By George! Montgomeryshire turns blue

The Conservative Party has completed their eviction of the Liberal Democrats from Montgomeryshire after Russell George was elected for the Welsh Assembly Government.

 

Mr George (right), a county councillor from Newtown, trounced Lib Dem candidate Wyn Williams to take the seat, and has completed a Tory double just a year after Glyn Davies became the area’s MP by unseating Lembit Opik.

 

It marks an incredible power shift for the county which has been dominated by the Liberal Democrats for a century. Mr George received 10,026 votes, an increase of 13.6% on the last election and 2,324 more than Mr Williams in a far-off second. Labour overtook Plaid Cymru into third.

 

It means, for the first time, that Montgomeryshire is now represented by Conservatives in both the London and Cardiff power bases.

 

A delighted Mr George said: “It will be a privilege to represent Montgomeryshire. Now the hard work begins! We have got some really big issues. For too long the people of Montgomeryshire have felt let down by the Welsh Assembly Government.”

 

The result underlines that a combination of the Lib Dems committing political suicide and the Conservatives forming a well organised local party was decisive. Mr Opik’s high profile celebrity frolics lost him valuable respect and the Lib Dems retiring Assembly Member, Mick Bates, was embroiled in a drunken assault court case last year.

 

And while they were grabbing the wrong headlines, first Mr Davies and now Mr George went about their campaigning quietly, remaining focussed on local issues that concerned the electorate.

 

But the big talking point from the election will no doubt be voter apathy once again. Only 47 per cent of the electorate turned out and, despite the current big local issues, only 633 more people bothered to vote than in 2007, a disappointing statistic considering how many more people were eligible than four years ago.

 

But it won’t worry Mr George who was supported this morning at the Welshpool count by Mr Davies who is still on crutches following his serious back operation last week.

 

He said the result was “magnificent for Montgomeryshire” and described him as “a leading young politician with a very bright future”.

 

Mr George fought the election on the ticket of opposing the horrific Power proposals earmarked for the area. It struck a chord with the electorate and he will now take his seat at the Cardiff table for the next four years.