WELSH Labour has held its ground in the first day of counting in the Senedd election.
The Welsh Conservatives posed a strong challenge to the ruling party but has so fair made just two gains – one from the pro-independence Plaid Cymru.
At the end of the first day of counting, Labour had taken 26 of the 39 declared seats – including holding the First Minister’s seat of Cardiff West. The Welsh Tories had taken eight seats, a gain of two, with Plaid Cymru taking four, a loss of one.
The Welsh LibDems have failed to take a single seat so far, losing Brecon and Radnorshire – their only seat from the 2016 election – to the Tories.
Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said their showing so far reflected the “real enthusiasm” he had encountered on doorsteps. Polling earlier in the election campaign suggesting the party faced its worst-ever performance. Drakeford said: “I started this campaign answering questions as to why this was going to be Labour’s worst-ever result, a poll prediction of 22 seats.
“The campaign never felt like that to me. We’ve had a fantastic and energetic campaign with hundreds of people involved and real enthusiasm on the doorstep, so that never seemed to me to genuinely reflect the mood here in Wales. But we don’t have results yet, so we’ll reserve our enthusiasms and excitement for when the time comes that we’ve got real results in the ballot box.”
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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party had not set out “a strong enough case to the country” and in the disastrous English council elections before the so-called Super Thursday elections. Speaking to broadcasters yesterday, he said was “bitterly disappointed” in the result, took full responsibility for them and vowed to fix it.
The Tories took Vale of Clwyd from Labour, recreating their success in the 2019 General Election, by a slender margin of 366 votes. However, Labour fought off the challenge from the Conservatives in Clwyd South, Delyn and Wrexham.
Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price retained his seat in Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, taking 45.9% of the vote. He said his priority is “economic transformation, delivering jobs and decent wages” for the “neglected” communities in Wales.
However, former leader Leanne Wood lost her Rhodda seat to Labour, but Drakeford said it was not necessarily a sign that the desire for Welsh independence had been put to bed.
He said: “I’m sure it’s not over as a debate. But I can tell you absolutely truthfully, in the hundreds of doors that I knocked and conversations that I had, not a single person mentioned the word independence to me.
“So, for some people it’s a real focus, it consumes their idea of the future of Wales. But on the doorstep it really didn’t run.”
As well as taking four seats, Plaid Cymru gained ground in Montgomeryshire to finish second behind the Tories and ahead of the LibDems, whose vote collapsed in one of its former strongholds.
Plaid Cymru retained their hold on Afron, with the party’s Sian Gwenllian seeing a surge in her majority.
Gwenllian saw her vote share increase from 10,962 from 2016 to 13,760 in Wales’s smallest constituency in terms of electorate – a majority of more than 8000.
Gwenllian said: “I am over the moon, so pleased, and I’m thankful from the bottom of my heart to everyone that has supported me and showed faith in me once more.
“I’ve had so many interesting chats with everyone over this time and I’m now so determined to do everything I can for the people of Arfon.”
First Minister Drakeford said it is “too early to say” whether Welsh Labour will be the first party to ever win an outright majority in the Senedd.
Speaking in Cardiff, he said: “We’ll watch the results really carefully. It would be the best result ever, no party has ever had a majority in the Senedd. But I am looking forward to an afternoon that is a good bit better than the predictions with which we started
this campaign.”
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