Torfaen LAB Hold

Welsh assembly election

constituency

	Torfaen	LAB Hold

	CANDIDATE	PARTY	VOTES	%	+/-%
	Lynne Neagle	LAB	10152	51.9	13.9
	Nicholas Ramsay	CON	3188	16.3	7.3
	Michael German	LD	2746	14.0	3.1
	Aneurin Preece	PC	2092	10.7	-0.2
	David Rowlands	UKIP	1377	7.0	7.0
		MAJORITY	6954	35.5
		TURNOUT	19690	32.1	-7.4

ELECTORATE	61264

Top-up region: South Wales East

DESCRIPTION: Torfaen

Torfaen typifies Wales’s divide over devolution. This Gwent valleys seat returned the narrowest margin in the 1997 referendum: while Wales as a whole voted Yes by just under 7,000 votes, Torfaen said No by a mere 98 votes. It comprises Pontypool, Blaenavon, the new town of Cwmbran and the surrounding areas. Like so many other valley communities, they generally vote Labour, and Torfaen held out against the Plaid Cymru surge in the first assembly elections. Labour’s Lynne Neagle won comfortably, despite the presence of Independent Labour and Independent candidates finishing second and third respectively. She became one half of the only husband-and-wife team in the assembly: her husband is Huw Lewis, who represents the nearby seat of Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney.

Torfaen won global recognition two years ago when the area around the former coal, iron and steel town of Blaenavon joined such landmarks as the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China on the list of world heritage sites. Formerly called Pontypool, it has retained its Labour allegiance since the parliamentary seat was created after World War I. Its MPs have included the liberal reformer Leo Abse and, currently, the Northern Ireland secretary and former Welsh secretary Paul Murphy.

PREVIOUS RESULTS

	1999 WELSH ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS		LAB WIN
	PARTY	VOTES	%
	LAB	9080	38
	ILAB	3795	15.9
	IND	2828	11.8
	LD	2614	10.9
	PC	2614	10.9
	CON	2152	9
	LSOC	839	3.5

	2001 GENERAL ELECTION		LAB WIN
	PARTY	VOTES	%
	LAB	21883	62.1
	CON	5603	15.9
	LD	3936	11.2
	PC	2720	7.7
	UKIP	657	1.9
	SA	443	1.3