The Welsh MPs saying last goodbyes to Parliament

Wayne David and his wife Jane cleared out his office in Westminster, where he had been an MP for 23 years

Former MPs standing down from Welsh seats at the general election have had their last day in the office and said their goodbyes to friends and colleagues.

Parliament was dissolved on Thursday ahead of the 4 July vote, meaning every seat in the House of Commons is now vacant.

More than 100 MPs have said they will leave Westminster, including nine from Wales.

Some of them have been looking back on their time in office.

For Jamie Wallis, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s election call took him by surprise, and he thought he would have longer before he left UK.

"We thought out loud 'autumn',", he said, highlighting hints dropped about that date by Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt in TV interviews.

"It was certainly the working assumption that most if not all MPs were working with."

Mr Wallis held the seat of Bridgend for the Conservatives from 2019 until last Thursday.

He was the first MP to say publicly that he had gender dysphoria, and is in the process of transitioning.

He had already announced he would not be re-standing in Wales due to constituency boundary changes.

Jamie Wallis says he will not be re-standing in Wales

He explained his reaction after watching Mr Sunak’s announcement on the TV from his office in Parliament.

"Relief that it wasn’t some sort of policy announcement or something which would have got the whole country talking about him bottling it.

"And then it started to sink in slowly and then it was a whole range of emotions."

Ultimately he thinks the PM "made the right call".

"It can never be the wrong decision to go the country. We’re in a democracy. It can never be wrong to ask the people what they think," he said.

But he is sad to say goodbye to Parliament.

"You fall in love with this job, you’ll always want another week," said Mr Wallis.

Wayne David held a number of Labour frontbench roles during his time in the Commons

Wayne David was first elected to represent Caerphilly for Labour in 2001.

A former Wales Office minister when Labour were in power in No 10, he has since held a number of frontbench opposition roles, including most recently shadow minister for the Middle East.

Now he has taken the decision to retire.

"Naturally I feel a bit sad. I’ve been in Parliament a long time. But you have to move on," said Mr David.

Asked what he plans to do next, he said: "The important thing is to wind down somewhat because being a Member of Parliament is quite an intense profession."

"My wife, I’m sure, has got a very long list of places to visit and holidays to go on and work to be done in the house."

Plaid Cymru’s Hywel Williams entered Parliament the same year as Mr David, first representing Caernarfon and then after boundary changes in 2010 the new seat of Arfon.

Hywel Williams described the end of his parliamentary career as “something of an anti-climax”

Until recently he was his party’s foreign affairs spokesperson at Westminster.

Mr Williams described the end of his parliamentary career as “something of an anti-climax” .

“The election was called so suddenly. I had been banking on doing something until October. There are some policy things I would have liked to finish,” he said.

While the customs and traditions of Westminster were initially a lot to get to grips with, he has fond memories from his 23 years working there, particularly from the time he spent chairing committees.

“I did sit in the Speaker’s place twice and chairing the House of Commons is something of a challenge I can inform you,” he said.

“When I was chairing the House of Commons in the main chamber, a friend of mine raised a point of order and I was very happy to slap him down.”

All three agree that helping constituents is one of the best bits of the job.

Ordinary casework was the part Mr Wallis found most rewarding.

“You know there’s not a million votes in it and it’s not going to make the headlines. Nobody’s going to be talking about it in 20 years but right there right then you made a difference to that family,” said Mr Wallis.

For Mr David one issue in particular stands out

He said: “One of the issues I feel very strongly about is dangerous dogs.

"We’ve had a couple of tragedies in my constituency and I’ve championed the issue with one of my constituents for quite a period of time now and we’ve got some movement from the government and hopefully they’ll be more movement in the future to make sure people are safe from dangerous dogs.”

Mr Williams said he was “very glad” to have worked for the people of Arfon and Caernarfon.

Offering a piece of advice for any new MP he said: “Most of all maintain your commitment to your constituency, they are the people that you’re working for.”