Former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood loses Rhondda Senedd seat

Former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood has lost her Rhondda Senedd seat to Labour's Elizabeth Buffy Williams.

Wood described the result as "disappointing" but said her party ran a "clean and honest campaign."

She said: " I'm truly grateful for everyone's work and support support.

"We all do this because we want a better Wales. We want a better Rhondda and we know that we can be better.

"We can eradicate poverty, we can be an equal people, we can create conditions for the community to reach it's full potential."

She continued: "This election result changes none of that. We still know that we can do better and we know if we keep doing the same thing we will keep getting the same results.

"So we will continue to put forward our political vision and we will continue to work and build up our communities."

Leanne Wood was elected to the Rhondda constituency in 2016 and before that she represented the South Wales Central region in the Senedd from 2003.

She was leader of Plaid Cymru between 2012 and 2018 before she was replaced by Adam Price.

Wood was one of seven party leaders who took part in a televised debate ahead of the 2015 general election.

Elizabeth Williams won the Rhondda seat for Labour with a 5497 vote majority.

She said: "I am determined that we stick together to ensure our communities recover and thrive in the years ahead."

Current Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price has described the loss as sad but he insisted he's still "enthused" by a "positive campaign."

He described the results of the regional selection as increasingly important to Plaid Cymru.

Price said: "We've got new voters coming over for the first time, young people in particular - unprecedented numbers of people supporting Plaid Cymru because of our positive message of hope and change."