A Message from the Chief Executive

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to update you on the Senedd Election, which took place last week.

After people across Wales voted yesterday, counting began this morning, with the result announced at approximately 3.30pm.

In Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg, there were two Plaid Cymru, two Reform UK, one Conservative and one Labour candidate voted in as new Senedd Members.

They are: Mark Hooper (Plaid), Sarah Cooper-Lesadd (Reform), Sarah Rees (Plaid), Andrew RT Davies (Conservative), Gareth Thomas (Reform) and Sarah Murphy (Labour).

Turnout was 81,953 in the Vale, with Plaid Cymru receiving 27,407 votes, Reform UK 24,603, Welsh Conservatives 12,464, Welsh Labour 9,518, Wales Green party 4,220, Welsh Liberal Democrats 2,175, Welsh Heritage Party 429, Caroline Jones 651, William Jeffreys 221 and Lucia Wyatt 114.

Senedd Election arrangements changed this year with the Country condensed from 40 to 16 constituencies, each electing six people.

That means the overall number of Senedd Members has increased from 60 to 96.

The Vale joined Bridgend to form Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg, with this Council leading on managing the election in the area.

It was also the first time that a new party-list voting system had been used and counting took place the next day.

Under the new system, each party put forward up to eight candidates, with the ratio of votes they received determining how many (if any) were elected.

The count also returned to Barry Leisure Centre, rather than the town’s Memorial Hall, as a larger space was needed.

Despite these new arrangements, it was an extremely smooth operation on the day. 

I’d like to say a big thank you to Rachel Starr, our Electoral Services Manager, and her team – Hayley, Chelsie, Linda and Claire – for all the preparation work they have put in over the last few months. 

I know how hard they have worked to ensure all arrangements were in place - that polling stations were set up across the new constituencies, ballot papers printed, all the necessary notices published at the right time and that all postal ballots issued and administered correctly. They are a small team, but they are very thorough in working through arrangements which have to be spot on – there is no margin for error.

That careful planning really paid off – diolch yn fawr iawn.

I’d also like to thank the many other members of staff who helped stage the election: those who were counting, managing polling stations, setting up the venue and all the other jobs necessary to make the process such a success. 

In the run up to the election, we saw Team Vale at its very best, with colleagues from across the Council forming a core team including Building and Security colleagues, Digital and ICT, Communications, Finance and Legal Services. Diolch bawb. Your help and support is always appreciated and never taken for granted. 

I’d also like to express my thanks to my Deputy Returning Officer for this election.  Victoria Davidson, our Head of legal and Democratic Services and also the Council’s Monitoring Officer, has, as ever, been extremely supportive and always ready to assist and support throughout the process – Diolch Victoria. 

Given the larger geographical area covering two Local Authority areas, this was a complicated undertaking that involved a total of 108 Counting Assistants processing the ballots, nine Team Leaders and three Senior Supervisors.

Well done everyone.

Thanks too to all staff for carefully observing the pre-election period, when we must remain politically neutral and not do anything that could influence public support for a political party or candidate.

Now that these restrictions have ended, we can press ahead with a range of exciting projects that are planned and I look forward to sharing more on this in the weeks that follow.

We will also need to meet with the new Welsh Government to understand its priorities and how we can work together to keep delivering for the Vale and Local Government in general. I look forward to doing this in the coming days.

Thanks again to staff involved in administering the election, and to those that managed day-to-day Council business while others’ time was taken up by it.

For those not in work, have a relaxing weekend and those of you, like me, that were heavily involved over Thursday and Friday, get some well-earned rest.

Diolch yn fawr iawn,

Rob