BBC NEWS | VOTE 2003

DESCRIPTION: Islwyn

Islwyn produced one of the great shocks of the first assembly election. An apparently solid Labour seat in the anglicised Gwent Valleys, and the one time constituency of former leader Neil Kinnock, it fell to Plaid Cymru. It seemed to revert to type at the last general election when Labour�s Don Touhig retained his seat with a large majority, and Plaid slipped back into third place. The big question now is whether Plaid can hold on to its 1999 gain.

The seat was called Bedwellty when Mr Kinnock first won it as a 28-year-old in 1970. But by the time he stood down to become a European commissioner in 1995 it had undergone its name change. However, few imagined that it would also change its political allegiance, particularly when at the 1997 general election Labour racked up almost three in every four votes here. But Islwyn is part of Caerphilly County Borough Council, where Plaid also won control in 1999. Plaid holds most of the council seats in Islwyn.

Islwyn�s status as a Labour stronghold sprang from its position at the heart of the industrial Valleys of south Wales, taking in towns such as Risca and Newbridge. Like other former mining areas, it has suffered from the decline of coal and steel, and in recent years its manufacturing sector has also been hit hard. In common with other parts of Gwent and despite taking its name from a Welsh language poet of the 19th century, Islwyn is overwhelmingly English-speaking.

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