Gower (Senedd constituency)

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

Gower (Welsh: Gŵyr) is a constituency of the Senedd. It elects one Member of the Senedd by the first past the post method of election. It is also 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.

Gower Gŵyr
Senedd county constituency for the Senedd
Gower shown as one of the 40 Senedd constituencies
Current Senedd county constituency
Created	1999
Party	Labour
MS	Rebecca Evans
Electoral region	South Wales West
Preserved county	West Glamorgan

History

The constituency has elected a Labour member since the assembly was created in 1999. However in 2007 and 2016 the party won narrow majorities. The AM from 1999 to 2016 Edwina Hart was Minister for Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science from 2011 to 2016.

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 Gower Westminster constituency. It is entirely within the preserved county of West Glamorgan.

The other six constituencies of the region are Aberavon, Bridgend, 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

Election		Member	Party	Portrait
	1999	Edwina Hart	Labour
	2016	Rebecca Evans

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

2021 Senedd election: Gower

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional^[1]
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rebecca Evans^[a]	15,631	47.1	+7.4	13,401	40.4	+6.2
	Conservative	Myles Langstone	10,836	32.7	- 0.9	9,380	28.3	+1.1
	Plaid Cymru	John Davies	3,946	11.9	+2.0	5,079	15.3	+1.9
	Green	Anne Leonie Pigott	1,088	3.3	+0.9	1,501	4.5	+1.9
	Liberal Democrats	Michael John Sheehan	869	2.6	-0.8	950	2.9	-2.9
	Reform UK	Byron John	547	1.6	New	275	0.8	New
	Gwlad	Wayne Erasmus	247	0.7	New	159	0.5	New
	Abolish					1,337	4.0	-1.3
	UKIP					412	1.2	-9.2
	Independent	Caroline Jones				241	0.7	N/A
	Freedom Alliance (UK)					206	0.6	New
	Propel					137	0.4	New
	Communist					55	0.2	0.0
	TUSC					47	0.1	-0.2
Majority			4,795	14.4	+8.3
Turnout			33,164	52.66^[2]	+2.9
	Labour hold		Swing
Notes Incumbent member for this constituency

Regional Ballot void votes: 182. Want of an Official Mark (0), 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 (133)

Elections in the 2010s

Welsh Assembly Election 2016: Gower

Party		Candidate	Constituency^[3]			Regional^[4]
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rebecca Evans	11,982	39.7	-8.4	10,310	34.2	-4.0
	Conservative	Lyndon Jones	10,153	33.6	+3.7	8,220	27.2	-0.7
	UKIP	Colin Beckett	3,300	10.9	New	3,128	10.4	-6.1
	Plaid Cymru	Harri Roberts	2,982	9.9	-2.2	4,044	13.4	+0.8
	Liberal Democrats	Sheila Kingston-Jones	1,033	3.4	-6.5	1,738	5.8	-1.8
	Green	Abi Cherry-Hamer	737	2.4	New	799	2.6	-0.6
	Abolish					1,609	5.3	New
	Monster Raving Loony					189	0.6	New
	TUSC					82	0.3	-0.2
	Communist					71	0.2	±0.0
Majority			1,829	6.1	-12.1
Turnout			30,187	49.8	+6.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Welsh Assembly Election 2011: Gower

Party		Candidate	Constituency^[5]			Regional^[6]
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edwina Hart	12,866	48.1	+13.9	10,234	38.2
	Conservative	Caroline Jones	8,002	29.9	+0.1	7,479	27.9
	Plaid Cymru	Darren Price	3,249	12.1	-6.4	3,369	12.6
	Liberal Democrats	Peter May	2,656	9.9	-0.7	2,027	7.6
	UKIP					1,147	4.3
	Green					867	3.2
	BNP					638	2.4
	Socialist Labour					556	2.1
	Welsh Christian					302	1.1	New
	TUSC					134	0.5	New
	Communist					62	0.2
Majority			4,864	18.2	+17.8
Turnout			26,773	43.1	-1.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Regional ballots rejected: 188^[7]

Elections in the 2000s

Welsh Assembly Election 2007: Gower

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional^[8]
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edwina Hart^[a]	9,406	34.2	-9.4	7,643
	Conservative	Byron Davies	8,214	29.8	+10.2	7,393
	Plaid Cymru	Darren Price	5,106	18.5	+3.8	4,610
	Liberal Democrats	Nicholas J. Tregoning	2,924	10.6	-1.1	2,622
	UKIP	Alex R. Lewis	1,895	6.9	-3.4	695
	Green					1,478
	BNP					1,369		New
	Socialist Labour					302	0.	New
	Welsh Christian					283		New
	Keith James - Independent					160		New
	Socialist Alternative (UK)					137		New
	Respect					74	0.	New
	Communist					71	0.	New
	CPA					57	0.	New
	Joel Jenkins - Independent					21		New
Majority			1,192	4.4	-19.6
Turnout			27,545	44.8	+5.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Welsh Assembly Election 2003: Gower

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional^[9]
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edwina Hart	10,334	43.6	+8.2	7,972
	Conservative	Stephen R. James	4,646	19.6	+5.5	4,967
	Plaid Cymru	Sian M. Caiach	3,502	14.8	-9.2	3,825
	Liberal Democrats	Nicholas J. Tregoning	2,775	11.7	-0.1	2,857
	UKIP	Richard D. Lewis	2,444	10.3	New	1,788
	Green					1,406
	Socialist Labour					458
	Cymru Annibynnol					206
	ProLife Alliance					62	0.
Majority			5,688	24.0	+12.6
Turnout			24,143	39.9	-7.6
	Labour hold		Swing

2003 Electorate: 60,523
Regional ballots rejected: 335

Elections in the 1990s

Welsh Assembly Election 1999: Gower

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edwina Hart	9,813	35.4	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Dyfan Rhys Jones	6,653	24.0	N/A
	Conservative	Aled D. Jones	3,912	14.1	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Howard W. Evans	3,260	11.8	N/A
	Independent	Richard D. Lewis	2,307	8.3	N/A
	Independent	Ioan M. Richard	1,755	6.3	N/A
Majority			3,160	11.4	N/A
Turnout			27,700	47.5	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 > Gower". 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 > Gower". 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 National Assembly for Wales elections 2003. The Electoral Commission. November 2003. pp. 110–115. Retrieved 1 August 2021.

51°37′12″N 4°08′13″W / 51.620°N 4.137°W / 51.620; -4.137