The count at a general election means lots of standing around and watching bits of paper being shuffled into trays. Cwmbran Life caught up with some of the candidates before the result was announced to ask how they felt their campaign went in the county.
At 1.26am I spotted Phillip Davies, the Green Party candidate for Torfaen, and stopped him for a chat.
He said: “I’ve stood at council elections before but never at a general election. It’s been quite interesting.
“But it’s been quite good, I’ve got a few endorsements from different local businesses which was nice to see as well. And a few have contacted me, especially today, just thanking me for standing.
“We don’t always have a Green Party here in the past so I’m really proud we’ve got candidates standing across all 32 seats in Wales so we’ve given everyone the chance to vote Green.
“Just being in the count today, I think we’ve done ok. It’s a bit hard because there’s eight candidates standing, you don’t usually expect there to be that many candidates. And obviously, I’m disappointed with the turnout at a more broader point for democracy in Torfaen because even before I was involved in party politics I was involved in trying to raise the rate of democracy in Torfaen and I’m a bit disappointed with how that’s turned out.
“I think Keir Starmer and the Welsh Labour government have a lot to say about why that’s so low here.
Torfaen 2024 general election result
Nick Thomas-Symonds, Welsh Labour, won the Torfaen seat in the 2024 General Election.
The full result of this morning’s election count for Torfaen:
- Welsh Labour- Nick Thomas-Symonds- 15,176
- Reform UK- Ian Williams- 7,854
- Welsh Conservative Party- Nathan Edmunds- 5,737
- Plaid Cymru- Matthew Jones- 2,571
- The Green Party- Philip Davies- 1,705
- Welsh Liberal Democrats- Brendan Roberts- 1,644
- Independent- Lee Dunning- 881
- Heritage Party- Nikki Brooke- 137