Neath (Senedd constituency)

Not to be confused with Neath (UK Parliament constituency).

Neath is a constituency of the National Assembly for Wales. It elects one Assembly Member by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of seven constituencies in the South Wales West electoral region, which elects four additional members, in addition to seven constituency members, to produce a degree of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

History

Since the creation of the assembly the constituency has returned a Labour AM, with varying majorities, from 7.7% to 26.8%. The current incumbent Jeremy Miles is one of the first openly gay elected Assembly Members. Plaid Cymru are Labour's main opposition in the seat.

In the election in 2016 the constituency got the highest vote share from an Independent in Steve Hunt with 8.1% of the vote. Hunt was the only independent to save his deposit.

Boundaries

The constituency was created for the first election to the Assembly, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of the Neath Westminster constituency. It is entirely within the preserved county of West Glamorgan.

The other six constituencies of the region are Aberavon, Bridgend, Gower, Ogmore, Swansea East and Swansea West.

Voting

In general elections for the National Assembly for Wales, each voter has two votes. The first vote may be used to vote for a candidate to become the Assembly Member for the voter's constituency, elected by the first past the post system. The second vote may be used to vote for a regional closed party list of candidates. Additional member seats are allocated from the lists by the d'Hondt method, with constituency results being taken into account in the allocation.

Assembly members

Election		Member	Party	Portrait
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1999	Gwenda Thomas	Labour Party
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	2016	Jeremy Miles	Labour Party

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Welsh Assembly Election 2016: Neath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jeremy Miles	9,468	37.3	−16.1
	Plaid Cymru	Alun Llewellyn	6,545	25.8	−0.8
	UKIP	Richard Pritchard	3,780	14.9	+14.9
	Conservative	Peter Crocker-Jaques	2,179	8.6	−3.1
	Independent	Steve Hunt	2,056	8.1	+8.1
	Liberal Democrats	Frank Little	746	2.9	−1.2
	Green	Lisa Rapado	589	2.3	+2.3
Majority			2,923	11.5	−15.3
Turnout			25,363	45.8	+4.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.6

Welsh Assembly Election 2011: Neath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gwenda Thomas	12,736	53.4	+10.0
	Plaid Cymru	Alun Llewellyn	6,346	26.6	−9.1
	Conservative	Alex Powell	2,780	11.7	−0.1
	BNP	Michael Green	1,004	4.2	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Mathew McCarthy	983	4.1	−5.1
Majority			6,390	26.8	+19.1
Turnout			23849	41.1	−2.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+9.6

Elections in the 2000s

Welsh Assembly Election 2007: Neath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gwenda Thomas	10,934	43.4	−7.6
	Plaid Cymru	Alun Llewellyn	8,990	35.7	+6.9
	Conservative	Andrew Sivertsen	2,956	11.7	+2.6
	Liberal Democrats	Sheila Ramsay-Waye	2,320	9.2	+0.0
Majority			1,944	7.7	−14.6
Turnout			25,200	43.5	+4.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−7.3

Welsh Assembly Election 2003: Neath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gwenda Thomas	11,332	51.1	+5.6
	Plaid Cymru	Alun Llewellyn	6,386	28.8	−7.0
	Liberal Democrats	Helen C. Jones	2,048	9.2	−0.6
	Conservative	Chris B. Smart	2,011	9.1	+2.0
	Socialist Alliance	David Pudner	410	1.9	+0.0
Majority			4,946	22.3	+12.6
Turnout			22,187	39.1	−8.9
	Labour hold		Swing	+6.3

Elections in the 1990s

Welsh Assembly Election 1999: Neath

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gwenda Thomas	12,234	45.5	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Trefor Jones	9,616	35.8	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	David R. Davies	2,631	9.8	N/A
	Conservative	Jill F. Chambers	1,895	7.1	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	Nicholas Duncan	519	1.9	N/A
Majority			2,618	9.7	N/A
Turnout			26,895	48.0	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)