Chepstow School was busy all through last Thursday night (12th December) with election teams, press and council staff to see in the general election result for the Monmouth constituency.

David Davies (Conservative) was re-elected as the member of parliament for the Monmouth constituency with 26,160 votes (52.1 per cent). Yvonne Murphy (Labour) came in second place with 16,178 votes (32.2 per cent), followed by Alison Willott (Liberal Democrat) with 4,909 (9.8 per cent), Ian Chandler (Green Party) with 1,353 (2.7 per cent), Hugh Kocan (Plaid Cymru) with 1,182 (2.4 per cent) and Martyn Ford (independent) with 435 (0.9 per cent).

Mr Davies told the Beacon: “I’m very pleased with the result today, not just in Monmouth but across the rest of the country.

“I’m also mindful of the responsibility that comes with that, to continue serving the Monmouth constituency in the best way I can and nationally, understand the importance of what that mandate actually is. It’s a mandate for governance from the centre of British politics and that’s where I want the Conservative Party to be.”

David Davies was invited to give a speech and the other candidates were offered the opportunity to provide some closing remarks. He thanked Paul Matthews the returning officer, the county council staff and the police. He also thanked the other candidates and their teams for being polite and respectful throughout the election period.

“I made certain commitments in my belief in public services in this country, in our National Health Service, which must be protected and must never be dismantled, sold off or privatised in any way,” Mr Davies added. “I also spoke about the importance of having a fair immigration policy, but I would also be completely against any form of racism, discrimination or xenophobia – and of course about the importance of getting Brexit done, respecting the referendum, but doing so with a deal.”

Alison Willott said: “I agree with David Davies that this has been a polite campaign in sharp contrast to the other campaigns which have received publicity in the press recently.

“This really should have been an election that was worked around climate change, which is the biggest emergency facing us and instead it has been on Brexit. I hope that whatever the new government is in this country, it actually takes a big stand on tackling climate change.”

Yvonne Murphy declined to give a speech following the results, however after the count the Labour candidate posted on social media: “I must thank everyone involved in the campaign. What a truly beautiful group of human beings who are my Labour family.

“You all worked so hard. I salute each and everyone of you. Thank you to Monmouth Constituency Labour Party who selected me and gave me this incredible opportunity. Thank you to everyone who supported us however large or small from putting up a Labour sign to sharing and retweeting posts on social media and of course for your votes. We ran a campaign based around four words: hope, compassion, unity, dignity.”

Ian Chandler said: “I am grateful to all those who put their faith in me by voting Green and am happy to have seen our vote share increase. Looking at the national picture, with only 38,300 votes needed to elect each Conservative MP while 864,743 people voting Green only gets one MP, the need for electoral reform is urgent if we are to rebuild faith in our democracy.”

Hugh Kocan told the Beacon that he’ll be hoping to return in future elections. Martyn Ford was not present at the count.

Turnout for this election was 75 per cent with 50,353 ballot papers issued. Monmouth had one of the highest voter turnouts in Wales, with only Cardiff North having a higher turnout.