BBC NEWS | VOTE 2003 | Brecon & Radnorshire

DESCRIPTION: Brecon & Radnorshire

Brecon and Radnorshire is a Welsh rarity: a swing seat which more than two parties have had a genuine chance of winning. In the past 25 years it has returned Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs - though it was previously solidly Labour from 1945-79. After boundary changes, it was held by the Tories until Tom Hooson�s death in 1985. Then a Liberal Alliance candidate, Richard Livsey, won the by-election by 559 votes. He hung on by just 56 votes in 1987, but in 1992 the Conservatives snatched it back by 130 votes. Mr Livsey bounced back in 1997 with a relatively sound majority of more than 5,000 - although when he retired in 2001, his Lib Dem successor Roger Williams won by just 750 votes over the Tories. The Lib Dems achieved a more comfortable victory at the first assembly election when the AM, Kirsty Williams, gained a majority of 20.1%. She has chaired the assembly's health committee since then.

Brecon and Radnorshire is the largest constituency in Wales. It stretches from Ystradgynlais at the edge of the southern valleys, which have been affected by job losses in heavy industries and textiles, to the heart of mid-Wales. But the seat is overwhelmingly rural, and farming issues dominate. It is home to Wales's main agricultural event, the Royal Welsh Show, held every summer in Llanelwedd.

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