MP increases her majority
LABOUR retained control of the Cynon Valley in the General Election.
Ann Clwyd, above, now 80 years old, increased her majority by 13% to 13,238.
THE Labour Party has retained control of the Cynon Valley, one of their key Valley heartlands.
Ann Clwyd retained her seat of Cynon Valley with a majority of 13,238.
The 80-year-old, who has held her seat since 1984, increased her vote share by 13% to 61% with Ukip’s vote collapsing.
Speaking after the result she said: “It is a fantastic result and I am really pleased to get a majority of that size. Labour has done well throughout Wales and some of my colleagues will be coming back to the House of Commons.
“It is an endorsement of a very courageous manifesto and the attraction young people have to Jeremy Corbyn. Young people here joined because of him.”
While the votes were being counted the veteran MP had condemned Theresa May for calling the election.
She said: “Theresa May called this election when it wasn’t necessary and it has been a complete waste of time and resources and should never have happened.
“We have had no discussion about Brexit.
“When people voted for Brexit they really didn’t know the effect it would have, especially on places like this which has benefitted greatly from EU funds.”
Plaid and Ukip, who came a close second and third in 2015, both lost vote share, Ukip particularly hit with a 12% fall.
But the election was also a successful night for the Conservative Party with Keith Dewhurst increasing the party’s vote share by 7%, making them the second largest party.
Labour performed well in Wales, taking three seats from the Tories on an extraordinary night in British politics.
That success for Jeremy Corbyn’s party was mirrored by the results for candidates in Rhondda Cynon Taf, which saw Chris Bryant win a huge 64.05% of the vote in Rhondda, while Owen Smith won with a 14.3% increase on 2015 in Pontypridd.
Nationally, the election ended with Theresa May’s Conservatives winning 318 seats, eight short of a majority, with Labour winning 262 seats.
Elsewhere, Mr Corbyn’s party won Gower and Vale of Clwyd, as well as Cardiff North, and secured their highest share of the vote for 20 years.
Professor Roger Scully, of Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre, said: “It is a fantastic result for the Welsh Labour Party.
“A month ago we were looking at them maybe suffering serious losses but they have actually made gains in Wales and it looks like they are going to have their highest vote share in Wales since 1997. That’s absolutely astonishing, it is an extraordinarily good night for the Welsh Labour Party.
“I think a very disappointing night for the Conservatives, although this is the highest Conservative vote share in Wales since at least 1935, when we get the final figures on the last couple of seats; it may be the highest Conservative vote share since before World War I but they have actually lost seats.”