Cardiff Central (UK Parliament constituency)

UK Parliamentary constituency, 1983–2024 Not to be confused with Cardiff Central (1918–1950 UK Parliament constituency) or Cardiff Central (Senedd constituency). For other uses, see Cardiff Central (disambiguation).

Cardiff Central
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Cardiff Central in Wales
Preserved county	South Glamorgan
Population	88,097 (2011 census)
Electorate	64,225 (December 2010)
1983–2024
Seats	One
Created from	Cardiff North and Cardiff South East
Replaced by	Cardiff East,Cardiff South and Penarth
Senedd	Cardiff Central, South Wales Central

Cardiff Central (Welsh: Canol Caerdydd) was a borough constituency in the city of Cardiff. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system. The seat was last held by Jo Stevens of the Labour Party. She was appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 6 April 2020.

The constituency was abolished as part of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies and under the June 2023 final recommendations of the Boundary Commission for Wales. The constituency's wards were split between Cardiff East and Cardiff South and Penarth.

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 2010-2024

1983–2010: The City of Cardiff wards of Adamsdown, Cathays, Cyncoed, Pentwyn, Plasnewydd, and Roath.

2010–2024: The Cardiff electoral divisions of Adamsdown, Cathays, Cyncoed, Pentwyn, Penylan, and Plasnewydd.

As its name suggests, Cardiff Central covered the central area of the City of Cardiff. It extended from the area around the Millennium Stadium in the south to Llanishen Golf Course in the north, taking in the City Centre and the University.

History

This was a Conservative-held three-way marginal constituency throughout the 1980s but since 1997 Labour and the Liberal Democrats have pushed the Conservative candidate into third place. The Liberal Democrats won the equivalent Welsh Assembly seat in 1999 and 2003 and also dominate the wards which make up the seat in elections to Cardiff Council.

The later constituency was socially diverse, with both very affluent and very deprived areas. It has a large student population which seems to have helped Labour to win in 1992 and 1997 but thereafter increasingly switched to the Liberal Democrats due to opposition to government plans for reforming student support. This switched yet again in the 2015 general election where students were disillusioned by the broken promises the Liberal Democrats made regarding tuition fees. This was despite the fact that these student loan promises did not apply to Wales, which has a different funding system and MP Jenny Willott had also voted against the English changes in Parliament.

The seat was unchanged in the Fifth Periodical Report of the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for Wales, which took effect at the 2010 general election.

Since the seat's re-creation in 1983, it was held successively by each of the three main political parties; the Liberal Democrats gained it at the 2005 election after 13 years of Labour representation. The constituency has transformed dramatically from being a Conservative seat for some years, to a Labour–Lib Dem marginal to the safest Labour seat in Wales at the time.

Members of Parliament

MPs since 1983

	Member	Party
1983	Ian Grist	Conservative
1992	Jon Owen Jones	Labour Co-operative
2005	Jenny Willott	Liberal Democrat
2015	Jo Stevens	Labour
2024	Constituency abolished

Elections

Elections 1983 to current

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Grist	16,090	41.4	*N/A*
	Liberal	Mike German	12,638	32.6	N/A
	Labour	Raymond Davies	9,387	24.2	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Andrew Morgan	704	1.8	N/A
Majority			3,452	8.8	N/A
Turnout			38,819	72.1	N/A
Registered electors			53,815
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1987: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Grist	15,241	37.1	−4.3
	Labour	Jon Owen Jones	13,255	32.3	+8.1
	Liberal	Mike German	12,062	29.3	−3.3
	Plaid Cymru	Siân Mair Caiach	535	1.3	−0.5
Majority			1,986	4.8	−4.0
Turnout			41,093	77.6	+5.5
Registered electors			52,980
	Conservative hold		Swing	−6.2

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Jon Owen Jones	18,014	42.0	+9.7
	Conservative	Ian Grist	14,549	33.9	−3.2
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Randerson	9,170	21.4	−7.9
	Plaid Cymru	Huw Marshall	748	1.7	+0.4
	Green	Christopher Von Ruhland	330	0.8	N/A
	Natural Law	Brian Francis	105	0.2	N/A
Majority			3,465	8.1	N/A
Turnout			42,916	74.3	−3.3
Registered electors			57,716
	Labour Co-op gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.5

General election 1997: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Jon Owen Jones	18,464	43.7	+1.7
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Randerson	10,541	24.9	+3.5
	Conservative	David Melding	8,470	20.0	−13.9
	Socialist Labour	Terence Burns	2,230	5.3	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Wayne Vernon	1,504	3.6	+1.9
	Referendum	Nick Lloyd	760	1.8	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Craig James	204	0.5	N/A
	Natural Law	Anthony Hobbs	80	0.2	±0.0
Majority			7,923	18.8	+10.7
Turnout			42,253	70.0	−4.3
Registered electors			60,393
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	+7.8

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Jon Owen Jones	13,451	38.6	−5.1
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Willott	12,792	36.7	+11.8
	Conservative	Gregory Walker	5,537	15.9	−4.1
	Plaid Cymru	Richard Rhys Grigg	1,680	4.8	+1.2
	Green	Stephen Bartley	661	1.9	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	Julian Goss	283	0.8	N/A
	UKIP	Frank Hughes	221	0.6	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Madeleine Jeremy	217	0.6	N/A
Majority			659	1.9	−16.9
Turnout			34,842	58.3	−11.7
Registered electors			59,785
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	-8.5

General election 2005: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Willott	17,991	49.8	+13.1
	Labour Co-op	Jon Owen Jones	12,398	34.3	−4.3
	Conservative	Gotz Mohindra	3,339	9.2	−6.7
	Plaid Cymru	Richard Rhys Grigg	1,271	3.5	−1.3
	Respect	Raja Gul-Raiz	386	1.1	N/A
	UKIP	Frank Hughes	383	1.1	+0.5
	Independent	Anne Savoury	168	0.5	N/A
	New Millennium Bean Party	Captain Beany	159	0.4	N/A
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Catherine Taylor-Dawson	37	0.1	N/A
Majority			5,593	15.5	N/A
Turnout			36,132	59.2	+0.9
Registered electors			61,079
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour Co-op		Swing	+8.7

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2010: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Willott	14,976	41.4	−8.4
	Labour	Jenny Rathbone	10,400	28.8	−5.5
	Conservative	Karen Robson	7,799	21.6	+12.4
	Plaid Cymru	Chris Williams	1,246	3.4	−0.1
	UKIP	Sue Davies	765	2.1	+1.0
	Green	Sam Coates	575	1.6	N/A
	TUSC	Ross Saunders	162	0.4	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Mark Beech	142	0.4	N/A
	Independent	Alun Mathias	86	0.2	N/A
Majority			4,576	12.6	−2.9
Turnout			36,151	59.1	−0.1
Registered electors			61,165
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing	−1.4

General election 2015: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jo Stevens	15,462	40.0	+11.2
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Willott	10,481	27.1	−14.3
	Conservative	Richard Hopkin	5,674	14.7	−6.9
	UKIP	Anthony Raybould	2,499	6.5	+4.4
	Green	Chris Von Ruhland	2,461	6.4	+4.8
	Plaid Cymru	Martin Pollard	1,925	5.0	+1.6
	TUSC	Steve Williams	110	0.3	−0.1
	Independent	Kazimir Hubert	34	0.1	N/A
Rejected ballots			117
Majority			4,981	12.9	N/A
Turnout			38,646	67.3	+8.2
Registered electors			57,456
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing	+12.8

Of the 117 rejected ballots:

81 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.
32 voted for more than one candidate.
4 had writing or a mark by which the voter could be identified.

General election 2017: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jo Stevens	25,193	62.4	+22.4
	Conservative	Gregory Stafford	7,997	19.8	+5.1
	Liberal Democrats	Eluned Parrott	5,415	13.4	−13.7
	Plaid Cymru	Mark Hooper	999	2.5	−2.5
	Green	Benjamin Smith	420	1.0	−5.4
	UKIP	Mohammed Sarul-Islam	343	0.8	−5.7
Rejected ballots			80
Majority			17,196	42.6	+29.7
Turnout			40,367	68.1	+0.8
Registered electors			59,288
	Labour hold		Swing	+8.6

Of the 80 rejected ballots:

59 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.
19 voted for more than one candidate.
2 had writing or a mark by which the voter could be identified.

General election 2019: Cardiff Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jo Stevens	25,605	61.2	−1.2
	Conservative	Meirion Jenkins	8,426	20.1	+0.3
	Liberal Democrats	Bablin Molik	6,298	15.1	+1.7
	Brexit Party	Gareth Pearce	1,006	2.4	N/A
	Gwlad Gwlad	Siân Caiach	280	0.7	N/A
	Independent	Akil Kata	119	0.3	N/A
	Socialist (GB)	Brian Johnson	88	0.2	N/A
Rejected ballots			204
Majority			17,179	41.1	−1.5
Turnout			41,822	65.3	−2.8
Registered electors			64,037
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.8

Of the 204 rejected ballots:

166 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.
38 voted for more than one candidate.

Notes

A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)

References

"Cardiff Central: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
"Beyond 20/20 WDS – Table view". 2011 Electorate Figures. StatsWales. 1 December 2010. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
"'Cardiff Central', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies - The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies in Wales (PDF). Boundary Commission for Wales. 28 June 2023.
^ Waldram, Hannah (9 December 2010). "Cardiff Central MP Jenny Willott resigns over tuition fees". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
Dewey, Philip (8 May 2015). "Lib Dem Jenny Willott loses to Labour in Cardiff Central". WalesOnline. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 2)
"Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
"Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
"Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
"Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
"Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
"BBC NEWS>VOTE 2001>Results and Constituencies>Cardiff Central". Vote 2001. BBC News. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
"Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
"BBC NEWS > Cardiff Central". Vote 2001. BBC News. 7 June 2001. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
"Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
"Cardiff Central parliamentary constituency - Election 2005" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
Cardiff Central Archived 9 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Cardiff County Council – candidates Cardiff Central
Cardiff Central BBC Election – Cardiff Central
"Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ "Cardiff Central result". Election results for Cardiff Central. City of Cardiff Council. 7 May 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
"Cardiff Central Parliamentary constituency". Election 2015. BBC News. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
^ Election results for Cardiff Central, UK Parliamentary Election - Thursday, 8th June, 2017, cardiff.gov.uk, 8 June 2017, retrieved 18 June 2017
Salter, Christine (11 May 2017), Cardiff Central, Statement of Persons Nominated, Notice of Poll and Situation of Polling Stations (PDF), cardiff.gov.uk, retrieved 16 May 2017
Salter, Christine (11 May 2017), Cardiff Central, Notice of Election Agents' Names and Offices (PDF), cardiff.gov.uk, retrieved 16 May 2017
"Cardiff Central Parliamentary constituency". Election 2017 Results. BBC. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
"Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Election 2017: Cardiff Central".
"Eluned Parrott to fight for Cardiff Central". Cardiff Liberal Democrats.
"Scheduled elections and polls" (PDF). Cardiff Council. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
^ Election results for Cardiff Central, UK Parliamentary Election - 2019, Cardiff Council, 12 December 2019, retrieved 9 January 2020
Election results for Cardiff Central, UK Parliamentary Election - 2019, BBC, retrieved 21 December 2019

External links

nomis Constituency Profile for Cardiff Central – presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics.
Politics Resources (Election results from 1922 onwards)
Electoral Calculus (Election results from 1955 onwards)
2017 Election House Of Commons Library 2017 Election report
A Vision Of Britain Through Time (Constituency elector numbers)
BBC Vote 2001
BBC Election 2005
UK Constituency Maps
Cardiff Central UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
Cardiff Central UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK

v t e Cardiff constituencies
Current UK	Cardiff East Cardiff North Cardiff South and Penarth Cardiff West
Current Senedd	Cardiff Central Cardiff North Cardiff South and Penarth Cardiff West
Historic UK	Cardiff (1542–1918) Cardiff Central (1918–1950) Cardiff Central (1983–2024) Cardiff East (1918–1950) Cardiff South (1918–1950) Llandaff and Barry (1918–1950) Cardiff South East (1950–1983) Cardiff North West (1974–1983)

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v t e Politics and Government in Cardiff
Local Government	Cardiff Council Cardiff City Council Cardiff County Borough Council County Hall City Hall Elections
Local Government Electoral wards	Adamsdown Butetown Caerau Canton Cathays Cyncoed Ely Fairwater Gabalfa Grangetown Heath Lisvane and Thornhill Llandaff Llandaff North Llanishen Llanrumney Pentwyn Pentyrch and St Fagans Penylan Plasnewydd Pontprennau and Old St Mellons Radyr Rhiwbina Riverside Rumney Splott Trowbridge Whitchurch & Tongwynlais List of electoral wards in Cardiff
Senedd Constituencies and MSs	Cardiff Central (Jenny Rathbone Lab) Cardiff North (Julie Morgan Lab) Cardiff West (Mark Drakeford Lab) Cardiff South and Penarth (Vaughan Gething Lab) South Wales Central (Andrew RT Davies - Heledd Fychan - Joel James - Rhys ab Owen)
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House of Commons Constituencies and MPs	Cardiff East Cardiff North Cardiff West Cardiff South and Penarth
Police and crime commissioner	South Wales (Emma Wools Lab)
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