Conservatives claim major Labour strongholds in north Wales

Wales' first three female Conservative MP have been elected after the party claimed major target seats from Labour in a stunning election victory.

Boris Johnson hailed his party's performance across the country stating that "we smashed the roadblock, we ended the gridlock".

The Conservatives have turned several Labour stronghold in north Wales Blue; winning Vale of Clwyd, Wrexham, Clwyd South and Ynys Mon.

They also took Bridgend from Labour in south Wales with a majority of 1,157.

Vale of Clwyd and Wrexham were the top two targets in Wales for the Conservatives heading into the election.

Mark Tami was the only Labour MP left unscathed in the north as he won Alyn and Deeside with a slim 213 majority.

Wrexham

Sarah Atherton MP won the Wrexham seat which has been continuously Labour since 1935 and has never been Conservative before.

Sarah Atherton is also the Welsh Conservatives' first-ever woman Member of Parliament.

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Vale of Clwyd

James Davies MP gained the Vale of Clwyd seat for the Conservatives with a majority of almost 2,000.

The Tory candidate got 17,270 of the votes to beat previous incumbent Chris Ruane of Labour into second place with 15,443.

Although the loss of both Wrexham and Vale of Clwyd are blows for Welsh Labour, they were expected.

They were the first and second Conservative targets in Wales and on a night like tonight, the Tories might wonder why the majorities weren't greater than the roughly two thousand achieved in both seats.

Clwyd South

Clwyd South is different, as it was only seventh on the Welsh Conservatives' list of target seats and a much bigger swing was required.

Simon Baynes won there with a majority of 1,239.

Boris Johnson unsuccessfully contested the Clwyd South constituency in 1997.

The defeated Labour candidate Susan Elan Jones, described it as a “terrible night for Labour. We cannot go on as we are, we must be broad based again.”

She called on the UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, to resign by the morning so the party can find a new direction.

Ynys Mon

Virginia Crosbie's victory for the Conservatives in the three-way marginal of Ynys Mon is also quite an achievement for a candidate from Essex, only chosen just in time before nominations closed.

To a degree, she's emulated the achievement of Anglesey's last Conservative MP, Keith Best, who was a Brighton councillor when he won in 1979, though he had been selected in good time.

Delyn

The Conservatives also won Delyn from Labour. Rob Roberts won with a majority of just 865.