Senior Labour figure comes third in selection contest

A senior Labour politician has come third in a selection for the new Senedd constituency of Afan Ogwr Rhondda, making it harder for him to return at the next election.

David Rees, who is the Welsh Parliament's deputy presiding officer, came last in a ballot of members to decide the order of the party's list in the constituency.

Ogmore's Huw Irranca-Davies came first, while Rhondda's Buffy Williams was placed second.

Winning three of the six seats in any given area would require roughly around 36% of the vote - the most recent Wales-wide opinion poll put Labour at 18%. Rees told BBC Wales the group of three "strongly believe that it's possible to get three seats" in the constituency.

Rees has been MS for Aberavon since 2011 and deputy presiding officer for the past four years.

Welsh Labour have declined to comment on their party's selection procedures.

The seat is one of 16 constituencies for the enlarged Welsh Parliament, spanning Port Talbot, the Rhondda and the Llynfi, Garw and Ogmore valleys.

Next year's parliament will elect its politicians through a system of party lists. The better a party does, the more people on its list will become Members of the Senedd (MSs), with politicians elected in the order they are placed on that list.

If a party gets enough votes for three seats, then the three top placed individuals will be elected. If there's enough for two, then the two will become MSs. In total six MSs will be elected in each seat from across the parties standing.

Labour's drop in the polls since the general election has raised questions as to whether the party can win three seats in some of its Welsh heartlands, with both Plaid Cymru and Reform performing well in surveys.

The new system has also created a dilemma for all established Senedd political parties over whether to allow existing MSs privileged positions on party lists, and how exactly to do it.

In Labour, which had a large number of Senedd members elected under the old first past the post system, some politicians have been competing for prime spots on constituency lists.

Plaid Cymru fully opened its selection contests, leading to former leader Adam Price coming third in Sir Gaerfyrddin.

Rees is a former school teacher, lecturer and assistant dean of faculty at the former Swansea Metropolitan University, and has chaired several committees in the Senedd.

"All three of us will be fighting very hard because we strongly believe it is possible to get three seats in that new constituency," Mr Rees told BBC Wales.

"We need to ensure that the message is given to people about how we are working on their behalf and what the Welsh government is delivering."

Asked if the polling made that difficult, he said: "Yes, the polls today are not the same as what they were 12 months ago.

"We understand the changes people are seeing, the frustrations people have. But you still have 11 months to go - polls will change between now and then."

Huw Irranca-Davies, who topped the list, is the current deputy first minister, leading the administration with Eluned Morgan as part of an uncontested "joint-ticket" last summer.

The rural affairs secretary served as a UK government minister when he was an MP during the years that Gordon Brown was prime minister.

Buffy Williams won the Senedd seat of the Rhondda back from Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood in 2021.

Party sources indicated there would have been an angry reaction had Williams, one of Welsh Labour's most high-profile women, missed out in the ballot.

Williams posted a picture of the three smiling together on the social media network Bluesky.

She wrote: "Communities across Afon, Ogwr, Rhondda, were built on hard graft and labour values - stronger together and united against injustice, so I'm pleased to be standing as part of a team who's life's work truly reflect these values in the 2026 Senedd election."

Irranca-Davies added: "Looking forward to campaigning with Buffy and David."

In Clwyd, it is understood that the former minister Hannah Blythyn has come first in a ballot for the seat of Clwyd, with North Wales MS Carolyn Thomas being placed second.

Blythyn had a significant role in the crisis around the former first minister Vaughan Gething last year, after he sacked her over a leak of text messages from the pandemic.

Blythyn denied having anything to do with it, and went on to attack the then-first minister publicly.

Additional reporting by Elliw Gwawr