Conwy gain from Conservative Sir Wyn Roberts (Retiring) 0 ( 0.0%) 10,085 (24.3%) 14,561 (35.0%) 12,965 (31.2%) 2,844 ( 6.8%) 1,105 ( 2.7%) 55,092 41,560 (75.4%) Sir Wyn Roberts (Retiring) Conwy 995 ( 2.4%) 14,250 (33.7%) 10,883 (25.8%) 13,255 (31.4%) 3,108 ( 7.4%) 751 ( 1.8%) Conservative 54,469 42,247 (77.6%) -9.5% +9.3% -0.2% -0.5% +0.9% +1.1% -2.1% North-west Wales is generally thought of as the most 'Welsh' part of the principality and also therefore as the stronghold of Plaid Cymru. However, there is one seat in this corner of Wales where the Nationalists are decidedly not competitive. All the other three main parties have a chance of victory this time in Conwy, but the Plaid are doomed to a poor fourth place. The Conservatives have so far almost always come out on top in this coastal strip of a constituency, which behaves more like the rest of the north Wales coast than it does the rest of the former county of Gwynedd. It is based on the university town of Bangor opposite the island of Anglesey, on the relatively large coastal resort of Llandudno beneath the impressive St Orme's Head, on smaller coastal resorts and retirement centres like Penmaenmawr and Llanfairfechan, and on the castellated old town of Conwy (English spelling Conway) itself. A strong challenger in the last four general elections, and again for a fifth time in 1997, is the Liberal Democrat candidate, the Reverend Roger Roberts (a Llandudno-based Methodist minister): he came within 1,000 votes of the now-retiring MP, Sir Wyn Roberts, last time. But Labour also have a chance. They can rarely be written off completely in Wales, and there must be a chance that they can come from a strong third place (nearly 11,000 votes in 1992) to win this time round; or at the least, to produce a three-way photo finish in the Conwy constituency. 398 1.31 9.03 15 5,640 18.58 11.17 166 3,208 10.57 11.25 94 3,010 9.92 14.70 67 660 2.17 10.45 21 340 1.12 2.81 40 6,400 21.08 8.01 263 6,275 20.67 15.25 136 984 3.24 7.13 45 2,278 7.50 10.17 74