A final comment on the recent local government elections from a fellow Surrey Heath Councillor with strong Welsh roots, who says:

“I’ve never seen an election map of Wales with so little red.”

“Keir Hardie, the first Labour Leader, was MP for the Merthyr and Aberdare constituency.  This was later divided into two.  When I was in primary school one half, Merthyr, had a communist MP. Merthyr council is Labour no longer. 

“The other half of Keir Hardie’s constituency is now part of Rhondda Cynon Taff.  This council has remained Labour, but with a greatly reduced majority and has elected its first [I believe] Conservative.  It is one of only two Labour councils left in Wales.”   

“They used to say you could put a red rosette on a sheep and it would win an election in the Valleys. They also used to say they didn’t count the Labour votes they weighed them.  Not any more.”

Here are the final results of the May 2008 local government elections: