Arfon (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Arfon (Senedd constituency).

Arfon was a constituency in Wales represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament at Westminster.^{[n 1]} Although it is relatively large by geographical area, the constituency is a predominantly urban rather than rural seat, with the majority of the population living in the two towns of Bethesda and Caernarfon, as well as in the city of Bangor, on which the constituency is based. "Arfon" is a historical name for the area, meaning "facing Anglesey"; it is also the name of the former district council. This seat was created by the Welsh Boundary Commission in time for the 2010 general election; it replaced the old seat of Caernarfon. Bangor was in the old seat of Conwy. The same boundaries were used for the Arfon Welsh Assembly constituency in the 2007 Welsh Assembly election.

Arfon
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Arfon in Wales for the 2010 general election
Preserved county	Gwynedd
Electorate	39,349 (December 2018)[1]
2010–2024
Seats	One
Created from	Caernarfon and Conwy[2]
Replaced by	Bangor Aberconwy, Dwyfor Meirionnydd
1885–1918
Created from	Caernarvonshire
Replaced by	Caernarvonshire
Senedd	Arfon, North Wales

Prior to its abolition, it was the smallest constituency on the mainland of Great Britain by electorate, and larger only than the two Scottish island constituencies, Na h-Eileanan an Iar and Orkney and Shetland. The total population as of the 2011 census was 60,573.

The Arfon division of Caernarvonshire was a former UK Parliament constituency, which existed from 1885 until 1918. Before 1885 and after 1918 the area was part of the Caernarvonshire constituency. The Liberal MP William Rathbone represented the Arfon seat until 1895, followed by fellow Liberal William Jones. Upon the death of Mr Jones, Griffith C. Rees, for the Liberal Party, was elected unopposed at the subsequent by-election.^[3]

On 11 November 2022, the then current MP Hywel Williams announced his intention to stand down at the 2024 general election after more than 20 years as MP.^[4]

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. Its wards were split between Bangor Aberconwy and Dwyfor Meirionnydd.^[5]

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 2010-2024

When first created in 1885, the constituency was defined as the Petty Sessional Divisions of Bangor, Conway and Nant-Conway, with the Parishes of Llanddeiniolen and Llanberis (which were within the Carnarvon Petty Sessional Division). The constituency included the boroughs of Bangor and Conway which were part of the Carnarvon District of Boroughs constituency; only those who owned freehold land within the boroughs could vote in elections for the Arfon constituency as a second vote.

The new constituency was a merger of northern Caernarfon and western Conwy. The electoral wards used to create the current constituency are entirely within the preserved county of Gwynedd; They are Arllechwedd, Bethel, Bontnewydd, Cadnant, Cwm-y-Glo, Deiniol, Deiniolen, Dewi, Garth, Gerlan, Glyder, Groeslon, Hendre, Hirael, Llanberis, Llanllyfni, Llanrug, Llanwnda, Marchog, Menai (Bangor), Menai (Caernarfon), Ogwen, Peblig, Penisarwaun, Pentir, Penygroes, Seiont, Talysarn, Tregarth and Mynydd Llandygai, Waunfawr and Y Felinheli.

Demographics

Welsh language

Welsh is the main language spoken in Arfon, and it has the highest percentage of people who can speak a Celtic language of any constituency in the world. As of June 2024, 84.8% of residents over the age of three could understand spoken Welsh, including 96.8% of those who were born in Wales.^[6]

Electoral history

The latest boundary change created a battleground in Arfon particularly for Labour, Plaid Cymru, and the Conservatives, with the latter being labelled as a 'resurgent' party by the Caernarfon Herald.^[7] The scale of contention had been reached due to the large shift in boundary changes which in turn created a need within each party to achieve a relatively unforeseen outcome. Plaid Cymru had previously never represented Bangor, which had been held by Conservative Wyn Roberts for twenty-seven years and a further thirteen under Labour's Betty Williams. It had however also been more than thirty years since Caernarfon had been represented by anyone other than Plaid Cymru.

In the event, Plaid gained the seat (which had been notionally Labour) in 2010 and held it in 2015; their victory in 2017 was by just 92 votes, the tightest margin in Wales in that election.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1918

Election		Member[8]	Party
	1885	William Rathbone	Liberal
	1895	William Jones	Liberal
	1915	Caradoc Rees	Liberal
	1918	constituency abolished

MPs since 2010

Election		Member[8]	Party
	2010	Hywel Williams	Plaid Cymru
	2024	Constituency abolished

Elections

Election results since 1900

Elections 1885–1918

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1885: Arfon^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Rathbone	4,562	61.6	N/A
	Conservative	Henry Platt	2,838	38.4	N/A
Majority			1,724	23.2	N/A
Turnout			7,400	81.0	N/A
Registered electors			9,136
	Liberal win (new seat)

General election 1886: Arfon^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Rathbone	4,072	58.0	−3.6
	Conservative	Henry Platt	2,950	42.0	+3.6
Majority			1,122	16.0	−7.2
Turnout			7,022	76.9	−4.1
Registered electors			9,136
	Liberal hold		Swing	-3.6

Elections in the 1890s

General election 1892: Arfon^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Rathbone	Unopposed
Registered electors
	Liberal hold

General election 1895: Arfon^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Jones	4,488	61.1	N/A
	Conservative	Alfred William Hughes	2,860	38.9	N/A
Majority			1,628	22.2	N/A
Turnout			7,348	83.3	N/A
Registered electors			8,821
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: Arfon^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Jones	Unopposed
Registered electors
	Liberal hold

William Jones

General election 1906: Arfon^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Jones	5,945	70.1	N/A
	Conservative	Arthur E. Hughes	2,533	29.9	N/A
Majority			3,412	40.2	N/A
Turnout			8,478	85.2	N/A
Registered electors			9,948
	Liberal hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

General election January 1910: Arfon^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Jones	6,223	70.3	+0.2
	Conservative	Arthur E. Hughes	2,629	29.7	−0.2
Majority			3,594	40.6	+0.4
Turnout			8,852	87.2	+2.0
Registered electors			10,153
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.2

General election December 1910: Arfon^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Jones	Unopposed
Registered electors			10,153
	Liberal hold

1911 Arfon by-election^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Jones	Unopposed
Registered electors
	Liberal hold

1915 Arfon by-election^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Caradoc Rees	Unopposed
Registered electors
	Liberal hold

Elections in the 21st century

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2010: Arfon^[10][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Plaid Cymru	Hywel Williams*	9,383	36.0	N/A
	Labour	Alun Pugh	7,928	30.4	N/A
	Conservative	Robin Millar	4,416	16.9	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Sarah Green	3,666	14.1	N/A
	UKIP	Elwyn Williams	685	2.6	N/A
Majority			1,455	5.6	N/A
Turnout			26,078	63.3	N/A
Registered electors			41,198
	Plaid Cymru win (new seat)

*Served as MP for the predecessor seat of Caernarfon in the 2001-2010 Parliament

General election 2015: Arfon^[12][13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Plaid Cymru	Hywel Williams	11,790	43.9	+7.9
	Labour	Alun Pugh	8,122	30.3	−0.1
	Conservative	Anwen Barry[15]	3,521	13.1	−3.8
	UKIP	Simon Wall	2,277	8.5	+5.9
	Liberal Democrats	Mohammed Shultan	718	2.7	−11.4
	Socialist Labour	Kathrine Jones	409	1.5	N/A
Majority			3,668	13.6	+8.0
Turnout			26,837	66.3	+3.0
Registered electors			40,492
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing	+4.0

General election 2017: Arfon^[16][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Plaid Cymru	Hywel Williams	11,519	40.8	−3.1
	Labour	Mary Clarke	11,427	40.5	+10.2
	Conservative	Philippa Parry	4,614	16.4	+3.3
	Liberal Democrats	Calum Davies	648	2.3	−0.4
Majority			92	0.3	−13.3
Turnout			28,208	68.2	+1.9
Registered electors			41,367
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing	-6.7

General election 2019: Arfon^[18][19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Plaid Cymru	Hywel Williams	13,134	45.2	+4.4
	Labour	Steffie Williams Roberts	10,353	35.6	−4.9
	Conservative	Gonul Daniels	4,428	15.2	−1.2
	Brexit Party	Gary Gribben	1,159	4.0	N/A
Majority			2,781	9.6	+9.3
Turnout			29,074	68.9	+0.7
Registered electors			42,215
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing	+4.6

See also

• Arfon (Senedd constituency)
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Gwynedd
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Wales

Notes

1. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.