1995 Islwyn by-election

← 1992

16 February 1995

1997 →

The Islwyn seat in the House of Commons.
Elected by simple majority using first past the post.
Triggered by resignation of incumbent

			LD
Candidate	Don Touhig	Jocelyn Davies	John Bushell
Party	Labour	Plaid Cymru	Liberal Democrats
Popular vote	16,030	2,933	2,448
Percentage	69.2	12.7	10.6

MP before election

Neil Kinnock
Labour

Elected MP

Don Touhig
Labour

A by-election was held in the Welsh parliamentary constituency of Islwyn on 16 February 1995 following the resignation on 20 January of Neil Kinnock who was appointed as a European Commissioner.^[1]^[2]

Whilst being a safe Labour seat and a comfortable victory, the Conservative party suffered a serious drop in support which saw them lose their deposit, gaining less than 5% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Robert Buckland, would later be elected as MP for South Swindon 15 years later, and would go on to serve in the cabinet.^[1]

Result

1995 Islwyn by-election^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Don Touhig	16,030	69.2	−5.1
	Plaid Cymru	Jocelyn Davies	2,933	12.7	+8.8
	Liberal Democrats	John Bushell	2,448	10.6	+4.9
	Conservative	Robert Buckland	913	3.9	−10.9
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	506	2.2	+0.9
	UKIP	Hugh Hughes	289	1.2	N/A
	Natural Law	Trevor Rees	47	0.2	N/A
Majority			13,097	56.5	-3.0
Turnout			23,166	45.1	−36.3
Registered electors			50,971
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.90

References

^ ^a ^b Patricia Wynn Davies (17 February 1995). "Conservatives trounced in poll". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
^ "Islwyn". Caerphilly Observer. Archived from the original on 11 September 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
^ Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1992-97 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 20 July 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2020.

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