Wrexham (UK Parliament constituency)

Wrexham (Welsh: Wrecsam) is a parliamentary constituency[n 1] centred on the town of Wrexham in Wales. It was created in 1918, and is represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from December 2019 by Sarah Atherton of the Conservative Party.[n 2].

Not to be confused with Wrexham (Senedd Cymru constituency).

Wrexham
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Wrexham in Wales
Preserved county	Clwyd
Electorate	53,733 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Wrexham, Gwersyllt, Llay, Gresford
Current constituency
Created	1918
Member of Parliament	Sarah Atherton (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Denbigh Boroughs and East Denbighshire
Overlaps
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament	North Wales

History

Summary of results

Labour won the seat in all general elections from 1935 until 2019, when Conservative Sarah Atherton became the first woman elected to represent Wrexham.[2]

Tom Ellis, first elected in 1970, defected in 1981 to the newly founded Social Democratic Party. In 1983, he unsuccessfully stood for Clwyd South West instead.[3]

Turnout

Turnout has ranged between 59.5% in 2001 and 87.3% in 1950.

Boundaries

Until 1885, Wrexham was part of the Denbighshire parliamentary constituency, which elected one Member of Parliament until the Reform Act 1832 increased this to two members. In 1885 the Denbighshire constituency was split — the area covered today became part of East Denbighshire constituency.

In 1918 the Wrexham constituency was created, electing one Member of Parliament. For the 1983 general election, major boundary reorganisation saw large areas removed from the Wrexham constituency to form the new constituency of Clwyd South West (later to become Clwyd South).

Wrexham constituency consists of the following electoral wards: Acton, Borras Park, Brynyffynnon, Cartrefle, Erddig, Garden Village, Gresford East and West, Grosvenor, Gwersyllt East and South, Gwersyllt North, Gwersyllt West, Hermitage, Holt, Little Acton, Llay, Maesydre, Marford and Hoseley, Offa, Queensway, Rhosnesni, Rossett, Smithfield, Stansty, Whitegate, Wynnstay.

1918–1949: The Municipal Borough of Wrexham, and the Rural District of Wrexham, and part of Chirk.

1950–1983: The Municipal Borough of Wrexham, and part of the Rural Districts of Ceiriog, and Wrexham.[4]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[5]	Party
	1918	Sir Robert Thomas	Coalition Liberal
	1922	Robert Richards	Labour
	1924	Christmas Price Williams	Liberal
	1929	Robert Richards	Labour
	1931	Aled Roberts	Liberal
	1935	Robert Richards	Labour
	1955	Idwal Jones	Labour
	1970	Tom Ellis	Labour
	1981		Social Democrat
	1983	John Marek	Labour
	2001	Ian Lucas	Labour
	2019	Sarah Atherton	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

Robert Thomas

General election 1918: Wrexham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
C	Liberal	Robert Thomas	20,874	76.3	N/A
	Labour	Hugh Hughes	6,500	23.7	N/A
Majority			14,374	52.6	N/A
Turnout			27,374	69.7	N/A
Registered electors			39,259
	Liberal win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

General election 1922: Wrexham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Robert Richards	11,940	35.8	+12.1
	National Liberal	E R Davies	10,842	32.6	-43.7
	Unionist	R C G Roberts	10,508	31.6	N/A
Majority			1,098	3.2	N/A
Turnout			33,290	84.4	+14.7
Registered electors			39,446
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+27.9

General election 1923: Wrexham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Robert Richards	12,918	39.0	+3.2
	Liberal	Horace Alexander Morgan	11,037	33.4	+0.8
	Unionist	Edmund Fleming Bushby	9,131	27.6	-4.0
Majority			1,881	5.6	+2.4
Turnout			33,086	81.1	-3.3
Registered electors			40,789
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.2

General election 1924: Wrexham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Christmas Price Williams	19,154	55.6	+22.2
	Labour	Robert Richards	15,291	44.4	+5.4
Majority			3,863	11.2	N/A
Turnout			35,445	82.6	+1.5
Registered electors			41,686
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1929: Wrexham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Robert Richards	20,584	46.4	+2.0
	Liberal	Christmas Price Williams	13,997	31.5	-24.1
	Unionist	Edmund Fleming Bushby	9,820	22.1	N/A
Majority			6,587	14.9	N/A
Turnout			44,401	84.9	+2.3
Registered electors			52,310
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+13.0

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Wrexham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Aled Roberts	22,474	52.1	+20.6
	Labour	Robert Richards	20,653	47.9	+1.5
Majority			1,821	4.2	N/A
Turnout			43,127	79.8	-5.1
Registered electors			54,048
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1935: Wrexham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Robert Richards	23,650	56.3	+8.4
	Liberal	Aled Roberts	18,367	43.7	-8.4
Majority			5,283	12.6	N/A
Turnout			42,017	75.5	+4.3
Registered electors			55,656
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

Election in the 1940s

General Election 1939/40:

Another general election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Labour: Robert Richards
• Liberal:

General election 1945: Wrexham[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Robert Richards	26,854	56.0	-0.3
	Liberal National	David Leslie Milne	13,714	28.6	N/A
	Liberal	John David Williams	6,960	14.5	-29.2
	Independent Nationalist	John Rathbone Hayes-Jones	430	0.9	N/A
Majority			13,140	27.4	+14.8
Turnout			47,958	76.8	+1.3
Registered electors			62,446
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Wrexham[7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Robert Richards	32,042	57.8	+1.8
	Conservative and National Liberal	Willoughby Gervase Cooper	14,117	25.5	-3.1
	Liberal	Herbert Mostyn Lewis	8,287	15.0	+0.5
	Plaid Cymru	Geraint Bowen	960	1.7	N/A
Majority			17,925	32.3	+4.9
Turnout			55,406	87.3	+10.5
Registered electors			63,455
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Wrexham[9][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Robert Richards	33,759	61.5	+3.7
	Conservative and National Liberal	Willoughby Gervase Cooper	19,124	34.8	+9.3
	Plaid Cymru	A Daniel Thomas	1,997	3.6	+1.9
Majority			14,635	26.7	-5.6
Turnout			54,880	84.8	-2.5
Registered electors			64,736
	Labour hold		Swing

1955 Wrexham by-election [10][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Idwal Jones	23,402	57.9	-3.6
	National Liberal and Conservative	Griffith Winston Guthrie Jones	12,476	30.8	-4.0
	Plaid Cymru	Elystan Morgan	4,572	11.3	+7.7
Majority			10,926	27.0	+0.3
Turnout			46,072	62.4	-22.4
Registered electors			64,788
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1955: Wrexham [11][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Idwal Jones	27,945	56.6	-4.9
	Conservative and National Liberal	Griffith Winston Guthrie Jones	16,286	33.0	-1.8
	Plaid Cymru	Elystan Morgan	5,139	10.4	+6.8
Majority			11,659	23.6	-3.1
Turnout			49,370	76.2	-8.6
Registered electors			64,788
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1959: Wrexham [12][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Idwal Jones	30,101	55.9	-0.7
	Conservative and National Liberal	Griffith Hughes Pierce	17,144	31.9	-1.1
	Plaid Cymru	Elystan Morgan	6,579	12.2	+1.8
Majority			12,957	24.0	+0.4
Turnout			53,824	81.4	+5.2
Registered electors			66,150
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Wrexham [13][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Idwal Jones	30,478	58.2	+2.3
	Conservative and National Liberal	Griffith Hughes Pierce	17,240	32.9	+1.0
	Plaid Cymru	John Richard Thomas	4,673	8.9	-3.3
Majority			13,238	25.3	+1.3
Turnout			52,391	78.7	-2.7
Registered electors			66,530
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1966: Wrexham[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Idwal Jones	30,039	58.6	-0.4
	Conservative	Griffith Hughes Pierce	12,596	24.6	-8.3
	Liberal	Wilfred McBriar	6,351	12.4	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	John Richard Thomas	2,297	4.5	-4.4
Majority			17,443	34.0	+8.7
Turnout			51,283	77.2	-1.5
Registered electors			66,441
	Labour hold		Swing	+4.3

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Wrexham[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tom Ellis	31,089	56.8	-1.8
	Conservative	Benjamin Patterson	15,649	28.6	+4.0
	Liberal	Wilfred McBriar	5,067	9.3	-3.1
	Plaid Cymru	Cyril Golding	2,894	5.3	+0.8
Majority			15,440	28.2	-5.8
Turnout			54,699	75.1	-2.1
Registered electors			72,814
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Wrexham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tom Ellis	27,384	46.7	-10.1
	Conservative	John Laurence Pritchard	14,301	24.4	-4.2
	Liberal	Martin Thomas	14,297	24.4	+15.1
	Plaid Cymru	Hywel Wyn Roberts	2,624	4.5	-0.8
Majority			13,083	22.3	-5.9
Turnout			58,606	77.6	+2.5
Registered electors			75,492
	Labour hold		Swing

General election October 1974: Wrexham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tom Ellis	28,885	51.1	+4.4
	Liberal	Martin Thomas	12,519	22.1	-2.3
	Conservative	John Pritchard	12,251	21.7	-2.7
	Plaid Cymru	Hywel Wyn Roberts	2,859	5.1	+0.6
Majority			16,366	29.0	+6.7
Turnout			56,514	74.3	-3.3
Registered electors			76,106
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1979: Wrexham

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tom Ellis	30,405	49.2	-1.9
	Conservative	Roger Graham-Palmer	18,256	29.6	+7.9
	Liberal	Martin Thomas	11,389	18.4	-3.7
	Plaid Cymru	Hywel Wyn Roberts	1,740	2.8	-2.3
Majority			12,149	19.7	-9.3
Turnout			56,514	78.4	+4.1
Registered electors			78,771
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Wrexham[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Marek	16,120	34.3	−14.9
	Conservative	Cynthia Kay Wood	15,696	33.4	+3.8
	Liberal	Martin Thomas	13,974	29.7	+11.3
	Plaid Cymru	John Thomas	1,239	2.6	−0.2
Majority			424	0.9	−18.8
Turnout			47,029	77.5	−0.9
Registered electors			60,707
	Labour hold		Swing	−10.5

General election 1987: Wrexham[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Marek	22,144	43.9	+9.6
	Conservative	Roger Graham-Palmer	17,992	35.6	+2.2
	Liberal	Martin Thomas	9,808	19.4	−10.3
	Plaid Cymru	Dennis Watkins	539	1.1	−1.5
Majority			4,152	8.3	+7.4
Turnout			50,483	80.9	+3.4
Registered electors			62,401
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Wrexham[16][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Marek	24,830	48.3	+4.4
	Conservative	Owen Paterson	18,114	35.2	−0.4
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Thomas	7,074	13.8	−5.6
	Plaid Cymru	Gareth Wheatley	1,415	2.8	+1.7
Majority			6,716	13.1	+4.8
Turnout			51,433	80.7	−0.2
Registered electors			63,720
	Labour hold		Swing	+2.4

General election 1997: Wrexham[18][19][20][21][22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Marek	20,450	56.1	+6.1
	Conservative	Stuart Andrew	8,688	23.9	−8.5
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Thomas	4,833	13.3	−1.7
	Referendum	John Cronk	1,195	3.3	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Kevin Plant	1,170	3.2	+0.5
	Natural Law	Nicholas Low	86	0.2	N/A
Majority			11,762	32.2	+14.7
Turnout			36,422	71.8	-8.9
Registered electors			50,741
	Labour hold		Swing	+7.4

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: Wrexham[23][24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ian Lucas	15,934	53.0	−3.1
	Conservative	Felicity Elphick	6,746	22.5	−1.4
	Liberal Democrats	Ronald Davies	5,153	17.1	+3.8
	Plaid Cymru	Malcolm Evans	1,783	5.9	+2.7
	UKIP	Jane Brookes	432	1.4	N/A
Majority			9,188	30.5	-1.7
Turnout			30,048	59.5	−12.3
Registered electors			50,465
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.8

General election 2005: Wrexham[25][26][27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ian Lucas	13,993	46.1	−6.9
	Liberal Democrats	Tom Rippeth	7,174	23.6	+6.5
	Conservative	Therese Coffey	6,079	20.0	−2.5
	Plaid Cymru	Sion Owen	1,744	5.7	−0.2
	BNP	John Walker	919	3.0	N/A
	Forward Wales	Janet Williams	476	1.6	N/A
Majority			6,819	22.4	−8.1
Turnout			30,385	63.3	+3.8
Registered electors			48,016
	Labour hold		Swing	−6.7

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2010: Wrexham[28][29][30]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ian Lucas	12,161	36.9	−9.2
	Liberal Democrats	Tom Rippeth	8,503	25.8	+2.2
	Conservative	Gareth Hughes	8,375	25.4	+5.4
	Plaid Cymru	Arfon Jones	2,029	6.2	+0.5
	BNP	Mel Roberts	1,134	3.4	+0.4
	UKIP	John Humberstone	774	2.3	N/A
Majority			3,658	11.1	-11.3
Turnout			32,976	64.8	+1.5
Registered electors			50,872
	Labour hold		Swing	−5.7

General election 2015: Wrexham[31][32][33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ian Lucas	12,181	37.2	+0.3
	Conservative	Andrew Atkinson	10,350	31.6	+6.2
	UKIP	Niall Plevin-Kelly	5,072	15.5	+13.2
	Plaid Cymru	Carrie Harper	2,501	7.6	+1.4
	Liberal Democrats	Rob Walsh	1,735	5.3	−20.5
	Green	David Munnerley	669	2.0	N/A
	Independent	Brian Edwards[34]	211	0.6	N/A
Rejected ballots			55
Majority			1,831	5.6	−5.5
Turnout			32,719	64.2	−0.6
Registered electors			50,992
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.9

Of the 55 rejected ballots:

• 43 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.[32]
• 12 voted for more than one candidate.[32]

General election 2017: Wrexham[35][36][37]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Ian Lucas	17,153	48.9	+11.7
	Conservative	Andrew Atkinson	15,321	43.7	+12.1
	Plaid Cymru	Carrie Harper	1,753	5.0	−2.6
	Liberal Democrats	Carole O’Toole	865	2.5	−2.8
Rejected ballots			68
Majority			1,832	5.2	−0.4
Turnout			35,092	69.6	+5.4
Registered electors			50,245
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.2

Of the 68 rejected ballots:

• 53 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.[37]
• 15 voted for more than one candidate.[37]

General election 2019: Wrexham[38][39][40]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Sarah Atherton	15,199	45.3	+1.6
	Labour Co-op	Mary Wimbury	13,068	39.0	–9.9
	Plaid Cymru	Carrie Harper	2,151	6.4	+1.4
	Liberal Democrats	Tim Sly	1,447	4.3	+1.8
	Brexit Party	Ian Berkeley-Hurst	1,222	3.6	N/A
	Green	Duncan Rees	445	1.3	N/A
Rejected ballots			70
Majority			2,131	6.3	N/A
Turnout			33,532	67.4	–2.2
Registered electors			49,734
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+5.8

Of the 70 rejected ballots:

• 57 were either unmarked or it was uncertain who the vote was for.[40]
• 9 voted for more than one candidate.[40]
• 4 had writing or mark by which the voter could be identified.[40]

See also

• Wrexham (Senedd Cymru constituency)
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Clwyd
• 1955 Wrexham by-election
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Wales

Notes

1. A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years

References

1. "Beyond 20/20 WDS - Table view". 2011 Electorate Figures. StatsWales. 1 December 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
2. Morris, Steven (13 December 2019). "'Things can't get worse': Wrexham turns Tory amid Welsh Labour losses". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
3. Langdon, Julia (18 April 2010). "Tom Ellis obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
4. Craig, F.W.S., ed. (1972). Boundaries of parliamentary constituencies 1985-1972. Chichester, Sussex: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0-900178-09-4.
5. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 5)
6. Craig, F. W. S. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (1 ed.). Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0-900178-019. Page 531
8. Craig, F. W. S. (1971). British parliamentary election results 1950-1970 (1 ed.). Chichester: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 9780900178023. Page 573
10. "British parliamentary by-elections: Wrexham 1955". Web Cite. Archived from the original on October 25, 2009. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
14. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
15. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
16. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
17. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
18. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
19. "Politics Resources". Election 1997. Politics Resources. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
20. C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.181 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)
21. The 1997 election result is calculated relative to the notional, not the actual, 1992 result.
22. "BBC NEWS>VOTE 2001>Results and Constituencies>Wrexham". Vote 2001. BBC News. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
23. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
24. "BBC NEWS > VOTE 2001 > RESULTS & CONSTITUENCIES > Wrexham". Vote 2001. BBC News. 7 June 2001. Retrieved 2011-01-22.
25. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
26. "Wrexham: Constituency > Politics > guardian.co.uk". Election 2010. The Guardian. 2005-05-05. Retrieved 2011-01-22.
27. "Wrexham parliamentary constituency - Election 2005" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
28. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
29. "BBC NEWS - Election 2010 - Wrexham". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
30. "Results" (PDF). Wrexham County Borough Council. Wrexham County Borough Council. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
31. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
32. "Wrexham result" (PDF). DECLARATION OF RESULT OF POLL. Wrexham County Borough Council. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
33. "Wrexham Parliamentary constituency". Election 2015 Results. BBC. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
34. "Member of Parliament for Wrexham". YourNextMP. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
35. "Full Candidate List for Wrexham & Clwyd South". Wrexham.com. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
36. "Wrexham Constituency results". BBC. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
37. "2017 Results". Wrexham County Borough Council. Wrexham County Borough Council. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
38. "Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll - Wrexham Constituency" (PDF). Wrexham County Borough Council. 14 November 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
39. "Wrexham parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
40. "Election-Results/General-Election-2019" (PDF). Wrexham County Borough Council. Wrexham County Borough Council. Retrieved 11 April 2020.

Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

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)