By-election shows Lib Dems 'will win in Powys again': MS

The Conservative Party has held Montgomeryshire for more than a decade, and at the last election Craig Williams was returned with a majority of more than 12,000 votes.

The Tories also hold hold Brecon and Radnorshire after Fay Jones became part of the new intake of Tory MPs at the last election, regaining the seat after Jane Dodds held it for barely four months after a summer by-election.

Both constituency Senedd seats in Powys are also now Tory after James Evans joined Russell George in the Welsh Assembly earlier this year.

But emboldened by last night's victory in neighbouring Shropshire, Ms Dodds – now the Lib Dem leader in Wales and the party's sole representative in the Senedd after she won a Mid and West Wales seat via the regional list – has issued a statement claiming the party "will win in Powys again".

And she is similarly confident that a move back towards the Lib Dems – a former Conservative coalition partner at a national level – will make inroads at the Powys Council elections next year.

Jane Dodds

“The scale of the victory last night, overturning a seat just on the border with Powys that had been solidly Conservative for almost 200 years, shows the Liberal Democrats are back in business and prepared to take on this chaotic Conservative Government," she said.

"Rural communities like Montgomeryshire and Brecon & Radnorshire have gained little from years of Conservative MPs who don’t deliver results for their communities. Unlike areas of South East England, the Conservative Government has shown little interest in levelling up rural communities.

“Yet this wasn’t just a vote against the Conservatives, it was also a vote for the positive vision the Liberal Democrats offer for the country and in particular our rural communities. The Liberal Democrats have a long and proud history of standing up for rural communities having done so for hundreds of years."

Ms Dodds also said the vote had been swung in the Lib Dems favour by farming communities in North Shropshire, adding: “It’s not surprising that this election was won thanks to the help of many farmers returning to supporting the Liberal Democrats after being ignored for years by the Conservatives over concerns regarding the Government’s quick trade deals with the likes of Australia and New Zealand that pose a detrimental risk to family farms across Wales and the UK.

“The county council elections next spring will mark a key step in sending the Conservatives a message that we won’t stand for their neglect or incompetence anymore and the Welsh Liberal Democrats will be there to provide the alternative strong voice for our community. As we have been doing by opposing the Conservative's rural school closures and public service cuts."