Swansea West () is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election, and is currently represented by Torsten Bell of Labour, who was first elected in the constituency in 2024.
In the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies for the 2024 general election, the constituency boundaries were substantially altered. The Swansea West Senedd constituency currently has the constituency's borders as they existed before 2024.
History
Since 1945, the seat has been held continuously by the Labour Party, except for the period 1959 to 1964 when it was captured by Conservative Hugh Rees. Alan Williams won the seat back for Labour in 1964 and held it until his retirement in 2010; from 2005 until his retirement he was the Father of the House. Williams was succeeded by Geraint Davies at the 2010 general election.
In June 2023 Davies was administratively suspended from the Labour Party after allegations were made of unwanted sexual attention on younger women. Davies continued to sit as an independent MP. 12 months later he still had not been given an opportunity by the party to answer the accusations. Because he was still suspended, he was unable to stand in the 2024 general election.
On 31 May Labour announced the selection of Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, as their candidate in the constituency. Bell has no connection to Swansea or Wales and the Party was accused of "parachuting" their favoured candidate, against the wishes of local party members. Bell subsequently won the 2024 election with a majority of 23.9%.
Boundaries
1918–1950: The County Borough of Swansea wards of Alexandra, Bryn Melyn, Castle, Ffynone, St Helen's, and Victoria.
1950–1955: The County Borough of Swansea wards of Brynmelyn, Cockett, Ffynone, Oystermouth and Brynau, St Helen's, Sketty, Victoria, and Waunarlwydd.
1955–1983: The County Borough of Swansea wards of Brynmelin, Fforestfach, Ffynone, Mumbles, St Helen's, Sketty, Townhill, and Victoria.
1983–2024: The City and County of Swansea wards of Sketty, Castle, Killay South, Killay North, Dunvant, Uplands, Townhill, Cockett and Mayals.
2024–present: Under the 2023 review, the constituency was defined as being composed of the following, as they existed on 1 December 2020:
- The City and County of Swansea wards of Castle, Cwmbwrla, Landore, Morriston, Mynydd-bach, Penderry, Sketty, Townhill, and Uplands.
Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2022, the constituency now also includes the western section of the Waterfront ward from the 2024 general election.
The newly defined constituency saw significant changes, being expanded northwards to take in the majority of the abolished Swansea East constituency, comprising the Cwmbwrla, Landore, Morriston, Mynydd-bach and Penderry wards. Partly offsetting this, western areas comprising Killay, Dunvant, Cockett and Mayals were transferred to Gower.
Members of Parliament
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Election!!Member!!Party
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|1918
|rowspan="3"| Sir Alfred Mond
|Coalition Liberal
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1922
| National Liberal
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
| 1923
| Liberal
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|1923
|Howel Samuel
|Labour
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|1924
|Walter Runciman
|Liberal
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|1929
|Howel Samuel
|Labour
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|1931
|Sir Lewis Jones
|Liberal National
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|1945
|Percy Morris
|Labour
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|1959
|Hugh Rees
|Conservative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|1964
|Alan Williams
|Labour
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|2010
|rowspan="2"|Geraint Davies
|Labour Co-operative
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|2023
|Independent
|-
|style="color:inherit;background-color: " |
|2024
|Torsten Bell
|Labour
|}
Elections
Elections in the 21st century
Elections in the 2020s
Elections in the 2010s
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="4" | 2019 notional result
|-
! colspan="2" bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="130px" |Party
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="50px" |Vote
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="30px" | %
|-
|
|Labour
| align="right" |22,709
| align="right" |51.4
|-
|
|Conservative
| align="right" |12,672
| align="right" |28.7
|-
|
|Brexit Party
| align="right" |3,022
| align="right" |6.8
|-
|
|Liberal Democrats
| align="right" |2,834
| align="right" |6.4
|-
|
|Plaid Cymru
| align="right" |2,595
| align="right" |5.9
|-
|
|Green Party
| align="right" |367
| align="right" |0.8
|-
| colspan="4" bgcolor="#EAECF0" |
|-
| colspan="2" |Majority
| align="right" |10,037
| align="right" |22.7
|-
| colspan="2" |Turnout
| align="right" |44,199
| align="right" |59.2
|-
| colspan="2" |Electorate
| align="right" |74,612
|}
Of the 137 rejected ballots:
- 117 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.
Of the 116 rejected ballots:
- 33 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for. but he was nominated as Welsh Labour.
Elections in the 2000s
Elections in the 20th century
Elections in the 1910s
Elections in the 1950s
Elections in the 1980s
Elections in the 1990s
See also
- Swansea West (Senedd constituency)
- List of parliamentary constituencies in West Glamorgan
- List of parliamentary constituencies in Wales
Notes
References
External links
- 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)
- Swansea West UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
- Swansea West UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
- Swansea West UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK