Starmer humiliated as Reform surge hands key seat to Welsh nationalists

Plaid Cymru won a key seat in the Senedd after the UK’s Reformation wave allowed Welsh nationalists to wrest the traditional Labor seat from Sir Keir Starmer’s party.

Lindsay Whittle, a long-serving councilor for Penyrheol ward and leader of the Caerphilly Council group, won the seat with 47.38 per cent of the vote.

In second place was Reform UK’s Llŷr Powell with 35.9 per cent, while Welsh Labor Party’s Richard Tunnicliffe came third with just 11 per cent; This was a humiliating defeat for the party.

Labor has run the Welsh Parliament since the devolved administration was first formed in 1999, and Caerphilly is one of its strongholds.

But opposition parties hoping to form the next Welsh Government are campaigning fiercely in the South Wales constituency, with many seeing this week’s by-election as a precursor to next May’s Senedd elections.

The by-election also took place in the run-up to the vote on the next Welsh Government budget, putting further pressure on the Labor campaign.

When passing its last budget in March, the Government needed the help of an opposition member to complete it by a narrow margin.

Although Labor is the largest party in the Senedd, it does not have a majority and the next budget vote in January is likely to be even tougher After losing the Caerphilly seat.

The by-election was held following the death of Labor politician Hefin Wyn David, who was first elected in Caerphilly in 2016.

An investigation into his death will be launched in April next year.