What will happen in your county?

Thursday is voting day throughout Wales to choose councillors. Well, everywhere but Ynys Mon, they’ve been naughty children and are in detention for another year.

For you dear readers a chart with my predictions. But of course your votes can change my forecasts.

As you will see from the table some interesting contests, but a great deal of predictability.

The big question of the night will be whether Labour make sufficient gains to take the pressure of Ed Miliband.

My guess is that the polls will be reflected on the night and Ed will be crowing over a major victory.

The other interest is whether the election of Leanne Wood has helped Plaid Cymru gain seats especially in the Labour’s heartland. Plaid have been playing down a Leanne Wood effect, “its too early” is their view. Hmm.

The other question that Thursday night and Friday morning will determine is whether Labour will make sufficient gains to control the Welsh Local Government Association. The polls now would suggest that they will.

YouGov have published a poll that shows:

48% Labour (21% up on 2008)

17% Conservatives (1% up on 2008)

14% Plaid Cymru ( 3% down on 2008)

7% Liberal Democrats (6% down on 2008)

15% Independents (13% down on 2008)

It clearly shows Labour doing very much better than last time but will it change the synopsis below? Not greatly.

What was prepared assumed a Labour lead in the polls and a slump in support for the Liberal Democrats.

It is dangerous to take a poll and apply it directly to a given local area. Local campaigning can make a difference. Be assured Liberal Democrat councillors are local campaigners par excellent and their work will mitigate some of the poll’s predictions.

County	Current Position	Comment
Blaenau Gwent	Independent/Labour Ind – 24 Lab – 16 Other – 2	Labour will be hope to win control after gaining both the Parliamentary and Assembly seat from independents. There was a spasm in the constituency over the all women short list which saw many Labour members leave the party, the loss of seats in Parliament and the Assembly. In 2008  the disaffected also won control of the council. Now the voters will likely return to  the fold and Labour will be back in charge.
Bridgend	Labour Lab – 27 Ind – 11 Con – 6 Lib Dem – 6 Democratic Independent – 3 Plaid – 1	Labour lost control in 2008 but won it back after a few by-elections. They’ll likely keep control after Thursday, mainly at Lib Dems expense.
Caerphilly	Plaid/Ind Plaid – 32 Lab – 29 Ind – 5 Islwyn First – 3 Minority Independent – 3	Always a fight between Plaid and Labour here. Plaid Cymru are currently in control with the help of independents, even if Plaid don’t lose a seat Labour are likely to win seats from independents to gain control. There is little sign of a Leanne Wood bounce in the county.
Cardiff	Lib Dem/Plaid Lib Dem – 34 Lab – 14 Con – 16 Plaid – 6 Ind – 5	Labour are likely to leap frog from third to first place amongst the parties but are unlikely to have an overall majority. The question is can they do a deal to gain control? Their natural allies would be PC but personality clashes might prevent a deal being done.
Carmarthenshire	Ind/Lab Plaid – 32 Ind – 29 Lab – 11 People First – 2 Other – 2	The old coalfield area of the county should see Labour gain some more seats. Plaid would hope to gain some seats from the independents especially in the west of the county where they’re well organised. No change to the county’s control is what I predict. Labour will continue to prop the independents to keep control away from Plaid
Ceredigion	Ind/Lib Dem/Lab Plaid – 20 Ind – 11 Lib Dem – 9 Lab – 1 Non-party Independent – 1	Plaid again will seek overall control but will have a struggle as many parts of the county are wedded to independents. Plaid’s hope rests on the national polls being reflected here and the Lib Dems losing seats, The other two parties scarcely get a look in and this election will not change that.
Conwy	Plaid/Lab Con – 18 Ind – 15 Plaid – 14 Lab – 7 Lib Dem – 5	The council will remain hung. Although the Conservatives  will likely win some seats mainly from independents there won’t be any substantial movement to any party here.
Denbighshire	Multi-party Con – 18 Ind – 10 Ind First – 3 Ind (Welsh Liberal Democrat) – 1 Lab – 7 Plaid – 8	Another county that will remain much the same. There will be changes but based on local personalities rather than party.
Flintshire	Con/Ind/Lib Dem Ind – 24 Lab – 21 Lib Dem – 13 Con – 9 Plaid – 1 Unaffiliated – 2	Labour will want to regain control of this council and with the current way the party is riding in the polls is likely so to do if Lib Dems have the melt down the polls are predicting.
Gwynedd	Plaid Plaid – 39 Ind – 14 Llais Gwynedd – 10 Lib Dem – 4 Individual member – 2 Lab – 4	Gwynedd will remain the jewel in Plaid Cymru’s local government crown. The threat from Llais Gwynedd has been seen off so an overall majority is assured.
Merthyr Tydfil	Independent Ind -13 Lab – 10 Lib Dem – 4 Merthyr Independents – 3	Labour lost control last time but on paper should win control back this time. But Merthyr has over the years been very idiosyncratic and who knows might defy prediction this time. But unlikely.
Monmouthshire	Conservative Con – 26 Lab – 7 PC/Ind – 6 Lib Dem – 4	Conservatives will keep the county, the best the other parties can hope for is to dent the majority.
Neath Port Talbot	Labour Lab – 39 Plaid – 11 Ind – 6 Lib Dem – 3 Social Democrat – 3 NPT Independent Party – 2	Last time this was one of the two counties that Labour held overall control of and will remain the same Labour fiefdom this time. Maybe PC might make some gains but unlikely to change the natural order of things in the county.
Newport	Conservative/Lib Dem Lab – 20 Con – 17 Lib Dem – 9 Ind – 2	The coalition between the Conservatives and Lib Democrats will be out and Labour will take over control once more.
Pembrokeshire	Independent Ind – 39 Con – 5 Lab – 4 Plaid – 5 Lib Dem – 1	Independent rule. The other four parties have begun to introduce party politics to the county but they will not upset the natural state of affairs here.
Powys	Independent Powys Independent Alliance – 31 The Shires Independent Group -13 Lib Dem – 13 Con – 10 Lab – 5 Plaid – 1	It is a question of which independent group will run the county.
Rhondda Cynon Taf	Labour Lab – 48 Plaid – 18 Ind – 5 Lib Dem – 3 Con – 1	The question is whether there will be any Leanne Wood bounce in this her home county. The omens are not good. Labour should remain firmly in control.
Swansea	Swansea Administration Swansea Administration – 35 Lab – 25 Non Aligned – 1 Communities of Swansea – 3	Labour start with the advantage of being the largest party and are likely to gain ground. The chances are that they’ll do enough to gain control of the county.
Torfaen	Labour minority controlled Lab – 21 Ind – 15 Con – 5 Plaid – 2 Lib Dem – 1	Last time the voters backed any party as long as it wasn’t Labour. This time they’ll return to Labour and Labour control.
Vale of Glamorgan	Conservative Con – 25 Lab – 12 Plaid – 6 Ind – 4	Labour will make gains whether or not they’ll gain sufficient to get overall control is the question. The PM has visited. My feel is that it will take more than a Prime Ministerial visit to stop Labour gaining here.
Wrexham	All-party coalition Lib Dem – 11 Lab -12 Democrat Independents – 7 Wrexham Independents – 8 Con – 5 Ind – 4 Plaid – 3 Non Aligned – 1	The Liberal Democrats are currently in the driving seat with the help of others. Labour as the largest party will hope to make sufficient gains to wrestle control back. It will be close.