- For constituencies which may be confused with this constituency, see Monmouth constituency
Monmouth is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster), first used in the 1918 general election. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post of election.
The Monmouth Welsh Assembly constituency, created in 1999, has normally the same boundaries as the Westminster constituency.
Boundaries
Current
The constituency is one of eight covering the preserved county of Gwent. The other seven are 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 covers most of current local authority of Monmouthshire.
For the next United Kingdom general election, there will be no changes to the boundaries of the Monmouth constituency stemming from the Fifth Review of the Boundary Commission for Wales.[1]
Historic
1918 to 1983
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 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.
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, and Pontypool, and part of the rural district of St Mellons,[2] and 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, and Usk, and rural districts of Abergavenny, Chepstow, Magor and St Mellons, Monmouth, and Pontypool.[2]
For the 1951 general election, there was some alteration to the boundaries of rural district of Magor and St Mellons.[2]
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.[2] 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.
From 1983
Member of Parliament
The current MP is the Conservative David Davies, first elected to Parliament at the 2005 general election and a former member for the Welsh Assembly seat of the same name. To avoid confusion with the high-profile Yorkshire Tory David Davis, he is named in Hansard as "David T.C. Davies".
The following list does not include MPs who actually represented Monmouth Boroughs:
Elections
Elections in the 2000s
Elections in the 1990s
Elections in the 1980s
Elections in the 1970s
Elections in the 1960s
1966: labour gain
Elections in the 1950s
Elections in the 1940s
Elections in the 1930s
See also
Notes and references
- ^ Boundary Commission for Wales website
The Parliamentary Constituencies and Assembly Electoral Regions (Wales) Order 2006, OPSI website
- ^ a b c d Boundaries 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
- 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. The Times. 1945.
- Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd edition ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
