Bridgend (Senedd constituency)

Not to be confused with Bridgend (UK Parliament constituency).

Bridgend (Welsh: Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr) is a constituency of the Senedd. It elects one Member of the Senedd by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of seven constituencies in the South Wales West electoral region, which elects four additional members, in addition to seven constituency members, to produce a degree of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Bridgend Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr
Senedd county constituency for the Senedd
Bridgend shown as one of the 40 Senedd constituencies
Current Senedd county constituency
Created	1999
Party	Labour
MS	Sarah Murphy
Electoral region	South Wales West
Preserved county	Mid Glamorgan and West Glamorgan

History

Bridgend can be considered a relatively safe Labour seat. The former First Minister Carwyn Jones had represented the constituency since the creation of the assembly until 2021. The former Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns contested the seat in 1999 and 2003.

Boundaries

 

Map of current boundaries

The constituency was created for the first election to the Assembly, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of the Bridgend Westminster constituency. It is partly within the preserved county of Mid Glamorgan and partly within the preserved county of South Glamorgan.

The other six constituencies of the region are Aberavon, Gower, Neath, Ogmore, Swansea East and Swansea West.

Voting

In general elections for the Senedd, each voter has two votes. The first vote may be used to vote for a candidate to become the Member of the Senedd for the voter's constituency, elected by the first past the post system. The second vote may be used to vote for a regional closed party list of candidates. Additional member seats are allocated from the lists by the d'Hondt method, with constituency results being taken into account in the allocation.

Members of the Senedd

Between 1999 and 2021, the member for the constituency was Carwyn Jones, who became First Minister of Wales in 2009 and served until 2018. In 2021, Sarah Murphy became the MS.

Election		Member	Party	Portrait
	1999	Carwyn Jones	Labour
	2021	Sarah Murphy

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

2021 Senedd election: Bridgend

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional^[1]
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sarah Murphy	12,388	42.0	-3.3	11,439	38.8	+2.5
	Conservative	Rachel Nugent-Finn	8,324	28.3	+3.9	8,712	29.5	+6.9
	Plaid Cymru	Leanne Lewis	3,091	10.5	+0.9	4,006	13.6	+1.0
	Independent	Steven Bletsoe	3,046	10.3	New
	Independent	Caroline Jones^[a]	1,064	3.6	New	822	2.8	New
	Liberal Democrats	Harvey Jones	782	2.7	-1.3	792	2.7	-3.0
	Reform UK	Christine Roach	534	1.8	New	298	1.0	New
	Gwlad	Geraint David Jones	232	0.8	New	245	0.8	New
	Abolish					1,258	4.3	-0.5
	Green					1,119	3.8	+1.1
	UKIP					381	1.3	-12.9
	Propel					193	0.7	New
	Freedom Alliance (UK)					150	0.5	New
	Communist					65	0.2	±0.0
	TUSC					27	0.1	-0.2
Majority			4,064	13.7	-7.2
Turnout			29,461	45.01^[2]	+0.4
	Labour hold		Swing
Notes Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency

Regional Ballot void votes: 182. Want of an Official Mark (2), Voting for more than ONE party or individual candidate (48), Writing or mark by which the Voter could be identified (1), Unmarked or Void for uncertainty (131)

Elections in the 2010s

Welsh Assembly Election 2016: Bridgend

Party		Candidate	Constituency^[3]			Regional^[4]
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Carwyn Jones	12,166	45.3	−10.9	9,724	36.3	-9.3
	Conservative	George Jabbour	6,543	24.4	−3.6	6,043	22.6	-3.8
	UKIP	Caroline Jones	3,919	14.6	New	3,804	14.2	+11.1
	Plaid Cymru	James Radcliffe	2,569	9.6	+1.0	3,375	12.6	+2.9
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathan Pratt	1,087	4.0	−3.2	1,519	5.7	-0.9
	Green	Charlie Barlow	567	2.1	New	712	2.7	+1.2
	Abolish					1,293	4.8	New
	Monster Raving Loony					173	0.6	New
	TUSC					87	0.3	-0.1
	Communist					65	0.2	±0.0
Majority			5,623	20.9	−7.3
Turnout			26,851	44.6	+3.8
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.6

Welsh Assembly Election 2011: Bridgend

Party		Candidate	Constituency^[5]			Regional^[6]
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Carwyn Jones	13,499	56.2	+15.9	10,671	45.6
	Conservative	Alex Williams	6,724	28.0	−1.9	6,184	26.4
	Plaid Cymru	Tim Thomas	2,706	8.6	−6.1	2,281	9.7
	Liberal Democrats	Briony Davies	1,736	7.2	−8.0	1,536	6.6
	UKIP					719	3.1
	Socialist Labour					669	2.9
	BNP					627	2.7
	Green					340	1.5
	Welsh Christian					256	1.1	New
	TUSC					86	0.4	New
	Communist					58	0.2
Majority			6,775	28.2	+17.8
Turnout			24,035	40.8	−0.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+8.9

Regional ballots rejected: 195^[7]

Elections in the 2000s

Welsh Assembly Election 2007: Bridgend

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional^[8]
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Carwyn Jones^[a]	9,889	40.3	−2.5	7,727
	Conservative	Emma L. Greenow	7,333	29.9	−2.0	5,793
	Liberal Democrats	Paul Warren	3,730	15.2	+1.7	3,754
	Plaid Cymru	Nick H. Thomas	3,600	14.7	+5.9	2,837
	BNP					1,284		New
	UKIP					1,021
	Green					845
	Socialist Labour					302	0.	New
	Welsh Christian					271		New
	Socialist Alternative (UK)					135		New
	Keith James - Independent					239		New
	CPA					92	0.	New
	Respect					77	0.	New
	Communist					75	0.	New
	Joel Jenkins - Independent					63	0.	New
Majority			2,556	10.4	−0.5
Turnout			24,552	41.2	+5.8
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.25

Welsh Assembly Election 2003: Bridgend

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional^[9]
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Carwyn Jones	9,487	42.8	+5.6	7,790
	Conservative	Alun Cairns	7,066	31.9	+11.7	6,470
	Liberal Democrats	Cheryl A. Green	2,980	13.5	−2.1	2,863
	Plaid Cymru	Keith Parry	1,939	8.8	−10.9	2,608
	UKIP	Tim C. Jenkins	677	3.1	New	713
	Green					901
	Socialist Labour					370
	Cymru Annibynnol					181
	ProLife Alliance					50	0.
Majority			2,421	10.9	−6.1
Turnout			22,113	35.4	−6.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.1

2003 Electorate: 62,540
Regional ballots rejected: 319

Elections in the 1990s

Welsh Assembly Election 1999: Bridgend

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Carwyn Jones	9,321	37.2	N/A
	Conservative	Alun Cairns	5,063	20.2	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Jeff R. Canning	4,919	19.7	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Rob O. Humphreys	3,910	15.6	N/A
	Independent	Allan Jones	1,819	7.3	N/A
Majority			4,258	17.0	N/A
Turnout			25,032	41.6	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

Notes

1. Incumbent member for this constituency

References

1. "South Wales West Electoral Region Aberavon Constituency STATEMENT OF LOCAL TOTALS" (PDF). Retrieved 12 May 2021.
2. Hayward, Will (7 May 2021). "The voter turnout figures for every constituency in Wales". WalesOnline. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
3. "Wales elections > Bridgend". BBC News. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
4. "Results and turnout at the 2016 National Assembly for Wales election". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
5. "Wales elections > Bridgend". BBC News. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
6. "Results and turnout at the 2016 National Assembly for Wales election". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
7. "Results and turnout at the 2011 National Assembly for Wales election". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
8. "2007 Assembly Election Results (updated) July 2007(Page 78 of the PDF / Page 72 of booklet)" (PDF). National Assembly for Wales. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
9. . The Electoral Commission. November 2003. pp. 110–115. Archived from the original on 3 June 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2021.

Senedd
Preceded by Cardiff West	Constituency represented by the First Minister 2009 – 2018	Incumbent

51°30′25″N 3°34′52″W / 51.507°N 3.581°W / 51.507; -3.581