The Monmouth Senedd constituency was created in 1999 with the same boundaries as the Westminster constituency. These covered a large area, omitting the mainly urban areas of Blaenau Gwent in the west and Newport, Wales in the south.
The constituency was considered a safe seat of the Conservative Party although the seat has been won by the Labour Party in three general elections – in addition to the 1991 by-election.
The last MP for Monmouth was the Conservative David Davies, elected in 2005 and a former member for the Senedd seat of the same name. To avoid confusion with the Yorkshire Conservative David Davis, he is named in Hansard as "David T. C. Davies".
Boundaries
Map of boundaries 1983-2024
1983 to 2024
The constituency was one of eight covering the preserved county of Gwent. The other seven were Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Islwyn, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, Newport East, Newport West and Torfaen. Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, however, straddles the boundary with the preserved county of Mid Glamorgan. It covered most of the local authority of Monmouthshire, with the main towns being Chepstow, Monmouth and Abergavenny.
As first used in the 1918 general election, the constituency was a creation of the Representation of the People Act 1918 as one of six constituencies covering the county of Monmouth. Prior to the 1918 election the county had been covered, nominally, by the county constituencies of Northern Monmouthshire, Southern Monmouthshire, and Western Monmouthshire, and the Monmouth Boroughs borough constituency. By 1918, however, administrative county boundaries were out of alignment with constituency boundaries. The new constituency boundaries took account of the new local government boundaries.
The other Monmouthshire constituencies defined by the 1918 legislation were the county constituencies of Abertillery, Bedwellty, Ebbw Vale and Pontypool, and the borough constituency of Newport. This general pattern was maintained until 1983, nine years after the administrative county they were based on had been abolished, but there were some boundary changes during the 1918 to 1983 period.
County of Monmouth
In 1918 the Monmouth constituency was defined as consisting of the municipal boroughs of Abergavenny, and Monmouth, the urban districts of Caerleon, Chepstow, and Usk, the rural districts of Abergavenny, Chepstow, Magor, Monmouth, Cwmbran and Pontypool, and part of the rural district of St Mellons.[4] The same boundaries were used for the general elections of 1922, 1923, 1924, 1929, 1931, 1935 and 1945.
New boundaries, created by the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949, were used for the 1950 general election, and the Monmouth constituency was defined as consisting of the municipal boroughs of Abergavenny and Monmouth, the urban districts of Caerleon, Chepstow, Cwmbran and Usk, and the rural districts of Abergavenny, Chepstow, Magor and St Mellons, Monmouth, and Pontypool.[4]
For the 1951 general election, there was some alteration to the boundaries of rural district of Magor and St Mellons.[4]
The constituency was redefined again for the 1955 general election, taking account of new local government boundaries. The result was the same list of boroughs and districts as for the 1951 election.[4] 1951 boundaries were used also in the general elections of 1959, 1964, 1966, 1970, February 1974, October 1974 and 1979.
In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the local government county of Monmouth was abolished. For the 1983 general election, new constituency boundaries were drawn, taking account of new local government boundaries.
Members of Parliament
The following list does not include MPs who actually represented Monmouth Boroughs:
^A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
^As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
References
^"Beyond 20/20 WDS – Table view". 2011 Electorate Figures. StatsWales. 1 December 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
^2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies - The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies in Wales(PDF). Boundary Commission for Wales. 28 June 2023.
^Boundary Commission for Wales website The Parliamentary Constituencies and Assembly Electoral Regions (Wales) Order 2006, OPSI website
^ abcdBoundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 (ISBN 0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig 1972 Craig attributes the 1951 alteration to SI 1851/1390 under section 2(3) of the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949
^Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 3)
^ abcdefghijkCraig, F. W. S. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918–1945 (1 ed.). Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0-900178-019. p.567
^ abcdefgCraig, F. W. S. (1971). British parliamentary election results 1950-1970 (1 ed.). Chichester: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 9780900178023. Page 587
^"Politics Resources". Election February 1974. Politics Resources. 28 February 1974. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
^"Politics Resources". Election October 1974. Politics Resources. 10 October 1974. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
^"Politics Resources". Election 1979. Politics Resources. 3 May 1979. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
^"Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1987–92 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
^"Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
^"Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"BBC NEWS>VOTE 2001>Results and Constituencies>Monmouth". Vote 2001. BBC News. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
^"Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"BBC NEWS > Monmouth". Vote 2001. BBC News. 7 June 2001. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
^"Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"Monmouth parliamentary constituency - Election 2005" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
^"Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ abc"2017 Results". Monmouthshire Council. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
^"Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll" (PDF). Monmouthshire County Council. 14 November 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
^"Monmouth parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
^ abc"Election-Results/General-Election-2019". Monmouthshire Council. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
Further reading
Iain Dale, ed. (2003). The Times House of Commons 1929, 1931, 1935. Politico's (reprint). ISBN 1-84275-033-X.
The Times House of Commons 1945. 1945. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
External links
Politics Resources (Election results from 1922 onwards)
Electoral Calculus (Election results from 1955 onwards)
2017 Election House of Commons Library 2017 Election report
A Vision Of Britain Through Time (Constituency elector numbers)