Labour feel the heat in crucial Welsh by-election test

"The history of the Labour Party oozes out of the valleys of south Wales, perhaps like nowhere else in the UK. Keir Hardie, that founding figure of the party, was elected to Parliament in Merthyr Tydfil in 1900. Aneurin Bevan, the founder of the NHS, was elected as the MP for Ebbw Vale in 1929. Even in recent years, when the so called Red Wall of formerly solid Labour seats in many parts of the north of England and the Midlands crumbled,"

"A stubborn lack of evidence, as many see it, of things getting better. And there is a recurring sense of a declining sense of community: a sense that the ties that have long bound the town, the area together, are perhaps continuing to fray. Something which began with the closure of the coal mines and loss of much heavy industry has continued, some feel, as so many of us retreat behind a phone screen; our increasingly digital lives splintering and atomising us further from each other;"

"In Caerphilly, they are the essence of the political establishment: they run the council, they run the Welsh devolved government and they run the UK government as well. This, if you are the Welsh Labour candidate, can cause issues. Richard Tunnicliffe, a book publisher by trade, has campaigned in recent weeks to keep some local libraries threatened with closure open. The thing is, it is the local"

South Wales has deep Labour roots dating to Keir Hardie's 1900 election in Merthyr Tydfil and Aneurin Bevan's 1929 election in Ebbw Vale. Despite long-standing loyalty through national political shifts, local sentiment and polling now point to change ahead of a Welsh Parliament by-election in Caerphilly. Many residents express deep-seated frustration and perceive little evidence of improvement. There is a recurring sense of community decline stemming from mine closures and loss of heavy industry, compounded by increasing digital isolation. Labour's control of the council, the Welsh Government and the UK government creates particular challenges for local candidates. One candidate has campaigned to save threatened local libraries.

Read at www.bbc.com