Swansea East (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Swansea East (Senedd constituency).

Swansea East (Welsh: Dwyrain Abertawe) was a borough constituency^{[n 1]} in Wales in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was represented by members of the Labour Party from 1922 until 2024.^{[n 2]}

Swansea East
Former borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Swansea East in Wales
Preserved county	West Glamorgan
Electorate	60,809 (December 2010)[1]
1918–2024
Seats	One
Created from	Swansea
Replaced by	Neath and Swansea East, Swansea West
Senedd	Swansea East, South Wales West

As part of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies and under the June 2023 final recommendations of the Boundary Commission for Wales, the seat was abolished. Its wards were split between Neath and Swansea East, and Swansea West, to be first contested at the 2024 general election.^[2]

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 1983−2024

1918–1949: The County Borough of Swansea wards of East, Landore, Morriston, and St John's.

1950–1955: The County Borough of Swansea wards of Alexandra, Castle, Clase, Kilvey, Landore, Llansamlet, Morriston, Penderry, St John's, and St Thomas.

1955–1983: The County Borough of Swansea wards of Castle, Landore, Llansamlet, Morriston, Penderry, St John's, and St Thomas.^[3]

1983-2024: The City of Swansea wards of Bonymaen, Cwmbwrla, Landore, Llansamlet, Morriston, Mynydd-Bach, Penderry and St. Thomas.

Constituency profile

Although the constituency voted strongly to leave the European Union in 2016, an analysis of YouGov polling by Focaldata suggested support for Remain had risen from 37.9% to 50.7% in August 2018.^[4] However, in the 2019 European elections the city of Swansea as a whole voted strongly for the Brexit Party.^[5]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[6]	Party	Notes
	1918	Thomas Williams	Coalition Liberal
	1919 by-election	David Matthews	Coalition Liberal
	1922	David Williams	Labour
	1940 by-election	David Mort	Labour	Died 1 January 1963
	1963 by-election	Neil McBride	Labour	Died 9 September 1974, no by-election held
	Oct 1974	Donald Anderson	Labour
	2005	Siân James	Labour
	2015	Carolyn Harris	Labour	Deputy Leader of the Welsh Labour Party
	2024	Constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

General election 1918: Swansea East^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	Thomas Jeremiah Williams	11,071	63.6	N/A
	Labour	David Williams	6,341	36.4	N/A
Majority			4,730	27.2	N/A
Turnout			17,411	64.1	N/A
Registered electors			27,185
	Liberal win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

1919 Swansea East by-election^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	David Matthews	9,250	53.1	−10.5
	Labour	David Williams	8,158	46.9	+10.5
Majority			1,092	6.2	−21.0
Turnout			17,408	64.0	−0.1
Registered electors			27,185
	Liberal hold		Swing	-10.5
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Swansea East^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Williams	11,333	50.9	+4.0
	National Liberal	Edward Harris	10,926	49.1	−4.0
Majority			407	1.8	N/A
Turnout			22,259	81.7	+17.7
Registered electors			27,246
	Labour gain from National Liberal		Swing	+4.0

General election 1923: Swansea East ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Williams	12,735	57.4	+6.5
	Liberal	Thomas Artemus Jones	9,463	42.6	−6.5
Majority			3,272	14.8	+13.0
Turnout			22,198	81.1	−0.6
Registered electors			27,365
	Labour hold		Swing	+6.5

General election 1924: Swansea East^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Williams	12,274	54.6	−2.8
	Liberal	W Daniel Rees	10,186	45.4	+2.8
Majority			1,088	9.2	−5.6
Turnout			22,460	80.7	−0.4
Registered electors			27,836
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.8

General election 1929: Swansea East ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Williams	16,665	56.5	+1.9
	Liberal	Arthur Hopkins	9,825	33.3	−12.1
	Unionist	P P Jones	3,003	10.2	N/A
Majority			6,840	23.2	+14.0
Turnout			29,493	81.9	+1.2
Registered electors			36,001
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.0

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Swansea East^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Williams	17,126	56.5	±0.0
	Liberal	Richard David Chalke	13,177	43.5	+10.2
Majority			3,949	13.0	−10.2
Turnout			30,303	84.4	+2.5
Registered electors			35,918
	Labour hold		Swing	-5.1

General election 1935: Swansea East^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Williams	Unopposed
Registered electors			35,940
	Labour hold

Elections in the 1940s

1940 Swansea East by-election^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Mort	Unopposed
Registered electors
	Labour hold

General election 1945: Swansea East^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Mort	19,127	75.8	N/A
	National Liberal	Rowe Harding	6,102	24.2	N/A
Majority			13,025	51.6	N/A
Turnout			25,229	74.7	N/A
Registered electors			33,668
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Swansea East^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Mort	32,680	75.3	−0.5
	Conservative	J F Lynam	10,712	24.7	+0.5
Majority			21,968	50.6	−1.0
Turnout			43,392	81.8	+7.1
Registered electors			53,014
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Swansea East^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Mort	32,790	73.6	−1.7
	Conservative	Jack C. Hope	11,768	26.4	+1.7
Majority			21,022	47.2	−3.4
Turnout			44,558	82.8	+1.0
Registered electors			53,790
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Swansea East^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Mort	28,198	72.4	−1.2
	Conservative	R Sarah Guest	10,726	27.6	+1.2
Majority			17,472	44.8	−2.4
Turnout			38,924	72.1	−10.7
Registered electors			54,010
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1959: Swansea East^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Mort	29,884	67.5	−4.9
	Conservative	Humphry J. F. Crum Ewing	9,754	22.0	−5.6
	Plaid Cymru	Chris Rees	4,651	10.5	N/A
Majority			20,130	45.5	+0.7
Turnout			44,289	80.1	+8.0
Registered electors			55,301
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

1963 Swansea East by-election^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Neil McBride	18,909	61.1	−6.4
	Liberal	R Owens	4,895	15.8	N/A
	People's Party	L Atkin	2,462	8.0	N/A
	Conservative	A P Thomas	2,272	7.3	−14.7
	Plaid Cymru	Chris Rees	1,620	5.2	−5.3
	Communist	Bert Pearce	773	2.5	N/A
Majority			14,014	45.3	−0.2
Turnout			30,931	55.9	−24.2
Registered electors			55,328
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1964: Swansea East^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Neil McBride	30,904	73.0	+5.5
	Conservative	Oliver C. Wright	7,863	18.6	−3.4
	Plaid Cymru	Chris Rees	3,556	8.4	−2.1
Majority			23,041	54.4	+8.9
Turnout			42,323	76.2	−3.9
Registered electors			55,505
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1966: Swansea East^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Neil McBride	30,290	75.4	+2.4
	Conservative	Timothy Knowles	6,241	15.5	−3.1
	Plaid Cymru	Chris Rees	2,749	6.8	−1.4
	Communist	William R. Jones	902	2.2	N/A
Majority			24,049	59.9	+5.5
Turnout			40,182	73.8	−2.4
Registered electors			54,459
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Swansea East^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Neil McBride	28,183	68.5	−6.9
	Conservative	Michael J. Murphy	8,191	19.9	+4.4
	Plaid Cymru	Roderick Evans	4,188	10.2	+3.4
	Communist	William R. Jones	563	1.4	−0.8
Majority			19,992	48.6	−11.3
Turnout			41,125	70.1	−3.7
Registered electors			58,653
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Swansea East^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Neil McBride	28,537	66.3	−2.2
	Conservative	David Mercer	8,850	20.6	+0.7
	Plaid Cymru	John Ball	5,135	11.9	+1.7
	Communist	W R Jones	507	1.2	−0.2
Majority			19,687	45.7	−2.9
Turnout			43,029	73.8	+3.7
Registered electors			58,301
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Swansea East^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Donald Anderson	26,735	63.8	−2.5
	Conservative	David Mercer	6,014	14.3	−6.3
	Liberal	Roger Anstey	5,173	12.3	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	John Ball	3,978	9.5	−2.4
Majority			20,721	49.5	+3.8
Turnout			41,900	71.3	−2.5
Registered electors			58,780
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1979: Swansea East^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Donald Anderson	31,909	69.9	+6.1
	Conservative	S Edwards	10,689	23.4	+9.1
	Plaid Cymru	John Ball	2,732	6.0	−3.5
	Communist	W Jones	308	0.7	N/A
Majority			21,220	46.5	−3.0
Turnout			45,638	75.6	+4.3
Registered electors			60,350
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Swansea East^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Donald Anderson	22,297	54.4	−15.5
	Liberal	Martyn J. Shrewsbury	8,762	21.4	N/A
	Conservative	Nicholas O'Shaughnessy	8,080	19.7	−3.7
	Plaid Cymru	Clive Reid	1,531	3.7	−2.3
	Communist	W R Jones	294	0.7	±0.0
Majority			13,535	33.0	−13.5
Turnout			40,964	71.5	−4.1
Registered electors			57,285
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1987: Swansea East^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Donald Anderson	27,478	63.7	+9.3
	Conservative	Richard Lewis	8,140	18.9	−0.8
	Liberal	David Thomas	6,380	14.8	−6.6
	Plaid Cymru	Clive Reid	1,145	2.6	−1.1
Majority			19,338	44.8	+11.8
Turnout			43,143	75.4	+3.9
Registered electors			57,200
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Swansea East^[14][15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Donald Anderson	31,179	69.7	+6.0
	Conservative	Henry L. Davies	7,697	17.2	−1.7
	Liberal Democrats	Robert E. Barton	4,248	9.5	−5.3
	Plaid Cymru	Eleanor E. Bonner-Evans	1,607	3.6	+1.0
Majority			23,482	52.5	+7.7
Turnout			44,731	75.6	+0.2
Registered electors			59,196
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.8

General election 1997: Swansea East^[16][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Donald Anderson	29,151	75.4	+5.7
	Conservative	Catherine Dibble	3,582	9.3	−7.9
	Liberal Democrats	Elwyn Jones	3,440	8.9	−0.6
	Plaid Cymru	Michelle Pooley	1,308	3.4	−0.2
	Referendum	Catherine Maggs	904	2.3	N/A
	Socialist Alternative	Ronnie Job	289	0.8	N/A
Majority			25,569	66.1	+13.6
Turnout			38,674	67.4	−8.2
Registered electors			57,371
	Labour hold		Swing	+6.8

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: Swansea East^[18][19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Donald Anderson	19,612	65.2	−10.2
	Plaid Cymru	John Ball	3,464	11.5	+8.1
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Speht	3,064	10.2	+1.3
	Conservative	Paul Morris	3,026	10.1	+0.8
	Green	Tony Young	463	1.5	N/A
	UKIP	Tim Jenkins	443	1.5	N/A
Majority			16,148	53.7	−12.4
Turnout			30,072	52.3	−15.1
Registered electors			57,520
	Labour hold		Swing	-9.2

General election 2005: Swansea East^[20][21][22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Siân James	17,457	56.6	−8.6
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Speht	6,208	20.1	+9.9
	Conservative	Ellenor Bland	3,103	10.1	±0.0
	Plaid Cymru	Carolyn Couch	2,129	6.9	−4.6
	BNP	Kevin Holloway	770	2.5	N/A
	UKIP	Tim Jenkins	674	2.2	+0.7
	Green	Tony Young	493	1.6	+0.1
Majority			11,249	36.5	−17.2
Turnout			30,834	52.4	+0.1
Registered electors			57,502
	Labour hold		Swing	-9.3

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2010: Swansea East^[23][24][25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Siân James	16,819	51.5	−5.1
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Speht	5,981	18.3	−1.8
	Conservative	Christian Holliday	4,823	14.8	+4.7
	Plaid Cymru	Dic Jones	2,181	6.7	−0.2
	BNP	Clive Bennett	1,715	5.2	+2.7
	UKIP	David Rogers	839	2.6	+0.4
	Green	Tony Young	318	1.0	−0.6
Majority			10,838	33.2	−3.3
Turnout			32,676	54.6	+2.2
Registered electors			59,823
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.7

General election 2015: Swansea East^[26][27][28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Carolyn Harris	17,807	53.0	+1.5
	UKIP	Clifford Johnson	5,779	17.2	+14.6
	Conservative	Altaf Hussain	5,142	15.3	+0.5
	Plaid Cymru	Dic Jones	3,498	10.4	+3.7
	Liberal Democrats	Amina Jamal	1,392	4.1	−14.2
Rejected ballots			107
Majority			12,028	35.8	+2.6
Turnout			33,618	58.0	+3.4
Registered electors			58,011
	Labour hold		Swing	-6.5

Of the 107 rejected ballots:

• 81 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.^[28]
• 25 voted for more than one candidate.^[28]
• 1 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified.^[28]

General election 2017: Swansea East^[29][30][31]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Carolyn Harris	22,307	63.4	+10.4
	Conservative	Dan Boucher	9,139	26.0	+10.7
	Plaid Cymru	Steffan Phillips	1,689	4.8	−5.6
	UKIP	Clifford Johnson	1,040	3.0	−14.2
	Liberal Democrats	Charley Hasted	625	1.8	−2.3
	Green	Chris Evans	359	1.0	N/A
Majority			13,168	37.4	+1.6
Turnout			35,159	60.1	+2.1
Registered electors			58,526
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.1

General election 2019: Swansea East^[32][33][34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Carolyn Harris	17,405	51.8	−11.6
	Conservative	Denise Howard	9,435	28.1	+2.1
	Brexit Party	Tony Willicombe	2,842	8.5	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Geraint Havard	1,905	5.7	+0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Chloe Hutchinson	1,409	4.2	+2.4
	Green	Chris Evans	583	1.7	+0.7
Rejected ballots			66
Majority			7,970	23.7	−13.7
Turnout			33,579	57.4	−2.7
Registered electors			58,450
	Labour hold		Swing	-6.9

Of the 66 rejected ballots:

• 50 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.^[34]
• 12 voted for more than one candidate.^[34]
• 4 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified.^[34]

See also

• Swansea East (Senedd constituency)
• List of parliamentary constituencies in West 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.