Over half of Brexit Party and Tory candidates in Wales live outside constituencies in which they’re standing
Less than half of Brexit party and Conservative general election candidates in Wales live in the constituency in which they’re standing.
Nigel Farage visited Buckley, Flintshire today and the constituency, Alyn and Deeside, is one of the majority where the party’s candidates who do not live in the seats where they are standing.
The Brexit Party is fielding the fewest local candidates in Wales – just 11 of 32 (35%) have a home address within the constituency they’re seeking to represent.
That includes five who live outside of Wales, while eight live in neighbouring constituencies and another eight who live in other parts of Wales.
Those six in include Nathan Gill, who lives in Ynys Môn but is standing for election over 180 miles away in Caerphilly. The Brexit party candidate for Alyn and Deeside is also based in Ynys Mon.
The Brexit party’s candidate in Llanelli also lives over 50 miles away in Torfaen, while their candidates for Swansea East and Swansea West both have home addresses in Cardiff.
Despite the Brexit party having held three rallies in Newport in the past year, it couldn’t find someone who lived in Newport West to contest the constituency for them, turning instead a resident of Cardiff.
Ironically, their candidate for Cardiff South and Penarth lives in Newport and their candidate for Cardiff Central lives in Islwyn.
The party’s difficulty in finding local candidates could be due to a lack of grassroots organisation for the Welsh wing of the party, which doesn’t have members but ‘registered supporters.’
Asked by the BBC how many seats in Wales his party could realistically win Mr Farage today said: “We’re a new party – don’t ask me that.
“We are taking on the Labour Party, that’s our main challenge. We’re taking on the remainer parties and we’re saying to people, Labour or Conservative, if you think the candidate in your seat that can actually go to Westminster and fight for Leave is the Brexit Party, then tactically that’s who you have to vote for.”
Other parties
More than half of Conservative candidates also live outside the constituencies they’re standing in.
Nation has already reported that 13 of their 40 candidates live outside of Wales. In addition, a further five live in other parts of Wales, while seven more live in neighbouring constituencies.
It means that just 15 of 40 (37%) Conservative candidates live in the constituency they’re seeking to represent.
The Conservative candidates for Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda and Caerphilly constituencies all live in Monmouth, while their candidates for Ceredigion and Cardiff West have addresses in Powys and Bridgend respectively.
The other major parties standing have all selected candidates living in the constituencies they’re contesting in more than half of Welsh seats:
Green: 12 of 18 (66%)
Liberal Democrat: 20 of 32 (62.5%)
Plaid Cymru: 28 of 36 (77%)
Labour: 36 of 40 (90%)
There are only four seats in Wales where all the candidates live in the constituency: Vale of Clwyd, Preseli Pembrokeshire, Brecon and Radnorshire, Pontypridd.
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What do you do if you want to be a prospective parliamentary candidate (whether for Westminster or Cardiff Bay) for a political party but there already is a sitting MP/AM/MoS representing your party for the constituency you live in, do you have to wait until they retire/die or do you (and your family) have to move to another constituency? Meanwhile, you would also have to move jobs or endure a longer commute…. The same applies if your party already has an established candidate for your constituency from a previous election. Some of the best MPs and AMs have not been… Read more »
There is no legal requirement, at Parliamentary level, to live in the constituency that you are standing (hence the current situation that the article is about). You do have to live in the council ward if you’re running for local councillor. As for what happens if there is already an AS/MS or AS/MP That is entirely down to party rules. Most parties will presume their sitting MP will be a candidate unless there is a vote to deselect them (which we’ve seen happen a lot in the Conservative party to pro-EU MPs in the last year or so). Labour (London)… Read more »
I nevertheless find it a matter of concern that this election is producing so many candidates for Welsh seats who are not from Wales. I think the country has been used for several years as a testing ground for new candidates with no hustings experience who, after failing to win the seat, are then fielded in a more winnable seat outside Wales. It happens so often that it’s clearly a deliberate policy. Fortunately, few of them seem to win here, but the difference this time is that they are being fielded in marginal seats like Arfon or winnable seats like… Read more »
The upside of that headline is that they all have a home to which they will retreat far away from the parts of Wales they wish to colonise. At least we won’t have to put up with them living amongst us after 12th December.