Welsh rural voters reject Labour
4 February 2000
Welsh rural voters reject Labour
By Robert Davies
VOTERS in rural Wales have given the Labour Party a by-election drubbing just hours after the Prime Minister claimed there was no crisis in the countryside.
Simon Thomas retained his parliamentary seat for Plaid Cymru with 46% of the votes in the Ceredigion by-election.
Labours Maria Battle came fourth.
Mr Thomas claimed that Labours 14% of votes reflected dissatisfaction with the Governments countryside policies and the partys poor Assembly performance.
The impact of the farming crisis on the constituencys economy was a key issue in the campaign, which saw the Lib-Dems and Tories come second and third.
Attention also focused on the governments reluctance to provide the Welsh National Assembly with EU Objective 1 match funding.
The result has increased the chances of Assembly First Secretary Alun Michael facing a vote of no confidence next week.
Plaid Cymru has given Mr Michael until Tuesday (8 February)to secure 85 million of match-funding for the first year of a six-year 1.2bn Objective 1 programme.