2001 United Kingdom general election in Wales

2001 United Kingdom general election in Wales

7 June 2001
All 40 Welsh seats to the House of Commons
First party Second party Third party   Leader Tony Blair Ieuan Wyn Jones Charles Kennedy Party Labour Plaid Cymru Liberal Democrats Leader since 21 July 1994 3 August 2000 9 August 1999 Last election 34 seats, 54.7% 4 seats, 10.0% 2 seats, 12.4% Seats won 34 4 2 Seat change Popular vote 666,956 195,893 189,254 Percentage 48.6% 14.3% 13.8% Swing 6.2% 4.3% 1.5%

Main article: 2001 United Kingdom general election

These are the results of the 2001 United Kingdom general election in Wales. The election was held on 7 June 2001 and all 40 seats in Wales were contested. The overall result remained exactly the same as in the previous election in 1997, with only two changes - Labour gained Ynys Môn from Plaid Cymru and Plaid gained Carmarthen East and Dinefwr from Labour. The Conservatives, despite taking the second largest number of votes in Wales, once again won no seats; this was only the second election since 1918 to leave them with no representation in Wales.

Results

Below is a table summarising the results of the 2001 general election in Wales.

Party		Seats					Votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	% seats	Total votes	% votes	Change
	Labour	34	1	1		85.0	666,956	48.6	6.2
	Conservative	0	0	0		—	288,623	21.0	1.5
	Plaid Cymru	4	1	1		10.0	195,893	14.3	4.3
	Liberal Democrats	2	0	0		5.0	189,254	13.8	1.5
	UKIP	0	0	0		—	12,552	0.9	0.9
	Green	0	0	0		—	3,753	0.3	0.2
	Socialist Labour	0	0	0		—	2,805	0.2	0.2
	Socialist Alliance	0	0	0		—	2,258	0.2	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	0	0	0		—	1,609	0.1	0.1
	Communist	0	0	0		—	384	0.0
	BNP	0	0	0		—	278	0.0	N/A
	Other parties	0	0	0		—	7,959	0.6	N/A

Outcome and changes

A BBC report of the election in Wales stated that "Despite a night of high tension the political map in Wales virtually looks the same as before".

The only seats to change hands were Carmarthen East and Dinefwr which Adam Price of Plaid Cymru gained from Labour and Ynys Môn which Labour gained from Plaid Cymru. Plaid failed to gain Rhondda which Chris Bryant held for Labour with a majority of over 16,000, a result the BBC said meant that Bryant had "confounded his critics". Bryant, a former curate who had once been a member of the Conservatives had been criticised as being an odd fit and "too exotic" for traditional Labour supporters in the constituency which he was contesting for the first time. This had led Plaid Cymru to feel they had a chance of a victory, a feat they had surprisingly achieved in the equivalent constituency at the 1999 National Assembly for Wales election. Plaid's candidate Leanne Wood had publicly claimed she would win 53% of the vote. Plaid's performance by the percentage points (14.3 per cent) would be its best result up until 2024.

The Conservatives again failed to win any seat in Wales, with their best result being in Monmouth where they finished just 384 votes behind Labour. The Liberal Democrats failed to add to their two seats, with Jenny Willott reducing Labour's majority in Cardiff Central to just 659 votes.