Labour wins in Monmouthshire for second successive week

A Labour candidate has won a town council by-election in Monmouthshire for the second successive week. 

Voters in Abergavenny’s Pen y Fal ward have elected Welsh Labour candidate Gareth Wilde to the town council following a by-election held on Thursday, April 27. 

He collected 329 votes to come ahead of independent candidate Julian Edwards, a former member of the Conservative Party, who received 200 votes while Hannah Jarvis, the Welsh Conservative candidate, picked up 120 votes. 

The Labour victory follows success in the Chepstow Castle by-election the previous week, where Gemma Rosser was elected to the town council. 

She received 220 votes to finish ahead of Conservative candidate Victoria Bedford who had 80 votes while independent Matthew James Legg gained 60 votes. 

The turnout in the Abergavenny by-election, in the ward that at county level is held by the Conservatives, was 41 per cent which was almost double the turnout in Chepstow which was just 22.4 per cent.