THE Newport East constituency has been a Labour stronghold since John Griffiths was first elected during the first Assembly elections in 1999.

Mr Griffiths, a trained solicitor, will defend a 875 Labour Co-operative majority after winning the last election with 6,395 votes, ahead of Liberal Democrat Ed Townsend’s 5,520 votes from a total of 19,906 votes cast.

Its parliamentary seat has been held by Labour’s Jessica Morden since 2005.

Geographically, Newport East includes in the urban areas of the city east of the River Usk, as well as parts of south Monmouthshire, including Magor, Undy, Rogiet and furthest east, Caldicot.

The constituency includes parts of Newport such as St Julians, Beechwood, Victoria, Maindee, Alway and Ringland, and is host to the Corus steelworks site at Llanwern.

A good part of the site closed in 2001 with the loss of hundreds of jobs, with a further 400 job losses in 2009. Much of the area is now earmarked for a large housing development, with plans for the first 300 homes set to be submitted for planning permission this year.

In the city centre the area along the river front has undergone major regeneration in the past few years, including many waterfront housing developments, the creation of a partially-completed river front walkway and the redevelopment of the home of Newport rugby, Rodney Parade, into a multi-million pound stadium which is currently under way.

It also home to Newport International Sports Village in Lliswerry, where the Football Association for Wales and Welsh Football Trust plan to build a £5 million football academy and headquarters