The Conservatives retained Clwyd West in what was a dramatic night of results for the party in both Wales and across the UK.

The Conservative Party's sitting candidate David Jones retaining his seat with an increased majority.

He secured 20403 votes, Labour candidate, Joanna Thomas came second with 13656 reflecting the fact most of the voters chose either the Conservatives or Labour, squeezing the other parties.

David James Compton Wilkins, Liberal Democrats, won 2237 votes and Huw Elfed Williams, Plaid Cymru, took 3907.

"I think people accepted the Conservative message that it is time to get Brexit done," said Mr Jones.

"We heard this repeatedly on the doorsteps that people are sick and tired of all this process going on. I think that they know Brexit will be completed by the end of January struck a strong chord.

“There was also the issue of Jeremy Corbyn himself. There was doubt Jeremy Corbyn played a big part. We spoke to many, many Labour voters who said they’d voted Labour all their lives but could not bring themselves to support a party led by Jeremy Corbyn.

"He’s been a really poisonous influence on his own party and I think he now needs to consider his position, and I think the Labour Party would do well to try to rediscover its soul.

“This of course has been a wonderful night for the Conservative Party.”

The count in Llandudno’s Venue Cymru for Aberconwy and Clwyd West constituencies began with audible gasps from party members at the strength of the Conservative majority predicted in the national exit poll.

 

But there was apprehension with both Conservative and Labour camps as most of the early voting indicated the result may be close between their candidates. It appeared tactical voting drained support from the other parties.

The Returning Officer reported the turnout for Clwyd West was 69.98 per cent. The turn out in the 2017 election was 69.8 per cent.

Early predictions indicated it could be a close run race between Welsh Labour and the Welsh Conservative but at that stage it was believed postal votes could be the factor seeing David Jones retain his seat.

Huw Elfed Williams, the Plaid Cymru candidate expressed the view quite early on that the Conservatives will probably hold the seat, and that reflected the response his party had received on the doorstep.

Joanne Thomas, the Labour candidate thought it was all to play for in what she described as a tightly run race. She had fought the election while suffering from flu.

The counts for both Aberconwy and Clwyd West were held at the same time in Llandudno’s Venue Cymru. Iwan Davies the Returning Officer explained it takes a great deal of care to run two parallel counts in the same room at the same time demands a great deal of care. The counts are segregated and different coloured ballot papers are used.