MONMOUTH'S Welsh Assembly Conservative candidate Nick Ramsay (right, celebrating) has been re-elected for a second term of office in Cardiff Bay.

Mr Ramsay is returned with a reduced majority of 6,117, but  remains in a comfortable position since he commanded just over half of the 30,001 votes cast, in a seat that has always been Tory blue since the Assembly was set up in 1999.

In his acceptance speech Mr Ramsay emphasised that he will be pushing for more help for Monmouth from the administration in Cardiff.

He said: "The area needs a better deal from the Assembly. It is funded in a very poor light compared to other parts of Wales."

Mr Ramsay went on and said that support for small and medium-sized businesses must be addressed during the coming term in office.

He added: "Not enough is being done to help small and medium-sized businesses develop and thrive, to provide the growth, jobs and money-making potential that Wales needs."

The Labour candidate Mark Whitcutt said he was pleased to have cut the Conservative majority.

The Liberal Democrats were disappointed with their showing at the polls with Labour picking up most of their deserters in the Monmouth constituency seat.

It was a similar situation for the Liberal Democrats in the regional South Wales East seat where four seats are up for grabs. Veronica German, who took over the position from her husband Michael German, when he became a Westminster peer last year, lost out to Plaid Cymru's Lindsay Whittle.

Mrs German said she was disappointed by not being re-elected but believed that people's views were being 'coloured' by national events.

She added: "For some reason we have borne the brunt of some of the tough decisions that have been made in Westminster to get the country back on the road to recovery. I don't think people are disappointed with what the Welsh Liberal Democrats are doing."

In the Alternative Vote Referendum in Monmouth, 9,225 people voted yes with 20,885 people deciding to vote no.

RESULTS IN FULL

Welsh Assembly Monmouth Constituency

Nick Ramsay - Conservative - 15,087

Mark Whitcutt -Labour - 8,970

Janet Ellard -Liberal Democrat - 2,937

Fiona Cross Plaid Cymru - 2,263

Steve Uncles - English Democrats - 744

 

Votes cast for the regional list seats for South East Wales:

Labour - 82,699,

Conservative - 35,459,

Plaid Cymru - 21,850,

Liberal Democrats - 10,798,

UKIP - 9,526,

BNP - 6,485,

Green Party - 4,857,

Socialist Labour Party - 4,427,

Christian Party - 2,441,

English Democrats - 1,904,

Welsh Communist Party – 578,

 

Elected

Mohammad Asghar - Conservative

William Graham - Conservative

Jocelyn Davies -Plaid Cymru

Lindsay Whittle -Plaid Cymru