General election 2019: First female Tory MP wins Wrexham

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Sarah AthertonImage source, Sarah Atherton

Sarah Atherton has become the first female Conservative MP in Wales after winning the Labour stronghold of Wrexham.

Ms Atherton won the seat, previously held by Labour since 1931, with a majority of more than 2,000.

The result was the first in a series of blows for Labour in north east Wales.

James Davies won Vale of Clwyd, Simon Baynes snatched Clwyd South, Rob Roberts gained Delyn and David Jones held Clwyd West.

Wrexham was guaranteed to have a new MP after Ian Lucas decided to step down however Ms Atherton is the constituency's first Tory MP and said she was "delighted and privileged".

She added: "The people of Wrexham wanted Brexit done and delivered. I think that's why we have got a majority of 2,000 tonight."

She said she wanted a trade deal with the EU.

Labour's David Hanson, former Home Office minister and former parliamentary private secretary to Tony Blair, lost his Delyn, external seat to the Conservatives.

Image caption,

Conservative Rob Roberts overturned a Labour majority in Delyn

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It was a bad night for Labour in Wales, especially in the north east

Former prime minister Tony Blair campaigned in the constituency for Mr Hanson two weeks ago.

However his Tory rival Rob Roberts overturned a 4,240 vote majority to win by 865 votes.

The only success for the Labour party in north east Wales was in Alyn and Deeside, external where Mark Tami narrowly held on to his seat.

Mr Tami polled just 0.5% more than Conservative candidate Sanjoy Sen, winning by just 213 votes.

"We've obviously suffered a very bad defeat and I've lost many colleagues, I've just about hung on," he said.

"There are a number of issues - Brexit was an issue, the leadership of the party was an issue and we really have to look at ourselves and decide which was we go forwards.

"I think our policy on Brexit was, well... if you stand in the middle of the road, you get run over. It was very hard for us to explain our position on the issue, that was a problem.

"There were some very positive things we were offering but it wasn't cutting through... this is really 'rethinking who we are' territory."

However there was a familiar story in the rest of the regions seats.

In Vale of Clwyd, external, James Davies unseated incumbent MP Chris Ruane with 17,270 votes, 1,827 ahead of incumbent MP Chris Ruane with 15,443.

Labour's Susan Elan Jones had held Clwyd South, external since 2010 but Mr Baynes, mayor of Llanfyllin, took 45% of the vote while Labour saw their share fall by 9%.

David Jones has been re-elected as the MP for Clwyd West, with an increased majority.

The Conservative candidate beat Labour's Jo Thomas by 6,747 votes, 3,310 more votes than the majority at the 2017 election.

Wales

After 40 of 40 seats

  • Labour
    22 seats
    , -6 seats compared to 2017
  • Conservative
    14 seats
    , +6 seats compared to 2017
  • Plaid Cymru
    4 seats
    , +0 seats compared to 2017

If you cannot see the graphic click here., external

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