The constituency was created in 1885 and has had relatively widely varied boundaries. Before 2015 it had elected Labour MPs since 1906, sharing the longest single-party representation with Normanton and Makerfield. It holds approximately a third of the electorate of the city and county of Swansea, the rest of which is Swansea West and Swansea East.
Boundariesedit
Map of current boundaries
First form. Extract from 1906 result; uniquely no Tories in Wales were elected. Here the MP has been coloured a unique shade of orange, as 'independent Lib.-Lab.'
1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Swansea, and the Sessional Divisions of Gower, Pontardawe, and Swansea.
1918–1950: The Urban District of Oystermouth, and the Rural Districts of Gower and Swansea.
1950–1983: The Urban District of Llwchwr, and the Rural Districts of Gower and Pontardawe.
1983–2010: The City of Swansea wards of Bishopston, Fairwood, Gower, Newton, Oystermouth, Penclawdd, Pennard, and West Cross, and the Borough of Lliw Valley wards of Clydach, Dulais East, Gorseinon Central, Gorseinon East, Gowerton East, Gowerton West, Graigfelin, Kingsbridge, Llangyfelach, Lower Loughor, Mawr, Penllergaer, Penyrheol, Pontardulais, Tal-y-bont, Upper Loughor, and Vardre.
2010–present: The Swansea County electoral divisions of Bishopston, Clydach, Fairwood, Gorseinon, Gower, Gowerton, Kingsbridge, Llangyfelach, Lower Loughor, Mawr, Newton, Oystermouth, Penclawdd, Penllergaer, Pennard, Penyrheol, Pontardulais, Upper Loughor, and West Cross.
The constituency encompasses most of the old Lordship of Gower (less the city of Swansea) and covers the inner Gower Peninsula and outer Gower areas including Clydach, Gowerton, Gorseinon, Felindre and Garnswllt.
Historyedit
Liberals and Labour 1885–1918edit
The first years, seeing more heavy industrial make-up than today, represented a struggle between the Liberals and those who favoured direct labour representation. Although its new electors in 1885 were predominantly the miners and tinplaters of the Swansea Valley, the new MP was Frank Ash Yeo, a local colliery owner and clearly an upper-class figure.[3] In 1885 he comfortably defeated Henry Nathaniel Miers of Ynyspenllwch in the Swansea Valley, a coal owner, tinplate manufacturer and landowner.[4]: 60–61
On Yeo's death in 1888, representatives of the trade unions in the constituency overturned the Liberal association's choice of Sir Horace Davey and ensured the selection of David Randell as candidate. Randell was a Methodist solicitor who specialised in trade union litigation and his victory, albeit with a reduced majority over John Dillwyn Llewellyn, formed the basis of later claims that Gower was a 'labour' seat.[3]
Modern historyedit
Since 1945, Gower has been a mostly reliable seat for the Labour Party, returning Labour's candidate except in two elections; in the 1983 Conservative landslide, in which it was won by just 1,205 votes, and in 2010, where it was held by 2,683 votes. However, unlike many Welsh valley seats, which have given commanding majorities to Labour, Gower has not seen a majority of over 10,000 votes or 20% of the vote for the Labour candidate in any election (with the exception of 1997) since 1979. In 2015, incumbent MP Martin Caton stood down, and the new Labour candidate Liz Evans was defeated by the ConservativeByron Davies by 27 votes, less than 0.1% of votes cast, which made it the most marginal Conservative seat going into the next election.[5] Davies' victory brought 105 consecutive years of Labour representation to an end, but Labour won the seat back in the 2017 general election with a majority of 3,269, slightly larger than Caton's final majority in 2010.
General Election 1914–15:
A General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place, and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected:
^"Beyond 20/20 WDS – Table view". 2011 Electorate Figures. StatsWales. 1 December 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
^2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies - The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies in Wales(PDF). Boundary Commission for Wales. 28 June 2023.
^Rees, Ivor Thomas (Autumn 2004). "Whatever happened to young William?". Gwent Local History. 97: 58–66.
^"Conservative Members of Parliament 2015". UK Political.info. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
^Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "G" (part 2)
^ abcdefghiCraig, F. W. S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885-1918 (1 ed.). London and Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press Ltd. ISBN 9780333169032. Page 478
^ abcdefghiCraig, F. W. S. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (1 ed.). Glasgow: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0-900178-019. Page 558
^ abcdefgCraig, F. W. S. (1971). British parliamentary election results 1950-1970 (1 ed.). Chichester: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 9780900178023. Page 579
^"Politics Resources". Election February 1974. Politics Resources. 28 February 1974. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
^"Politics Resources". Election October 1974. Politics Resources. 10 October 1974. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
^"Politics Resources". Election 1979. Politics Resources. 3 May 1979. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
^Results of By-Elections in the 1979-83 Parliament
^"Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
^"Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"VOTE 2001>Results and Constituencies>Gower". BBC News. Vote 2001. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
^"Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"Gower". BBC News. Vote 2001. 7 June 2001. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
^"Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^"Gower parliamentary constituency - Election 2005". BBC News.
^"2005 Results". Swansea Council. Swansea Council. 5 May 2005. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
^"Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.