Comment DBCC-8410

The Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare Constituency Labour Party (CLP) agrees with the Commission's proposal to merge the Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare and the Pontypridd parliamentary constituencies for the new Senedd seat. Geography, infrastructure and shared culture all lend themselves to these seats being merged, while having the added effect of reuniting the old Cynon Valley seat, which was split by the most recent parliamentary boundary changes.

However, the CLP would like to make one suggestion to the most recent proposals. Following consultation, the CLP would like to propose that the full name 'Merthyr Tydfil' be reflected in the Commission's draft.

Paragraph 10.5 of the revised proposals states: “The Commission proposes the single name of Merthyr Cynon Taf for this constituency. The Commission has determined that the name is acceptable for use as a single name as it incorporates both local authority names within the proposed constituency and is likely to be recognisable to residents. The Welsh Language Commissioner has agreed with the orthography of the single name.”

The CLP feels the full 'Merthyr Tydfil' should be used to reflect the historic significance behind the name. It dates from 480 AD when Tydfil, the daughter of King Brychan of Brycheiniog was killed at Merthyr by pagans. There are also five other communities with ‘Merthyr‘ in their name – Merthyr Mawr (Bridgend), Merthyr Cynog (Powys) and Merthyr Dyfan (Barry). The fourth is simply Merthyr, a small village in Carmarthenshire. And the fifth is within Merthyr Tydfil itself - Merthyr Vale. The Welsh version of the new constituency would be Merthyr Tudful Cynon Taf. Furthermore, this would avoid the possible confusion over the similarity between MCT and RCT (Rhondda Cynon Taf), which already causes some confusion within RCT. In addition, a four word title is already proposed for our neighbouring constituency, Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni.

The CLP accepts the restoration of the name 'Cynon' and believes that, while the Pontypridd parliamentary constituency might be better reflected by the name 'Taf', the Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare CLP should not submit a suggestion relating to another parliamentary constituency.

Respondent type

On behalf of an organisation (private or public)

Organisation name

Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare Constituency Labour Party

This comment refers to

The entire area under review.