‘Labour has a lot of soul searching to do, as does Jeremy Corbyn’
SOUTH WALES LABOUR MPs ROUND ON LEADER AS CONSERVATIVES ROMP TO LANDSLIDE PLUS ALL THE REGION’S GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
BORIS Johnson has pledged to heal the divisions of Brexit as he returned to Downing Street after securing a crushing General Election victory over Labour.
Speaking on the steps of No 10 yesterday after a string of Labour strongholds fell to the Tories, the Prime Minister said he had an “overwhelming mandate” to take Britain out of the EU by the end of January.
But at the same time he sought to reach out to Remainers, insisting his “One Nation” government would never ignore their feelings of “warmth and sympathy” towards the other nations of Europe.
“Now is the moment, precisely as we leave the EU, to let those natural feelings find renewed expression in building a new partnership,” he said.
“I frankly urge everyone on either side of what are, after three and a half years, increasingly arid argument, I urge everyone to find closure and to let the healing begin.”
With all 650 seats declared, the Conservatives had a majority of 80 – the party’s strongest election performance since Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
The Prime Minister is now expected to reintroduce his Brexit deal in the Commons next week following the Queen’s Speech and State Opening of Parliament on Thursday.
The result plunged Labour into turmoil, with Jeremy Corbyn announcing he would not take the party into the next general election after seeing a string of former strongholds fall to the Tories.
But he faced furious demands to quit immediately after he said he intended to lead the party through a “process of reflection” as it considered the way forward.
Meanwhile Mr Johnson was faced with the prospect of an almost immediate constitutional showdown as Nicola Sturgeon demanded the right to hold a fresh referendum on Scottish independence.
A dramatic election night saw Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson stepping down after losing her Dunbartonshire East seat to the SNP, while DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds was ousted by Sinn Fein in North Belfast.
But the most striking aspect of the results was the collapse of Labour’s hitherto impregnable “red wall” with seats across the North of England and the Midlands which had not voted Conservative in more than a century falling to the Tories.
It represented the party’s worst general election performance since 1935, with veteran left winger Dennis Skinner in Bolsover and Tony Blair’s old seat of Sedgefield among the casualties.
At an early morning victory rally in Westminster, Mr Johnson said he was “humbled” that voters who had never before voted Tory had chosen to put their trust in him.
He acknowledged that in order to retain their support the Conservative Party would have to change some of its priorities.
“Those people want change. We cannot, must not, must not, let them down. And in delivering change, we must change too,” he said.
Mr Corbyn, meanwhile, expressed “pride” in his party’s controversial leftwing manifesto, blaming their losses on Labour Leave voters turning to the Conservatives or the Brexit Party.
“This election was ultimately taken over by Brexit,” Mr Corbyn said.
“My whole strategy was to reach out beyond the Brexit divide to try and
bring people together.”
He said that it would now be for the party’s ruling national executive to set the timetable for a leadership contest, some time in the early part of 2020.
“I am quite prepared, and I was elected to do so, to lead the party until that takes place,” Mr Corbyn said.
His comments infuriated some Labour MPs and defeated candidates who said he should go immediately.
Veteran MP Dame Margaret Hodge said Labour had become the “nasty party”, with anti-Semitism allowed to flourish, and that the result represented a rejection of the entire Corbyn “project”.
“People just didn’t trust the economics, the confetti of promises that was thrown at the public without any clear and honest way they were going to be paid for,” she told the BBC.
“Labour has become the nasty party. I am one of the victims of that with the anti-Semitism.”
After the SNP took 48 of the 59 seats in Scotland, Scotland’s First Minister said she would next week set out a “detailed democratic case” for a transfer of power to Holyrood to enable a referendum to be “put beyond legal challenge”.
She confirmed she will formally request the powers for Holyrood to hold a ballot, saying the Scottish Government would “publish the detailed democratic case for a transfer of power to enable a referendum to be put beyond legal challenge”.
Ms Sturgeon said Scotland had chosen a different future than the rest of the UK and the “stunning” result for the SNP “renews, reinforces and strengthens” the mandate for a fresh vote on independence.
The SNP leader said: “This is not about asking Boris Johnson or any other Westminster politician for permission. It is an assertion of the democratic right of the people of Scotland to determine their own future.”
Mr Johnson has already made clear he is not prepared to grant a section 30 order – which would transfer the power to Holyrood to hold a referendum.
But Ms Sturgeon said the Tories – who focused their election campaign in Scotland on their opposition to a second independence vote – had suffered a “crushing defeat in Scotland”.
The Conservatives were left with six MPs in Scotland, after having won 13 seats two years previously.
Speaking at a press conference in Edinburgh, Ms Sturgeon said: “Given what I fear the Tory Government has in store for Scotland, that right to choose our own future has never been more important.”
She told Mr Johnson directly: “Let me be clear. This is not simply a demand that I or the SNP are making.
“It is the right of the people of Scotland – and you as the leader of a defeated party in Scotland have no right to stand in the way.”
With Scotland having voted to stay part of the European Union in 2016, the First Minister claimed “Westminster has ignored people in Scotland for three years”.
Ms Sturgeon told the Prime Minister it was time to “start listening”.
She said she accepted “regretfully” Mr Johnson had a mandate for Brexit in England but added: “He has no mandate whatsoever to take Scotland out of the EU.”
The First Minister said: “It is clear that the kind of future desired by the majority in Scotland is different to that chosen by the rest of the UK.
“Scotland has rejected Boris Johnson and the Tories and, yet again, we have said no to Brexit.”
With all 650 results declared, the Conservatives had 365 seats – a net gain of 67 compared to the state of the parties at the dissolution of Parliament in November.
Labour were on 203, a net loss of 42, the SNP on 48, a gain of 13, the Liberal Democrats on 11, a loss of 10, and Plaid Cymru on four, no change since the last election.
Our General Election 2019 reporting team: Ruth Mosalski, Martin Shipton, David James, Cathy Owen, Will Hayward, Thomas Deacon, Aled Blake, Jason Evans, Richard Youle, Anthony Lewis, Lydia Stephens, Katie-Ann Gupwell, Katie Sands, Abbie Wightwick, Lewis Smith, Sandra Hembery, Rob Lloyd, Elizabeth Bradfield, Katie Bellis, Rob Harries, Marcus Hughes and Laura Clements
THE combination of the Conservatives’ General Election surge and a grim night for Labour was reflected here in Wales, where the Tories seized several seats from Labour yesterday morning.
The Tories more than doubled the number of seats won, from six at the last election to 14 now.
Six of the eight gains were the result of Labour losses including Bridgend, which now has its first Conservative MP since 1983, and Wrexham, which has switched to the Tories for the first time in history.
But there was a glimmer of comfort for Labour in the capital as all four Cardiff constituencies remained Labour seats, despite a strong challenge in Cardiff North.
While the Conservatives now have 14 of Wales’ 40 seats (up seven), Labour has 22 seats (-6) and Plaid Cymru four (no change), while the Lib Dems lost their only Welsh seat (Brecon and Radnorshire).
The results – with Labour’s 40.1% share of the Welsh vote down 8% on the last election – prompted searching questions about Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
Chris Bryant, who was re-elected as MP for Rhondda albeit with a vote share that dropped more than 9%, said one of the main issues that has come up on the doorstep in the area had been people’s dislike of his party’s leader.
“During the last General Election in 2017, people on the doorstep would call him a terrorist sympathiser, this time round, it was ‘he is a terrorist,’” he said.
“A lot of that may be unfair, but the Labour Party has a lot of soul searching to do, and so does Jeremy Corbyn.
“I think for a lot of Labour voters the Labour party has swayed a long way from the party they have known and loved.
“Whether that is over Brexit or our defence policy or our patriotism.
“We have lost four General Elections in a row, the last time that happened was in the 1980s to Margaret Thatcher and John Major.
“What we had to do to come back to power was a lot of soul searching, and that is what we have to do now.”
And in Cardiff North, Labour’s winning candidate Anna McMorrin put the party’s overall failure square at the door of Mr Corbyn.
Beating her Conservative rival Mo Ali by 6,982 votes, she said: “I promise
to campaign for a much fairer electoral system.
“I have to say this evening that it’s on the watch of this leadership of our party that we have lost decent hardworking MPs who fought every day for their constituents and the millions of people who need a Labour government and I hope that he will take responsibility so we can move on and rebuild the party.
“I will continue to fight the hard and damaging Brexit and do all that I can to ensure we remain full members of the European Union.”
Labour lost votes in every constituency in Wales, even the seats they won.
But the greatest shock in South Wales was Labour’s loss of Bridgend, with the Tories overcoming a loss by 4,000 votes at the last election to win comfortably with a majority of more than 1,000.
Labour’s Madeleine Moon, who had been the constituency’s MP for 14 years, told of her deep disappointment.
“This was not just somewhere that was my constituency, this is my home,” she said.
“It now has a Conservative MP and people will have to hold him to account for the austerity and the cuts that we are experiencing now and that with a harsh Brexit we are going to experience again in the future.
“But it has been an absolute delight working for and serving this community but it’s come to an end so I’m going to go off and enjoy being a grandmother.”
Bridgend’s new MP Jamie Wallis spoke of his delight at winning the seat, adding: “It was always about trying to win voters who had never voted Conservative before, that’s where the challenge was.
“I think we did very well reaching out to people we never had before.
“What I want to do for Bridgend now is to keep doing that.”
Meanwhile, sitting Conservative Vale of Glamorgan MP Alun Cairns kept his seat as MP with an increased majority.
The former Welsh Secretary was forced to resign his cabinet post amid controversy in his role over the selection of his friend Ross England as the Assembly candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan.
However, he increased his majority over Labour’s Belinda LoveluckEdwards to 2,190 votes, a 1.21% swing from Labour to the Conservatives.
He promised in his victory speech that the Conservatives will deliver “strong government that will represent all people from all walks of life”, and thanked his family, his team and the electorate.
There was a jubilant response to the results from Welsh Conservative leader Paul Davies, who hailed the fact the party now “has the joint largest number of Welsh Conservative MPs in Parliament”, equalling its previous record.
He added: “I’m delighted that the people of Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom have delivered a majority for our Prime Minister to get on and deliver Brexit.
“It is clear, that by winning Bridgend and Ynys Mon, which haven’t had a Conservative MP for 32 years, that the people of Wales want to get Brexit done and that’s what we will do.”
But the prospect of more years of Tory rule drew condemnation from Cardiff’s re-elected Labour MPs, who are all ardent Remain supporters and who all won with large majorities.
Cardiff Central’s Jo Stevens said Boris Johnson’s government “is not going to benefit Wales”, while Stephen Doughty – who was re-elected in Cardiff South and Penarth, said: “I still believe that Brexit is a huge mistake for the country but clearly it will now happen, and it is a question now of what basis that happens and whether Boris Johnson keeps to the commitments he’s made about now leaving without a deal and getting a trade agreement that works.
“I have great doubts about his intent
on that and we will only see in the weeks and months to come.”
In Cardiff West Kevin Brennan, with a majority of nearly 11,000, vowed to “fight back” against the Tory government and hold it to account.
First Minister Mark Drakeford described the overall General Election result as “deeply disappointing” but argued the Labour vote would have held across the UK if it had followed voting patterns in Wales. Mr Drakeford said Mr Corbyn was right to stay on and oversee a “period of reflection” for Labour following the election defeat.
He added: “Labour will still have more than half of the seats in Wales but we will have lost seats and ground and we will have to look to re-establish that ground we have lost.
“I have never done anything other than align myself with the agenda and policies that Jeremy Corbyn set.”
Mr Drakeford said the loss of seats in constituencies like Wrexham and Bridgend was a “bitter blow”. But he stressed seats Labour have lost were by margins of 2,000 or lower – and he said the party would work hard in the coming months to repair its relationship with communities it had lost.
Congratulating the Prime Minister, he said: “Now the PM must reach out and heal the rifts he sought to widen in such a divisive election.
“He must be honest with the public about the very real and difficult challenges that lie ahead.”
Meanwhile Rhun ap Iorwerth, Plaid
Cymru’s General Election campaign director, said the results showed the “myth that voting Labour protects Wales from the Tories has been completely shattered”.
Plaid Cymru retained all four of their seats, equaling their best ever result in terms of the number of MPs returned.
Speaking yesterday morning, he said: “The myth that voting Labour protects Wales from the Tories has been completely shattered. People who lent Labour their vote in the hope that it would stop Boris Johnson will wake up this morning to the sad reality that Labour has utterly failed to protect Wales.
“This result proves that the best and only way to ensure that Wales’ voice is heard is to elect independentlyspirited MPs from Wales’ party.
“Adam Price has been the most prominent Welsh politician in this campaign and has led from the front. He has put the party in an excellent position, building on this momentum, to deliver a Plaid Cymru government in 2021.
“In a difficult election and a UKwide context that saw smaller parties squeezed, this morning’s result should be considered a victory for Plaid Cymru.
“This is, however, a fundamentally bad result for Wales. Boris Johnson cares little and knows even less about our nation. Now more than ever, we will need Plaid Cymru to make Wales’ voice heard in Westminster.”
The Brexit Party failed to win a single seat despite targeting Leave-voting Labour strongholds.
LOSING six seats to the Conservatives in the General Election inevitably weakens the Labour Welsh Government’s hand in the coming battles with Westminster.
While in Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s negotiating position has been enhanced after the SNP’s election victory, the reverse is true for First Minister Mark Drakeford.
With Brexit about to be “done”, the fear that Westminster may seek to wrest powers back from the Welsh Government becomes very real.
Until now, a branch of the Welsh Government has had responsibility for the spending of EU aid money, but after Brexit a replacement pot of money for regional assistance called the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will be established.
While details of how the fund will operate are hazy, heavy hints have been dropped that the Welsh Government will lose its responsibility for devising and monitoring schemes, and that the UK Government will keep hold of the purse strings.
Given that under the devolution settlement economic development falls within the responsibilities of the Welsh Government, this promises to precipitate a significant constitutional crisis.
Boris Johnson is likely to feel emboldened by his election victory, and will take the view that only the chattering classes would care about who runs job-creation schemes.
To an extent he is right, but the Welsh Government and its allies on this issue in Plaid Cymru will not take kindly to such a power grab, and if and when their protests get nowhere, it is likely that the issue will be referred to the Supreme Court.
This could be simply the first round of a major constitutional conflict if Mr Johnson decides he should impose his will on Wales by seeking to marginalise Senedd politicians.
The days of consensual Tory politics in Wales of the kind personified by Nick Bourne and David Melding could be over.
There are those in the Welsh party who have never been happy about devolution, and they could see this as their chance to resurrect what seemed like a lost cause.
Some in the past have even spoken about the possibility of Westminster taking back control of health in Wales.
It would certainly make sense if the Senedd sought to impede plans for any trade deal Mr Johnson may hope to do with the United States.
This potential new dynamic will certainly have an impact on Wales’ political parties.
All Conservative candidates had to sign a pledge of loyalty that obliges them to back Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal. This is aimed at avoiding the kind of rebellious behaviour indulged in by many Tory MPs in the last Parliament.
It may set the tone for the way Mr Johnson will seek to control his parliamentary group, many of whom will have been elected for the first time.
It’s ironic that this kind of rigidity could be put in place to establish an almost presidential role for an unconventional politician who has nurtured the image of a roguish but likeable blustering buffoon.
In doing so, of course, he would be emulating his friend Donald Trump.
Such a confrontational approach may not be to the liking of Paul Davies, who leads the Tory group at the Senedd and who is at his best when trying to reach consensus.
He voted Remain at the referendum, but accepted the Leave result as an expression of democratic will. Whether he would go along with moves that could lead very easily to constitutional warfare is doubtful.
Welsh Labour will certainly be on the back foot after a difficult election. How it responds to losing six seats and having scares elsewhere will determine whether it can recover or whether its apparent decline accelerates.
Years before he became First Minister, Mark Drakeford was the first member of the Welsh Cabinet to declare his support for Mr Corbyn.
Mr Drakeford backed Mr Corbyn not because he is an adherent of the
cult that surrounds him, but out of principle as an academic-turnedpolitician whose outlook is defined by a commitment to social justice.
Unfortunately, his loyalty to Mr Corbyn made him appear weak when for a long period he failed to come out unequivocally in favour of a further EU referendum and a Remain vote.
While that was his natural inclination, he didn’t deviate from Mr Corbyn’s convoluted position until the result of the European Parliament election was declared, with Labour in third place behind the Brexit Party and Plaid Cymru.
Belated as this was, it enabled strongly Remain Welsh Labour parliamentary candidates to appear credible when they said they had the backing of their party, in a way the European Parliament candidates hadn’t.
So while Labour stuck to its formula of backing a swift renegotiation with the EU followed by a referendum in which a “credible” Brexit option would be pitched against Remain, Welsh Labour simply declared itself a Remain party.
With Mr Corbyn having been defeated, Mr Drakeford needs to be careful not to keep his wagon, and that of Welsh Labour, hitched to a tarnished brand.
His comment at the Cardiff West election count, in which he endorsed Mr Corbyn’s agenda and policies, was fine as an expression of solidarity with someone with whose ideological stance he is in sympathy. But if Mr Drakeford can’t accept that Mr Corbyn himself was an electoral liability, his judgement is lacking.
A political theorist of some note himself, Mr Drakeford needs to articulate a confident new vision for Welsh Labour that will take the party into the 2021 Senedd election – and he should do so without reference to Mr Corbyn.
Plaid Cymru’s four MPs kept their seats – a testimony to the hard work of all of them.
But the party should not be satisfied with its performance.
For the second Westminster election in a row, Plaid came third in its perennial top target seat of Ynys Mon. None of its candidates finished as runner-up.
In the Valleys, where Plaid has long held ambitions to take over from Labour as the party of choice, it was usually behind the Tories and sometimes the Brexit Party too.
This is not good for a party that likes to brand itself as the Party of Wales.
Of course, just as there was a disparity between Plaid’s performance in the European Parliament election and Thursday’s General Election, there could be a disparity between Thursday’s results and the Senedd election in 2021.
But unless Plaid is able to raise its vote significantly between now and 2021, the chances are that the Conservatives will finish second to Labour, putting paid to Adam Price’s dream of becoming First Minister and running a minority Welsh government.
Although Plaid is likely to go into the 2021 election ruling out a coalition deal with both Labour and the Tories, it could, through simple arithmetic, find itself obliged to do a deal with Labour to ensure the “progressive” parties retain control.
And where do Thursday’s results leave the Welsh independence movement?
There are plenty on social media happy to argue that Mr Johnson’s victory provides all the more reason for Wales to become an independent nation.
Those who take a deep breath and look at the election results, however, will surely conclude that independence remains as elusive a dream as ever.