Tories lose all their seats in Wales, with Welsh secretary final to fall

The Tories have lost all their seats in Wales after Welsh Secretary David TC Davies suffered a defeat at the hands of Labour.

Plaid Cymru doubled its elected representatives in the Commons, with gains which ousted Conservative Chief Whip Simon Hart and Virginia Crosbie, who had been standing for re-election in Ynys Mon.

Mr Davies, the final Tory to fall, had been Monmouth MP since 2005 and Welsh secretary since October 2022.

Former ministers Alun Cairns, Stephen Crabb and Fay Jones also lost their seats, along with Rishi Sunak’s former parliamentary aide Craig Williams.

Betting scandal

Mr Williams, who lost in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, had been embroiled in the Westminster betting scandal after admitting earlier in the campaign that he had a “flutter” on the General Election date before it was called.

Labour’s Stephen Witherden, who succeeded Mr Williams, said he was “beyond humbled” to have been elected.

Mr Hart was not wearing the blue Conservative rosette when it was announced that he came third in the Caerfyrddin constituency, where Plaid Cymru’s Ann Davies won.

In total, Labour won 27 seats with Plaid Cymru on four, and the Liberal Democrats now have a Welsh seat after David Chadwick succeeded in Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe.

Plaid’s Llinos Medi succeeded in Ynys Mon with a majority of 637, taking 9,953 votes to Ms Crosbie’s 9,953 votes.

In an emotional speech following her election, Ms Medi said: “Someone said to me ‘Llinos, I’m so glad you want to be an MP’, I said ‘I don’t want to be an MP, I just want to represent Ynys Mon which I love so much’.”

She added: “Can I say to any young girl who doesn’t think she’s good enough, everything is possible if you go for it.”

The pro-independence party has had four candidates elected, with Liz Saville-Roberts retaining Dwyfor Meirionnydd and Ben Lake increasing his majority in Ceredigion Preseli.

Mid and South Pembrokeshire

Labour’s Henry Tufnell was elected in Mid and South Pembrokeshire where he defeated Mr Crabb, another former secretary of state for Wales. In the Vale of Glamorgan, Labour’s candidate Kanishka Narayan succeeded.

Labour’s winner in Swansea West, Torsten Bell, who is the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank, previously received criticism for being “parachuted” in by the party.

Prior to the results, Mr Davies said he did not see himself back in Parliament, according to BBC Wales.

Welsh Conservatives leader Andrew RT Davies said the Tories have “let a lot of people down” and taken voters for granted.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the member of Senedd said: “Let’s be frank: We’ve let a lot of people down.

“In Wales, the Welsh Conservatives have a solid record in our communities at all levels of government, from local government, to the Senedd, to Parliament.

“And we’re going to take the lead in rebuilding our party in the run up to 2026. Step one: Stop taking lifelong Conservative voters for granted.”