Blaenau Gwent by-elections, 2006
Encyclopedia
Two by-election
s were held for the constituency of Blaenau Gwent
in Wales
following the death of Member of Parliament
and Assembly Member
Peter Law
on 25 April 2006. As Law was the MP and Assembly Member (AM), his death required by-elections in both the parliamentary seat and the equivalent Welsh Assembly constituency. The two elections polled on the same day, 29 June, as a by-election in Bromley and Chislehurst
. A win by the Labour Party
in the AM by-election would have restored their majority in the Welsh Assembly, which was lost when Law was expelled from the party.
Law's successors won both seats: the independent Dai Davies
won the Westminster seat with a majority of about two and a half thousand. He was the first independent to hold a seat previously occupied by an independent since Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend
held The Wrekin
in 1920.
had reportedly pressed for the election to be held on 25 May. The movement of the writ
was more complicated because Law sat as an Independent, and therefore the convention that the party of the former member moves the writ cannot apply. According to the precedent (when Denis Canavan resigned his Parliamentary seat
at Westminster as an Independent), the whip of the governing party moves the writ.
Maggie Jones
, the Labour candidate defeated by Law, wasn't able to stand — because she had been elevated to the House of Lords
. There had been speculation about an independent candidate running with the backing of the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru, but all three parties decided to contest the election.
It had been reported that prior to Law's death that the Labour Party had decided against selecting their candidate for the next general election with an all-women shortlist. It was the use of such a shortlist for the 2005 general election that led to Law standing as an independent. Labour instead left the selection to the local party. The Labour candidate, Owen Smith
, was chosen on 8 May. He is a former special adviser and BBC
producer who works for a pharmaceutical
company.
The Liberal Democrat candidate was Amy Kitcher. The Conservatives stood Margrit Williams, who worked for Sir Malcolm Rifkind
. Dai Davies
, Peter Law's former agent, stood as an independent with the support of the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group
.
Despite contesting both the previous Assembly and Parliamentary elections, the United Kingdom Independence Party
decided not to stand a candidate, instead calling for a vote for the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group - even though the Group does not support withdrawal from the European Union, nor the abolition of the Welsh Assembly, key UKIP policies.
The Conservative fifth place was their worst position in a UK mainland by-election since at least 1945.
Labour chose John Hopkins, who had already been selected as their 2007 assembly election candidate, to contest the seat. John Price stood for Plaid Cymru
. The Liberal Democrats fielded Steve Bard, a councillor in Abertillery
. The Conservative candidate was Jonathan Burns, a Cardiff
councillor. Peter Law's widow, Trish Law, stood as an independent backed by the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group.
The Green Party fought the Assembly election but did not stand at Westminster.
Borough Council on 14 May 2006 (-0.75% on the Westminster election and -0.05% on the Assembly election). The close of nominations for the Assembly constituency was on 2 June and for the Westminster seat 14 June.
published allegations by Peter Law's widow that Law had believed he would be in line for a peerage
should he decide not to stand in the 2005 general election. The Labour Party denied that a peerage was offered.
Welsh Secretary Peter Hain
attempted to build bridges with Law's supporters by apologising for imposing an all-women shortlist and suggesting that those expelled from the Labour Party might be able to rejoin. This apology was rejected by Dai Davies, Peter Law's agent and putative successor, as coming too late and being a cynical ploy to try to win the by-elections.
between 24 May and 28 May which asked 1,000 voters in the constituency how they would vote. The results were:
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
s were held for the constituency of Blaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent (UK Parliament constituency)
Blaenau Gwent is a county constituency in South Wales, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- History :...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
following the death of Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
and Assembly Member
National Assembly for Wales
The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...
Peter Law
Peter Law
Peter John Law was a Welsh politician.- Labour Co-operative AM and Independent MP :For most of his career Law sat as a Labour Councillor and subsequently Labour Co-operative Assembly Member for Blaenau Gwent...
on 25 April 2006. As Law was the MP and Assembly Member (AM), his death required by-elections in both the parliamentary seat and the equivalent Welsh Assembly constituency. The two elections polled on the same day, 29 June, as a by-election in Bromley and Chislehurst
Bromley and Chislehurst by-election, 2006
A by-election was held in the UK parliament constituency of Bromley and Chislehurst in London, following the death of Conservative Member of Parliament Eric Forth on 17 May 2006. The writ for the electing of a new member was issued on 6 June for a polling day of 29 June 2006, the same day as the...
. A win by the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
in the AM by-election would have restored their majority in the Welsh Assembly, which was lost when Law was expelled from the party.
Law's successors won both seats: the independent Dai Davies
Dai Davies (politician)
David Clifford Davies, commonly known as Dai Davies, was the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Member of Parliament for the Blaenau Gwent constituency in South Wales from 2006 to 2010...
won the Westminster seat with a majority of about two and a half thousand. He was the first independent to hold a seat previously occupied by an independent since Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend
Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend
Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend KCB, DSO was a British Indian Army officer who led the ultimately disastrous first British Expedition against Baghdad during World War I, and was later elected to Parliament....
held The Wrekin
The Wrekin (UK Parliament constituency)
The Wrekin is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 1918. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
in 1920.
Westminster by-election
The writ for the UK Parliament by-election was moved on 6 June so that it would be held on the same date as the Assembly by-election, (29 June 2006). Labour whipsWhip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
had reportedly pressed for the election to be held on 25 May. The movement of the writ
Writ
In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court...
was more complicated because Law sat as an Independent, and therefore the convention that the party of the former member moves the writ cannot apply. According to the precedent (when Denis Canavan resigned his Parliamentary seat
Falkirk West (UK Parliament constituency)
Falkirk West was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 until 2005. Together with a portion of Falkirk East, it was replaced by Falkirk.-Members of Parliament:...
at Westminster as an Independent), the whip of the governing party moves the writ.
Maggie Jones
Maggie Jones, Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
Margaret Beryl Jones, Baroness Jones of Whitchurch is a British trade union official and Labour politician. She was Chair of the Labour Party from 2000 to 2001....
, the Labour candidate defeated by Law, wasn't able to stand — because she had been elevated to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. There had been speculation about an independent candidate running with the backing of the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru, but all three parties decided to contest the election.
It had been reported that prior to Law's death that the Labour Party had decided against selecting their candidate for the next general election with an all-women shortlist. It was the use of such a shortlist for the 2005 general election that led to Law standing as an independent. Labour instead left the selection to the local party. The Labour candidate, Owen Smith
Owen Smith
Owen Smith is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Pontypridd since 2010, replacing the previous Labour MP Kim Howells, who decided to step down...
, was chosen on 8 May. He is a former special adviser and BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
producer who works for a pharmaceutical
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...
company.
The Liberal Democrat candidate was Amy Kitcher. The Conservatives stood Margrit Williams, who worked for Sir Malcolm Rifkind
Malcolm Rifkind
Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind KCMG QC MP is a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for Kensington. He served in various roles as a cabinet minister under Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major, including Secretary of State for Scotland , Defence Secretary and...
. Dai Davies
Dai Davies (politician)
David Clifford Davies, commonly known as Dai Davies, was the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Member of Parliament for the Blaenau Gwent constituency in South Wales from 2006 to 2010...
, Peter Law's former agent, stood as an independent with the support of the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group
Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group
The Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group was a political party based in the Blaenau Gwent area of Wales.The group was formed in the aftermath of the election to the House of Commons of Peter Law as an independent Member of Parliament, beating the official Labour candidate. Peter Law stood against the...
.
Despite contesting both the previous Assembly and Parliamentary elections, the United Kingdom Independence Party
United Kingdom Independence Party
The United Kingdom Independence Party is a eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Whilst its primary goal is the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, the party has expanded beyond its single-issue image to develop a more comprehensive party platform.UKIP...
decided not to stand a candidate, instead calling for a vote for the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group - even though the Group does not support withdrawal from the European Union, nor the abolition of the Welsh Assembly, key UKIP policies.
The Conservative fifth place was their worst position in a UK mainland by-election since at least 1945.
Welsh Assembly by-election
The Assembly by-election had to be held within twelve weeks of the vacancy arising. It was announced on 11 May 2006 that the Assembly by-election would be held on 29 June 2006.Labour chose John Hopkins, who had already been selected as their 2007 assembly election candidate, to contest the seat. John Price stood for Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru
' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...
. The Liberal Democrats fielded Steve Bard, a councillor in Abertillery
Abertillery
Abertillery is a town in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent in South Wales, north-west of Newport, originally on the Great Western Railway. Its population rose steeply during the period of mining development in South Wales, being 10,846 in the 1891 census and 21,945 ten years later...
. The Conservative candidate was Jonathan Burns, a Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
councillor. Peter Law's widow, Trish Law, stood as an independent backed by the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group.
The Green Party fought the Assembly election but did not stand at Westminster.
Electorate and campaign timetables
The electorate for the constituency is 52,900 as quoted by the Returning Officer's Department of Blaenau GwentBlaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent is a county borough in South Wales, sharing its name with a parliamentary constituency. It borders the unitary authority areas of Monmouthshire and Torfaen to the east, Caerphilly to the west and Powys to the north. Its main towns are Abertillery, Brynmawr, Ebbw Vale and...
Borough Council on 14 May 2006 (-0.75% on the Westminster election and -0.05% on the Assembly election). The close of nominations for the Assembly constituency was on 2 June and for the Westminster seat 14 June.
Campaigns
On 27 April 2006, BBC NewsBBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
published allegations by Peter Law's widow that Law had believed he would be in line for a peerage
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
should he decide not to stand in the 2005 general election. The Labour Party denied that a peerage was offered.
Welsh Secretary Peter Hain
Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for the Welsh constituency of Neath since 1991, and has served in the Cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, firstly as Leader of the House of Commons under Blair and both Secretary of State for...
attempted to build bridges with Law's supporters by apologising for imposing an all-women shortlist and suggesting that those expelled from the Labour Party might be able to rejoin. This apology was rejected by Dai Davies, Peter Law's agent and putative successor, as coming too late and being a cynical ploy to try to win the by-elections.
Opinion Polls
An opinion poll was conducted by NOPNOP
In computer science, NOP or NOOP is an assembly language instruction, sequence of programming language statements, or computer protocol command that effectively does nothing at all....
between 24 May and 28 May which asked 1,000 voters in the constituency how they would vote. The results were:
Westminster
| House of Commons British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members... seat poll |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | % | |
| Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
Dai Davies Dai Davies (politician) David Clifford Davies, commonly known as Dai Davies, was the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Member of Parliament for the Blaenau Gwent constituency in South Wales from 2006 to 2010... |
35% | |
| Liberal Democrats The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the... |
Amy Kitcher | 6% | |
| Plaid Cymru ' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966... |
Steffan Lewis | 6% | |
| Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... |
Owen Smith | 47% | |
| Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
Margrit Williams | 5% | |