Local government in Wales in the context of "Blaenau Gwent"

The coastline of Wales extends from the English border at Chepstow westwards to Pembrokeshire then north to Anglesey and back eastwards to the English border once again near Flint. Its character is determined by multiple factors, including the local geology and geological processes active during and subsequent to the last ice age, its relative exposure to or shelter from waves, tidal variation and the history of human settlement and development which varies considerably from one place to another. The majority of the coast east of Cardiff in the south, and of Llandudno in the north, is flat whilst that to the west is more typically backed by cliffs. The cliffs are a mix of sandstones, shales and limestones, the erosion of which provides material for beach deposits. Of the twenty-two principal areas which deliver local government in Wales, sixteen have a coastline, though that of Powys consists only of a short section of tidal river some distance from the open sea. Its length (including Anglesey) has been estimated at 1,680 miles (2,700 km).

The 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum took place in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar on 23 June 2016. Membership of the European Union had been a topic of political debate in the United Kingdom since the country joined the European Communities (then commonly referred to as the "Common Market" by the British people) in 1973. This referendum was conducted very differently from the European Communities membership referendum in 1975; a more localised and regionalised counting procedure was used, and the ballot was overseen by the Electoral Commission, a public body that did not exist at the time of the first vote. This article lists, by voting area for Great Britain and Gibraltar and by parliamentary constituency for Northern Ireland, all the results of the referendum, each ordered into national and regional sections.

Under the provisions of the European Union Referendum Act 2015, there were a total of 382 voting areas across twelve regions, using the same boundaries as used in European Parliamentary elections since 1999, under the provisions of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002, with votes counted at local authority level. In England the 326 local government districts were used as the voting areas; these consist of all unitary authorities, all metropolitan boroughs, all shire districts, the London boroughs, the City of London and the Isles of Scilly. The nine regions of England were then also used to count the votes at the regional level, with Gibraltar being regarded as part of South West England. Northern Ireland was a single voting area as well as being a regional count, although local totals by Westminster parliamentary constituency area were announced. In Scotland the 32 Scottish council areas were used as voting areas, and there was a single national count. In Wales the 22 Welsh council areas were used as the voting areas, and there was a single national count.

The principal areas of Wales, comprising the counties and county boroughs of Wales, are a form of subdivision in Wales. There are currently 22 principal areas in Wales, and they were established in 1996. They are a single-tier form of local government, each governed by a principal council. They replaced the previous two-tier system of eight counties and 37 districts that were in place in Wales from 1974 to 1996.

A community (Welsh: cymuned) is a division of land that forms the lowest tier of local government in Wales. Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England but, unlike English parishes, communities cover the whole of Wales. There are 878 communities in Wales, with more than 730 having community and town councils.

North East Wales (Welsh: Gogledd-Ddwyrain Cymru) is an area or region of Wales, commonly defined as a grouping of the principal areas of Denbighshire, Flintshire, and Wrexham County Borough in the north-east of the country. These principal areas comprise most (excluding Colwyn, and parts of Glyndŵr) of the former administrative county of Clwyd. It is bordered by Conwy, and Gwynedd, in North West Wales to the west, Powys, in Mid Wales to the south, the English counties of Cheshire, and Shropshire to the east, and the Irish Sea, and Dee estuary to the north. It is the more urban, densely populated, and industrial part of the north Wales geographic region, centred on the city of Wrexham and the towns of Rhyl and Prestatyn, and the conurbation of Deeside. The region's close links with North West England in general and Merseyside in particular (together as the "Mersey-Dee" economic sub-region) are crucial to the region's economy.

The Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is located in the region. Other attractions include historical buildings such as Chirk Castle, and Erddig in Wrexham, valley towns such as Corwen and Llangollen, and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site.

The Senedd constituencies and electoral regions (Welsh: Etholaethau a Rhanbarthau etholiadol Senedd Cymru) are the electoral districts used to elect members of the Senedd (MS; Welsh: Aelodau'r Senedd or AS) to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; Welsh: Senedd Cymru), and have been used in some form since the first election of the then National Assembly for Wales in 1999.

There are currently forty single-member constituencies and five four-member regions. The five electoral regions are: Mid and West Wales, North Wales, South Wales Central, South Wales East, and South Wales West, with the forty constituencies listed below. Voting last took place in all districts in the 2021 Senedd election, and is not used for local government. The current boundaries were introduced for the 2007 Assembly election.

There are a number of political parties registered to the Electoral Commission in Wales. Some of these parties have elected representation in the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; Welsh: Senedd Cymru) and/or in Westminster (UK Parliament) and some have elected representation in one or more of the 22 Welsh local authorities, while others have entirely no elected representation. This Wikipedia page lists all of the above and some relevant Welsh political parties that formerly existed but have since disbanded. The largest political parties typically reside in either the House of Commons or the Senedd, the current largest party in Wales is Welsh Labour, followed closely by the Welsh Conservatives and Plaid Cymru.

Welsh Labour (Welsh: Llafur Cymru), formerly known as the Labour Party in Wales (Welsh: Y Blaid Lafur yng Nghymru), is an autonomous section of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in the modern politics of Wales. Welsh Labour and its forebears have won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every United Kingdom general election since 1922, every National Assembly (now Senedd) election since 1999, and all elections to the European Parliament in the period 1979–2004 and in 2014. Welsh Labour holds 27 of the 32 Welsh seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, 30 of the 60 seats in the Welsh Senedd, and 576 of the 1,264 councillors in principal local authorities including overall control of 10 of the 22 principal local authorities.

It has longest winning streak of any political party in the world and has been described as "by some distance the democratic world's most successful election-winning machine".

Local government in the United Kingdom has origins which pre-date the United Kingdom itself, as each of the four countries of the United Kingdom has its own separate system. For an overview, see Administrative geography of the United Kingdom. For details, see:

• Local government in England
• Local government in Northern Ireland
• Local government in Scotland
• Local government in Wales

For the history of local government in each country, see: