WALES:Despite the drop in vote share, the party continues to have a clear majority of Welsh seats at Westminster, writes MARY FITZGERALD
IN THE end, despite all predictions, the story of the general election in Wales turned out to be neither that of a sharp decline in Labour’s fortunes nor a definitive Conservative renaissance.
Not surprisingly, Labour, long the dominant political force in Wales, chose to play up the positive in what was a mixed result for the party. While it retains the clear majority of Welsh seats at Westminster – 26 out of 40 – Labour will be forced into some soul-searching by the fact its share of the vote in Wales has plummeted to its lowest in decades.
Labour fended off challenges from Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru in two constituencies, and from the Conservatives in the keenly watched Vale of Clwyd contest.
Labour also retained Wrexham, Swansea West and Newport East, in the face of strong Lib Dem targeting. It managed to claw back the Blaenau Gwent seat, which had turned independent in a 2006 byelection.
Welsh secretary Peter Hain said his party’s result in Wales had exceeded expectations and confounded critics.
“We have bounced back from a truly dreadful performance in last year’s European elections and disappointing results in the 2007 Assembly elections and 2008 local elections,” he said.
“We have now established a good platform in the most difficult of circumstances to build for the future.” Hain also taunted the Conservatives, saying their tally of eight seats had fallen well short of Tory hopes.
He argued that this showed there is a “clear anti-Tory majority” in Wales.
But the Tories, who put a lot of effort into their drive to increase their presence in Wales, will be heartened by the fact their popular support has risen by 4.7 per cent to 26.1 per cent.
Bagging eight seats, up five from the previous election, the Tories are now the second party in terms of Welsh parliamentary representation.
The Conservative catch includes four seats wrested from Labour.
The Tories also took the scalp of one of Westminster’s most colourful characters, the headline-grabbing Lib Dem MP for Montgomeryshire, Lembit Opik. The loss has left the Lib Dems with three seats in Wales, the same number as Plaid Cymru.
Plaid leader Ieuan Wyn Jones blamed his party’s failure to gain extra seats on what he described as an unbalanced election campaign which, due to the impact of the televised leaders’ debates, tilted the contest in favour of the three main UK-wide parties.
