07/06/2009

Euro-election results - Plaid on top in Ceredigion as Tories win across Wales


Wales Result - top four elected
1/ Ceidwadwyr/Conservative 145,193 (21.2% - up 1.8%)
2/ Llafur/Labour 138,852 (20.3% - down 12.2%)
3/ Plaid Cymru 126,702 (18.5% - up 1.1%)
4/ UKIP 87,585 (12.8% - up 2.3%)
5/ Dem Rhyd/Lib Dems 73,082 (10.7% - up 0.2%)
6/ Gwyrdd/Green 38,160 (5.6% - up 2%)
7/ BNP 37,114 (5.4% - up 2.5%)
8/ Christian Party 13,037 (1.9%)
9/ Socialist Labour 12,402 (1.8%)
10/ No2EU 8,600 (1.3%)
11/ Jury Party 3,793 (0.6%)

The top four parties will send MEPs to Brussels. Our new Euro-MPs are:
Kay Swinburne (Ceidwadwyr/Conservative)
Derek Vaughan (Llafur/Labour)
Jill Evans (Plaid Cymru)
John Bufton (UKIP)

Jill Evans is the only sitting MEP to stay on.

This is the first time the Tories have ever won in Wales and the first time Labour haven't won a Wales-wide election since 1918. It's the first time UKIP have had any representation in Wales at all.

The Ceredigion section of the result went like this (top six only - diolch i blog Penri James):
1/ Plaid Cymru 6,725
2/ Liberal Democrats 3,642
3/ Conservative 2,869
4/ UKIP 1,755
5/ Green 1,481
6/ Labour 1,329


Plaid's big lead here will give them a major boost as a General Election approaches. On this showing, albeit with a relatively small turnout, the Conservatives look to be challenging the Lib Dems for second place. The Greens will be delighted to have beaten Labour.

A press release from Elin Jones, Plaid's AM for Ceredigion, said,

"This is a very strong result for Plaid Cymru in Ceredigion and the party is now in pole position to recapture Ceredigion at the forthcoming General Election – especially since we polled nearly twice the votes the Lib Dems received. Nationally, Plaid Cymru’s vote increased by one per cent and I congratulate Jill Evans on her re-election as MEP. I'm now looking forward to co-operating with Jill so that she can continue her work on a European level on behalf of Ceredigion voters, which includes campaigning against the introduction of electronic tagging, improving the rights of workers, tackling climate change and ensuring a viable future for the fishing industry”.