On Tuesday 27 October 1931, the 1931 United Kingdom general election was held in Wales, to elect all 615 members of the House of Commons, with 36 constituencies being in Wales. 35 seats represented territorial constituencies contested under the first past the post electoral system, and one additional seat represented the University of Wales which was also contested under the first past the post electoral system. It was the last UK general election not to take place on a Thursday.

In this election, the parties forming the National Government across the United Kingdom won 67 per cent of the popular vote and over 90 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons. In Wales, despite the National Government obtaining more votes than the Labour Opposition, the combined Labour Opposition still held the most seats.

Candidates

Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1931 general election in Wales, excluding those in the University of Wales constituency.

Affiliation CandidatesLabour Party 29Conservative Party 14Liberal Party 10Liberal National Party 5Independent Liberals 4Communist Party of Great Britain 3New Party 2National Labour Organisation 1Independent Labour Party 1Independent Labour 1Plaid Cymru 1National Independent 1Total 72

Analysis

Labour Opposition

Although the National Coalition parties polled with the greater vote share combined in Wales, and formed the Government of the United Kingdom following the election, the combined Labour opposition retained its position as the largest party by seats in Wales.

Former chair of the Independent Labour Party R. C. Wallhead had his support withdrawn by the Labour Party in his safe Labour seat of Merthyr. Wallhead won the seat as an Independent Labour Party candidate, being only one of five such candidates to retain his seat. He remained part of the Labour Opposition to the National Government despite not being part of the party. Wallhead would, however, Wallhead resign from the Independent Labour Party and rejoined the Labour in 1933. Wallhead's later death in 1934, however, also caused the 1934 Merthyr by-election with Labour candidate S. O. Davies retaking the seat. Overall, the Labour opposition lost a total of nine seats in Wales.

National Government

The Conservative Party, as the largest party of the National Government, gained Newport, Brecon and Radnorshire, Llandaff and Barry, Cardiff East and Cardiff South from the Labour Party. Notably, Cardiff East had switched from the Liberals initially holding the seat at its creation in 1918, to the Conservative Party in 1922, to the Liberal Party in 1923, returning again to the Conservatives in 1924 United Kingdom general election, then being gained by the Labour Party in 1929; however, the seat would again return to the Conservative Party in this election, and be held by the party until the 1942 Cardiff East by-election.

The newly formed Liberal National Party, which had split from the Liberal Party and which were also part of the National Government, gained Denbigh, Flintshire and Montgomeryshire from the Liberal Party by way of incumbent members of the Liberals defecting to the new party and winning the seats. Of those seats, both Clement Davies in Montgomeryshire and Henry Morris-Jones in Denbigh ran unopposed. The party also gained Swansea West from Labour. The fifth seat the party contested was Pontypool, however the candidate Thomas Keens was unsuccessful.

Additionally, the newly formed National Labour led by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald gained Cardiff Central. This was the only seat in Wales contested by National Labour. The incumbent Member of Parliament for the seat, former Labour member Ernest Bennett, defected and won the seat in the election.

Liberals and Independent Liberals

The Liberal Party, which had joined the National Coalition, gained Wrexham and Carmarthen from the Labour Party, as well as Liberal Ernest Evans again retaining his seat in the University of Wales constituency.

However, due to David Lloyd George splitting from the party in opposition to the Liberal Party being in National Government, the Independent Liberals, who were incumbent Members of Parliament and primarily members of his family, gained four seats from the Liberal Party. These were Lloyd George himself in Caernarvon Boroughs, his daughter and first female Member of Parliament for Wales Megan Lloyd George in Anglesey and his son Gwilym Lloyd George in Pembrokeshire. It also included Goronwy Owen in Caernarvonshire, whose wife Gladwyn was the sister of Edna, the wife of Gwilym Lloyd George. The Independent Liberal group only won seats in Wales, despite two other candidates running in English constituencies.

As a result, the Liberal party was decreased to just holding five seats in Wales, with Lloyd George's Independent Liberals holding four.

County and borough constituency results Below is a table summarising the constituency results of the 1931 general election in Wales, excluding the result in the University of Wales constituency.

+PartySeatsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of total (%) Total Of total (%) Change (%)   Labour Opposition (Total) 16 0 9 9 45.7 479,547 44.1 0.2 15 0 10 10 42.8 454,924 41.8 2.1 1 colspan="2" 1 2.9 24,623 2.3   National Government (Total) 15 colspan="2" 5 42.9 498,170 45.8 6 5 0 5 17.1 240,861 22.1 0.1 4 2 7 5 11.4 157,472 14.5 19.0   Liberal National 4 colspan="2" 4 11.4 75,717 7.0 1 colspan="2" 1 2.9 24,120 2.2   Independent Liberals 4 colspan="2" 4 11.4 71,539 6.6   Communist 0 0 0 — 17,754 1.6 1.0   New Party 0 colspan="3" — 11,300 1.0   National Independent 0 colspan="3" — 7,990 0.7   Plaid Cymru 0 0 0 — 1,136 0.1 0.1   Independent Labour 0 colspan="3" — 1,110 0.1 Total 35 0 100.0 1,088,546 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 1,625,118 79.3 3.1

Popular vote

Parliament seats

University of Wales result

Below is a table summarising the 1931 constituency results for seat of the University of Wales constituency. The Liberal Party retained the seat, bringing the total seats of the Liberal Party to five out of the possible 36.

See also 1931 United Kingdom general election in England 1931 United Kingdom general election in Scotland 1931 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland List of MPs for constituencies in Wales (1931–1935)

Notes

References