Cardiff South and Penarth (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Cardiff South and Penarth (Assembly constituency).

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

Cardiff South and Penarth
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Cardiff South and Penarth in Wales.
Preserved county	South Glamorgan
Electorate	75,175 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1983 (1983)
Member of Parliament	Alun Michael (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Cardiff South
Overlaps
Welsh Assembly	South Wales Central
European Parliament constituency	Wales

Cardiff South and Penarth (Welsh: De Caerdydd a Phenarth) is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is normally a strong Labour seat although the Conservatives were able to significantly challenge in their 1983 landslide.

History

The two MPs for this constituency have been well known. The first MP, elected for the 1983 election, was the former Prime Minister James Callaghan, who had represented constituents in southern Cardiff since 1945 general election. The current Member of Parliament for this seat is Alun Michael of the Labour Party. He was elected following Callaghan's retirement at the 1987 general election' and became Secretary of State for Wales in 1998. Michael remains the MP with a majority of over 4,500 after the 2010 election, despite the incorporation of the strongly Conservative ward of Sully in 2010.

While Cardiff South and Penarth was once viewed as one of the safest Labour seats in Britain, their majority has been progressively eroded here since at least 1992. The 2005 general election continued this trend, while bringing the Liberal Democrat party up to a level with the Conservative Party, long established as the second party in this seat.

One anomaly visible in the 1997 election results is the presence of the "New Labour" candidate, J Foreman. Not affiliated with the mainstream Labour Party, he nevertheless managed to poll more votes than either Plaid Cymru or the Referendum Party, possibly due to the similar party names confusing the voters.

Boundaries

This constituency comprises the Cardiff electoral divisions of Butetown, Grangetown, Llanrumney, Rumney, Splott and Trowbridge. It also includes the four Penarth electoral divisions of Stanwell, St Augustines, Plymouth and Cornerswell, and the communities of Sully, Lavernock and Llandough which are in the Vale of Glamorgan County Borough.

Member of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1983	James Callaghan	Labour
	1987	Alun Michael	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Cardiff South and Penarth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alun Michael	17,262	38.9	-7.7
	Conservative	Simon Hoare	12,553	28.3	+4.4
	Liberal Democrat	Dominic Hannigan	9,875	22.3	+2.4
	Plaid Cymru	Farida Aslam	1,851	4.2	-1.1
	UKIP	Simon Zeigler	1,145	2.6	+1.2
	Independent	George Burke	648	1.5	+1.5
	Green	Matthew Townsend	554	1.2	-0.6
	Christian	Clive Bate	285	0.6	+0.6
	Communist	Robert Griffiths	196	0.4	+0.4
Majority			4,709	10.6
Turnout			44,369	60.2	+2.0
	Labour hold		Swing	-6.0

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Cardiff South and Penarth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Alun Michael	17,447	47.3	-8.9
	Conservative	Victoria Green	8,210	22.2	+0.4
	Liberal Democrat	Gavin Cox	7,529	20.4	+7.6
	Plaid Cymru	Jason Toby	2,023	5.5	0.0
	Green	John Matthews	729	2.0	+2.0
	UKIP	Jennie Tuttle	522	1.4	0.0
	Socialist Alternative	David Bartlett	269	0.7	+0.7
	Independent	Andrew Taylor	104	0.3	+0.3
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Catherine Taylor-Dawson	79	0.2	+0.2
Majority			9,237	25.0
Turnout			36,912	56.2	-0.9
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	4.7

General Election 2001: Cardiff South and Penarth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Alun Michael	20,094	56.2	+2.8
	Conservative	Maureen Kelly Owen	7,807	21.8	+1.1
	Liberal Democrat	Rodney Berman	4,572	12.8	+3.4
	Plaid Cymru	Lila Haines	1,983	5.5	+2.4
	UKIP	Justin Callan	501	1.4	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	David Bartlett	427	1.2	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Anne Savoury	367	1.0	N/A
Majority			12,287	34.4
Turnout			35,751	57.1	-11.2
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Cardiff South and Penarth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Alun Michael	22,647	53.4
	Conservative	Caroline Roberts	8,786	20.7
	Liberal Democrat	Simon Wakefield	3,964	9.3
	New Labour	J Foreman	3,942	9.3
	Plaid Cymru	David Haswell	1,356	3.2
	Referendum Party	P Morgan	1,211	2.9
	Socialist Alternative	M Shepherd	344	0.8
	Natural Law	B Caves	170	0.4
Majority			13,861
Turnout			38,478	68.6
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Cardiff South and Penarth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Alun Michael	26,383	55.5	+8.8
	Conservative	Thomas Hunter Jarvie	15,958	33.6	−2.9
	Liberal Democrat	Peter K. Verma	3,707	7.8	−7.6
	Plaid Cymru	Miss Barbara A. Anglezarke	776	1.6	+0.3
	Green	Lester Davey	676	1.4	N/A
Majority			10,425	21.9	+11.7
Turnout			47,500	77.2	+0.9
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	+5.9

See also

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

Sources

• "Results: Cardiff South & Penarth". BBC NEWS: Election 2005. BBC News. 2005-05-06. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2005/html/125.stm. Retrieved 2006-05-25. 
• "News Release - South Glamorgan" (PDF). Boundary Commission for Wales. 2004-11-10. http://www.bcomm-wales.gov.uk/recommendations/finalrecs_nr_sglam_e.pdf. Retrieved 2006-05-25. 
• "Aristotle: Cardiff South and Penarth". Guardian Unlimited. 2004-05-08. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/hoc/constituency/history/0,9571,-791,00.html. Retrieved 2006-05-25. 

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Dagenham	Constituency represented by the Father of the House 1983–1987	Succeeded by Castle Point