The seat is based on the ancient county of
Montgomeryshire, in the
principal area of
Powys. One of
Britain's most rural and isolated constituencies, Montgomeryshire elected Liberal or Liberal-affiliated candidates from 1880, until a Conservative victory in the
1979 general election. In the
1983 general election it was the only seat in England and Wales where a sitting Conservative MP was unseated, while nationally the party's seat majority increased. However, in 2010, the Conservatives won and held the seat in 2015 and 2017, with an increased majority. The seat was officially known as Montgomery before 1997. It is the only seat in Wales never to have elected a Labour MP.[2]
Until 1918 this seat, in common with many others, contained an
enclaved seat, which comprised the boroughs of Montgomery, Llanfyllin, Llanidloes, Newtown and Welshpool. This seat survived the
Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 which abolished many similar seats. The seat was finally abolished in 1918 and absorbed into the wider Montgomery seat, where it remains.
Under proposed constituency boundary changes announced in September 2016, ahead of the next general election, the seat was to be partitioned, the northern half including Welshpool to be merged with
Clwyd South to form a new seat of South Clwyd and North Montgomeryshire; most of the southern including Newtown was to be merged with the
Brecon and Radnor seat to form a seat renamed as Brecon, Radnor and Montgomery,[4] and the wards of Llanidloes and Blaen Hafren merged into the
Ceredigion constituency which would form part of a new seat called Ceredigion and North Pembrokeshire.[5] However, the general elections of
2017 and
2019 were fought on existing boundaries.
In 1983 this was Labour's worst performance in Wales and the only seat where Labour won less than 12.5% and lost their £150
deposit. The threshold for retaining deposits was lowered to 5% in 1985.
^"It's All Change For MPs, Political map to be transformed". Shropshire Star. 13 September 2016. p. 1.Report by Mark Andrews.
^"Former MP urges re-think on move". Shropshire Star. 17 September 2016. p. 16.Report based on criticism of proposals by former Montgomeryshire MP Delwyn Williams.
^
abcdefghiCraig, F. W. S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885-1918 (1 ed.). London and Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press Ltd.
ISBN9780333169032. Page 486
^
abcdefghCraig, F. W. S. (1969). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (1 ed.). Glasgow: Political Reference Publications.
ISBN0-900178-019. Page
^
abcdefghCraig, F. W. S. (1971). British parliamentary election results 1950-1970 (1 ed.). Chichester: Political Reference Publications.
ISBN9780900178023. Page 589
^"Politics Resources". Election February 1974. Politics Resources. 28 February 1974. Archived from
the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
^"Politics Resources". Election October 1974. Politics Resources. 10 October 1974. Archived from
the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
^"Politics Resources". Election 1979. Politics Resources. 3 May 1979. Archived from
the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2021.