Post by Lord Twaddleford on Apr 25, 2020 23:28:01 GMT
The constituency of Arfon is co-terminous with the former local government district of the same name, with said authority being abolished in 1996 as part of a raft of local government reorganisation during the mid-1990s. In terms of predecessor seats Arfon was created from parts of the former constituences of Caernarfon and Conwy.
The principal settlements of this seat are the towns of Bangor and Caernarfon. Bangor is the larger of the two main settlements (pop. ~18,000) and it hosts a university, a cathedral, and the main general hospital for the region. Caernarfon is centre for tourism (thanks to the castle) and the Welsh language (thanks to ~85% of the population being Welsh speakers, per the 2011 census), as well as being the administrative HQ for Gwynedd UA. Other settlements covered by this seat include the village of Abergwyngregyn (which at some point played host to the Welsh parliament), Bethesda, Tregarth, Y Felinheli, and the town of Llanberis. Llanberis notably is a former slate mining town situated at the foot of Mount Snowdon (the highest natural point in Wales) but is now more of a tourist destination (thanks to the heritage funincular railway that goes up Snowdon), though it retains some vestige of industry thanks to Dinorwig Power Station; Dinorwig is a "pumped storage" power station that uses excess power to fill up a water reservoir, and at peak times releases the water to generate power in order to accomodate the extra load on the grid.
Bangor, Abergwyngregyn, Bethesda, and Tregarth were all previously in party of Conwy constituency. Llanberis and Y Felinheli, along with the like named town, were previously in Caernarfon constituency.
As is the case for all Welsh constituencies, Arfon exists in both the national Parliament at Westminster, and the Welsh Assembly down in Cardiff Bay, and in both bodies it is held by the Welsh nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, who have occupied this seat since its creation in Westminster and Cardiff Bay alike. The seat first came into being in 2007 at the Welsh Assembly, and in 2010 for Wesminster elections. The Assembly seat is for all practical purposes safe for Plaid Cymru, but the Westminster seat is more of a PC/Labour marginal, with the Wesminster seat notionally held by Labour at the 2005 General Election. Of Arfon's predecessors Caernarfon had voted reliably for Plaid Cymru since 1974, wheras Conwy was more of a Labour/Conservative marginal during its existence (and held for the longest period by Conservative Ieuan Wyn Roberts, 1970-1997), but with Conwy's more Conservative leaning towns of Llandudno and Conwy now covered by Aberconwy the Tories have been relegated to a more distant third place in this seat. Typically, Bangor has been more favourable to Labour at Westminster elections (and provided the bulk of the Labour vote in the old Conwy seat), but this is less readily apparent at the local level where Plaid Cymru and Independent candidates fair far better. Caernarfon, on the other hand, has tended to sit more firmly in Plaid Cymru's column at all levels of government (though not without subtantial levels of Labour support throughout the town), with the town's rural hinterlands being even more deadset in their support for the Welsh nationalists. As a general (though not entirely reliable) rule of thumb for North West Wales, the greater the prominence of the Welsh language, the more likely a place's inhabitants are to support Plaid Cymru.
Arfon has only had 1 MP in Wesminster, Hywel Williams, who has been an MP since 2001 and was previously the MP for Caernarfon, succeeding former Plaid Cymru leader Dafydd Wigley to the seat.
In the Welsh Assembly, this seat has had 2 AMs:
The principal settlements of this seat are the towns of Bangor and Caernarfon. Bangor is the larger of the two main settlements (pop. ~18,000) and it hosts a university, a cathedral, and the main general hospital for the region. Caernarfon is centre for tourism (thanks to the castle) and the Welsh language (thanks to ~85% of the population being Welsh speakers, per the 2011 census), as well as being the administrative HQ for Gwynedd UA. Other settlements covered by this seat include the village of Abergwyngregyn (which at some point played host to the Welsh parliament), Bethesda, Tregarth, Y Felinheli, and the town of Llanberis. Llanberis notably is a former slate mining town situated at the foot of Mount Snowdon (the highest natural point in Wales) but is now more of a tourist destination (thanks to the heritage funincular railway that goes up Snowdon), though it retains some vestige of industry thanks to Dinorwig Power Station; Dinorwig is a "pumped storage" power station that uses excess power to fill up a water reservoir, and at peak times releases the water to generate power in order to accomodate the extra load on the grid.
Bangor, Abergwyngregyn, Bethesda, and Tregarth were all previously in party of Conwy constituency. Llanberis and Y Felinheli, along with the like named town, were previously in Caernarfon constituency.
As is the case for all Welsh constituencies, Arfon exists in both the national Parliament at Westminster, and the Welsh Assembly down in Cardiff Bay, and in both bodies it is held by the Welsh nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, who have occupied this seat since its creation in Westminster and Cardiff Bay alike. The seat first came into being in 2007 at the Welsh Assembly, and in 2010 for Wesminster elections. The Assembly seat is for all practical purposes safe for Plaid Cymru, but the Westminster seat is more of a PC/Labour marginal, with the Wesminster seat notionally held by Labour at the 2005 General Election. Of Arfon's predecessors Caernarfon had voted reliably for Plaid Cymru since 1974, wheras Conwy was more of a Labour/Conservative marginal during its existence (and held for the longest period by Conservative Ieuan Wyn Roberts, 1970-1997), but with Conwy's more Conservative leaning towns of Llandudno and Conwy now covered by Aberconwy the Tories have been relegated to a more distant third place in this seat. Typically, Bangor has been more favourable to Labour at Westminster elections (and provided the bulk of the Labour vote in the old Conwy seat), but this is less readily apparent at the local level where Plaid Cymru and Independent candidates fair far better. Caernarfon, on the other hand, has tended to sit more firmly in Plaid Cymru's column at all levels of government (though not without subtantial levels of Labour support throughout the town), with the town's rural hinterlands being even more deadset in their support for the Welsh nationalists. As a general (though not entirely reliable) rule of thumb for North West Wales, the greater the prominence of the Welsh language, the more likely a place's inhabitants are to support Plaid Cymru.
Arfon has only had 1 MP in Wesminster, Hywel Williams, who has been an MP since 2001 and was previously the MP for Caernarfon, succeeding former Plaid Cymru leader Dafydd Wigley to the seat.
In the Welsh Assembly, this seat has had 2 AMs:
- Alun Ffred Jones (2007-2016), also previously AM for Caernarfon from 2003, and like Hywel Williams, succeeded Dafydd Wigley
- Siân Gwenllian (since 2016)
