Election 97

Cardiff North

Current MP Gwilym Jones
Conservative 97 16,334
Labour 97 24,460
LibDem 97 5,294
Nationalist 97 1,201
Other 97 0
Elected party
Cardiff North

Robert Waller wrote
Old constituency Cardiff North
Conservative 92 21,547
Labour 92 18,578
LibDem 92 6,487
Nationalist 92 916
Other 92 207
Elected party Conservative

The principality of Wales has never been very fruitful ground for the Conservative party, even when they have been winning a general elections in the rest of the United Kingdom. They have often been reduced to a handful of seats, as in 1992 when they won only eight of the 38 constituencies in Wales. In particular the Tories did badly in the capital city of Cardiff, losing the Central constituency really rather badly having won it in 1987, and being reduced to a lead of under 3,000 in the other Cardiff seat with a high proportion of owner occupiers and middle-class and professional workers, Cardiff North.

The north side of Cardiff has always been its favoured residential area. Cardiff North is over 80 per cent owner occupied and over 70 per cent middle-class. Here are attractive neighbourhoods like Whitchurch and Rhiwbina and Heath Park. It does not look the part of a marginal. Yet it has now become a Labour target. On unchanged boundaries a swing of only 3 per cent is needed for the Tories' last seat in Cardiff to fall. As in that other fine capital city, Edinburgh, the Conservatives have come to under-perform quite seriously among the governmental and professional public sector workers in a seat of administration.


Super Profiles

2,825 9.16 9.03 101
8,896 28.85 11.17 258
3,036 9.84 11.25 88
5,937 19.25 14.70 131
1,117 3.62 10.45 35
178 0.58 2.81 21
2,558 8.29 8.01 104
5,540 17.96 15.25 118
454 1.47 7.13 21
177 0.57 10.17 6