On 4 July 2024, the 2024 United Kingdom general election was held in Wales, to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons, including the 32 Welsh seats.
Thirty-two seats were up for election in Wales, a decrease from 40, as the general election occurred after a boundary review took effect. The Labour Party remained the largest party in Wales, gaining six seats for a total of 27. Both Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats made gains, taking them to four seats and one seat respectively. The Conservatives lost all thirteen seats they had held previously, leaving the party without Westminster representation from Wales for the first time since 2005.
Election Date of the election On 22 May 2024, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced 4 July 2024 as the election date.
Number of Welsh MPs
The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, as amended by the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020, mandated the number of seats in Wales be reduced from 40 to 32 to more accurately reflect its share of registered voters, including one coterminous with the Isle of Anglesey. The Boundary Commission for Wales was responsible for drawing up proposals for the new constituency boundaries, but it was required to abide by this total.
The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies began in 2020 and concluded in 2023. Initial proposals were published in September 2021. The revised proposals were published on 19 October 2022 followed by a four-week consultation period. On 28 June 2023, the Boundary Commission for Wales published its final recommendations for the new Welsh constituencies. These changes were approved at a meeting of the Privy Council on 15 November. and came into force on 29 November.
Constituencies
Members not standing for re-election MP Constituency First elected Party Date announcedCaerphilly2001LabourArfon2001Plaid CymruCynon Valley2019LabourClwyd West2005ConservativeBridgend2019ConservativeNeath2015LabourCardiff West2001LabourSwansea West1997Labour Carmarthen East and Dinefwr2010Plaid Cymru
Candidates
Affiliation CandidatesConservative Party32Green Party of England and Wales32Labour Party32Liberal Democrats32Plaid Cymru32Reform UK31Independents17 (15 constituencies)Heritage Party6Workers Party of Britain4Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party3Co-operative Party3Official Monster Raving Loony Party2Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition2Women's Equality Party2Climate Party1Communist Party of Britain1Libertarian Party (UK)1Propel1Socialist Labour Party (UK)1True and Fair Party1UK Independence Party1Total235
Results By affiliation
Affiliation Candidates Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 32 27 8 0 9 84.4 487,636 37.0 3.9 32 0 0 12 12 0.0 240,003 18.2 17.9 31 0 0 0 0.0 223,018 16.9 11.5 32 4 2 0 2 12.5 194,811 14.8 4.9 32 1 1 0 1 3.1 85,911 6.5 0.5 32 0 0 0 0.0 61,662 4.7 3.7 17 0 0 0 0.0 17,593 1.3 0.9 4 0 colspan="3" 0.0 1,545 0.1 3 0 colspan="3" 0.0 1,521 0.1 1 0 colspan="3" 0.0 1,041 0.1 6 0 colspan="3" 0.0 926 0.1 1 0 colspan="3" 0.0 600 0.0 2 0 colspan="3" 0.0 536 0.0 2 0 colspan="3" 0.0 532 0.0 1 0 colspan="3" 0.0 521 0.0 1 0 colspan="3" 0.0 439 0.0 1 0 colspan="3" 0.0 424 0.0 2 0 0 0 0.0 393 0.0 1 0 colspan="3" 0.0 255 0.0 1 0 colspan="3" 0.0 104 0.0 Total 235 32 colspan="2" 1,319,471 56.0 10.6
By constituency
By affiliate share
Candidates by constituency
Candidates in bold won their respective constituency election.
Opinion polling
The dates for these opinion polls range from the 2019 general election on 12 December to the present day.
Poll results
Seat projections Dates conducted Pollster Sample sizeLab.Con.PCLD Notes20 Oct 2022People Polling 1,23735041 Based on 40 seats. Seats were reduced to 32.12 Dec 20192019 general election–221440
Analysis
The Labour Party remained the largest party in Wales, winning 27 of the 32 seats. In addition to defending all of their seats in the south including around Cardiff and Swansea, Labour reversed many of the Conservative gains in 2019, gaining seats such as Bangor Aberconwy, Clwyd East, Clwyd North, Monmouthshire and Wrexham. Labour also won in Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr, which covers Montgomeryshire, the only area in Wales which had, until 2024, never elected a Labour MP. Of the Labour MPs elected, 2 of them are also members of the Co-operative Party. They are designated as Labour-Co-op, but generally just counted in Labour's total.
Plaid Cymru won four seats, the same as in 2019, however given boundary changes and the reduction in seats this should be counted as two gains. Plaid Cymru defended Dwyfor Meirionnydd and Ceredigion Preseli with significant majorities, gaining the new seat of Caerfyrddin which had been nominally Conservative in 2019, and gained Ynys Môn from the Conservatives. This was the first time Plaid Cymru had won in Ynys Môn since 2001; it was the most marginal seat in Wales with a majority of 637 votes between Plaid and Conservatives, with Labour in close third place. By the share of the vote (14.8 per cent), Plaid Cymru achieved their best ever result in UK general election.
The Liberal Democrats gained one seat in Wales, Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe. Outside of briefly holding the predecessor seat following the 2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election, the Liberal Democrats have not had a seat in Wales since losing Ceredigion in 2017.
The Conservative Party lost every seat in Wales, having won fourteen seats in 2019, the first time since 2001 that Wales had no Conservative MPs. This was despite the Conservatives taking 18.2% of the overall vote and outpolling both Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats in terms of votes.
Reform UK was the third largest party in terms of votes with 16.9%, nearly as many votes as the Conservatives and more than both Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats; it was also a higher vote share than in England. Reform was the runner-up in thirteen constituencies, coming closest to winning in Llanelli. The Green Party was runner-up in one constituency, Cardiff South and Penarth.
See also 2024 United Kingdom general election in England 2024 United Kingdom general election in Scotland 2024 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland 2026 Senedd election List of MPs for constituencies in Wales (2024–present) List of marginal seats before the 2024 United Kingdom general election
Notes
References