2019 United Kingdom general election in Wales

2019 United Kingdom general election

12 December 2019 (2019-12-12)
All 40 Welsh seats to the House of Commons
First party Second party Third party   Jeremy Corbyn Boris Johnson Adam Price Leader Jeremy Corbyn Boris Johnson Adam Price Party Labour Conservative Plaid Cymru Leader since 12 September 2015 23 July 2019 28 September 2018 Last election 28, 48.9% 8, 33.6% 4, 10.4% Seats before 28 7 4 Seats won 22 14 4 Seat change 6 7 Percentage 40.9% 36.1% 9.9%   Fourth party   Jo Swinson Leader Jo Swinson Party Liberal Democrat Leader since 22 July 2019 Last election 0, 4.5% Seats before 1 Seats won 0 Seat change 1 Percentage 6.0%

The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on 12 December 2019 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons, including the 40 Welsh seats.

The Labour Party lost six seats and the Liberal Democrats lost one seat, each of them going to the Conservative Party. Plaid Cymru retained its four seats. This reflected a decrease in vote share of 8% from the Labour Party, matched by increases in vote share for the Brexit Party and Conservative Party of 5.4% and 2.5%, respectively. However, the Labour Party remained the party receiving the most votes, with a 40.9% vote share.

Overall, 1,544,357 votes were cast in Wales, reflecting a turnout of 66.6% of the electorate.

Electoral system

MPs are elected in 40 Single Member constituencies by first-past-the-post.

History and background

The election was called on 29 October 2019, when its date was fixed as 12 December.

In the European Elections in Wales of June 2019, the Brexit Party, newly formed, had taken 32.5% of the votes and won two seats, Plaid Cymru had come second with 20% and one MEP, Jill Evans, and Labour had finished third, with 15.3% and also one MEP, Jackie Jones. Indeed, the Brexit Party has seen success in Wales more than anywhere else, winning seats in the Welsh assembly along with UKIP.

In the run-up to the general election, the Conservative party ousted one of its MPs, Guto Bebb of Aberconwy, who then sat as an independent until the end of the parliament and did not seek re-election. Additionally, the Conservative party lost a by-election in Brecon and Radnorshire to the Liberal Democrats. Before the election, the numbers were 28 Labour MPs, six Conservative, four Plaid, one Liberal Democrat, and one Independent (Bebb).

The Welsh Nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, had seen rising support, gaining one seat in the previous election. The party was for stopping Brexit and holding a second referendum, which was at odds with how Wales had voted in the 2016 referendum.

Target seats

Labour

• Arfon, Plaid Cymru (Plaid hold)
• Preseli Pembrokeshire, Conservative (Conservative hold)

Plaid Cymru

• Ynys Môn, Labour (Conservative gain)
• Llanelli, Labour (Labour hold)

Results

Party		Seats					Votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	% seats	Total	%	Change
	Labour	22	0	6	6	55	632,035	40.9	8.0
	Conservative	14	7	0	7	33	557,234	36.1	2.5
	Plaid Cymru	4	0	0		10	153,265	9.9	0.5
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	1	1	0	92,171	6.0	1.5
style="width: 5px; background-color: Template:Brexit Party/meta/color;" data-sort-value="Brexit Party" |	[[Brexit Party|Template:Brexit Party/meta/shortname]]	0	0	0		0	83,908	5.4	new
	Green	0	0	0		0	15,828	1.0	0.7
	Independents	9	0	0		0	6,220	0.4	N/A
	Gwlad Gwlad	3	0	0		0	1,515	0.1	new
style="width: 5px; background-color: Template:The Cynon Valley Party/meta/color;" data-sort-value="The Cynon Valley Party" |	[[The Cynon Valley Party|Template:The Cynon Valley Party/meta/shortname]]	1	0	0		0	1,322	0.1	new
	Monster Raving Loony	1	0	0		0	345	0.0
	Christian	1	0	0		0	245	0.0	new
	Social Democratic	2	0	0		0	181	0.0	new
	Socialist Alternative	1	0	0		0	88	0.0	new
Total		40					1,544,357	Turnout	66.6

Popular vote
Labour			40.9%
Conservative			36.1%
Plaid Cymru			9.9%
Liberal Democrats			6.4%
Brexit Party			5.0%
Greens			1.0%

Parliament seats
Labour			55%
Conservative			35%
Plaid Cymru			10%

Opinion polling

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2019 United Kingdom general election § Wales

(Includes polls in which polling concluded on or before: 31 May 2019)

Pollster/client(s)	Date(s) conducted	Sample size	Lab	Con	Plaid Cymru	Lib Dem	UKIP	Green	Change UK	Brexit	Other	Lead
				data-sort-type="number" style="background:Template:Welsh Conservatives/meta/color;"|					data-sort-type="number" style="background:Template:Change UK/meta/color;"|	data-sort-type="number" style="background:Template:Brexit Party/meta/color;"|
YouGov/ITV Cymru Wales/Cardiff University	22–25 Nov 2019	1,116	38%	32%	11%	9%	–	1%	–	8%	1%	6%
YouGov/ITV Cymru Wales/Cardiff University	31 Oct–4 Nov 2019	1,136	29%	28%	12%	12%	0%	3%	0%	15%	1%	1%
YouGov/ITV News	10–14 October 2019	1,071	25%	29%	12%	16%	—	4%	—	14%	1%	style="background:Template:Welsh Conservatives/meta/color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 4%
	1 August 2019	Brecon and Radnorshire by-election
YouGov/ITV Cymru Wales/Cardiff University	23–28 July 2019	1,071	22%	24%	15%	16%	—	3%	—	18%	1%	style="background:Template:Welsh Conservatives/meta/color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 2%
YouGov/ITV Cymru Wales/Cardiff University	16–20 May 2019	1,009	25%	17%	13%	12%	1%	5%	2%	23%	2%	2%
YouGov/ITV Cymru Wales/Cardiff University	2–5 Apr 2019	1,025	33%	26%	15%	7%	3%	2%	9%	4%	1%	7%
	4 April 2019	Newport West by-election
ICM/BBC Wales	7–23 Feb 2019	1,000	42%	33%	13%	6%	3%	1%	–	–	2%	9%
YouGov/ITV Cymru Wales/Cardiff University	19–22 Feb 2019	1,025	35%	29%	14%	8%	6%	3%	–	–	4%	6%
Sky Data/Cardiff University	7–14 Dec 2018	1,014	45%	32%	14%	3%	4%	2%	–	–	1%	13%
	6–13 Dec 2018	Mark Drakeford becomes leader of Welsh Labour and First Minister
YouGov/ITV Cymru Wales/Cardiff University	4–7 Dec 2018	1,024	43%	31%	13%	6%	3%	3%	–	–	1%	12%
YouGov/ITV Cymru Wales/Cardiff University	30 Oct–2 Nov 2018	1,031	42%	33%	10%	7%	4%	2%	–	–	1%	9%
Survation/Channel 4	20 Oct–2 Nov 2018	1,177	47%	30%	13%	6%	3%	2%	–	–	0%	17%
	28 September 2018	Adam Price becomes leader of Plaid Cymru
	6 September 2018	Paul Davies becomes leader of the Welsh Conservatives
YouGov/ITV Cymru Wales/Cardiff University	28 Jun–2 Jul 2018	1,031	44%	31%	13%	5%	3%	2%	–	–	1%	13%
YouGov/ITV Cymru Wales/Cardiff University	12–15 Mar 2018	1,015	46%	33%	11%	4%	4%	2%	–	–	1%	13%
ICM/BBC Wales	8–25 Feb 2018	1,001	49%	32%	11%	5%	2%	1%	–	–	0%	17%
YouGov/ITV Cymru Wales/Cardiff University	21–24 Nov 2017	1,016	47%	31%	11%	5%	3%	2%	–	–	1%	16%
	3 November 2017	Jane Dodds becomes leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats
YouGov/ITV Cymru Wales/Cardiff University	4–7 Sep 2017	1,011	50%	32%	8%	4%	3%	1%	–	–	1%	18%
2017 general election	8 June 2017	–	48.9%	33.6%	10.4%	4.5%	2.0%	0.3%	–	–	0.2%	15.4%