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Labour’s Alun Davies, who lost his bid to be re-elected as a Senedd Member for the new Blaenau Gwent, Caerffili and Rhymni constituency, has said his party had lost the trust of the people.

As the counting took place at Caerphilly Leisure Centre on Friday, May 8, it became apparent from glum Labour faces that Mr Davies was struggling to get one of the six seats.

After an unsuccessful recount – the result was announced which saw all seats shared between Plaid Cymru and Reform UK.

After speeches from five of the six newly elected Senedd Members, Mr Davies took his turn at the lectern, congratulated the winners and said they would do a “fantastic job” representing the community,

He then turned his thoughts as to why Labour had suffered a historically catastrophic defeat at the ballot box.

He said: “It’s been a difficult day and is a historic turning point for Welsh Labour.

“This is the first time in modern history where there is no Labour representatives elected in the valleys of Gwent.

“Labour has clearly lost the trust of the people from whom we were born.

“It happens because the party has lost its way and its ability to speak for and with the people we sought to represent.

“This is also a defeat manufactured in Downing Street.

“It’s clear to me from the conversations I had over the last few months that Downing Street has walked away from the people that we are seen to represent.

“There needs to be fundamental change, not simply in the policies and the politics but also in the personnel, and I hope that my words are heard across in London.”

He hoped that the election result would not be dismissed by Labour chiefs as “mid-term blues” or a “protest vote.”

Mr Davies recalled conversations with electors who had voted Labour for decades but decided to support other parties this time around, as they felt “let down” by the Labour governments.

Mr Davies said that he was told: “You’ve done a great job, but I can’t support you this time.”

He continued: “It’s important that if Welsh Labour is serious about turning a corner, it needs to recognise that its own organisation has been part of the problem in this campaign.

“We cannot simply have a reset – we need to look hard at what we are and what we seek to do.”

“Welsh Labour needs to stand up for Wales, whoever is in Downing Street, or we are nothing.

“Welsh Labour must rediscover what Welsh Labour was born to be and to do.”

Mr Davies, who was born in Tredegar and attended Tredegar Comprehensive school, was first elected as a regional list Assembly Member(AM) for Mid and West Wales in 2007.

In 2011 he was elected as the Assembly Member, and subsequently Senedd Member, for Blaenau Gwent.

How Alun Davies lost his seat

By Richard Gurner

During his time in the Senedd, Alun Davies has held government roles, covering briefs including agriculture, natural resources, Welsh language, and more recently local government and public services.

He has often been a thorn in the side for the Labour leadership in Cardiff Bay, and has openly criticised the Welsh Government on numerous occasions.

Described by some as a ‘free-thinker’, Mr Davies was blunt in his response to Labour’s poor performance during this Senedd election.

Speaking to the media after the result, he said there needed to be a change at the top of the Labour Party.

He said: “It’s an open secret within the Labour Party that Keir Starmer is not going to lead the party into the next UK general election.

“Every Labour Party member knows that. So, what we need to do now is to ensure that we are in a position to resolve issues that have been described by the electorate in the last few weeks and then move forward.”

The battle for the sixth constituency seat saw a dramatic recount, requested by Labour, as only 111 votes separated Reform UK’s Joshua Kim from Mr Davies after the d’Hondt formula was applied.

Mr Kim, who was third on his party’s list for Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni told Caerphilly Observer he was so unsure of victory, he went to work as a supply teacher instead of heading to Caerphilly Leisure Centre for the count.

After rushing to the centre after the result was declared, a visibly surprised Mr Kim, from Machen, said: “I always knew there was a chance, but I wouldn’t say I was confident.

“And you can see from the result, it was pretty close. It would be fair to say.”

Asked by Caerphilly Observer if he was a bit shell-shocked, he replied: “My mind’s blank, speechless, numb. Shell-shocked would be a good word to describe it, yes.

“I’m supply teaching at the moment, so I thought because I wasn’t sure I was going to get in, I thought I’d go into work. I did let the kids out five minutes early and dashed my way here.

“The good thing about day-to-day supply is that it’s very short-term notice. You can just say, sorry, I can’t come in next week because I’ve been elected.

Asked what his top priority would be when the Senedd reconvenes, Mr Kim said Reform would be having a group meeting on Monday (May 11) to discuss next steps – although at first he was unsure whether he was “allowed” to say that.

He said: “Personally, I’d like to know what the big picture is, what our priorities going forward, and I’ll do my best to support.”

When pressed for local priorities he said: “We’ll have a discussion, I’m sure, with the other two candidates to come up with the best plan going forward.”

Mr Kim, when it was put to him he must have had discussions on priorities for the area prior to the election, replied: “Well, talking to voters, the issue of jobs always comes up, young people having to leave to go to England, because there are no quality jobs here.

“So change isn’t going to happen overnight. Especially since we’re in opposition, there’s a limit on what we can do and achieve, but we’ll be pushing towards lower taxes with the view to getting the economy growing again.”

Asked if he would support a Plaid Cymru-led government if it benefitted the local constituency he said: “I don’t think that’s for me to say. It would be up to the group leader to make those decisions after negotiations. Clearly, we would be open to working with other parties in order to deliver on local priorities.”