It was a successful election day for Labour in Rhondda Cynon Taf as they regained control of the council. The shock of the day was long-standing Plaid Cymru councillor Pauline Jarman, who has been a councillor for 46 years, losing her seat.
Changes to the ward boundaries in the council area meant she was directly facing Labour's leader in the council Andrew Morgan. Cllr Morgan, and colleague Wendy Treeby were successful, ending a long political career for Ms Jarman.
Cllr Morgan and Cllr Treeby were both elected with 1,547 and 1,016 votes respectively. However, Ms Jarman missed out, winning only 897 votes. After losing her seat, Ms Jarman said that she had "loved every minute" of being a councillor but was now looking forward to "wallowing in the luxury of her family".
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"I've achieved so much in my life," she said, addressing the crowd at the count in Mountain Ash. "I’ve been a councillor for 46 years and it took a boundary review and Welsh Government cabinet to get rid of me. There hasn’t been much I haven’t achieved and I’ve loved every minute of it. I’m certain Andrew will miss my presence. I want to thank the 897 voters that supported me for this election and I’m sure that the holiday that’s been on ice during Covid, I will now be able to book with confidence that someone else will be looking after shop as far as Plaid Cymru is concerned in Rhondda Cynon Taf.
"I’m going to wallow in the luxury of my family now who have been very supportive of me throughout my 46 years. My boys were just eight and six years of age when I first got elected. What I can do now is finish the book that I'm in the process of writing and there won't be any place for many of you to hide."
Cllr Morgan, who will remain leader of the council, said it had been a great day for both himself and the party right across Rhondda Cynon Taf.
He said: "I’m very pleased with the results of the election today, and the fact that we were able to take both seats against such strong opposition in Mountain Ash is significant. There’s not much Pauline Jarman hasn’t done in her years, so to win the both is just fantastic. We have quite an ambitious manifesto that we want to deliver, and that we will begin working on in a matter of weeks."
In Aberdare East Steve Bradwick kept his seat for the fourth election in a row, while his running partner Victoria Dunn became the first woman to represent Aberdare East in around 30 years. She said she was "over the moon" to be elected. "I’m absolutely over the moon to have been elected alongside Steve today and I can’t wait to represent my community to the best of my ability. The fact that I’m the first female to be elected in 30 years also feels very special to me."
The results in 2022:
The result in 2017
In 2017, Labour remained in control of the council but lost 13 seats. Plaid Cymru saw its numbers double to 18. After the election Labour council leader Andrew Morgan described the result as "a reasonably good outcome considering the circumstances we have been facing", while Plaid Cymru group leader Pauline Jarman said she was "slightly disappointed".
Labour: 36
Plaid Cymru : 18
Independent : 4
Conservative : 4
Cynon Valley : 1
Liberal Democrats: 1
