MERTHYR TYDFIL

BOTH Labour and the independents in Merthyr Tydfil won 15 seats at this year’s Merthyr Tydfil council, meaning no-one has overall control of the authority.

The election saw no other party pick up any seats and Labour and the independents both won 15, although there are two independent groups on the council.

Discussions are now set to take place over the coming days over how the council is run going forward.

The voter turnout was 39%, which meant that just 15,379 votes were cast from an electorate of 45,875

Lisa Mytton, independent, who went into the elections as the leader of the council and is the first sitting leader to retain her seat in Merthyr Tydfil, said: “I think first of all there’s a fantastic feeling for us as independents, especially with the last result the Cyfarthfa ward, that is amazing to get Claire in there as well. I think there’s conversations to be had. Inevitably we’ll have those over the weekend and perhaps on Monday and just relax and celebrate our achievements today.

“And commiserations to some people, we’ve lost some really good people today. We’ll see how it goes over the weekend and have some discussions.”

Darren Roberts, the Labour group leader, said: “We’re very pleased with the results that we’ve got.

“Disappointed obviously for some of the candidates that fell short, they ran an excellent campaign. Really pleased with the work and effort that was put in by our candidates and by the party as a whole. It’s been a fair campaign across the county borough which, you know, we’re all grateful and I think the electorate is grateful for that as well.”