Plaid Cymru end 100 years of Labour dominance in Caerphilly

Local TV

Welsh Labour have been in power in Caerphilly since 1918, but with a changing world of politics, Plaid Cymru have taken the helm for the first time. Lindsay Whittle is the Senedd Member for the constituency, and won by a bigger margin than anyone thought he would.

Transcript

00:00History has been made in Kefili. For the first time in over a century, the Labour Party have

00:07lost an election at either the Senate or Westminster. Thursday's by-election has dominated

00:14the Welsh political landscape for the last few weeks, and after Plaid Cymru's big win

00:18on Thursday, Lindsay Whittle has been sworn in as an MS. Attention will now turn to the

00:23impact it will have on the full Senate election in May next year.

00:27It was fairly clear even before the vote count started that it was a two horse race between

00:31Plaid and Reform UK. And that's exactly the way it turned out with both parties thousands

00:36of votes out in front of Welsh Labour in third.

00:42Plaid Cymru ended the night with almost 16,000 votes, with reform further behind than most

00:46thought with just over 12,000. Labour, then in third place, with less than 4,000 votes.

00:55Both Reform and Plaid saw this by-election as a chance to kick off their Senedd campaign

00:59with a boost, and despite not winning the seat, Clio Powell of Reform UK will be buoyed by

01:04the massive swing in his party's favour, and will target seats across Wales as a real possibility

01:09to win.

01:12Plaid Cymru, who have traditionally been the number two in Kefili at recent elections,

01:15will also be looking all across Wales as potential targets to win, especially in Labour strongholds

01:21across the valleys.

01:23In official terms, this by-election hasn't really changed much. One less Labour Senedd

01:27member and one more Plaid Cymru Senedd member. But the impact could last for some time. Welsh

01:33and Labour know full well that they have a massive fight on their hands if they want to challenge

01:37Plaid and Reform to stay in power.

01:40This is Pete Watkins, reporting for Local TV.

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