Ebbw Vale (UK Parliament constituency)

Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1918–1983

Ebbw Vale
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
1918–1983
Seats	One
Created from	West Monmouthshire
Replaced by	Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney

Ebbw Vale was a constituency in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 1918 general election and returned one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system until it was abolished for the 1983 general election.

Boundaries

The constituency was first contested in 1918 and was used until 1983. It comprised the north-western part of the historic county of Monmouthshire, in south-east Wales.

The seat was a county constituency, formed as a division of Monmouthshire. The areas, which comprised the seat, were Ebbw Vale, Rhymney and Tredegar. The division included three Urban District council areas, one named after each town. The boundaries were left unchanged throughout the existence of the Ebbw Vale constituency.

Members of Parliament

	Member	Party
1918	Thomas Richards	Labour
1920 by-election	Evan Davies	Labour
1929	Aneurin Bevan	Labour
1960 by-election	Michael Foot	Labour
1983	constituency abolished. See Blaenau Gwent

Elections

Election in the 1970s

General election 1979: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Foot	20,028	69.2	−4.9
	Conservative	Geoffrey Inkin	3,937	13.6	+6.1
	Liberal	A T Pope	3,082	10.7	−0.4
	Plaid Cymru	G R J ap Robert	1,884	6.5	−0.8
Majority			16,091	55.6	−7.4
Turnout			28,931	79.9	+3.8
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Foot	21,226	74.1	+4.6
	Liberal	Angus Donaldson	3,167	11.1	−5.7
	Conservative	Jonathan Evans	2,153	7.5	−0.3
	Plaid Cymru	G R J ap Robert	2,101	7.3	+1.4
Majority			18,059	63.0	+10.3
Turnout			28,647	76.1	−3.4
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Foot	20,660	69.5	−2.9
	Liberal	Angus Donaldson	4,996	16.8	+2.3
	Conservative	Jonathan Evans	2,303	7.8	+0.7
	Plaid Cymru	J D Rogers	1,767	5.9	−0.1
Majority			15,664	52.7	−5.2
Turnout			29,726	79.5	+1.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1970: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Foot	21,817	72.4	−12.7
	Liberal	Angus Donaldson	4,371	14.5	New
	Conservative	Elgar Spencer Jenkins	2,146	7.1	−7.8
	Plaid Cymru	Derek James Baskerville	1,805	6.0	New
Majority			17,446	57.9	−12.3
Turnout			30,139	78.4	−0.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1966: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Foot	24,936	85.1	+1.5
	Conservative	John Roger Lovill	4,352	14.9	−1.5
Majority			20,584	70.2	+3.0
Turnout			29,288	79.3	−0.2
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1964: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Foot	25,220	83.6	+12.6
	Conservative	Brandon Rhys-Williams	4,949	16.4	−2.6
Majority			20,271	67.2	+5.2
Turnout			30,169	79.5	−6.3
	Labour hold		Swing

1960 Ebbw Vale by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Foot	20,528	68.8	−12.2
	Conservative	Brandon Rhys-Williams	3,799	12.7	−6.3
	Liberal	Patrick Lort-Phillips	3,449	11.5	New
	Plaid Cymru	Emrys Roberts	2,091	7.0	New
Majority			16,729	56.1	−6.0
Turnout			29,867	76.1	−9.7
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.0

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1959: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Aneurin Bevan	27,326	81.0	+1.7
	Conservative	Arthur Gwynne Davies	6,404	19.0	−1.7
Majority			20,922	62.0	+3.4
Turnout			33,730	85.8	+2.1
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.7

General election 1955: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Aneurin Bevan	26,058	79.3	−1.4
	Conservative	James E Bowen	6,822	20.7	+1.4
Majority			19,236	58.6	−2.8
Turnout			32,880	83.7	−3.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Aneurin Bevan	28,283	80.7	0.0
	Conservative	James E Bowen	6,754	19.3	0.0
Majority			21,529	61.4	0.0
Turnout			35,037	87.0	+0.3
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1950: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Aneurin Bevan	28,245	80.7	+0.6
	Conservative	Graeme Finlay	6,745	19.3	−0.6
Majority			21,500	61.4	+1.2
Turnout			34,990	86.7	+4.1
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Aneurin Bevan	27,209	80.1	+2.3
	Conservative	Charles Stanley Parker	6,758	19.9	−2.3
Majority			20,451	60.2	+4.6
Turnout			33,967	82.6	0.0
	Labour hold		Swing

Election in the 1930s

General election 1935: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Aneurin Bevan	25,007	77.8	*N/A*
	Conservative	Ethel Scarborough	7,145	22.2	New
Majority			17,862	55.6	N/A
Turnout			32,152	82.6	N/A
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1931: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Aneurin Bevan	Unopposed	*N/A*	*N/A*

Election in the 1920s

General election 1929: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Aneurin Bevan	20,088	60.3	*N/A*
	Liberal	William Griffiths	8,924	26.8	New
	Unionist	Mark Brace	4,287	12.9	New
Majority			11,164	33.5	N/A
Turnout			33,299	85.9	N/A
Registered electors			38,781
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

General election 1924: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Evan Davies	Unopposed
	Labour hold

General election 1923: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Evan Davies	16,492	65.6	+0.2
	Liberal	Cyrus Golyddan Davies	8,639	34.4	New
Majority			7,853	31.2	+0.4
Turnout			25,131	75.8	−2.4
Registered electors			33,171
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1922: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Evan Davies	16,947	65.4	*N/A*
	Unionist	Morgan Morgan	8,951	34.6	New
Majority			7,996	30.8	N/A
Turnout			25,898	78.2	N/A
Registered electors			33,119
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

1920 Ebbw Vale by-election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Evan Davies	Unopposed
	Labour hold

Election in the 1910s

General election 1918: Ebbw Vale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Richards	Unopposed
	Labour win (new seat)

References

Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F. W. S. Craig (Political Reference Publications, 1972) ISBN 0-900178-09-4
British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press, revised edition, 1977) ISBN 0-333-23048-5
British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services, 2nd edition, 1983) ISBN 0-900178-07-8
British Parliamentary Election Results 1974-1983, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1984) ISBN 0-900178-23-X

Notes

"'Ebbw Vale', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, pages 38 (1918), 105 (1950), 152 (1971) and 199-202 (maps).
^ British Parliamentary Election Results 1974-1983, page 277
Kelsey, Chris (3 August 2013). "Tributes paid to Sir Geoffrey Inkin, creator of Cardiff Bay". Wales Online. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
^ British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973, page 586
^ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, page 566

v t e Michael Foot
Political career	Leader of the Labour Party (1980–1983) Shadow Cabinet Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (1976-1980) Member of Parliament for Plymouth Devonport (1945–1955) Member of Parliament for Ebbw Vale (1960–1983) Member of Parliament for Blaenau Gwent (1983–1992)
Shadow Cabinet elections	1970 1971 1972 1973
Party leadership elections	1976 1980
Party deputy leadership elections	1970 1971 1972 1976
General elections	1983
Family	Isaac Foot (father) Dingle Foot (brother) Hugh Foot, Baron Caradon (brother) John Foot, Baron Foot (brother) Jill Craigie (wife) Paul Foot (nephew) Oliver Foot (nephew) Sarah Foot (niece)
Related topics	Guilty Men Keep Left Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Tribune 1960 Ebbw Vale by-election 1975 European Communities referendum The longest suicide note in history Michael Foot memorial

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