LABOUR’S John Griffiths has been elected as Member of the Senedd (MS) for Newport East for the sixth time.

Mr Griffiths was first elected to the Senedd in 1999 and was returned to his seat again after a pandemic-hit election.

 

 

He won the seat with 10,899 votes – 3,584 votes more than his closest rival, Conservative Gareth Hughes – who received 7,315 votes.

Daniel Llewellyn of Plaid Cymru came in third with 1,844 votes, followed by the Liberal Democrat candidate Dr Mike Hamilton with 1,574. Rob Steed of the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party won 660 votes, followed by Benjamin Walker of Ukip with 368, and Sonya Cary of the Freedom Alliance with 161.

Mr Griffiths said he didn’t allow himself to think about winning his seat prior to the election, and says he’s elated.

“It is such a great privilege to win an election to the Senedd again, and to know people want to support those values of social justice, greater equality of opportunity, and greater equality of outcome,” he said, reacting minutes after the declaration.

“I really look forward now to being part of a Welsh Labour led Senedd to deliver on the pledges we’ve made.

“I do think it says within Wales and Newport East, that there is still a strong identification with the values that Welsh Labour holds.”

He says after a brief celebration he will turn his attention to “helping Wales comes out of this pandemic a much fairer country, as well as focusing on the environmental issues we all know about”.

“We’ve seen throughout the pandemic that people will lower incomes, insecure jobs, and poor housing have suffered disproportionately,” he added. “We now need to understand that and double our efforts to create a much fairer society.”

Conservative candidate for Gareth Hughes said: "Mike (Newport West candidate Micheal Enea) and I ran a positive campaign in trying times. One thing that shone through on the doorsteps is the appetite for the M4 relief road. Whatever happened today, a solution needs to be found."

Turnout was up in Newport East compared to 2016 – with 38.3 per cent of constituents voting (it was 37.2 per cent in 2016 and 35.5 per cent in 2011).