Voters in Morriston and Mumbles have elected two new Swansea councillors, in the first test of the city’s politics since May’s Senedd election — and the results defied the momentum of the parties that surged just weeks ago.
In Morriston, Welsh Labour held the seat by just 86 votes, with Rebecca Francis-Davies winning the ward her late father represented for decades after a strong challenge from Reform UK.
In Mumbles, the Welsh Conservatives took the seat — a gain from Reform UK, whose only Swansea councillor had vacated it on her election to the Senedd.
The two contests, held on the same day in very different parts of the city, were the second and third by-elections in Swansea in a matter of weeks.
Morriston
Rebecca Francis-Davies, of Welsh Labour, won the Morriston seat with 908 votes, holding off Reform UK by 86, with Plaid Cymru third.
According to the returning officer’s declaration, the full Morriston result was:
- Rebecca Francis-Davies (Welsh Labour) — 908 (elected)
- Graham Ashby (Reform UK) — 822
- Ioan Warlow (Plaid Cymru) — 569
- Gareth Schofield (Wales Green Party) — 107
- Hayden Lewis (Welsh Liberal Democrats) — 93
- Idin Ghotbi (Welsh Conservatives) — 87
Two ballot papers were rejected.
The by-election followed the death in May of Robert Francis-Davies, known across the city as RFD, who served as a councillor for 43 years and was the council’s cabinet member for investment, regeneration, tourism and major events.
His daughter, Rebecca Francis-Davies, stood for the party her father represented throughout his time on the council — and her victory keeps the seat in the family name.
Rebecca Francis-Davies thanked the people of Morriston for their faith in her, and said it was an honour to continue the work her father had begun.
“I’d like to thank everyone in Morriston for putting their faith in me,” she said. “My father served Morriston for 43 years and it’s a huge honour to fill his seat and continue his work. I am thrilled to join the Labour team.”
The defeated Plaid Cymru candidate, Ioan Warlow, thanked those who voted for him and said it had been an honour to stand in Morriston, where he has lived for most of his life. He congratulated Ms Francis-Davies on her election.
Mumbles
Hannah Williams, of the Welsh Conservatives, won the Mumbles seat with 933 votes, comfortably ahead of Labour in second place.
According to the returning officer’s declaration, the full Mumbles result was:
- Hannah Williams (Welsh Conservatives) — 933 (elected)
- David William Lewis (Welsh Labour) — 460
- Emilie Cox (Reform UK) — 458
- Tricia Sanderson (Plaid Cymru) — 268
- Rich Williams (Wales Green Party) — 200
- Dorian Davies (Independent) — 118
- Jim Hehir (Welsh Liberal Democrats) — 66
Three ballot papers were rejected.
The Mumbles seat fell vacant when Francesca O’Brien left the council after being elected to the Senedd for Gŵyr Abertawe in May.
Ms O’Brien was first elected as a Conservative before joining Reform UK last August — so Reform went into the contest defending a seat it had never won at the ballot box, and ended up losing it to the Conservatives, with its candidate finishing third.
Speaking in a video recorded at the count, Hannah Williams thanked those who had voted for her and said she was looking forward to getting started.
“Thank you so much for everyone who voted for me today,” she said. “I’m really excited to get started, and thank you so much for voting for me for councillor for Mumbles.”
In a message after the result, Ms O’Brien congratulated both new councillors and her own party’s candidates, and said representing an area you love was an honour that should never be taken for granted.
The result drew pointed comment from Clive Lloyd, a former Labour councillor and cabinet member at the authority, now a parliamentary assistant to Swansea West MP Torsten Bell. He argued that councillors who switch parties mid-term should stand down and put the change to their electorate — a reference to Ms O’Brien’s move from the Conservatives to Reform, in a seat where Reform then finished third.
What the results mean
Plaid Cymru went into both contests without a single councillor on Swansea Council, despite emerging from May’s Senedd election as the largest party in the area — taking three of the six Gŵyr Abertawe seats, to Reform UK’s two and Welsh Labour’s one.
The party again fell short, though its candidate finished a clear third in Morriston, and it remains without a seat on the city’s council.
Reform UK, which had also broken through at the Senedd election, had been seeking its first Swansea councillor elected in its own right. It ran Labour close in Morriston and finished third in Mumbles, but won neither.
The Conservatives, by contrast, had a mixed night in the two wards — finishing last in Morriston with just 87 votes, but topping the poll in Mumbles to take the seat.
Reform’s disappointment was not confined to Swansea. On the same day, the party finished a distant second to Labour in the Makerfield parliamentary by-election in north-west England, where the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, was returned to Parliament with 55% of the vote.
Neither Swansea result changes who runs the council. It is controlled by Welsh Labour, which holds 43 of its 75 seats, and two by-elections do not alter that.
But with the next council-wide elections due in May 2027, the two contests offer an early read on whether Labour’s hold on Swansea, unbroken since 2012, may be loosening — and on how far the newer parties can turn Senedd momentum into seats on the ground.
The unpredictability was underlined only last month, when the Liberal Democrats took Fairwood from the Conservatives in a by-election called after the death of former Lord Mayor Paxton Hood-Williams — the first of the current run of Swansea contests.
The two new councillors will formally take their seats at the next meeting of the full council. Every seat on the authority is up for election in May 2027.
