Plaid Cymru defeats Reform in Caerphilly by

Plaid Cymru has defeated Reform UK in a fiercely fought Welsh Parliament by-election, with the defending party Labour trailing in third.

Nigel Farage’s party was hoping to win its first seat at the ballot box in the Caerphilly constituency and pledged to ‘throw everything’ at its campaign.

Despite this initiative, Plaid has emerged victorious with a majority of 3,848 votes, and a swing of almost 27% from Labour, on a high turnout of more than 50%.

It is a bitter blow for Labour, which had held the seat since the Senedd was first established in 1999.

Lindsay Whittle received 15,961 votes, more than 47% of the total, while Reform candidate Llyr Powell got 12,113 votes – the party had only 495 four years ago.

Meanwhile, Labour’s Richard Tunnicliffe trailed on 3,713, down from 13,289 in 2