2000 Ceredigion by-election

The Plaid Cymru Member of Parliament for Ceredigion, Cynog Dafis, was unexpectedly elected to the National Assembly for Wales in May 1999 and decided to give up his seat in the House of Commons in order to concentrate on his work in the Assembly. By accepting the office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead on 10 January 2000, he formally vacated his seat.

2000 Ceredigion by-election

3 February 2000
Ceredigion constituency
First party Second party   Candidate Simon Thomas Mark Williams Party Plaid Cymru Liberal Democrats Popular vote 10,716 5,768 Percentage 42.8% 23.0% Swing 1.1% 6.5%   Third party Fourth party   Lab Candidate Paul Davies Maria Battle Party Conservative Labour Popular vote 4,138 3,612 Percentage 16.5% 14.4% Swing 1.6% 9.9%
MP before election Cynog Dafis Plaid Cymru Subsequent MP Simon Thomas Plaid Cymru

Plaid Cymru selected Simon Thomas, who had been their Director of Policy and responsible for writing their manifestos for the 1997 general election and 1999 Assembly election. Labour, who had come second in the previous general election, chose a local social worker, Maria Battle.

The election campaign was dominated by the issue of European Objective 1 funding. The constituency was part of the area of Wales that was granted Objective One status in 1999, but under European rules the funding had to be matched by a minimum of 25% from other sources, including private funding and resources from central and local government. Plaid Cymru, Conservative and Liberal Democrat politicians demanded this funding be made available solely from central government in addition to the block grant already paid to the Welsh Assembly by the UK Treasury, and the chief reporter for Wales on Sunday newspaper Martin Shipton stood as a single-issue candidate demanding 'Match Funding now'. The Labour administration in the Welsh Assembly insisted that such a demand misrepresented the resourcing of Objective 1 programmes.

Polling day in the by-election was 3 February. Plaid Cymru retained the seat comfortably, with the Liberal Democrats taking second in a seat they had previously held from 1974 until 1992 – and would win again in 2005.

Electoral history

General election 1997: Ceredigion

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Plaid Cymru	Cynog Dafis	16,728	41.6	+10.7
	Labour	Robert (Hag) Harris	9,767	24.3	+5.7
	Liberal Democrats	Dai Davies	6,616	16.5	-10.0
	Conservative	Felix Aubel	5,983	14.9	-9.1
	Referendum	John Leaney	1,092	2.7	New
Majority			6,961	17.3	+4.9
Turnout			40,186	73.9	-4.1
Registered electors			54,378
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing	+2.5

Results

2000 Ceredigion by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Plaid Cymru	Simon Thomas	10,716	42.8	+1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Williams	5,768	23.0	+6.5
	Conservative	Paul Davies	4,138	16.5	+1.6
	Labour	Maria Battle	3,612	14.4	-9.9
	UKIP	John Bufton	487	1.9	New
	Independent Green – Save the World Climate	John Davies	289	1.2	New
	Wales on Sunday – Match Funding Now	Martin Shipton	55	0.2	New
Majority			4,948	19.8	+2.5
Turnout			25,143	46.0	-27.9
Registered electors			55,025
	Plaid Cymru hold		Swing	-2.7

External links

• Campaign literature from the by-election