Vale of Glamorgan (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Vale of Glamorgan (Assembly constituency).

Vale of Glamorgan
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Vale of Glamorgan in Wales.
Preserved county	South Glamorgan
Electorate	71,585 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Barry, Llantwit Major, Cowbridge
Current constituency
Created	1983 (1983)
Member of Parliament	Alun Cairns (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Barry
Overlaps
Welsh Assembly	South Wales Central
European Parliament constituency	Wales

Vale of Glamorgan (Welsh: Bro Morgannwg) is a county constituency in South Wales, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP), using the first-past-the-post voting system.

It was created in 1983.

Boundaries

A marginal seat to the west of Cardiff, this contains the Labour-voting port of Barry and a number of Conservative villages and small towns. There have been some close shaves for both parties here in the past: Conservative Walter Sweeney got home by a mere 19 votes in 1992; and John Smith (namesake of the late previous Labour leader) had a majority of under 2,000 in 2005. John Smith stood down from Parliament due to ill health, and the seat went Conservative at the 2010 election.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Sir Raymond Gower	Conservative
	1989 by-election	John Smith	Labour
	1992	Walter Sweeney	Conservative
	1997	John Smith	Labour
	2010	Alun Cairns	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Vale of Glamorgan
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alun Cairns	20,341	41.8	+4.4
	Labour	Alana Davies	16,034	32.9	-7.8
	Liberal Democrat	Eluned Parrott	7,403	15.2	+2.0
	Plaid Cymru	Ian James Johnson	2,667	5.5	+0.3
	UKIP	Kevin Mahoney	1,529	3.1	+1.4
	Green	Rhodri Thomas	457	0.9	+0.9
	Christian	John Harrold	236	0.5	+0.5
Majority			4,307	8.8
Turnout			48,667	69.3	+0.7
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	6.1%

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Vale of Glamorgan
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Smith	19,481	41.2	-4.2
	Conservative	Alun Cairns	17,673	37.3	+2.3
	Liberal Democrat	Mark Hooper	6,140	13.0	+0.8
	Plaid Cymru	Barry Shaw	2,423	5.1	-1.2
	UKIP	Richard Suchorzewski	840	1.8	+0.8
	Liberal	Karl-James Langford	605	1.3	+1.3
	Socialist Labour	Paul Mules	162	0.3	+0.3
Majority			1,808	3.8
Turnout			47,324	68.9	+2.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.3

General Election 2001: Vale of Glamorgan
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Smith	20,524	45.4	-8.5
	Conservative	Susie Inkin	15,824	35.0	+0.7
	Liberal Democrat	Dewi Smith	5,521	12.2	+3.0
	Plaid Cymru	Chris Franks	2,867	6.3	+3.8
	UKIP	Niall Warry	448	1.0	N/A
Majority			4,700	10.4
Turnout			45,184	66.7	-13.3
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: Vale of Glamorgan
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Walter Sweeney	24,220	44.3	−2.4
	Labour	John Smith	24,201	44.3	+9.6
	Liberal Democrat	DK Davies	5,045	9.2	−7.4
	Plaid Cymru	DBL Haswell	1,160	2.1	+0.3
Majority			19	0.0	−12.0
Turnout			54,626	81.9	+2.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	−6.0

Elections in the 1980s

Vale of Glamorgan by-election, 1989
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Smith	23,342	48.9	+14.2
	Conservative	Rod Richards	17,314	36.3	−10.5
	Social and Liberal Democrats	F. Leavers	2,017	4.2	−12.5
	Plaid Cymru	A. Dixon	1,672	3.5	+1.7
	Social Democrat	D. Davies	1,098	2.3	N/A
	Green	M. Wakefield	971	2.0	N/A
	Protect the Health Service	C. Tiarks	847	1.8	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	266	0.5	N/A
	Independent Welsh Socialist	E. Roberts	148	0.3	N/A
	Corrective Party	Lindi St Claire	39	0.1	N/A
	Christian Alliance	D. Black	32	0.1	N/A
Majority			6,028	12.6	N/A
Turnout			47,746	70.7
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	−12.4

See also

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