Seeing is believing
I've just re-read the words "Torfaen Labour loss" just to make sure.
In fact Labour didn't just lose Torfaen: they were given a good kicking there. Hands up who genuinely foresaw that 18 Labour councillors would be wiped out in Torfaen? By the sound of one ousted councillor on Radio Wales just now, not him. The mood? That he really hadn't stood a chance.
I wonder what comfort Torfaen's MP Paul Murphy, the Welsh Secretary, can offer him? You can hear his verdict when he appears on Good Morning Wales after 8 o'clock.
I've just driven back to Cardiff from the Memorial Hall in Barry. Very little had been 'occurin' until 2.30am thanks to a load of late postal votes that had to be verified. It was nip and tuck all the way until Conservative AM David Melding was spotted nodding sagely and saying his maths had the Tories on course for 24 or 25 and victory. By the time he turned out to be right, the man with his sights set on Cardiff North, Jonathan Evans had arrived to join the party. Shadow Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan popped up from nowhere: "Nothing flash" she whispered, "just steady as she goes".
I drove past a road sign declaring Merthyr Tydfil 24, Newport 14: one already in No Overall Control, the other, if Labour Deputy Minister John Griffiths is right, looking as though it might suffer the same fate.
Turn left for Fairwater. Three straight Labour losses including group leader Michael Michael.
Labour have lost control of Flintshire, Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil. They're down to third place in Cardiff. I don't think their roadmap had warned them it would be this bad.
Counting starts in Rhondda Cynon Taf today with Adam Price MP claiming in the early hours that Plaid will do ok in RCT and even better in Caerphilly - a Labour source dismissing those claims, made before a single vote is counted, as 'tosh'. Not in doubt is that Plaid look set to lose outright control of Gwynedd and to lose some big name councillors. As 'scalps' go, Ceredigion prospective parliamentary candidate Penri James and - apparently - party president Dafydd Iwan, count as pretty impressive ones.
As far as Labour goes Neath Port Talbot has bucked the trend and is certainly safe. It looks too as though Bridgend will return to Labour control. That may cheer them up.
But the real comfort must be that the anti-Labour protest vote has been scattered far and wide, divvied up between a bit of everyone ... which means that come the General Election, there is no sign yet of one, clear winner who'd be just waiting to teach Labour another lesson.
I'm Betsan Powys, BBC Wales' political editor. I'll be blogging the inside track on 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~17~RS~)
CommentsSign in
You need to sign in to contribute to this page. If you're new to BBC Blogs, creating your membership is quick and easy.
Clearly, the reintroduction of serfdom to out Tory the Tories has clearly not gone down well with the voters; you may as well have the real thing! First, there is the abolition of the 10p tax rate; people who retired early on low incomes had the news in their pay slips on Wednesday 30th April that this year?s inflation increase was wiped out by the rise in income tax, in order to cut the taxes of high earners. Many like me were motivated to make their point at the ballot box.
Then there is the mess they have made of Welsh higher education that resulted from banning taxpayers from making any complaint and preventing any accountability on how their taxes are spent. This has led to the Charity Commissioners regulating Welsh Universities under the Charity Act 2006 instead of Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW). Unlike their English counterpart HEFCE claims that they regulate financial mismanagement are for display purposes only.
This corresponds to the claim that the Labour Party is listening, when in fact the only way to get a message across is by some kind of publicity stunt, otherwise you are talking to the brick wall that has been erected to prevent any form of dissent or complaint. Rhodri Morgan is wrong when he says the tide has turned against Labour, it?s a case of apathy giving way to contempt.
Complain about this comment
Shame about the headlines - Penri etc. Substance is that the long march of Plaid in Ceredigion is progressing well - 3 short of overall majority.
On a more substantial point Labour hegemony in Wales well and truly in the bin....
Complain about this comment
Good to hear Jane Hutt last night in full prosak "denial mode" ~ the (sort of) Welsh Hazel "I a'in't no Poly-Anna!" Blears!
The unwritten story of the last few years has been the revival of the caring sharing soul baring Welsh Tories ~ all things to all the people ~ and they will pay for that ~ but maybe not just yet. We weren't ALL Bourne yesterday.
Geddit.
Gordon sounds as "im- mansely depressed" as usual.
Complain about this comment
Up country, the biggest story is the 'return of the donkeys' in Merthyr where even Council leader Harvey Jones had the sack (and a big bag to put it in). Red rosettes out, Neddies in!
A forward-looking council boss, Harvey had even stolen some political strategies from The West Wing's Leo McGarry and instituted Merthyr's 'big block of cheese day' (though they never called it that). However, he must have put his dvd player on fast-forward as the point of the story was that the administration got to know what the punters were thinking.
Complain about this comment
Big news in Rhondda Cynon Taf. Mr Joel James, who is a close friend of mine and the only Conservative candidate standing in the RCT area topped the voting in the Llantwit Fardre Ward by 39 votes.
I can say, free of any political agenda myself that this surely deserves recognition as an outstanding achievement given the political orientation of the area as a whole, but secondly has certainly revived my faith in local politics and its voters. I can vouch for Joel in saying that he has run a positive, tireless campaign making every effort to ensure that the local people a)knew he was there to be voted for and b)was there to represent their voice on local issues that need to be addressed. It's so nice to see that that sort of hard work and commitment is appreciated, because it truly deserves to be.
Some family and friends of mine living in the ward complained to me that the candidates had become "invisible" bar the odd piece of junk mail landing on the welcome mat every now and then. This must surely make Mr. James' victory even more profound; congratulations Joel, you earned it the hard, the best way!
Complain about this comment
I make it 29 PC Councillors in Carmarthen - another score or so in RCT - we could get to 200 councillors and be in the administration in:
Ceredigion, Caerffili, Ynys Mon, Ceredigion, Carmarthen, Conwy, Denbigh, Gwynedd, Wrexham and Cardiiff!!!
Result!!! (Shame about the Gwynedd dissoes but otherwise excellent)
Complain about this comment
Plaid could also be part of a Rainbow coalition in Torfaen, and we might end up holding the balance of power in Newport!
Complain about this comment
Sorry Betsan it must have been a very long night! Michael Michael was not Labour Group leader - he might have thought he was, but he thought he was going to win in Fairwater as well.
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS