Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group
Encyclopedia
The Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group was a political party based in the Blaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent is a county borough in South Wales, sharing its name with a parliamentary constituency. It borders the unitary authority areas of Monmouthshire and Torfaen to the east, Caerphilly to the west and Powys to the north. Its main towns are Abertillery, Brynmawr, Ebbw Vale and...

 area of Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

.

The group was formed in the aftermath of the election to the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 of Peter Law
Peter Law
Peter John Law was a Welsh politician.- Labour Co-operative AM and Independent MP :For most of his career Law sat as a Labour Councillor and subsequently Labour Co-operative Assembly Member for Blaenau Gwent...

 as an independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

 Member of Parliament, beating the official Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 candidate. Peter Law stood against the official party candidate after an internal party row. His victory was one the only independent successes in the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....

. There were two other minority parties elected in 2005, Dr Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor may refer to:*Richard Taylor , father of U.S. president Zachary Taylor*Richard Taylor , British general*Richard Taylor , son of U.S...

 (Health Concern - Wyre Forest) and George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...

 (RESPECT - Bethnal Green and Bow). Dai Davies (Law's agent) was elected at a by-election following Law's death in 2006. In the 2010 General Election Davies, Taylor and Galloway all lost their seats. Davies and Galloway lost their seats to Labour and Dr Taylor lost his seat to the Conservative party candidate.

The BGPVG formed with the purpose of ensuring a continuing independent presence in the constituency, which was considered a more pressing need following the death of Peter Law in April 2006. Two by-elections were required as Peter Law represented the seat at Westminster and as a member of the National Assembly for Wales
National Assembly for Wales
The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...

. The 2006 Blaenau Gwent by-elections
Blaenau Gwent by-elections, 2006
Two by-elections were held for the constituency of Blaenau Gwent in Wales following the death of Member of Parliament and Assembly Member Peter Law on 25 April 2006. As Law was the MP and Assembly Member , his death required by-elections in both the parliamentary seat and the equivalent Welsh...

 were held on 29 June 2006 and resulted in two victories for the Party, with Dai Davies
Dai Davies (politician)
David Clifford Davies, commonly known as Dai Davies, was the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Member of Parliament for the Blaenau Gwent constituency in South Wales from 2006 to 2010...

, Peter Law's former election agent, winning the Westminster seat and Law's widow Trish Law
Trish Law
Patricia Law, née Bolter was the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice AM for Blaenau Gwent in Wales between 2006 and 2011.-Background:...

 taking the Welsh Assembly seat. Neither candidate formally stood as a BGPVG candidate on the ballot papers (Davies stood as an independent and Law used no party description). Davies held the seat until he was overwhelmingly defeated by Labour's Nick Smith by over 10,500 votes at the 2010 General Election, a swing from BGPV to Labour of 29.2%. After this huge defeat the future of the party is uncertain.

It was registered as a political party with the Electoral Commission on January 30, 2007 under the simple name of People's Voice.

In March 2007, People's Voice signalled its aim to expand in to other constituencies with Torfaen
Torfaen (UK Parliament constituency)
Torfaen is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It returns one Member of Parliament , elected by the first past the post system.-Boundaries:...

, Monmouth
Monmouth (UK Parliament constituency)
Monmouth is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post of election...

, Islwyn
Islwyn (UK Parliament constituency)
Islwyn is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.This area, historically known for coal-mining, is a safe Labour Party seat latterly held by the former Leader of the Opposition Neil Kinnock...

, Newport East
Newport East (UK Parliament constituency)
Newport East is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament using the first-past-the-post voting system.-Boundaries:...

, Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

 and Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...

 all being mentioned. However, in the nominations for the Assembly Election of May 3rd 2007
National Assembly for Wales election, 2007
The 2007 National Assembly election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the National Assembly for Wales. It was the third general election. On the same day local elections in England and Scotland, and the Scottish Parliament election took place...

, Trish Law defended her seat as an independent, and there was a People's Voice candidate only in Torfaen. While Law was successful in retaining her seat, the Group made no gains coming in third in Torfaen with 14.4% of the vote.

In the 2008 Welsh local elections People's Voice gained 8 council seats, 5 in Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council and 3 in Torfaen County Borough Council. The Torfaen People's Voice Group has since broken up over an internal dispute over Blaenau Gwent PV Group wanting to impose a candidate on Torfaen.

In June 2010 Dai Davies said he was standing down as leader of the group and was retiring from politics. In August 2010 the party was disbanded and all 5 BGPVG Councillors resigned from party and now sit as Independents on the Council. The party is now going to become a pressure group.

On the 20th of September 2010, the only People's Voice representative, Trish Law
Trish Law
Patricia Law, née Bolter was the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice AM for Blaenau Gwent in Wales between 2006 and 2011.-Background:...

AM, announced that she would not seek re-election at the 2011 Assembly election. there were talks for the former MP Dai Davies to stand in place of Law but decided not to.

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