+0.6
Majority			194	0.4
Turnout			47,630	72.7	+2.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+1.5

Elections in the 2000s

In the 2005 election, Julie Morgan was re-elected with a reduced majority. Catherine Taylor-Dawson of the Vote For Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket party scored the lowest result (one vote) of any constituency in this general election.

General Election 2005: Cardiff North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Julie Morgan	17,707	39.0	-6.9
	Conservative	Jonathan Morgan	16,561	36.5	+4.9
	Liberal Democrat	John Dixon	8,483	18.7	+3.4
	Plaid Cymru	John Rowlands	1,936	4.3	-1.4
	UKIP	Don Hulston	534	1.2	-0.2
	Forward Wales	Alison Hobbs	138	0.3	+0.3
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Catherine Taylor-Dawson	1	0.0	0.0
Majority			1,146	2.5
Turnout			45,360	70.5	+1.5
	Labour hold		Swing	-5.9

General Election 2001: Cardiff North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Julie Morgan	19,845	45.9	-4.6
	Conservative	Alastair Watson	13,680	31.6	-2.0
	Liberal Democrat	John Dixon	6,631	15.3	+4.4
	Plaid Cymru	Sion Jobbins	2,471	5.7	+3.2
	UKIP	Don Hulston	613	1.4	N/A
Majority			6,165	14.3
Turnout			43,240	69.0	-11.2
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Cardiff North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Julie Morgan	24,460	50.4	+11.5
	Conservative	Gwilym Jones	16,334	33.7	-11.5
	Liberal Democrat	R Rowland	5,294	10.9	-2.7
	Plaid Cymru	C Palfrey	1,201	2.5	+0.6
	Referendum Party	E J Litchfield	1,199	2.5	N/A
Majority			8,126	16.7
Turnout				80.2
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1992: Cardiff North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gwilym Jones	21,547	45.1	−0.1
	Labour	Julie Morgan	18,578	38.9	+12.2
	Liberal Democrat	Mrs Eve Warlow	6,487	13.6	−12.9
	Plaid Cymru	Mrs Eluned M Bush	916.	1.9	+0.4
	BNP	John H Morse	121	0.3	N/A
	Natural Law	David L. Palmer	86	0.2	N/A
Majority			2,969	6.2	−12.4
Turnout			47,735	84.1	+3.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	−6.2

See also

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