Plaid Cymru have won the by-election in the Senedd seat of Caerphilly for the first time.

The Welsh nationalist party secured 15,960 votes - and candidate Lindsay Whittle cried as the result was announced.

Mr Whittle is 72 years old and had stood as a Plaid candidate 13 times since 1983. He will now hold the seat until the Welsh Assembly hold national elections last year.

This by-election was widely regarded as a two-horse race between Plaid Cymru and Reform UK, and the result marks a considerable blow for Nigel Farage .

His party received 12,113 votes - denying a victory that would have strengthened claims that Reform can convert a large lead into opinion polls into election wins.

But more than anything, it is a humiliating defeat for Labour , who had held Caerphilly at e

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