BBC NEWS | VOTE 2003

DESCRIPTION: Neath

Neath has long been a parliamentary Labour seat. In 1991 it gained a high-profile MP with the by-election victory of Peter Hain, now secretary of state for Wales. Mr Hain came to prominence as the Young Liberal leader of the anti-apartheid protests against the South African rugby tourists in the late 1960s. But even such a fervent rugby town as Neath did not hold that against him and he has continued to hold the seat comfortably.

The constituency is centred on the town of Neath and surrounding valleys, which have a substantial Welsh-speaking population. The area used to be a centre for copper-smelting and coal mining, and industries that use steel are still important. As in many former mining communities, large numbers of people travel out of the constituency to work in the new industrial estates of the coastal belt.

This is one of the heartland Labour areas where Plaid Cymru performed well in the first assembly election, although Labour actually won. But in the 2001 general election the Plaid vote halved in percentage terms, and Labour resumed its traditional dominance. The constituency is part of the Neath and Port Talbot local authority area, which voted Yes in the 1997 referendum by a majority of 18,267 - 66% of the vote in that area, the biggest single Yes percentage in Wales.

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