Back on the bike refreshed now. Quite a steady pull up from Aberdulais where we left off but here goes. Our next stop is -
Crynant
In Crynant we saw the Independent candidate, Sian Harris get 53% of the vote in a 3-way fight with Labour and Plaid. A stonkingly good result to wrest the seat away from the Labour candidate, who previously held the seat. This village is now home for Christina Rees MP. I love the fact that her local councillor is an Independent and not a member of her Party. On the voting figures I cannot see Labour winning this seat back anytime soon.
Seven Sisters
A two horse race in Seven Sisters with only one winner. Steve Hunt again annihilated his opposition, despite the Labour candidate against him being loudly lauded and backed by the Labour crachach, with Christina Rees and Hywel Francis being some of the big beasts playing a supporting role. It looks like as long as Steve is up for the fight, Labour will find Seven Sisters sterile ground. In fact I don't think Steve even had to ride through the village on a horse this time.
Onllwyn
This is definitely one resulted I got right, yet I was really, really surprised by how close the Independent came to pinching it. Former council leader Ali Thomas' seat, this would have been a disaster for Labour if it went, and look how close it got. They had thrown a massive effort in up here. Sponsored rugby matches in Banwen, big beasts like Lord Hain and Hywel Francis giving Dean Cawsey personal support. And of course with Cawsey being Christina Rees' office manager, she was never far away either, as well as her other staff member Leanne Jones who pinched the Tonna seat by a narrow margin as well. When you look at the march of the Independents in this valley, Crynant, Seven Sisters - then in Glynneath when you drop down from Banwen being won by an Independent, the zeitgeist of this area suggests that Cawsey is going to really struggle to hold on to this seat.
Glynneath
An amazing result for first-timer Independent, Simon Knoyle. Just look at the size of that personal vote, 15% and 354 votes clear of the second candidate Del Morgan of Plaid, who was also elected. John Evans was not far behind in third - again an Independent, and a first rate bloke in his community. There has been a longstanding, local issue regarding the Tennis Courts here which has polarised opinions in the community. Plaid may well struggle to retain their seat if the Independents in NPT perform to their public's expectation, though that's not necessarily a given. Just look at where the two Labour candidates ended up. Their combined vote was only 8 more than the runner up Del Morgan. Eddie Jones held one of these seats for Welsh Labour yet bottomed out in the vote. The Party must be finished up here.
Blaengwrach
Just like in the Glynneath, Crynant and Seven Sisters seats, the Welsh Labour candidate again took a hell of a beating. UKIP now look a busted flush, even though their candidate is a local man but on a 10% voteshare even if all those votes went to one of the others it would make no difference.
Remember that as recently as 2016 this seat was a Labour one, won by Plaid in October 2016 following the death of Alf Siddley the Welsh Labour councillor for the ward. Take a look at those by-election results, less than seven months ago. Carolyn Edwards must be well pleased at how Plaid has consolidated their hold on this seat.
Resolven
When the history of the Resolven election 2017 is written it won't be Des Davies or Trefor Jones making the headlines. The man in the frame will be Darren Bromham-Nichols. Darren is a local boy but now lives a few miles nearer Neath. Only deciding to run at the last possible moment, Darren ran a campaign that makes those US Presidential ones look positively camera shy. We had videos. Here's one of several:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyIPbOQ8M_o
We had interviews, we had meetings with locals, we had speeches from a lectern in Resolven Square, we had motor cavalcades complete with flags, we had Darren being let out of his "limo" by his equivalent of a Presidential bodyguard, we had loudspeakers, we even had Ruth Madoc doing the voice for the cavalcade loudspeaker broadcasts, about Darren "putting the camp into campaigning". I reckon the other two candidates were so gobsmacked they went into catatonic shock. The rest of us watched in awe, wondering what Darren would come up with next. An unforgettable performance, but "Dependable" Des held on, putting out a late, simplistic leaflet that lay claim to the fact that like Tyrannosaurus Rex he had ruled his domain, well, forever. It did the trick but wow, it was close. He must thank his lucky stars Darren hadn't worked the ward a while longer or he'd be toast Tyrannosaurus. Turnout increased by 7% to 48% (from the 2012 election), so it looks like the ward was more enthused, probably due to Darren's high energy campaigning. But not enough. Despite the intensity of the campaign and all credit to him, Darren stuck to his promise to stick to the issues and not to make the campaign personal in any way. I'll never forget it. And neither will Resolven or anyone who was part of it.
_______________________________
Time for a rest now before I finish my tour in Neath, taking in Tonna en-route. Apart from one outstanding, notable exception, writing about the results in these seats is going to leave a bitter taste in my mouth. So I'll have to pop into the David Protheroe to suss out what Guest ales they have on. "What" you say, "STaN drinking in Wetherspoons"? Well let me tell you this. It was good enough for some of the Welsh Labour candidates to call there on election night, with their Seven Sisters candidate Nia Herdman and "Banwen's Finest" Dean Cawsey dropping in, as well as Leanne and Andrew Jones (Tonna and Pelenna candidates for Welsh Labour). If it's good enough for their cultured and refined tastes, then it's good enough for old STaN.
