Labour faces tricky Cardiff by-election
Ted Peskett, local democracy reporter
Another by-election is set to take place in Cardiff after a local councillor moved to another country and stepped down.
Questions were raised about the position of former Labour Cardiff Council councillor Chris Lay after he created a social media post in July showing that he’d moved to England.
A spokesperson for the Labour group at Cardiff Council later provided a statement in August clarifying that Mr Lay moved after receiving a promotion in his day job and that he intended to step down.
Cardiff Council has published a list of the candidates running in a by-election for the former councillor’s seat in Trowbridge, which is taking place on Thursday, September 18.
The names of the candidates running in the by-election are:
Gary Bowen-Thomson (Welsh Labour)
Chris Cogger (Welsh Liberal Democrats)
Carol Ann Falcon (Plaid Cymru)
Leanne Lennox (Propel)
Joe Roberts (Welsh Conservatives)
Jess Ryan (Wales Green Party)
Edward Topham (Reform UK)
When residents go to the polls in Trowbridge in September, it will be third by-election that’s taken place in Cardiff so far this year.
A by-election in Llanrumney for the seat of former council leader, Heather Joyce, in July resulted in a Labour hold for the ward.
Greens
However, the by-election for Grangetown in August saw Labour losing its dominance there – a dominance it’d had for 13 years – after the victory of Green Party candidate Matt Youde.
The other two seats in the ward of Trowbridge are held by Cllr Bernie Bowen-Thomson and long standing councillor and former cabinet member, Cllr Michael Michael (both Labour).
In a Facebook post published on July 26 that tagged the location of Telford and Werkin, Chris Lay Said:
“The move is complete, lovely evening sunshine with a cheeky drink.
“Massive thank you to mom and dad… and my cousin Jude. Me and jess are very grateful for the help and support moving us in.”
A Labour group spokesperson said in August: “Chris has been a hard-working, dedicated ward member for St Mellons and Trowbridge for over eight years, and chaired our Group up until May this year.
“Whilst we’re delighted that he’s secured a significant promotion in his professional career, we’re sorry that this means that he will have to relocate from Cardiff.
“With his house move now completing we understand Chris will be stepping down in due course.
“Obviously in the meantime Chris and his fellow ward colleagues will continue to be available for residents”.
If you live in Trowbridge and will miss the by-election, you have until 5pm on Wednesday, September 3 to apply for a postal vote.
The deadline for applying for a proxy vote is 5pm on Wednesday, September 10.
You can complete an application for both on The Electoral Commission website.
An application to register to vote must be made by Tuesday, September 2 and can be done here.
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A Councillor steps down after a promotion at work meant he had to move away – so where exactly is the story here? PS. Only Reform could field a candidate with a surname that sounds like top ’em.
Some residents only found out Chris Lay had moved to Telford via his Facebook post in July, and Labour only triggered the by-election once it was picked up by the media. When did Labour first know? When did Lay actually move to Telford May 2025? And now Labour’s candidate is Gary Bowen-Thomson from CF14, husband of sitting councillor M.B. Bowen-Thomson. That looks like political nepotism. Makes you wonder who Labour’s Senedd candidates for the East will be next, let me guess maybe M.B. Bowen-Thomson?
It’s not really Welsh Labour, its just Labour in Wales trying to distance themselves from Keir Starmer and their terrible ratings and mistakes .