Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (Senedd constituency).

Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (Welsh: Merthyr Tudful a Rhymni) was a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.^{[n 2]} It was established for the 1983 general election.

Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney in Wales
Electorate	55,409 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Merthyr Tydfil, Rhymney
1983–2024
Seats	One
Created from	Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Ebbw Vale, Bedwellty and Brecon & Radnor[2]
Replaced by	Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare
Senedd	Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, South Wales East

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 for the 2024 general election. Its wards were split between Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, and Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare.^[3]

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 2010–2024

1983–1997: The Borough of Merthyr Tydfil, and the District of Rhymney Valley wards Nos. 5 and 14 to 20.

1997–2010: The County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil, and the Caerphilly County Borough wards of Abertysswg, Darren Valley, Moriah, New Tredegar, Pontlottyn, Tir-Phil, and Twyn Carno.

2010–2024: The Merthyr Tydfil County Borough electoral divisions of Bedlinog, Cyfarthfa, Dowlais, Gurnos, Merthyr Vale, Park, Penydarren, Plymouth, Town, Treharris, and Vaynor, and the Caerphilly County Borough electoral divisions of Darran Valley, Moriah, New Tredegar, Pontlottyn, and Twyn Carno.

As its name suggests, the main towns were Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney. Aberfan was also located in the constituency. The seat was bordered by the constituencies of Blaenau Gwent, Brecon and Radnorshire, Caerphilly, Cynon Valley, and Islwyn.

History

The constituency was created for the 1983 general election. Prior to this, Merthyr Tydfil had been in its own eponymous constituency, and Rhymney was in the seat of Ebbw Vale (at the time Michael Foot's constituency), which was abolished at that election.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[4]	Party
	1983	Ted Rowlands	Labour
	2001	Dai Havard	Labour
	2015	Gerald Jones	Labour
	2024	Constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ted Rowlands	29,053	67.3	N/A
	Liberal	Philip Owen	6,323	14.7	N/A
	Conservative	Richard Blausten	5,449	12.6	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Gerald Howells	2,058	4.8	N/A
	Workers Revolutionary	Royden Gould	256	0.6	N/A
Majority			22,730	52.6	N/A
Turnout			43,139	72.5	N/A
Registered electors			59,486
	Labour win (new seat)

General election 1987: Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ted Rowlands	33,477	75.3	+8.0
	Conservative	Nicholas Walters	5,270	11.9	−0.7
	Liberal	Pravat Verma	3,573	8.0	−6.7
	Plaid Cymru	Janet Davies	2,085	4.7	−0.1
Majority			28,130	63.4	+10.8
Turnout			44,405	76.2	+3.7
Registered electors			58,285
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney^[7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ted Rowlands	31,710	71.6	−3.7
	Liberal	Robyn Rowland	4,997	11.3	+3.3
	Conservative	Mark Hughes	4,904	11.1	−0.8
	Plaid Cymru	Alun Cox	2,704	6.1	+1.4
Majority			26,713	60.3	−3.1
Turnout			44,315	75.8	−0.4
Registered electors			58,430
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.5

General election 1997: Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney^[9][10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Ted Rowlands	30,012	76.7	+5.1
	Liberal	Duncan Anstey	2,926	7.5	−3.8
	Conservative	Jonathan Morgan	2,508	6.4	−4.7
	Plaid Cymru	Alun Cox	2,344	6.0	−0.1
	Independent Labour	Alan Cowdell	691	1.8	N/A
	Referendum	Ronald Hutchings	660	1.7	N/A
Majority			27,086	69.2	+8.9
Turnout			39,141	69.3	−6.5
Registered electors			56,507
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.5

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney^[11][12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dai Havard	19,574	61.8	−14.9
	Plaid Cymru	Robert Hughes	4,651	14.7	+8.7
	Liberal Democrats	Keith Rogers	2,385	7.5	±0.0
	Conservative	Richard Cuming	2,272	7.2	+0.8
	Independent	Jeffrey Edwards	1,936	6.1	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Ken Evans	692	2.2	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Anthony Lewis	174	0.5	N/A
Majority			14,923	47.1	−22.1
Turnout			31,684	57.7	−11.6
Registered electors			54,919
	Labour hold		Swing	-11.8

General election 2005: Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney^[13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dai Havard	18,129	60.5	−1.3
	Liberal Democrats	Ceirion Rees	4,195	14.0	+6.5
	Plaid Cymru	Noel Turner	2,972	9.9	−4.8
	Conservative	Roger Berry	2,680	8.9	+1.7
	Forward Wales	Neil Greer	1,030	3.4	N/A
	UKIP	Gwyn Parry	699	2.3	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Ina Marsden	271	0.9	−1.3
Majority			13,934	46.5	−0.6
Turnout			29,976	54.9	−2.8
Registered electors			54,044
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.9

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2010: Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney^[15][16][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dai Havard	14,007	43.7	−16.8
	Liberal Democrats	Amy Kitcher	9,951	31.0	+17.0
	Conservative	Maria Hill	2,412	7.5	−1.4
	Independent	Clive Tovey	1,845	5.8	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Glyndwr Jones	1,621	5.1	−4.8
	BNP	Richard Barnes	1,173	3.7	N/A
	UKIP	Adam Brown	872	2.7	+0.4
	Socialist Labour	Alan Cowdell	195	0.6	−0.3
Rejected ballots			80
Majority			4,056	12.7	−33.8
Turnout			32,076	58.6	+3.2
Registered electors			54,715
	Labour hold		Swing	-16.9

Of the 80 rejected ballots:

• 22 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.^[17]
• 57 voted for more than one candidate.^[17]
• 1 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified.^[17]

General election 2015: Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney^[18][19][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gerald Jones[21]	17,619	53.9	+10.2
	UKIP	David Rowlands[22]	6,106	18.7	+16.0
	Conservative	Bill Rees	3,292	10.1	+2.6
	Plaid Cymru	Rhayna Mann	3,099	9.5	+4.4
	Liberal Democrats	Bob Griffin	1,351	4.1	−26.9
	Green	Elspeth Parris[23]	603	1.8	N/A
	Independent	Eddy Blanche	459	1.4	N/A
	Communist	Robert Griffiths	186	0.6	N/A
Rejected ballots			95
Majority			11,513	35.2	+22.5
Turnout			32,715	53.0	−5.6
Registered electors			61,716
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.8

Of the 95 rejected ballots:

• 49 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.^[19]
• 46 voted for more than one candidate.^[19]

General election 2017: Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney^[24][25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gerald Jones[26]	22,407	66.8	+12.9
	Conservative	Pauline Jorgensen[27]	6,073	18.1	+8.0
	Plaid Cymru	Amy Kitcher[28]	2,740	8.2	−1.3
	UKIP	David Rowlands[22]	1,484	4.4	−14.3
	Liberal Democrats	Bob Griffin[29]	841	2.5	−1.6
Rejected ballots			71
Majority			16,334	48.7	+13.5
Turnout			33,545	60.5	+7.5
Registered electors			55,463
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.4

Of the 71 rejected ballots:

• 41 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.^[25]
• 30 voted for more than one candidate.^[25]

General election 2019: Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney^[30][31][32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Gerald Jones	16,913	52.4	−14.4
	Conservative	Sara Jones	6,307	19.6	+1.5
	Brexit Party	David Jones	3,604	11.2	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Mark Evans	2,446	7.6	−0.6
	Independent	David Hughes	1,860	5.8	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Brendan D’Cruz	1,116	3.5	+1.0
Rejected ballots			83
Majority			10,606	32.8	−15.9
Turnout			32,246	57.4	−3.1
Registered electors			56,322
	Labour hold		Swing	−8.0

Of the 83 rejected ballots:

• 23 voted for more than one candidate.^[32]
• 4 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified.^[32]
• 56 had want of official mark.^[32]

See also

• Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (Senedd constituency)
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Mid Glamorgan
• List of parliamentary constituencies in Wales

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. 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.