CONSERVATIVES were wiped out in Wales at the 2024 general election, with the party now having no seats in the country; one prominent Pembrokeshire Tory saying the party now needs to “tend to its bloody nose” before rolling up its sleeves to resume its fight.

Out of the 32 seats since boundary changes, Labour now have 27, including Mid and South Pembrokeshire.

Plaid Cymru now has four sets: Ceredigion Preseli, Caerfyrddin, Dwyfor Meirionydd, and Ynys Mon, a solid sea of green in the western part of the country.

The remaining seat was taken by the Liberal Democrats, securing Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe.

Mid and South Pembrokeshire saw Conservative Stephen Crabb lose to Labour’s Henry Tufnell by 14,627 votes to 16,505.

After his defeat, having represented parts of the county for 19 years , previously as MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire, Mr Crabb said: “Congratulations to Henry Tufnell and his team on their victory in Mid & South Pembrokeshire last night. I wish him the very best as he takes on the enormous privilege of representing this county at Westminster.

“A huge thanks to my campaign team who have been at my side throughout this tough campaign. I am incredibly grateful to have had such a fabulous group of Pembrokeshire people working with me over the last six weeks.

“It’s been a huge honour to represent my home constituency as Member of Parliament over the last 19 years. Every day has been an enormous privilege.

“Thank you to everyone in Pembrokeshire who has given me encouragement and support along the way.”

One of those who paid tribute to Mr Crabb was Conservative Senedd Member, and former Pembrokeshire journalist for the Western Telegraph and Pembrokeshire Herald, Sam Kurtz.

“I owe Stephen Crabb a lot. Maybe more than he realises. He gave me a job in his office when I was a young newspaper reporter, in what I call the best ‘apprenticeship’ I could have ever asked for.

“Working for and alongside him, I’ve seen a side that many haven’t. The empathy shown during advice surgeries, then tenacity in fighting for constituents facing an injustice, and a resilience, energy and focus on doing what he thought was best for our county.

“Please also spare a thought to for all the staff members, who have lost their jobs if their bosses have not kept their seats. It really is brutal.

“My congratulations go to Henry Tufnell, Mid and South Pembrokeshire’s new MP, and to Ann Davies, Caerfyrddin’s new MP.”

In the rhetorical question on many people’s lips, Mr Kurtz mused: “Where do we go next as a party? Who are we? How do we take this beating from the British public and come back better, representing and delivering on their hopes and ambitions, while working to alleviate their fears and frustrations?

“There’ll be time for that, and I’ll want to make sure I’m in the centre of how my party, our party, can dust itself off and tend to its bloody nose before rolling up our sleeves and getting back to being fighting fit once again.”

Ceredigion Preseli saw a Plaid Cymru landslide for candidate Ben Lake, with 21,738 votes; Liberal Democrat Mark Williams in second place with 6,949 votes.

Caerfyrddin saw a Plaid win for Ann Davies, with 15,520 votes, beating Labour’s Martha O’Neil on 10,985; Conservative Simon Hart who previously represented the Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire seat came third on 8,825 votes.

One of the many interviews Mr Crabb gave after failing to gain the Mid and South Pembrokeshire seat was photobombed by local activist Jim Scott, wearing a ‘Tories out’ shirt.

THE Welsh Liberal Democrats are celebrating a return to representation in Parliament after successfully winning the seat of Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe from the Conservatives. 

Newly elected Welsh Liberal Democrat MP David Chadwick won the seat for the Party securing over 30% of the vote compared to 26% for the Conservatives.

The Party has said that the win, alongside a successful set of local election results in Wales in 2022, demonstrates that the Liberal Democrats are back on the up in Wales as the Party looks to make gains ahead of the 2026 Senedd Elections. 

Party Leader Jane Dodds has pledged that Welsh Liberal Democrats will hold any incoming Labour Government to account in both Westminster and the Senedd. 

David Chadwick MP pledged to stand up for the diverse needs of what is one of the UK’s largest constituencies, whether its backing local farmers and rural communities or fighting for improvements in the post-industrial Upper Swansea Valley. 

Commenting newly elected Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe David Chadwick said: “I would like to thank the people of Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe for placing their trust in me to represent them in Parliament. 

I ran on a vow to empower local voices and to champion the interests of our diverse constituency and its communities and  I will work tirelessly to ensure we are heard loudly and clearly by those in power in London.”

Commenting, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats and Mid & West Wales Senedd Member Jane Dodds said: “David is going to make a first class MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe and I can’t wait to work hand in hand with him to deliver for the people of Mid Wales and Wales as a whole. 

The people have spoken and they have chosen a true local champion to represent them in parliament.

This victory shows that the Liberal Democrats are back on the acedency in Wales and come off the back of successful local elections for us in 2022. Today is the first day of the campaign towards the next Senedd election and we are looking forward to electing a strong team of members when the time comes. 

We ran our campaign with a promise to deliver a fair deal to everyone living in Wales, and that is exactly what we intend to do now. With David in Parliament and a large team of Liberal Democrat MPs in Westminster we look forward to delivering on the public’s priorities.”

THE Electoral Reform Society has modelled what the new parliament would look like after the general election under proportional representation.

The modelling shows what Parliament would look like under the Additional Member System (AMS) [1] of proportional representation (PR), which is used for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments as well as the London Assembly, compared to the results under the current Westminster system of First Past the Post (FPTP)
 

A visual representation of how the results would look for PR compared to the First Past the Post results can be found here https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/18633267/
 
The Parliament elected under PR would far more closely reflect the way the country voted. It could lead to a number of scenarios politically, and likely lead to a government that represented a far greater share of voters. For instance, a Labour, Lib Dem, Green coalition under AMS would represent 52.7% of voters, rather than the just 33.7% represented by the Labour majority government.
 
In the coming weeks the Electoral Reform Society will also be releasing a model of the 2024 General Election result under the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system of PR, which is the ERS’s preferred system and used in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
 
The model comes after the general election produced the most disproportional parliament in British electoral history.

The results saw the Labour Party win 64% of seats (412) with just under 34% of the votes. Meanwhile, Reform UK and the Green Party won just 9 seats (just over 1%) between them with over 20% of the vote share combined.

Research by the Electoral Reform Society also showed that Labour won an MP for every 24,000 votes they received, compared to one for every 49,000 for the Lib Dems, one MP for every 56,000 votes for the Conservatives, one for every 485,000 votes for the Greens and one for every 820,000 for Reform.

Darren Hughes, Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society said: “The job of Parliament is to represent the way the country voted. However, this election has produced the most disproportional result in British electoral history.

“This is because of the distorting Westminster First Past the Post voting system, which means the seats parties get in Parliament often are not matching the share of the votes they’ve received.

“In simple terms, people should get what they vote for. Our modelling shows what Parliament would look like with a fairer proportional voting system such the ones used for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments.

“It’s time we moved to a fairer proportional voting system for Westminster so Parliament accurately reflects the way the country voted.”