Remain-supporting Labour candidate wins by-election in leave-voting Newport West
A pro-European Labour candidate was today announced as the winner of a by-election in Newport West, which voted leave in the 2016 EU referendum.
Labour candidate Ruth Jones won the seat with 9,308 votes (39.5 per cent) in an election that was triggered by the death of the incumbent Labour MP Paul Flynn in February.
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Flynn had held the seat for 32 years and had a majority of 5,658 at the 2017 election.
Jones’ majority over her Conservative rival Matthew Evans was 1,951, while disgraced former Tory MP Neil Hamilton took third place for UKIP with 2,023 votes.
Turnout was down to 37.1 per cent, from 67.5 per cent in 2017, with poor weather one of the factors blamed, including rain and hail on Thursday.
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Jones said: “The general consensus was that Brexit had become a cloud that was on top of people and it seemed to be stopping the main issues getting up to parliament, so the people of Newport West feel their voices are not being heard at the moment.
“The trust in politicians is very low at the moment and I recognise that. They say ‘Get on with it, we need to make sure we bring this to a close now, it’s gone on long enough’,” The Independent reported.
Evans said: “People just want clarity and I’ve seen no appetite for another referendum or a general election.”
Newport West voted leave by 56 to 44 per cent in the 2016 EU referendum.