Welsh Assembly Election 2016: Plaid takes Rhondda

Leanne Wood celebrates with her team

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood has taken the Rhondda seat from Labour in the Welsh assembly election.

Ms Wood said her victory was a "new dawn" for Rhondda, with a majority of nearly 3,500 over Leighton Andrews.

Elsewhere in south east Wales, Labour has held onto 15 seats including Bridgend, which was retained by First Minister Carwyn Jones.

UKIP's Mark Reckless, David Rowlands and Gareth Bennett became AMs via the regional lists.

Mr Jones said it was "difficult to know" what went wrong for Labour in Rhondda and that it was "not something we saw coming".

Seats retained by Labour include Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, Newport East, Newport West, Islwyn, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Cynon Valley, Pontypridd, Ogmore, Cardiff South and Penarth, Cardiff North, and Torfaen.

In Cardiff Central, Labour's Jenny Rathbone increased her narrow lead on Liberal Democrat Eluned Parrot to just under 1,000.

In the Vale of Glamorgan, Finance Minister Jane Hutt's lead over the Tories was cut from nearly 4,000 to just 777 votes.

Also for Labour, Julie Morgan held off a Conservative challenge in Cardiff North, while Health Minister Mark Drakeford held on to Cardiff West by 1,176 votes over Plaid Cymru.

The Conservatives held on to Monmouth.

In the South East Regional vote, UKIP took two seats, Plaid Cymru took one and the Conservatives took one.

Mark Reckless and David Rowlands are among the first ever UKIP members of the Welsh Assembly.

On the South Wales Central list, two Conservatives, one Plaid Cymru and one UKIP member were elected.