Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney LAB Hold

Welsh assembly election

constituency

	Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney	LAB Hold

	CANDIDATE	PARTY	VOTES	%	+/-%
	Huw Lewis	LAB	11148	60.5	16.6
	Alun Cox	PC	2988	16.2	-10.9
	John Prosser	CON	1539	8.4	3.4
	Neil Greer	IND	1423	7.7	7.7
	John Ault	LD	1324	7.2	0.5
		MAJORITY	8160	44.3
		TURNOUT	18682	33.5	-11.7

ELECTORATE	55768

Top-up region: South Wales East

DESCRIPTION: Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney

Merthyr Tydfil has a good claim as the birthplace of the industrial revolution, and was built on iron and later coal. It is the site of the world’s first steam railway, saw the first raising of the red flag during a workers’ uprising in 1832, and its voters elected Keir Hardie as the first Labour MP in 1900. But Merthyr has for decades struggled to have as much of a future as a past. In the 1930s there were unfulfilled plans to demolish the entire town and move the population elsewhere. High levels of unemployment and poverty persist, and census returns show nearly one in five people in the area say their health is poor – the worst rate in the UK.

A string of mining villages along the Taff Valley, to the south of Merthyr, remained relatively prosperous until the final closure of the four remaining mines in the 1980s. It remains a Labour stronghold, and the party holds both the assembly and Westminster seats. It regularly shows a strong independent streak, however. In 1970 the octogenarian Labour MP S O Davies was not reselected by the party because of his age, but stood as an independent and won easily. Today, the local council is divided between Labour and Independents, with a sprinkling of Plaid members.

PREVIOUS RESULTS

	1999 WELSH ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS		LAB WIN
	PARTY	VOTES	%
	LAB	11024	43.9
	PC	6810	27.1
	IND	3746	14.9
	LD	1682	6.7
	CON	1246	5
	US	580	2.3

	2001 GENERAL ELECTION		LAB WIN
	PARTY	VOTES	%
	LAB	19574	61.8
	PC	4651	14.7
	LD	2385	7.5
	CON	2272	7.2
	IND	1936	6.1
	SLP	692	2.2
	PLA	174	0.5