Plaid Cymru's leader in Rhondda Cynon Taf has lost her seat in this year's local elections. Pauline Jarman, the candidate for the new Mountain Ash ward, had been a councillor for 46 years but was edged out by Labour's Wendy Treeby, while council leader Andrew Morgan also retained his seat.
Ms Jarman was formerly the Plaid AM for South Wales Central between 1999 and 2003 and was also the leader of RCT council between 1999 and 2004. She is also a former Cynon Valley Borough councillor and Mid Glamorgan County Councillor, and was the mayor of Cynon Valley between 1987 and 1988.
After losing her seat, she said that she had "loved every minute" of being a councillor but was now looking forward to "wallowing in the luxury of her family". For the latest election results and updates from across Wales, click here.
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Ms Jarman and RCT Labour leader Mr Morgan and Ms Jarman were standing in the new Mountain Ash ward, which replaces the former Mountain Ash East that Ms Jarman has represented and the Mountain Ash West that Mr Morgan has represented. There have been changes in ward boundaries across Wales. Wendy Treeby, who has also represented Mountain Ash West, and Mia Hollsing of the Welsh Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and Kurt Thomson of the Conservatives also stood in the seat.
Mr Morgan and Ms 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".
"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."
Council leader Andrew Morgan, retained his seat after going head-to-head with Ms Jarman in the hotly contested ward, while fellow Labour candidate Wendy Treeby also won a seat. After being elected again, Mr Morgan said it was a great result for both himself and his party in RCT.
“I’m very pleased in terms of my own election but the fact that we were able to take both seats against such strong opposition is significant," he said. "There’s not much Pauline hasn’t done in her years, so to win both is just fantastic. We have quite an ambitious manifesto that we want to deliver that we will begin working on in a matter of weeks.”
