Conservative see thumping Aberconwy majority as Janet Finch-Saunders called out “personal slurs”

Janet Finch-Saunders called out “personal slurs” from opponents after she retained the Aberconwy Senedd seat with a crushing 3,336 majority.

Last time out she beat Trystan Lewis by just 754 votes and this was a seat targeted by Plaid Cymru for victory.

However, in the socially distanced setting of The Barn in Colwyn Bay Mrs Finch-Saunders had some strong words for her opponents during her victory speech.

She said it was the third time the people of Aberconwy had returned her to Cardiff.
She added: “I am humbled and proud to represent this seat. I have fought nine elections and I have fought them with courtesy, dignity and good manners.

“I have had my family records and declarations in the Senedd pored over and received personal slurs.

“Manners mean alot to a lot of people but they cost nothing. I would say to anyone entering into public life toi do it with dignity and humility.
“I do draw the line when my family have been offended in the way they have.”

She also said she had stood for the businesses of the constituency who had received poor treatment during the pandemic from Mark Drakeford’s Labour Welsh Government.

Plaid Cymru lost more than 400 votes from their 2016 haul and party members looked genuinely shocked at the margin of victory for Mrs Finch-Saunders.

As Mrs Finch-Saunders made her speech ther were shouts of “rubbish” from rival party activists in the audience.

However the numbers of Tory supporters within postal votes was a concern for their supporters from the start of the count, which revealed and increased turnout from 2016.

In third place Labour’s Dawn McGuinness polled 5,971, within 69 votes of the party’s 2016 total.
However it was the Conservative candidate’s strong showing, rather than anyone performing particularly poorly, which contributed to the margin of victory.

The full results for Aberconwy were:

Janet Finch-Saunders – Welsh Conservative Party: 9,815 (elected)
Aaron Wynne – Plaid Cymru: 6,479
Dawn McGuinness – Labour: 5,971
Rhys Jones – Liberal Democrats: 735
Rachel Bagshaw – Reform UK: 320
Sharon Smith – No More Lockdowns: 223

Turnout: 52.08%

By Jez Hemming – Local Democracy Reporter