Overall in Wales the party as predicted dominated being successful in 27 out of the 32 seats available in Wales with Plaid Cymru winning four including Caerfyrddin, whilst the Liberal Democrats would win the seat of Brecon , Radnor and Cwm Tawe.
The expanded Gower constituency was successfully defended by Tonia Antoniazzi who has been re-elected as MP with 20,480 votes. She was first elected to the constituency in 2017 and retains her seat.
In second place was Marc Jenkins (8,913), for the Conservatives, who was closely followed in third by Reform UK’s Catrin Thomas (8,530).
Speaking in her victory speech Ms Antoniazzi said in her speech:
“With a UK Labour government working alongside a Welsh Labour Government we are going to make people’s lives better, and that is what matters.”
“I still feel very emotional. It has been a very difficult seven weeks. I love what I do. It’s hard work. It’s dedication. You make a few sacrifices being a member of Parliament.
“I absolutely will deliver for the next five years for the new constituency of Gower. People in the new wards know who I am, and I’m committed to making their lives better. I promise that we will deliver. I absolutely believe it. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here. Good things happen, and people need to know what things are happening. Please be positive about the future.”
Swansea West whose boundaries are now made up of almost two-thirds of what was Swansea East and two-thirds of what was Swansea West was won by Labour’s Torsten Bell who replaced previous MP Geraint Davies this year.
Mr Bell polled 14,761 votes – more than double his closest rival, Reform UK’s Patrick Benham-Crosswell (6,246) – but turnout was only around 48%.
After winning at around 3am this morning Mr Bell said:
“Swansea West and the country has voted for change and it’s time to get on and deliver it. Diolch yn fawr.
“Thank you to the people of Swansea West for putting their trust in me but whoever they voted for, it’s my job to stand up for families, businesses and the city as a whole.”
In a similar result, Carolyn Harris has been re-elected as MP for Swansea East and Neath. The deputy leader of Welsh Labour had been a heavy favourite to retain the seat.
While Labour won win a resounding victory, Dai Richards (10,170) of the Reform UK party came second with considerable difference between him and Plaid Cymru’s Andrew Jenkins (5,350) who stood third.
Of a total of 76,291 voters, the total turnout was 52.78% with 40,267 votes cast and 132 rejected.
Carolyn Harris said:
“It is such an honour to be elected as a Member of Parliament, and with the boundary changes, it’s an even bigger honour to become the Member of Parliament for Neath and Swansea East. I am overwhelmed by just how wonderful the people are in the new part of the constituency.
“I will not just be your voice in Parliament, I will be your friend in the community. I won’t just work for you, I will work with you, hand in hand. And together we will rebuild our communities, and we will make Neath and Swansea East a place that we can all be proud to be a part of.”
In one of the more closer polls of the night Labour’s Nia Griffith, who has been Llanelli MP since 2005, returns for another terms after claminng her sixth consecutive election win.
Despite a strong showing from Reform UK who managed to secure more than 11,000 votes across the constituency, Ms Griffith secured 12,751 votes, a majority of 1,504 from an overall turnout of 40,868. While she was predicted by many to retain her seat, there was something of a surprise in store as the results came with Reform UK finishing a close second.
Represented by Gareth Beer locally, Reform secured 11,247 votes in Llanelli, 1,736 ahead of third place Plaid Cymru, who had 9,511.
Victorious Ms Griffith said:
“I very much hope that by the end of the night we will have a Labour government in Westminster and Keir Starmer as Prime Minister so that we can make a real difference to the lives of people here in Llanelli – securing stability in the economy, to give business and industry the confidence they need to invest in the jobs of the future, bringing down NHS waiting lists, giving every young person opportunities in life, putting more police on the beat, and investing massively in renewable energy.”
Speaking about inroads made by Reform UK across the UK, party candidate Gareth Beer said:
“We need to provide an alternative for the people and we need to speak up for the people and provide an alternative.
“The Conservatives have done it to themselves; they’ve literally imploded their own party. Five years ago they made lots of promises, lots of ambition, and pretty much they’ve done none of it. They have made a rod for their own back and Reform is filling in that gap I suppose.”
[Lead image: Welsh Labour]
