Post by andrewp on Apr 7, 2021 18:09:33 GMT
In the redistribution of the parliamentary constituency boundaries that came into force for the 1983 general election, the boundary commission split the previously fairly safe Labour seat of Newport along the River Usk to form the basis of 2 new seats covering Wales’ 3rd largest town. Both halves of the town were merged with rural and more Conservative territory from the neighbouring Monmouth constituency. Newport had returned Roy Hughes, Labour member since 1966, by 9,000 votes in 1979, and he opted to stand for this East division which had the larger notional Labour majority of 5,600 compared to the 3,100 notional majority in West. He picked wisely, as in the initial contest in this seat he won by 2,500 whilst West was narrowly won by the Conservatives.
Newport grew at the mouth of the River Usk as a port for the Coal mines of the Eastern South Wales valleys and gained City status in 2002. The boundaries have remained unchanged since 1983 and this seat contains those areas of the city East of the river, which make up about two thirds of the electorate, and then stretches some 14 miles east along the M4 to the second severn crossing at the town of Caldicot.
This seat is 91.7% white with the largest ethnic minority population being an Asian population mainly concentrated in the inner wards of Newport itself. It is 66% owner occupied. It has a lower proportion of people than average who work in managerial positions and fully 28% of adults have no formal qualifications.
The inner wards of Newport, across the river from the City Centre like Victoria and Beechwood wards are solid Labour territory and voted more than 2 to 1 in their favour in the 2017 local elections here. Moving east are the peripheral former council estates of Ringland and Liswerry. The more middle class areas of the City itself are in Newport West.
This seat does however contain farmland and small villages. Langstone and ( despite its name being notable for the steelworks) Llanwern wards to the east of Newport contain affluent commuter villages where the Conservatives clocked up 67 and 79 percent of the vote respectively in 2017.Llanwern steelworks was built for Richard Thomas and Baldwins and opened in 1962. It was a major local industry and closed in 2001 with the loss of 1300 jobs. Part of the works were demolished in 2004.
Moving along the M4 is the mixed territory of Magor, home to a motorway service station, Undy, Rogiet and Caldicot. This is mostly fairly marginal territory which would have been carried by the Conservatives in 2019.
Unlike its Western partner, East has always remained in the hands of the Labour party. Roy Hughes built his majority up to 10,000 in 1992. Hughes was one of several last minute Labour retirements in 1997 and his replacement was the Conservative/Labour defector Alan Howarth, formerly MP for Stratford on Avon. Howarth served 8 relatively quiet years here and was succeeded as Labour candidate in 2005 by the Surrey born but Welsh educated Jessica Morden. The Liberal Democrats building on local government success, moved in second place in 2005 and then came within 1,650 votes of winning in 2010. In 2015, the Conservatives moved back into second place. This seat is estimated to have voted 59% leave and in 2019, the Conservatives secured an 8% swing here to cut the Labour majority back from 8,000 to 2,000. This seat shares some characteristics with so called ‘red wall’ seats and were it in England, it might just have fallen to the Conservatives.
Newport grew at the mouth of the River Usk as a port for the Coal mines of the Eastern South Wales valleys and gained City status in 2002. The boundaries have remained unchanged since 1983 and this seat contains those areas of the city East of the river, which make up about two thirds of the electorate, and then stretches some 14 miles east along the M4 to the second severn crossing at the town of Caldicot.
This seat is 91.7% white with the largest ethnic minority population being an Asian population mainly concentrated in the inner wards of Newport itself. It is 66% owner occupied. It has a lower proportion of people than average who work in managerial positions and fully 28% of adults have no formal qualifications.
The inner wards of Newport, across the river from the City Centre like Victoria and Beechwood wards are solid Labour territory and voted more than 2 to 1 in their favour in the 2017 local elections here. Moving east are the peripheral former council estates of Ringland and Liswerry. The more middle class areas of the City itself are in Newport West.
This seat does however contain farmland and small villages. Langstone and ( despite its name being notable for the steelworks) Llanwern wards to the east of Newport contain affluent commuter villages where the Conservatives clocked up 67 and 79 percent of the vote respectively in 2017.Llanwern steelworks was built for Richard Thomas and Baldwins and opened in 1962. It was a major local industry and closed in 2001 with the loss of 1300 jobs. Part of the works were demolished in 2004.
Moving along the M4 is the mixed territory of Magor, home to a motorway service station, Undy, Rogiet and Caldicot. This is mostly fairly marginal territory which would have been carried by the Conservatives in 2019.
Unlike its Western partner, East has always remained in the hands of the Labour party. Roy Hughes built his majority up to 10,000 in 1992. Hughes was one of several last minute Labour retirements in 1997 and his replacement was the Conservative/Labour defector Alan Howarth, formerly MP for Stratford on Avon. Howarth served 8 relatively quiet years here and was succeeded as Labour candidate in 2005 by the Surrey born but Welsh educated Jessica Morden. The Liberal Democrats building on local government success, moved in second place in 2005 and then came within 1,650 votes of winning in 2010. In 2015, the Conservatives moved back into second place. This seat is estimated to have voted 59% leave and in 2019, the Conservatives secured an 8% swing here to cut the Labour majority back from 8,000 to 2,000. This seat shares some characteristics with so called ‘red wall’ seats and were it in England, it might just have fallen to the Conservatives.
