LABOUR held on to the Forest of Dean and Monmouth seats last week, but with sharply reduced maj-orities. While the average swing from Labour to Conservatives was around 1 per cent nationally, Conservatives gained a 4 per cent swing in the Forest and almost 4 per cent in Monmouth.
In the Forest, Diana Organ saw her majority of 6,343 cut to 2,049. Monmouth's Huw Edwards's majority slump-ed from 4,178 to 384.
In Hereford, Liberal Democrat sitting MP Paul Keetch suffered a fall in his majority from 6,648 to 968, a Lib Dem swing to the Conservatives of 5.24 per cent. All three seats may now be considered Tory target marginals.
In the safe Labour seat of Newport East, Alan Howarth won an almost 10,000 majority on a 2.36 per cent swing to Conservatives on a 55 per cent turnout.
A feature of the other three constituency results was the comparatively high turnout, suggesting they had been keenly fought. While the national average turnout was just under 60 per cent, 67 per cent of Forest electors voted. The Hereford turnout was 63 per cent, and in Monmouth 71 per cent.
Fringe candidates influenced the results in both Hereford and Monmouth. In Hereford, the UK Independence Party gained 1,184 votes – more than the Lib Dem majority. The Green Party candidate gained 1,181.
Monmouth's UK Independence Party candidate collected 656 votes, and Plaid Cymru doubled its 1997 vote from 516 to 1,068.
While happy to hold on to Hereford, Lib Dems gained only around 12 per cent in the other three constituencies – and made a disastrous showing in the Gloucestershire county council elections.
As elsewhere around the country, Conservatives made solid gains at the local level. The Forest's Lib Dem candidate David Gayler lost his Cotswold county council seat.
In the Forest division, Conservatives gained the Tidenham and Severn Dean seats from Liberal Democrats – and Labour regained the Coleford seat. Conservatives also won the Forest district council by-election seat in Newnham.
"Obviously the result here was more favourable than nationally," Mark Harper told the Review. "It sends a clear message from local people about their discontent in various respects.
"We had a very good reaction on the doorstep during the campaign. I enjoyed it hugely," he added.
"I'm delighted to be re-elected to serve the Forest of Dean for a second term," Diana Organ told the Review. "The turnout was disappointing, but the polls had been predicting the result so consistently that a lot of people felt they didn't need to go out and vote.
"Another factor was the impact of the foot and mouth outbreak. Other seats similarly affected suffered a swing from Labour to Conservatives of around 6 per cent – so we didn't do too badly in comparison.
"The priorities for the future are to restore the agricultural industry, also other businesses, such as tourism and the whole raft of ancillary businesses dependent on this sector.
"There must be money forthcoming to begin this, and ultimately an enquiry into how foot and mouth was handled.
"Secondly we must deliver our promises on improving the health service. It was a real issue on the doorstep, so we need to make sure there is steady and continuing improvement.
"Finally, I'm delighted the Prime Minister has set up the new ministry of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This is of particular interest to the Forest of Dean, because many of the issues residents are facing here are inter-related."