Local Elections 2022: Bitter pill to swallow for Conservatives after Monmouthshire loss

The loss of Monmouthshire will be a bitter pill to swallow for the Conservatives.

They were bullish about holding the council ahead of election day with several Senedd and Westminster politicians also visiting regularly.

What's also striking is the way the party locally tried to distance themselves from Boris Johnson with the group leader, Richard John, highly critical of the prime minister over partygate. But in the end, this didn't save his administration from losing overall control.

Elsewhere, Labour did manage to pick up support they lost back in 2017 and were the real winners of this election.

Winning back Blaenau Gwent will be seen as a success along with increased numbers of councillors in many areas. Labour had been cautiously optimistic but the party's struggles in the Red Wall areas in England had given them pause for thought.

But at this election, it seems Wales has followed London, rather than post-industrial areas in the north of England.

For the other two main parties it was modest gains that no doubt will be spun as major successes but no real breakthrough for Plaid Cymru or the Liberal Democrats.

Adam Price will be able to point to Anglesey, where they took overall control and Wrexham as areas of improvement. But this will be tempered with losses in Rhondda Cynon Taff and continued struggles in the big cities of the south.

While Jane Dodds will cling to increased numbers in Powys as evidence of a revival from a very low base.

A final word on turnout, a Wales figure isn't available yet, but some wards in Cardiff had turnouts in the low twenties, while over 70 seats had no election at all with only a single candidate. So the wider challenge of engaging voters for these elections seems to have grown ever larger too.