BBC Profile:
This is a return (in name at least) of an old constituency from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The new Arfon seat combines the town and the area around Caernarfon from the old Caernarfon constituency with the parts of the preserved county of Gwynedd that were formerly in the Conwy constituency. The constituency includes the small city of Bangor on the Menai Strait.
Having been held by former Liberal Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, from 1890 until 1945, the Caernarfon seat was held by Labour's Goronwy Roberts until 1974, when it fell to Plaid Cymru's Dafydd Wigley and he held the seat until his retirement in 2001.
In 2001 Hywel Williams succeeded former Plaid Cymru leader Wigley and the majority was halved. In 2005 Mr Williams obtained a 3.3% swing back from Labour and achieved a majority of 5,209.
To find out what might have happened had this boundary change been in force at the last election, see a notional - or estimated - result below.
This seat covers the principal towns of mainland Gwynedd: Bangor and Caernarfon, as well as a portion of Snowdonia National Park. Snowdon itself is on the south-easterly border with Dwyfor Meirionnydd.
As efforts to conserve the Welsh language have become prominent, Caernarfon has become a centre for Welsh media. The constituency also includes Bangor University. The university was established in 1884 and currently has over 12,000 students.
Tourism and farming are the mainstays of the local
[More...]BBC Profile:
This is a return (in name at least) of an old constituency from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The new Arfon seat combines the town and the area around Caernarfon from the old Caernarfon constituency with the parts of the preserved county of Gwynedd that were formerly in the Conwy constituency. The constituency includes the small city of Bangor on the Menai Strait.
Having been held by former Liberal Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, from 1890 until 1945, the Caernarfon seat was held by Labour's Goronwy Roberts until 1974, when it fell to Plaid Cymru's Dafydd Wigley and he held the seat until his retirement in 2001.
In 2001 Hywel Williams succeeded former Plaid Cymru leader Wigley and the majority was halved. In 2005 Mr Williams obtained a 3.3% swing back from Labour and achieved a majority of 5,209.
To find out what might have happened had this boundary change been in force at the last election, see a notional - or estimated - result below.
This seat covers the principal towns of mainland Gwynedd: Bangor and Caernarfon, as well as a portion of Snowdonia National Park. Snowdon itself is on the south-easterly border with Dwyfor Meirionnydd.
As efforts to conserve the Welsh language have become prominent, Caernarfon has become a centre for Welsh media. The constituency also includes Bangor University. The university was established in 1884 and currently has over 12,000 students.
Tourism and farming are the mainstays of the local economy. Apart from Snowdonia, other attractions in the area include the stunning Caernarfon Castle, parts of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage site.
Slate quarrying was once the dominant source of employment in the constituency, although this fell away during the 1960s and 1970s. The world's largest slate quarry is Penrhyn Quarry, Bethesda, and the National Slate Museum is at Llanberis.
Rallings & Thrasher Notional:
Lab 8,484 (33.88%)
PC 8,028 (32.06%)
C 4,106 (16.40%)
LD 3,942 (15.74%)
UKIP 482 (1.92%)
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