Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr election result: Craig Williams third in shock Labour win

The Labour Party man received 12,709 votes giving him a 3,815 majority over Reform UK’s Oliver Lewis and disgraced former Conservative candidate Craig Williams, suspended from the party for betting.

Mr Williams polled 7,775 votes and came in third place after losing a majority of 12,138 in 2019.

Witherden thanked Powys High Sheriff, returning officer Powys County Council Chief Executive Emma Palmer and all involved in the count and the police. He said they had all done a fantastic job.

He said: “The words historical result is overused but this is really is a historical result.

“It is the only seat in Wales never to have had a Labour MP, so history has been made here tonight. Many people will have voted Labour for the first time.”

Craig Williams said it had been the honour of his life to have done the job and he had thoroughly enjoyed the role and would look forward to whatever is ahead. He congratulated Steve Witherden, said ‘good luck’ and told him to treasure the role as it’s a great job.

Oliver Lewis for Reform hailed ‘a civilised campaign’ and said he was delighted Reform UK had come second in the constituency and displaced the Conservatives.

He said the young party, which is only five years old had gained one fifth of the vote share across Britain.”

Elwyn Vaughan for Plaid Cymru said he felt he had had a good campaign and was welcomed by people.

The major issues brought up on the doorstep included trust in politics in general right through the constituency, not a huge amount of enthusiasm for either of the main parties which was leaving people fed up and the NHS.

He said he detected a change in the campaign in the last couple of weeks following the gambling scandal which has involved Montgomeryshire with Glyndwr candidate Craig Williams.

Elwyn said he also felt there had been a lot of change in support between parties in all sorts of directions.

Having not had a candidate in 2019, he said this election result would be a marker in the sand.

He said he intended to stand again in the Senedd elections

The Green Party’s Jeremy Brignell-Thorp said it was fairly clear that everyone has been tactical voting and the smaller parties had suffered as a result of it. He said the climate crisis had not really featured in the campaign much as it had all been about the growth agenda.

His hope was for more Green MP’s to have more impact but he said despite the national media saying young people are clued up on the climate and environment, they do not seem to engage with politics and don’t vote.

Overall turnout in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr was 58.69%.

Powys High Sheriff Kathryn Silk announced the results at the Food Hall, Royal Welsh Showground in Llanelwedd, near Builth Wells.

In 2019, Craig Williams won the seat for the Conservatives by a 12,138 majority having received 20,020 votes, Liberal Democrat Kishan Devani was second with 7,882 votes and Labour’s Kait Duerden third with 5,585 votes.

The turnout was 69.8 per cent.

Both Plaid Cymru and the former Brexit Party stood their candidates down at the last election due to deals between parties over Europe and Brexit.

Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr was notionally the Tories’ safest Welsh seat, but all bets were off after their candidate Mr Williams was caught up in the gambling scandal. .

One of Britain's most rural and isolated constituencies, Montgomeryshire elected Liberal or Liberal-affiliated candidates from 1880, until a Conservative victory in the 1979 general election.

In the 1983 general election it was the only seat in England and Wales where a sitting Conservative MP was unseated, while nationally the party's seat majority increased. However, in 2010, the Conservatives won and held the seat in 2015 and 2017, with an increased majority.

It has always elected big hitters including Liberals, Emlyn Hooson, Alex Carlile Baron Carlile of Berriew, and Lembit Opik and Conservative Glyn Davies

The full results are:

Jeremy Brignell-Thorp - Green Party: 1,744

Oliver Lewis - Reform UK: 8,894

Glyn Preston - Liberal Democrats: 6,470

Elwyn Vaughan - Plaid Cymru: 5,667

Craig Williams - Independent (formerly Conservative): 7,775

Steve Witherden - Labour: 12,709