Plaid Cymru defeats Reform UK and Labour to win Caerphilly by-election

Very poor of Llyr Powell not to deliver a speech, at the very least paying tribute to Hefin David. Smacks of sour grapes and a sense of entitlement. He clearly thought he had this in the bag. Appalling and disrespectful conduct by a so-called prospective Senedd candidate.

A GOOD WIN BY A GOOD MAN!

Brilliant and amazing news. Well done. Congratulations to PC on this beautiful morning. Send the hate filled clowns packing.

Not just a win for plaid but an emphatic one - and thats important because if it had been close (as was expected) we can be sure those scallywags of Reform would have made the kind of baseless accusations about the result which has become the stock in trade of the populist right.

This is a welcome relief but also, a considerable shock. Ukip, saw all of its votes disappear, as did the conservatives. Never mind Labour. Plaid did very well indeed, claiming a 19% swing of victory and an 11% victory lead. For me, this bodes well, it reminds us that more people in Caerphilly are decent, caring folk, not in it for themselves but rather for their community and Wales. I was seriously beginning to have my doubts about whether Plaid could push this over the line or whether Labour would somehow drag them down leaving the candidacy to Reform. A further welcome surprise, was that over half of the electorate turned out. I'm not used to seeing election turn outs like that. This likely means an even more rigorous election come the Senedd elections.

Good news to start the day... Shame to learn that there are 12,000 of Putin's English Nationalists living in one place that close to our capital...

Mr Whittle; a bellwether for a better future for Cymru... Follow the sure footed on a well trod path...

Llongyfarchiadau Plaid a diolch Pobl Caerffili. The joy and relief will be felt by many, not least our Ukrainian friends and many others who would be targets of vile hatred for which, I’m sad to say, a total of 12,882 voted in favour of yesterday.

Classy words from Lindsay about Hefin. Well done and llongyfarchiadau.

This is amazing, thank you to the people of Caerphilly!

Baroness Morgan - "Welsh Labour has heard the frustration on doorsteps in Caerphilly that the need to feel change in people’s lives has not been quick enough. "We take our share of the responsibility for this result. We are listening, we are learning the lessons, and we will be come back stronger." As that other comedian used to say, "it's the way she tells 'em". With Rachel Reeves now contemplating hiking up the basic rate of tax etc in a cost of living crisis, the futures's looking rosy. More flags.

Most importantly, this shows that division and falsehood can be defeated. But it’s only round one.

Llongyfarchiadau Plaid. Great to see Labour suffer, their 100 years of corruption and neglect in the valleys is coming to an end. They have suffocated our potential for far too long. Their love for their party and the union with England supersedes everything, good riddance to them!

Cry harder Addy Waddy

Putins chump and Starmer on notice then. Cons already sent off early.

LLongyfarchiadau!! Respect to the good people of Caerphilly!

Chwarae Teg! Well done Caerphilly in showing that hatred and division has no place in Wales.

Caerphilly says no to the fash. A great morning indeed.

Well done P Ca step in the right direction for Wales and Plaid leader after the win the way Starmer Liebour treated Wales no different to Tory treated as a COLONY of England this morning i do what i do every morning read the papers the papers online and the English media are not happy GOOD the comments about us Welsh are derogatry it is my Believe that this the begining of English rule of Wales and and the Celtic Nations the break away from England not forgeting the rapid rise of English nationalism EVERY COUNTRY HAS THE RIGHT TO RULE THEMSELVES not by a foreign country England

I've no real beef about that as long as they still don't win!

It was a collosal win and it stops the momentum of deform and gives hope to Wales, the Welsh, humanity and existence.

Please make sure to up vote Addy's comment otherwise it will disappear along with all the more hilarious responses.

Umm, because deform thought they would win and the polls were unhelpful.

As I wrote earlier this week, I said we'd find out whether the Beaufort Research poll published a few days ago was accurate or not at the result for the coming Caerphilly by-election. It turns out the poll was a load of old cobblers as I'd suspected. I can only assume that Beaufort Research is run by people called Bozo, Krusty and Ronald McDonald!!

Congratulations to Lindsay Whittle (Plaid Cymru) 15,961 votes. We are on our way. Wales is winning the real battle.

Well, for a start......Oh I just can't be bothered.

Llongyfarchiadau Plaid. Don't expect miracles immediately from Plaid Cymru. It will take them a fair time to put right the 100-plus years of Labour damage. The same thing will apply if Cymru achieve independence. Again, it will take time to undo the dreadful dominance, suppression and depravation the English imposed on us.

Mushroom Party perhaps. Up quick and everywhere but gone soon after. Given the huge level of UK national coverage /reform gets compared to practically zero UK coverage for Plaid Cymru, Reform's votes here are going to be inflated.

Amazing result, but Reform coming 2nd still shows that there are too many people that want to see Wales destroyed and hatred and division in communities.

Not a Caerphilly resident myself but I have personally met Mr. Whittle and found him incredibly easy to converse with. I'm sure he will do a fantastic job representing his home constituency. Also worth noting Plaid received more than the combined votes of the Tories, Reform and UKIP proving there is no place for the divisive politics of scapegoating and "othering" rhetoric in Caerphilly.

Brilliant result! We should also remember the part that the Caerffili Ukranian community played in this. Calling out Reform for what the are and working to bring the community together while getting terrible online abuse

I've had plenty to say about the direction Plaid Cymru has been taking, but in all honesty, this morning I am delighted. Lindsay is one of those dedicated nationalists who've worked tirelessly for years, and, as the saying say, cometh the moment, cometh the man. Llongyfarchiadau!

O Gymru annwyl. Dw i'n dy garu yn fwy ac yn fwy bob dydd.

There was one picture doing the rounds which said it all about Reform's toxic campaign Powell & Anderson pictured standing outside a redundant Caerphilly colliery The gist was Labour & Plaid was bad for industry Even though closed down under Thatcher. This was just after Reform accepting a £100k donation from vulture capitalists Greybell who closed down British Steel. Meanwhile the anniversary of Aberfan and ex miner Anderson and his fellow MPs dodged the debate on dangerous coal tips at the H of C Mines are just useful for photo shoots

Very pleased to see Reform UK Llŷr Powell defeated by Plaid Cymru's Lindsay Whittle. The arrogance and entitlement of Reform was palpable. It wiped the smirk off their smug faces. Hope over hate. After 26 years of labour Caerphilly and Wales needs change and Plaid offers us that. Onwards and upwards. #Ymlaen 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

'but why are we banging on about Reform’s performance when Labour have just been ground into the myre?' Because this isn't an Anglocentric British media site. If you want to dwell on the future prospects of Labour or how super Reform did then every Anglocentric British media is available to you.

For interest I calculated the distribution of seats if this result happened under the new PR system that will be in use at the next Senedd election. The results were Plaid Cymru 3 seats and Reform 3 seats. While Plaid's representation would be roughly equal to their vote share (47%), Reform (36%) appears to be over represented as third place Labour (11%) did not get enough votes to claim one seat.

Looking at that vote split: I wonder how everyone is feeling about closed list PR voting right now?

The Caerphilly election result was a positive turn of history of a kind that is unfortunately all to rare in Welsh politics. Plaid Cymru must build on this and have its plans, on both local and national issues, fully laid out before the electorate in time for next May. This includes trying to win over those who might be tempted by Reform UK's snake oil. Plaid must also bear in mind that Farage has a magic bullet in terms of people's anger over immigration, and he'll milk it to the full.