A third Labour candidate is added to the ward
THE daughter of the late Lord Mayor will continue her mother’s legacy as a Splott councillor.
Anny Anderson was declared the winner of a by-election after a long night of counting in a small committee room in County Hall following the vote on December 5.
“This result just shows the level of support for Labour and also for my mum,” she said, after the vote count.
Ms Anderson won 34% of the vote share, with 711 votes.
“We ran a very positive campaign, and it was very well received by people in Splott,” said Ms Anderson.
Her mother, Jane Henshaw, served as a councillor for Splott from 2017 and became lord mayor in May 2024. She passed away in September.
The by-election had a turnout of 19.4%, which many of the candidates suggested was lowered because of the wet and windy weather.
Storm Darragh was building throughout election day and the electorate “were put off by the weather”, said Sam Coates, the Green Party candidate.
Mr Coates received the second highest number of votes with 17% of the vote.
“We were fighting a really positive campaign, and people were really happy to talk to us. We weren’t slagging off the other sides. It was really fun to go out and talk to people on the doorstep,” said Mr Coates.
Despite coming in last for the Conservatives, Tomos Llewelyn said: “I had a thoroughly enjoyable time campaigning.”
“I think this highlights that Reform UK are going to be a big problem for the Conservatives in the future elections,” said Mr Llewelyn.
Reform UK candidate, Lee Canning, managed to gain 13% of the vote.
Mr Canning changed from the Conservative Party to campaign for Reform UK after he said in a statement: “The Conservatives failed to grasp what really needs to be done for this country to succeed.”
The Propel candidate, Kyle Cudgie Cullen, pulled in 15% of the vote.
Mr Cudgie Cullen seemed nervous during the count, but his message of being local, born and bred, gave him third place in the count.
The Liberal Democrats candidate, Cadan ap Tomos said: “It was very wet today, which really put a damper on things for us literally.
“There was quite a clear anti-Labour sentiment on the doorstep, but people weren’t quite sure where to put their vote. Labour can’t be complacent at all regardless of the result.”
Mr Llewelyn echoed this and said: “It is tricky when there are lots of different parties who are splitting the vote. It is also difficult coming off the back of the general election and trying to get support after that.”
Leticia Gonzales ran in her first local election for Plaid Cymru.
Ms Gonzales said that she was pleased that she had campaigned and happy to gain 88 votes in total, making her the sixth candidate.
