Rhondda was a constituency in Wales in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It was represented since its 1974 recreation by the Labour Party.

The constituency was abolished as part of the 2023 periodic review of Westminster constituencies and under the June 2023 final recommendations of the Boundary Commission for Wales for the 2024 general election. The entire constituency became part of the new seat of Rhondda and Ogmore.

Boundaries

1974–1983: The Municipal Borough of Rhondda.

1983–2010: The Borough of Rhondda.

2010–2024: The Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough electoral divisions of Cwm Clydach, Cymmer, Ferndale, Llwyn-y-pia, Maerdy, Pentre, Pen-y-graig, Porth, Tonypandy, Trealaw, Treherbert, Treorchy, Tylorstown, Ynyshir, and Ystrad.

The Westminster constituency of Rhondda was based around the western edge of the Rhondda Cynon Taf council area, with population centres including Treherbert, Maerdy, Tylorstown, Tonypandy, and Pen-y-Graig. The seat bordered the constituencies of Cynon Valley, Ogmore, Pontypridd, and Aberavon.

History

This constituency was first created under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, for the 1885 general election. For the 1918 general election it was divided into Rhondda East and Rhondda West.

The constituency was reunited in 1974. Since 1974, the constituency has always had a large Labour majority, and in the 1987 general election was the safest seat for any party, anywhere in Britain. In 2001, it was the only seat in the country where Liberal Democrats lost their deposit, and the Conservative Party also lost their deposit in their worst performance outside Northern Ireland.

Early history: the 1885 general election

The constituency was formed following the Representation of the People Act 1884, as a result of the rapid growth of population in the two valleys over the previous twenty years. During the 1880s the demand for working men representatives in the ranks of the Parliamentary Liberal Party were increasingly vociferous and there was a precedent for a Liberal-Labour (Lib-Lab) candidate in South Wales as Thomas Halliday had contested Merthyr Tydfil in 1874.

The local trade union, the Rhondda Steam Coal Miners' Association, laid claim to the candidacy as early as 1883, on the basis that the franchise had been extended to many working men within the county constituencies and that in Mabon, their agent for six years they had the ideal candidate. Shortly afterwards, Lewis Davis was invited by the Association to be its parliamentary candidate and defeated Mabon in a ballot by 143 votes to 51. In spite of his selection, however, he declined and proposed that his son, the 22-year-old Frederick Lewis Davis, be the candidate. In a further ballot, F. L. Davis again defeated Mabon by 125 votes to 56. The campaign was therefore waged on other grounds. Davis's supporters claimed that Mabon lacked legitimacy, having been rejected by the Liberal Association. Mabon's adherents, in turn, claimed that the miners' had held mass meetings throughout the two valleys to promote his candidature long before the middle-class-dominated Association was established.

Despite the fierce contest the two wings of the Liberal Party in the Rhondda were soon reconciled. After the result, the Davis family accepted Mabon's victory and he was not challenged thereafter for the parliamentary seat. Following the election, Mabon's supporters established the Rhondda Labour and Liberal Association which shortly afterwards absorbed the rival Liberal Association which had supported Davis. !! Party

|-

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

|1885

|rowspan="2"|William Abraham

|Lib-Lab

|-

|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |

| 1910

|Labour

|-

|

|1918

|colspan="2"|Constituency abolished: See Rhondda East and Rhondda West

|}

1974–2024

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!colspan="2"|Election !! Member

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 2010s

Of the 56 rejected ballots:

  • 34 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.

The seat saw the fewest Conservative votes on mainland Great Britain in 2017, 22 fewer than in Manchester Gorton; likewise as to the Liberal Democrat votes, 18 votes fewer than in Blaenau Gwent.

See also

  • Rhondda (Senedd constituency)
  • List of parliamentary constituencies in Mid Glamorgan
  • List of parliamentary constituencies in Wales
  • A map of Glamorganshire in 1885, showing its new divisions.

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • Election result, 2005 (BBC)
  • Election results, 1997 – 2001 (BBC)
  • Election results, 1997 – 2001 (Election Demon)
  • Election results, 1983 – 1992 (Election Demon)
  • Election results, 1992 – 2005 (Guardian)
  • Election results, 1974 – 2001 (Keele University)
  • Politics Resources (Election results from 1922 onwards)
  • Electoral Calculus (Election results from 1955 onwards)
  • 2017 Election House of Commons Library 2017 Election report
  • A Vision Of Britain Through Time (Constituency elector numbers)
  • Rhondda UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
  • Rhondda UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK