The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on 12 December 2019 to elect all 650 members of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

, including the 40 Welsh seats. Despite the Labour party winning the most votes in Wales, the Conservatives won across the UK. Compared to the 2017 general election, the Labour Party lost six seats, each of which was won by the Conservative Party. This reflected a decrease in vote share of 8% from the Labour Party, matched by increases in vote share for the

Brexit Party Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant ...

and Conservative Party of 5.4% and 2.5%, respectively. However, the Labour Party remained the party receiving the most votes, with a 40.9% vote share. Having gained Brecon and Radnorshire in the

2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

earlier in the year, the

Welsh Liberal Democrats The Welsh Liberal Democrats ( cy, Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol Cymru) are a branch of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats that operates in Wales. The party is led by Jane Dodds, who served as MP for Brecon and Radnorshire from August to Decemb ...

lost to the Conservatives.

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

retained its four seats. The party did not make any gains, and its total vote share was down 0.5%. Overall, 1,544,357 votes were cast in Wales, reflecting a turnout of 66.6% of the electorate.

Electoral system

MPs are elected in 40 Single Member constituencies by the

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

system.

History and background

The election was called on 29 October 2019, when its date was fixed as 12 December. In the European Elections in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

of June 2019, the Brexit Party, newly formed, had taken 32.5% of the votes and won two seats, Plaid Cymru had come second with 20% and one MEP,

Jill Evans Jill Evans (born 8 May 1959) is a Plaid Cymru politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Wales from 1999 to 2020. She was the first person to use the Welsh language in debate at the European Parliament. In June 199 ...

, and Labour had finished third, with 15.3% and also one MEP, Jackie Jones. In the run-up to the general election, the Conservative party suspended the whip of one of its MPs, Guto Bebb of Aberconwy, who then sat as an independent until the end of the parliament and did not seek re-election. Additionally, the Conservative party lost a by-election in Brecon and Radnorshire to the Liberal Democrats. Before the election, the numbers were 28 Labour MPs, six Conservative, four Plaid, one Liberal Democrat, and one Independent (Bebb). Plaid Cymru had gained one seat in the previous election. The party was for stopping

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

and holding a second referendum on the

Brexit withdrawal agreement The Brexit withdrawal agreement, officially titled Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, is a treaty between the European Uni ...

, which was at odds with how Wales had voted in the 2016 referendum. The party did not make any gains, and its total vote share was down 0.5%.

Target seats

Labour

* Arfon, Plaid Cymru (Plaid hold) *

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 ...

, Conservative (Conservative hold)

Plaid Cymru

* Ynys Môn, Labour (Conservative gain) *

Llanelli Llanelli (" St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarth ...

, Labour (Labour hold)

Results

2019 United Kingdom general election in Wales

Results by constituency

Opinion polling

(Includes polls in which polling concluded on or before: 31 May 2019)

Notes

References

{{Welsh elections 2019 in Wales 2010s elections in Wales #Wales

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...