First thoughts on thepoll

Well, the turnout was up about 4% in both constituencies, but still less than the figures recorded in the first Assembly election (46.8% in Aberavon, 47.9% in Neath).

Our vote yesterday increased in both constituencies, as compared with the 2003 result. Thanks to all the people who put in work delivering our message, without whom we might even have slipped back.

Congratulations to Plaid on their well-run campaign which enabled them to recover all the votes lost in their plunge in 2003. Congratulations, too, to Gwenda Thomas in holding on to the Neath seat in the face of the Plaid surge and the general unpopularity of the Labour Party throughout Wales.

The Conservatives seem to have shaken off that mantle to make a modest recovery.
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However, the general election will tell a different story.