The Vale of Clwyd seat was another of the new creations of 1997, made up of part of the old Delyn constituency, which was a Labour marginal, and part of Clwyd North West, which had been the Conservatives' strongest Welsh seat. Although a fifth of the constituency are Welsh speakers, the constituency is centred around the English language dominated coastal towns of Rhyl and Prestatyn. At the 1997 general election Chris Ruane, a former deputy head teacher, won the seat for Labour with a convincing majority of almost 9,000.

Two years later, at the council elections, virtually nothing changed, the Independents remained the largest group with Labour the strongest political party with 14 seats. The Conservatives have just two out of the 48 seats. At the Assembly elections, Plaid Cymru, as elsewhere in Wales saw a large rise in their vote (5.9% to 19.3%). While Labour's Ann Jones easily held the seat, their vote dropped from 52.7 to 37.7%, and the Conservative vote also fell. Conservative candidate, Brendan Murphy will have been boosted by his party's lead in the Euro elections, but Labour should hold on here.

Parliamentary Statistics pre-Election 2001

Labour majority 8,955 (22.9%)  Conservative target 185
MP Chris Ruane
1997 (Turnout 74.6%)
Labour	20,617	52.7%
Conservative	11,662	29.8%
Liberal Democrat	3,425	8.8%
Plaid Cymru	2,301	5.9%
Referendum	834	2.1%
UK Independence	293	0.7%

Politico's Bookstore - General Election Shop

back to main Wales page
back to UK main page.

For Vale of Clwyd 2001 Election result - click here.