Wrexham.com Live At The Count…
Welcome to our coverage – including live video stream – from the count tonight / this morning at the Wrexham Glyndwr University sports hall for both Wrexham & Clwyd South votes.
LIVE VIDEO:
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LATEST UPDATES…
04:37 We have had an interview with Ken Skates which we will put up later today however we are drawing our coverage to a close! You can rewatch the web stream and scroll back through the night below, and on the video!
04:25 Just had a quick chat with winner Lesley Griffiths which is about to go live on our video stream now!
04:11 Returning Officer says regional list count not complete and promises to ‘release’ the counters as soon as possible.
04:10 We are due to speak to our new / old Assembly Member for Wrexham in a tick…
04:05 Full announcement of the vote and speech now on loop on our video stream…
04:03 Ken Skates talks of his history of ‘being from a steel working family’ and should not be reaching such positions and promises to ‘fight’ over the next five years, with the ‘gloves coming off’.
04:01 Apologies over loss of video there… the Glyndwr wifi issues have been hampering things a tad as you may have guessed!
4am CLWYD SOUTH RESULT – LABOUR HOLD: Ken Skates for Labour WINS with 7862, Aled Roberts 2289, Duncan Rees 474, Mandy Jones 2827, Simon Baynes 4846 and Mabon ap Gwynfor 3861
03:56 CLWYD SOUTH agents and candidates called to the stage…
03:55 It seems further detail from Mr Atkinson will come tomorrow, hes left the building after shaking hands with several candidates.
03:50 First reaction from Andrew Atkinson is via twitter. Mr Atkinson seemed confident earlier in the evening…
Thank you to everyone that voted for me&supported me in so many ways- unfortunately it was not to be this time.Still lots to do for Wrexham!
— Andrew Atkinson (@andrew4wrexham) May 6, 2016
03:47 Have some stats…
Wrexham (Welsh Assembly)
LAB: 37.1% (-7.7)
CON: 30.6% (+3.7)
PLAID: 12.9% (-1.0)
UKIP: 11.8% (+11.8)
LDEM: 5.6% (-8.8)— Britain Elects (@britainelects) May 6, 2016
03:45 Around an hour later than we were expecting we have 1/2 of results here in town tonight, with Clwyd South expected to go the way Wrexham has already.
03:40 The Wrexham announcement is looping on our stream, awaiting Clwyd South now.
03:34 Winner Lesley Griffiths thanks her family and friends, her team around her and of course the voters for her victory in a brief speech.
WREXHAM RESULT LABOUR HOLD: Lesley Griffiths 7552, Andrew Atkinson 6227, Carrie Harper 2631, Jeanette Bassford-Barton 2393 , Beryl Blackmore 1140 , Alan Butterworth 411.
03:26 Candidates and agents asked to the front of the stage…
03:22 Appears issue in Wrexham is *not* related to the regional vote count but some checking of numbers on the local counts. To be clear this is not a recount or anything like it.
03:17 Rumour going around that we are ready with the Wrexham and Clwyd South results but waiting on the regional list votes. Not confirmed.
03:09 Viewers can see the stage, and the Returning Officer has her desk behind it and is doing various important bits and pieces… we are waiting for her to emerge, gather the candidates, have a natter… and then get on the stage. There is a big lull up in the media gallery as the ‘imminent’ shout from a while ago feels like it was hours ago…
02:57 The reporter’s tie in that picture has had some minor interest, we are told it is the ultimate in politically balanced fashion, and to be fair it looks dead smart.
02:56 So that whole ‘before 3am’ thing might not be happening, the party groups are herding together but no movement as of yet towards a formal huddle let alone the stage.
02:45 The big papers are being counted now, thats the regional ballots, indicating that the local ones have been done and dusted.
View of the media gallery up here on the balcony – regional votes being counted now as local complete pic.twitter.com/bRi9kvLmGg
— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) May 6, 2016
02:39 Thinking of going away this summer? Do not bother, come to the Glyndwr sports hall it must be about 30C in here and it is night time!
02:37 Deeside have done something better than us for a change and have a result out… ours is still ‘only a few minutes away’….
Alyn and Deeside : Carl Sargeant -9922 (2011 ~ 11978 -17%) Con – 4558 UKIP -3765 Plaid -1944 Green – 527
— Deeside.com (@DeesideDotCom) May 6, 2016
02:26 Just seen this from Deeside.com , and pointed out to them our staging here in Wrexham is far higher quality!
TV lights are on, result for Alyn and Deeside minutes away.. pic.twitter.com/Sq4Ioujere
— Deeside.com (@DeesideDotCom) May 6, 2016
02:25 We have trained our camera at the stage so you can see whats occurring, we expect Wrexham first then Clwyd South. How ‘soon’ is soon is the question, but we think its in the bag for Labour on both.
02:18 Word is that an announcement is imminent… so we are all focused on the stage, awaiting the Returning Officer to walk up and start talking….
02:12 Got an interview with Lesley Griffiths going up in a tick… where she says things are very promising for her…
2:06 Increase in turnout for Clwyd South as well – 41% turnout this year, compared to the 36.9% in 2011.
2:00 So we’ve been here for about five hours now and we’ve been told the final figures for Wrexham are expected within the next half an hour or so. Still no indication on what the turnout figures / results are for Clwyd South nor when they were actually be released.
01:45 Obviously nothing firm, but the word we are getting is that both Labour candidates are quite safe here in Wrexham / Clwyd South.
01:42 Turnout for Wrexham is out…. 40% ! Was 36.2% in 2011.
01:26 Just had a chat with Ken Skates and asked him about dancing tories… but that will hold on the video stream as just had the nod that the turnout announcement is due very very soon…
01:11 Got to say the two Labour candidates are roaming around the count hall here looking happy, a few bits out on twitter saying its going to be close here but our reading of it as of now is a reduced majority but Wrexham to stay red. Neither have body popped though…
01:04 Just had a chat with Rob Walsh, of former Westminster election fame, video up soon on the live stream! Having a natter with a few others it seems Labour confidence is growing…
00:52 Our sister site Deeside.com is reporting turnout figures for the area are 34.8% – down from 37% in 2011 – we’re still sat waiting to hear what the Wrexham and Clwyd South figures are *twiddles thumbs*
TURN OUT: Alyn & Deeside turn out figure 34.8% down from 37% in 2011 pic.twitter.com/HqEz1Mdidj
— Deeside.com (@DeesideDotCom) May 5, 2016
00:47 Ken Skates has also entered the building!
00:44 We have our first Welsh Labour Candidate – Wrexham’s very own Lesley Griffiths has just entered the building!
00:41 Not sure if this a sign or not, but Wrexham Conservative Candidate just did a shuffle bodypop style dance to photographers… !
00:37 Having a natter with a few people and it seems the predicted Conservative ‘closeness’ could be a myth. Labour appear quite confident in various areas… but will that see through to the result? We are also told the candidates could be here around about 1ish.
00:26 Returning Officer has just said the turnout figure will be announced ‘shortly’.
00:24 Some tables are bare now and the TRAYS ARE OUT! Trays are an important indicator it seems… as that means the count is due to start. We imagine a few reading this will wonder EH? Is the count not underway?! No, first the votes get verified – where we get the turnout figure – and then they are counted.
00:16 We are wandering around the sports hall as much as we are allowed, as we are not able to get on the floor itself. This is where this blog is being written up from, with Steve Bagnall working for the Daily Post at the foreground and Leighton and Marcin who are handling our video stuff at the far end!
Daily Post & https://t.co/KztbyoICql table at count with where we are sticking things up WrexhamTV at the end too! pic.twitter.com/Z9pDrXv0KJ
— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) May 5, 2016
00:13 Lots of talk about saying Wrexham will be quite close tonight here at the count. Nothing solid of course, but if you listen to the Mabon interview it could give insight to how such early indicates are gathered…
00:11 Will roll out some our Assembly fun facts! No indication on the voter turnout yet, however generally turnout out for the election is often rather low – back in 2011 Wrexham had the second lowest turnout with just over 34% of the electorate turning out to cast their vote.
00:03 We are pretty sure all candidates are here, aside from Labour’s two… that is Lesley Griffiths and Ken Skates. Plenty of their team are here though crunching the numbers and ticking clipboards.
00:01 We have an interview with Mabon ap Gwynfor coming up in a tick on our live stream, talking about huge local issues such as Donald Trump. It is better than it sounds!
MIDNIGHT: So we’ve been here for a good few hours now, still a couple of hours left until the first result is expected as well. We’re chowing down some great sandwiches courtesy of the fab team at La Baguette in Wrexham – as we were told a few years back due to council cuts the grand media buffets were no longer a thing… so we supplied one!
11:44 – Got an interview with Arfon Jones, Plaid Cymru Candidate for the PCC coming up shortly – result for that election won’t be unveiled until Sunday!
11:35 – Things are a bit quiet at the moment while the votes are being counted and verified. Fear not, we have plenty of Welsh Assembly Elections facts to get you through the night….
11:26 – Couple of interviews streaming live on our website at the moment with some of the candidates – here’s one of our reporters interviewing Aled Roberts – Liberal Democrat Candidate for Clwyd South. And yes, that is a bottle of Irn Bru…
Interviews coming shortly https://t.co/O36hQYpxnf pic.twitter.com/W7F0GRHvxF
— Wrexham TV (@Wrexham_TV) May 5, 2016
11:22 The last ballot box is ‘with us’ says the Returning Officer.
11:17 Just grabbed Aled Roberts and Andrew Atkinson for a quick chat… the video will be going on the live stream (internet allowing!) ASAP!
11:10 – Predictions from the most recent ITV Wales’ recent poll seem to gear towards Labour losing a few seats and dipping down to 27. Plaid are expected to make some gains taking their forecast seats in the Assembly up 12. That leaves Welsh Conservatives expected to get 11 and Liberal Democrats predicted to take all but two.
UKIP are set to take their first seats in the Assembly and are expected to gain 8 seats.
11:00 – Had a few get in touch about our livestream. We’re still having issues with the internet tonight, hopefully things will crack on and work soon!
10:51 Bit of a lull there as we have tried to get a few interviews from some candidates and the local MP, lots of promises for comments and the like later on… but nothing as of yet! Counting well underway, and word around Wales is it could be a bad night for Labour. Those from Labour here seem pretty chirpy still…
10:26 WE HAVE A LIVE STREAM! Hit play above to see live from the hall…
10:13 The Returning Officer announced earlier no alcohol allowed here, however wine gums are allowed. Opting for Haribo and Irn Bru so far…
10:08 – Just eight minutes after the polls closed and the first set of ballot boxes have arrived. A few candidates here – including Plaid Cymru’s Carrie Harper (Wrexham) and Mabon Ap Gwynfor (Clwyd South) and UKIP’s Mandy Jones (Clwyd South)
10:02 – First ballot is expected to arrive shortly – with an estimated time for Wrexham’s result is 2am. Clwyd South is around 2:30pm
10pm: POLLS ARE CLOSED. Dana Davies and Paul Rogers, two local Councillors are here… no candidates as of yet.
9:59pm Polls are about to close…. and we have just managed to get some video out of the Glyndwr connection! Hoping to get the full live feed shortly.
9:30pm – Final half an hour to vote klaxon! Voting closes at 10pm tonight – so you still have 30 minutes left pop down to your polling booth and vote.
9:15pm – All fun and games for us in the media room – hardly anyone can get on the internet! And if they can, it doesn’t really last long. Yay…! There will be definite text and tweet updates from us, but the video coverage may be a tad hit and miss.
9:11pm – We arrived a few minutes ago at the sports hall and are setting up our gear for the evening. Depending on what works in this room / building we will have some live streams up shortly too…. ! We also have Leighton and Marcin from Wrexham TV joining our team tonight to help with some filming, so thanks to them!
9:00pm – *tap tap* is this thing on?
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