Monmouth was the seat of perhaps Wales's most famous Conservative MP in living memory, Peter Thorneycroft, who became Chancellor of the Exchequer and later Chairman of the party. It was also the scene of a significant by-election victory for Labour in 1991; Huw Edwards wrestled the seat from the Conservatives before Roger Evans regained it in 1992. Evans went on to hold a number of ministerial appointments, but this did not help him save his seat in the Labour landslide of 1997. Labour had already taken control of the county council in 1995, and Edwards regained the parliamentary seat with a majority exceeding 4,000.

The constituency contains a number of market towns such as Monmouth and Abergavenny, though there is also much rural farming country next to the English border. It is perhaps the least nationalist of the Welsh constituencies; Plaid Cymru, even in the 1999 Assembly elections, achieved their worst result in Monmouth. The traditional electoral battle has been between Labour and the Conservatives, and in May 1999 the Conservatives' only real sign of recovery in Wales occurred here. They gained control of the council, polled most votes in the Euro election and won their only Assembly constituency in Wales (their other eight seats are all proportional list seats). The general election will once again see Roger Evans (Conservative) face Huw Edwards (Labour); it is bound to be another closely fought contest.

Parliamentary Statistics pre-Election 2001

Labour majority 4,178 (8.5%)  Conservative target 67
MP Huw Edwards
1997 (Turnout 80.8%)
Labour	23,404	47.7%
Conservative	19,226	39.2%
Liberal Democrat	4,689	9.6%
Referendum	1,190	2.4%
Plaid Cymru	516	1.1%

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For Monmouth 2001 Election result - click here.