Labour loses Welsh Assembly majority

With all the results in, Labour have 26 seats. They lost three to Plaid Cymru who now have 15. The Conservatives remain in third place, with the Liberal Democrats and Independents making up the rest.

The Labour Party was today putting a positive sheen on its performance in Wales.

Rhodri Morgan said they had "confounded the doom-mongers".

Party sources, who have spent the campaign gunning for a majority, now concede that dropping from 29 to 26 seats in the 60-member Assembly is not too shabby a performance.

But it could have been worse. Several AMs saw their majorities cut. Labour defied the swing to pick up its only first-past-the-post gain in Wrexham.

It got two top-up members elected in the Mid and West Wales region when its remaining constituencies in that vast rural swathe of the country were wiped out.

According to one pundit at least, Labour has never had it so bad.

The Conservatives are claiming they are the beneficiaries of a "Cameron effect". Four constituencies that were Labour yesterday are now Tory-held.

Plaid Cymru, which has invested record amounts, looks certain to hold on to its status as the second-biggest party.

Having effectively re-launched itself with a big injection of cash, it would have been disastrous for the nationalists had they not done so.

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