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Cardiff South and Penarth (UK Parliament constituency)
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Cardiff South and Penarth (UK Parliament constituency)

Cardiff South and Penarth (Welsh: De Caerdydd a Phenarth) is a constituency[n 1] created in 1983 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2012 by Stephen Doughty, a Labour Co-op MP, who has served as Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories since July 2024.[4][5]

Key Information

The constituency retained its name, but with altered boundaries, as part of the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies and under the June 2023 final recommendations of the Boundary Commission for Wales for the 2024 general election.[6]

Boundaries

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Map
Map of boundaries 2010–2024

1983–2010: The City of Cardiff wards of Butetown, Grangetown, Llanrumney, Rumney, Splott, and Trowbridge; and the Borough of Vale of Glamorgan wards of Alexandra (became Plymouth and St Augustine's from 2004), Cornerswell, Llandough, and Stanwell.

2010–2024: As above with the addition of Sully from the Vale of Glamorgan seat.

2024–present: The City and County of Cardiff wards of Butetown, Cathays, Grangetown, and Splott; and the County Borough of the Vale of Glamorgan wards Cornerswell, Dinas Powys, Llandough, Plymouth, St Augustine's, Stanwell, and Sully.[7]

The seat gained Cathays from the abolished Cardiff Central constituency, and Dinas Powys from the Vale of Glamorgan constituency,[8] offset by the loss of Llanrumney, Rumney, and Trowbridge to the new Cardiff East constituency.[9]

History

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Creation

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Prior to 1983 Penarth had been part of the abolished Barry constituency, represented by the Conservative backbencher Sir Raymond Gower. Most of the electorate of the new constituency had previously fallen into the abolished seat of Cardiff South East, represented by former Prime Minister, James Callaghan.

Political history

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Cardiff South and Penarth has had three MPs since its creation, containing some very safe Labour wards from Cardiff such as Butetown, Grangetown and Splott, and several wards from the neighbouring borough of the Vale of Glamorgan, with Penarth mostly favourable to Labour, but with some areas such as Plymouth and Sully in the southern end of the seat where the Conservatives attracted more support. The first, elected at the 1983 general election, was the former Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan, who secured the seat with a 5.4% majority over Conservative David Tredinnick. Callaghan had immediately prior to the dissolution of Parliament, represented Cardiff South East. Callaghan first became an MP at the 1945 general election, for Cardiff South.

The second MP was Alun Michael (Labour and Co-operative Party) who served 25 years from 1987 before choosing to stand down in 2012. Michael's affiliation with the Co-operative Party did not appear on ballot papers at the 2010 general election because the Electoral Commission ruled that any joint candidates who wanted the names of both their parties included on the ballot paper could not also display the Labour red rose logo.[10] Michael opted to drop the reference to the Co-operative Party but after the election denounced the ruling as "an outrageous piece of incompetence by the Electoral Commission".[11] Michael briefly became Secretary of State for Wales in 1998. Michael held the seat at the 2010 general election with a majority of 10.6% following a 6% swing to the Conservative candidate.[12]

In 2012, Michael was selected by the Labour and Co-operative Parties as their candidate for the election of a Police and Crime Commissioner for the South Wales Police force area and announced he would be standing down from Parliament.[13][14]

At a by-election held on 15 November 2012, Labour's decline was reversed coupled with very low turnout (down 38.2% on the previous election). Labour's Stephen Doughty succeeded Alun Michael winning 47.3% of the overall vote. This was an increase (in share-of-the-vote terms) on Michael's 2010 performance. However, in terms of actual votes cast (9,193 compared with 17,262 in 2010), it was Labour's lowest in this constituency. The 2015 result gave the seat the 83rd-smallest majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority.[15] Labour's result in 2017 saw them secure their largest ever margin in the constituency in terms of raw votes.

Other parties

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Five parties' candidates achieved more than the deposit-retaining threshold of 5% of the vote in 2015. The second-placed candidate has been a Conservative candidate since the seat was formed. The closest result was in 1983, when Callaghan won by 5.5% of the vote.

Turnout

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Turnout at general elections has ranged between 77.2% in 1992 and 56.2% in 2005.

Members of Parliament

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Elections

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Elections in the 1980s

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General election 1983: Cardiff South and Penarth[18][19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour James Callaghan 17,448 41.3 N/A
Conservative David Tredinnick 15,172 35.9 N/A
Liberal Winston Roddick 8,816 20.8 N/A
Plaid Cymru Sian Edwards 673 1.6 N/A
Freedom from World Domination Benjamin Lewis 165 0.4 N/A
Majority 2,276 5.4 N/A
Turnout 42,274 71.0 N/A
Registered electors 59,520
Labour win (new seat)
General election 1987: Cardiff South and Penarth[20][21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Alun Michael 20,956 46.7 +5.4
Conservative Gareth Neale 16,382 36.5 +0.6
Liberal Jenny Randerson 6,900 15.4 −5.4
Plaid Cymru Sian Edwards 599 1.3 −0.3
Majority 4,574 10.2 +4.8
Turnout 44,837 76.4 +5.4
Registered electors 58,714
Labour Co-op hold Swing +1.5

Elections in the 1990s

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General election 1992: Cardiff South and Penarth[22][23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Alun Michael 26,383 55.5 +8.8
Conservative Thomas Jarvie 15,958 33.6 −2.9
Liberal Prabhat Verma 3,707 7.8 −7.6
Plaid Cymru Barbara 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 +0.8
Registered electors 61,484
Labour Co-op hold Swing +5.9
General election 1997: Cardiff South and Penarth[24][25]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Alun Michael 22,647 53.4 −2.1
Conservative Caroline E. Roberts 8,786 20.7 −12.9
Liberal Democrats Simon J. Wakefield 3,964 9.3 +1.5
New Labour John Foreman 3,942 9.3 N/A
Plaid Cymru David B. L. Haswell 1,356 3.2 +1.6
Referendum Phillip S. E. Morgan 1,211 2.9 N/A
Socialist Alternative Mike K. Shepherd 344 0.8 N/A
Natural Law Barbara Caves 170 0.4 N/A
Majority 13,861 32.7 +10.8
Turnout 42,420 68.3 −8.9
Registered electors 62,138
Labour Co-op hold Swing +5.3

Elections in the 2000s

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General election 2001: Cardiff South and Penarth[26][27]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Alun Michael 20,094 56.2 +2.8
Conservative Maureen Owen 7,807 21.8 +1.1
Liberal Democrats Rodney Berman 4,572 12.8 +3.5
Plaid Cymru Lila Haines 1,983 5.5 +2.3
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 +1.7
Turnout 35,751 57.1 −11.2
Registered electors 62,627
Labour Co-op hold Swing +0.8
General election 2005: Cardiff South and Penarth[28][29]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Alun Michael 17,447 47.3 −8.9
Conservative Victoria Green 8,210 22.2 +0.4
Liberal Democrats Gavin Cox 7,529 20.4 +7.6
Plaid Cymru Jason Toby 2,023 5.5 0.0
Green John Matthews 729 2.0 N/A
UKIP Jennie Tuttle 522 1.4 0.0
Socialist Alternative David Bartlett 269 0.7 N/A
Independent Andrew Taylor 104 0.3 N/A
Rainbow Dream Ticket Catherine Taylor-Dawson 79 0.2 N/A
Majority 9,237 25.1 −9.3
Turnout 36,912 56.2 −0.9
Registered electors 65,786
Labour Co-op hold Swing −4.7

Elections in the 2010s

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General election 2010: Cardiff South and Penarth[30][31][32]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Alun Michael 17,262 38.9 −7.7
Conservative Simon Hoare 12,553 28.3 +4.4
Liberal Democrats 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 N/A
Green Matthew Townsend 554 1.2 −0.6
Christian Clive Bate 285 0.6 N/A
Communist Robert Griffiths 196 0.4 N/A
Majority 4,709 10.6 −14.4
Turnout 44,369 60.2 +2.0
Registered electors 73,707
Labour Co-op hold Swing −6.0
2012 Cardiff South and Penarth by-election[33]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Stephen Doughty 9,193 47.3 +8.4
Conservative Craig Williams 3,859 19.9 −8.4
Liberal Democrats Bablin Molik 2,103 10.8 −11.5
Plaid Cymru Luke Nicholas 1,854 9.5 +5.3
UKIP Simon Zeigler 1,179 6.1 +3.5
Green Anthony Slaughter 800 4.1 +2.9
Socialist Labour Andrew Jordan 235 1.2 N/A
Communist Robert Griffiths 213 1.1 +0.7
Rejected ballots 135
Majority 5,334 27.4 +16.8
Turnout 19,436 25.7 −34.5
Registered electors 76,764
Labour Co-op hold Swing +8.4

Of the 135 rejected ballots:

  • 63 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.[33]
  • 69 voted for more than one candidate.[33]
  • 3 had writing or a mark by which the voter could be identified.[33]
General election 2015: Cardiff South and Penarth[34][35][36]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Stephen Doughty[37] 19,966 42.8 +3.9
Conservative Emma Warman 12,513 26.8 −1.5
UKIP John Rees-Evans[38] 6,423 13.8 +11.2
Plaid Cymru Ben Foday[39] 3,443 7.4 +3.2
Liberal Democrats Nigel Howells 2,318 5.0 −17.3
Green Anthony Slaughter 1,746 3.7 +2.5
TUSC Ross Saunders 258 0.6 N/A
Rejected ballots 121
Majority 7,453 16.0 +5.4
Turnout 46,667 61.4 +1.2
Registered electors 76,006
Labour Co-op hold Swing +2.7

Of the 121 rejected ballots:

  • 82 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.[35]
  • 35 voted for more than one candidate.[35]
  • 4 had writing or a mark by which the voter could be identified.[35]
General election 2017: Cardiff South and Penarth[40][41][42]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Stephen Doughty 30,182 59.5 +16.7
Conservative Bill Rees[43] 15,318 30.2 +3.4
Plaid Cymru Ian Titherington[44] 2,162 4.3 −3.1
Liberal Democrats Emma Sands 1,430 2.8 −2.2
UKIP Andrew Bevan 942 1.9 −11.9
Green Anthony Slaughter[45][46] 532 1.0 −2.7
Pirate Jebediah Hedges 170 0.3 N/A
Rejected ballots 107
Majority 14,864 29.3 +13.3
Turnout 50,736 66.3 +4.9
Registered electors 76,499
Labour Co-op hold Swing +6.7

Of the 107 rejected ballots:

  • 76 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.[42]
  • 29 voted for more than one candidate.[42]
  • 2 had writing or a mark by which the voter could be identified.[42]
General election 2019: Cardiff South and Penarth[47][48][49]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Stephen Doughty 27,382 54.1 −5.4
Conservative Phillippa Broom 14,645 29.0 −1.2
Liberal Democrats Dan Schmeising 2,985 5.9 +3.1
Plaid Cymru Nasir Adam 2,386 4.7 +0.4
Brexit Party Tim Price 1,999 4.0 N/A
Green Ken Barker 1,182 2.3 +1.3
Rejected ballots 160
Majority 12,737 25.1 −3.8
Turnout 50,579 64.2 −2.1
Registered electors 78,837
Labour Co-op hold Swing −2.1

Of the 160 rejected ballots:

  • 132 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.[49]
  • 27 voted for more than one candidate.[49]
  • 1 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified.[49]
2019 notional result [n 2] [50]
Party Vote %
Labour 27,030 53.7
Conservative 15,179 30.1
Liberal Democrats 3,528 7.0
Plaid Cymru 2,091 4.2
Brexit Party 1,389 2.8
Green Party 1,153 2.3
Majority 11,851 23.5
Turnout 50,370 69.7
Electorate 72,269

Elections in the 2020s

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General election 2024: Cardiff South and Penarth[51]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op Stephen Doughty 17,428 44.5 −9.2
Green Anthony Slaughter 5,661 14.5 +12.2
Conservative Ellis Smith 5,459 13.9 −16.2
Reform UK Simon Llewellyn 4,493 11.5 +8.7
Plaid Cymru Sharifah Rahman[n 3] 3,227 8.2 +4.0
Liberal Democrats Alex Wilson 2,908 7.4 +0.4
Majority 11,767 30.0 +4.9
Turnout 39,176 54.0 −15.7
Registered electors 72,613
Labour Co-op hold Swing −10.7

See also

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Notes

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References

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