Plaid Cymru have won the by-election in the Senedd seat of Caerphilly for the first time.
The Welsh nationalist party secured 15,960 votes – and candidate Lindsay Whittle cried as the result was announced.
Mr Whittle is 72 years old and had stood as a Plaid candidate 13 times since 1983. He will now hold the seat until the Welsh Assembly hold national elections last year.
This by-election was widely regarded as a two-horse race between Plaid Cymru and Reform UK, and the result marks a considerable blow for Nigel Farage.
His party received 12,113 votes – denying a victory that would have strengthened claims that Reform can convert a large lead into opinion polls into election wins.
But more than anything, it is a humiliating defeat for Labour, who had held Caerphilly at every election since it was created in 1999 – as well as the parliamentary seat for over a century.
Its candidate received 3,713 votes – and finished in third place.
Turnout overall stood at 50.43% – considerably higher than during the last ballot back in 2021.
Giving his acceptance speech after the result was confirmed, Mr Whittle began by paying tribute to Hefin David – who was Welsh Labour’s Member of the Senedd for Caerphilly until his death in August.
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