Alyn and Deeside
2005 Results:
Labour: 17331 (48.8%)
Conservative: 8953 (25.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 6174 (17.4%)
Plaid Cymru: 1320 (3.7%)
Other: 1718 (4.8%)
Majority: 8378 (23.6%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 9303 (26.3%)
Labour: 18525 (52.3%)
Liberal Democrat: 4585 (12.9%)
Plaid Cymru: 1182 (3.3%)
UKIP: 481 (1.4%)
Green: 881 (2.5%)
Other: 464 (1.3%)
Majority: 9222 (26%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 9552 (22.8%)
Labour: 25955 (61.9%)
Liberal Democrat: 4076 (9.7%)
Plaid Cymru: 738 (1.8%)
Referendum: 1627 (3.9%)
Majority: 16403 (39.1%)
No Boundary Changes:
Profile: On the English border Alyn and Deeside is geographically one of the smallest Welsh constituencies. The main town in the constituency is Connah`s Quay, along with Buckley to the South and the village of Caergwrle. Deeside is a traditional industrial area – the constituency contains Connah`s Quay power station, the Corus steel plant, the Toyota Engine factory and BAE Systems in Broughton where the wings for the new Airbus A380 are manufactured.
Current MP: Mark Tami(Labour) born 1962. Educated at Enfield Grammar and Swansea University. Married with 2 sons. Worked as head of policy at AEEU prior to being first elected in 2001. Parliamentary interests include manufacturing, industry and aerospace. Tami is a party loyalist – he publicly opposed university top-up fees, but in the end did not rebel against the government (his only rebellion against the government was over the religious hatred offence in November 2001, when a whip accidentally told him to vote in the wrong lobby!) In 2000 Tami co-authored a Fabian Society pamphlet with Tom Watson MP calling for compulsory voting to arrest the decline in turnout. Tami was appointed as PPS to Dawn Primarolo in 2005. (more information at They work for you)
Candidates: Will Gallagher (Conservative) Educated at Cambridge University. Runs a fmaily business in Sandycroft. Contested Alyn and Deeside in 2007 Welsh Assembly elections.John Walker (BNP)
2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 78967
Male: 49.1%
Female: 50.9%
Under 18: 23.7%
Over 60: 19.2%
Born outside UK: 2.7%
White: 99.1%
Asian: 0.2%
Mixed: 0.3%
Other: 0.3%
Christian: 78.6%
Full time students: 2.2%
Graduates 16-74: 14.5%
No Qualifications 16-74: 28.5%
Owner-Occupied: 76.5%
Social Housing: 16.5% (Council: 13.1%, Housing Ass.: 3.3%)
Privately Rented: 5.2%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 7.5%
Hi Richard
Alun and Deeside is nothing like Liverpool Riverside or Tower Hamlets in terms of demography. Labour’s vote here is likely to drop below 40% at the next GE.
My advice is to take a drive around the top end of Connah’s Quay, Hawarden and Buckley. One would hardly be afraid to leave a flashy car in any of these ‘average to middle income’ earning areas, which form a significant percentage of the population of this constituency. There are some deprived areas granted.
Watch this space!
Too close to call in my humble opinion. Alyn needs a swing to Con of 11.8% to go to the Conservatives. The swing in Crewe in 2008 was nearer 17%. But if I had to plump for a winner, I would put an each way bet on Mark Tami to HOLD the seat (and a similar bet on Will Gallagher to GAIN)
Which constituencies have included Hawarden since 1885?
Presumably it was in Flintshire which was a single seat until 1950 after which it will have been in Flintshire East till 1883 then Alyn & Deeside
This seat needs to remain as Labour. Mark’s majority should be safe enough to get him through. A successful and positive campaign is vital though.
Marchdowntheline’s comments make sense to me. labour needs a good campaign in order to prevent this seat from being too close to call
The Communists are planning to stand here
Which particular Communists? There are quite a few different ones. (Not that it would make any difference.)
I understand its the Welsh Communist Party – they are also planning to stand in Caerphilly (info from Jim Page on vote 2007)
The BNP have selected John Walker
Neil Turner – the demographics may not be that dissimilar from parts of Lpool Riverside or Tower Hamlets. As for sports cars, don’t forget Lpool’s £1m apartments and Tower Hamlets’ Canary Wharf. The extent of the change will be measured in next year’s Census.
“the demographics may not be that dissimilar from parts of Lpool Riverside or Tower Hamlets.”
Really?
“As for sports cars, don’t forget Lpool’s £1m apartments and Tower Hamlets’ Canary Wharf.”
But the people in this consistuency with expensive cars are affluent bourgeouise, in the others they are trendy urban yuppies.
There’s actually a closer comparison between the richer parts of this seat with the Aigburth part of Riverside than with Riverside’s £1m appartments, of which I suspect there are fewer than 10.
The Plaid Cymru candidate is Maurice Jones.