These are the results of the 2005 United Kingdom general election in Wales. The election was held on 5 May 2005 and all 40 seats in Wales were contested.
Results
Below is a table summarising the results of the 2005 general election in Wales.
Outcome and changes
The election saw Labour lose ground in Wales although it still won 29 of Wales' 40 constituencies and 42.7% of the vote. In what the
BBC described as a "sensational defeat" Labour lost
Blaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent (; ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders the unitary authority areas of Monmouthshire and Torfaen to the east, Caerphilly to the west and Powys to the north. Its main towns are Abertillery, Brynmawr, Ebbw ...
, its "safest seat in Wales" to Independent
Peter Law, a
member of the Welsh Assembly
A Member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; cy, Aelodau o'r Senedd; , plural:) (AS)., group=la is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd ...
who had left Labour to contest the election following a dispute about the use of an
all-women shortlist
All-women shortlists (AWS) is an affirmative action practice intended to increase the proportion of female Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom, allowing only women to stand in particular constituencies for a particular political p ...
in the selection of Labour's candidate.
Plaid Cymru, also fell back losing
Ceredigion (to the Liberal Democrats) and failing to regain
Ynys Môn which they had narrowly lost to Labour in
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
.
This followed on from what the BBC described as "a poor performance" by Plaid Cymru at the
2003 National Assembly for Wales election
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...
, when it was reduced from 17 seats to 12.
Elfyn Llwyd
Elfyn Llwyd (born 26 September 1951) is a Welsh barrister and politician. He was a Member of Parliament, representing Meirionnydd Nant Conwy in the House of Commons from 1992 to 2010 and Dwyfor Meirionnydd from 2010 to 2015. Llwyd was Plaid Cy ...
, Plaid Cymru's parliamentary leader who was re-elected as MP for
Meirionnydd Nant Conwy, said the result was "extremely disappointing". However he also stated that while the result was "a set back...but it's not half as bad as the media speculation would suggest", noting he and Plaid's two other MPs increased their majorities, and that "If 1,400 votes had gone the other way, we would have won Ynys Mon and held Ceredigion."
The Conservatives made three gains from Labour (
Clwyd West,
Preseli Pembrokeshire
Preseli Pembrokeshire (, ; cy, Preseli Sir Benfro) was one of six local government districts of Dyfed in West Wales from 1974 to 1996. Until 1987 the name of the district was Preseli. The district took its name from the Preseli Hills.
Creation
Th ...
and
Monmouth
Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...
, the first time there had been Conservative MPs from Welsh constituencies since the party had been wiped out in Wales in the
1997 election.
The
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
The Shadow Secretary of State for Wales or Shadow Welsh Secretary is a member of the UK Shadow Cabinet responsible for the scrutiny of the Secretary of State for Wales and his/her department, the Wales Office
, agency_type = Ministerial ...
,
Bill Wiggin, said after the result "Never again will Wales be a Conservative-free zone".
However, the Conservatives failed to win two other target Labour-held seats,
Vale of Glamorgan and
Cardiff North, which the BBC described as "disappointments" for them, and Wiggin admitted that he would have liked the Party to win more seats in Wales.
The Liberal Democrats gained two seats (taking
Cardiff Central from Labour in addition to their gain of Ceredigion, doubling their Welsh total to four seats.
, the
Welsh Liberal Democrats leader, described this as a "fantastic night" for his party in Wales, and called their gaining of Ceredigion the "result of the night".
He also add that by having the second highest number of Welsh MPs the Welsh Liberal Democrats were now "the official opposition" to Labour at Westminster.
See also
*
2005 United Kingdom general election in England
The 2005 United Kingdom general election in England took place on 5 May 2005 for 529 English seats in the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won an overall majority of seats for the third successive election.
With ...
*
2005 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
The 2005 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 5 May 2005 and all 18 seats in Northern Ireland were contested. 1,139,993 people were eligible to vote, down 51,016 from the 2001 general election. 63.49% of eligible voter ...
*
2005 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
A general election was held in the United Kingdom on 5 May 2005 and all 59 seats in Scotland were contested. This was the first election to occur under the new boundaries which reduced the number of Scottish seats from 72 to 59. Previously, Sco ...
References
{{Welsh elections
#Wales
2005 in Wales
2000s elections in Wales
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...