Highlights:
- Labour loses Caerphilly by-election to Plaid Cymru
- Reform UK pushes Labour into third place
- Polls show Labour slipping behind Reform nationally
- Result seen as a warning ahead of Welsh elections in May
LABOUR Party faced a major defeat in Wales on Friday, losing a by-election in one of its traditional strongholds as the Reform party continued to gain ground amid concerns over the economy and immigration.
Prime minister Keir Starmer’s Labour lost the Caerphilly seat in the Welsh parliament to the centre-left nationalist party Plaid Cymru, finishing third behind Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Labour minister Nick Thomas-Symonds told Sky News, "I'm not shying away from how disappointing the result is. We treat the result with humility, we are listening."
Plaid Cymru's Lindsay Whittle secured 47 per cent of the vote, followed by Reform with 36 per cent and Labour with 11 per cent.
The by-election was held after the death of the sitting Labour lawmaker. The result comes ahead of full Welsh parliament elections in May, which will test the scale of Labour’s decline in the region.
Polling expert John Curtice told the BBC, "Labour are in severe trouble in Wales, and it just confirms the broader UK story."
Recent national polls indicate that Labour has fallen behind the Reform party since its landslide victory in the July 2024 general election.
"Reform will be disappointed in coming second with 36 per cent but I don't think we should run away with the idea that this, in any way, suggests that Nigel Farage's bubble is burst," Curtice added.
Elections for the UK parliament are scheduled for 2029.
(With inputs from agencies)
