In this first of four county-by-county previews over the coming week, here’s a summary of where things stand in the six northern local authorities.
- Current Administration: Plaid Cymru majority.
- Current Leader: Cllr. Dyfrig Siencyn (Plaid).
- Number of Seats (2022): 69 (-6).
- Current Seat Distribution: Plaid Cymru (42), Independents & Non-Affiliated (25), Llais Gwynedd (6), Labour (1), Liberal Democrats (1), Propel (1).
Previous Results:
- 1995 – Plaid Cymru control.
- 1999 – Plaid Cymru control.
- 2004 – Plaid Cymru control.
- 2008 – No Overall Control.
- 2012 – No Overall Control.
- 2017 – Plaid Cymru control.
If you’re looking for election excitement, you should probably look elsewhere.
Plaid ought to retain their majority and are well on the way to doing so having won 19 seats uncontested (they need 35 for a majority under the new boundaries so are more than halfway there without a single vote being cast).
This points towards the boundary review being ineffective due to the retention of a large number of small single-member wards. It’ll be interesting if the seemingly inevitable Plaid-run Gwynedd Council chooses to adopt single transferable vote given Plaid MSs’ enthusiasm for it?
The only other thing to note is that Llais Gwynedd is seemingly not running this year, with those who’ve previously done so running as Independents. I’m assuming this means an independent “Llais Gwynedd group” on the council could be formed after the election in name only. Propel have seemingly lost their only councillor, who’s running as an Independent too.
Even if Plaid does fall short of a majority somehow, they’re likely to be the only party able to lead an administration one way or another.
