Labour has won the Caerphilly County Borough Council by-election in Blackwood.
Cllr Allan Rees was elected as the new councillor for Blackwood in the election held on Thursday April 24.
The Labour candidate won 41% of the vote, a swing of 6.1% to Labour.
Cllr Rees will join councillors Nigel Dix and Pat Cook to represent Blackwood on Caerphilly County Borough Council.
Cllr Rees was congratulated by Islwyn Labour MP Chris Evans, who said: “I am delighted that Allan has secured a victory for Labour, winning such a large percentage of the vote.
“I am sure that he is going to make an excellent councillor, and will work hard with Pat and Nigel to represent the people of Blackwood.
“I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to Allan, and wish him all the very best in his new role as Councillor.”
The turnout of the by-election was 24.3% with 1,520 votes cast. Six ballot papers were spoilt.
The by-election was called after Labour’s Diana Ellis stood down as a councillor in February this year for family reasons.
Full results
FARINA-CHILDS Andrew (Plaid Cymru The Party of Wales) – 349
MUIR-JONES Cameron (Welsh Conservatives) – 68
REES Allan (Welsh Labour) – 620
SMALLMAN Keith (Independent) – 477
How disappointing that even with the shocking publicity surrounding the labour controlled Caerphilly authority people still vote labour. I cannot comprehend such lunacy.
Realist – completely agree. People moan about conservatives but will blindly vote red every time. Complete joke
Thank god for the sense of the people of Blackwood in returning the Labour Councillor, and rejecting the rest, how on earth Tories have the brass neck to think the valley communities will EVER support them is beyond comprehension.
And the indignation of “Realist” and “Tax Payer” in their comments on these pages is the perfect example and display of that indignation and total lack of comprehension of the wonderful people who make up the Welsh Valley Communities, I would bet they are `interlopers` taking away Welsh jobs for Honest hard working Welsh people, much the same as the idol of all Tories did, Maggie Thatcher.
Arthur the great
Labour track record at the assembly and in caerphilly council is nothing to brag about, they ought to hang their heads in shame but they won’t they will keep voting on block to benefit themselves. They are like tories and lib dems all out for themselves and the working man can whistle for it.
Labour are failing Wales, they are anti business and anti jobs, and look at the mess the Welsh education system is in. House building in Wales is being crushed by Labour’s red tape – it now costs at least £3000 more to build a house in Wales than it does in the rest of the UK. Wales has the highest council tax increases in the UK. God help us if they ever get income tax raising powers, there will be a mass exodus – Labour want to keep Wales a deprived country, that way they get to keep the billions of pounds of European funding rolling in, but Labour in Wales will eventually run out of other peoples money to spend.
Put a sheep in a Labour t-shirt and it would be elected.
Indeed it would – the reason being that the good folk of Wales don’t like change, the thought of something different is terrifying, it may well be a change for the better but they can’t take that chance, so same old high council tax increases ( for those in caerphilly who actually pay it ) , same old poor education, same old public transport cuts, same old service cuts, same bloated corrupt council dishing out huge pay rises for each other…..baaahhhh.
Jan- Successful young Labour Councillors `Dressing down` in t-shirts, that is a wonderful prospect and bound to attract even more support of bright, young, intelligent voters, and, potential voters, not to mention all those older, informed and completely dedicated modernist Labour supporters who will see Labour kick all comers into touch in the next Caerphilly council, Assembly, and the General Election if it comes to that, I think all those Tories and Lib Dems who continue to waste their time trying to get elected onto our council should give up!!!, and save face.
I find the voter turnout, less than one in four of those eligible to vote, shocking and worrying. Democracy depends upon the majority of people casting their vote. This vote was hard won by our forebears, many suffered and some died to give us the priviledge of voting for who we wanted, rather than have the winners selected by the wealthy and high placed in society.
I wish candidates would focus on this terrible state of affairs but I rarely see anyone mention it. I have fought to elections and when speaking to people at their doors I always urge them to cast their vote. Naturally I like to convince them to vote for me but if they indicate a preference for another candidate I always tell them to make sure they vote. Raising the percentage vote is as important to me as winning an election. It is a shame that most candidates and elected politicians do not appear to share my concerns and seem oblivious to the poor turnout at all elections.
The people of the Welsh Valley are indeed wonderful and it annoys me that the labour party expect their loyalty yet continue to treat them with contempt.