Wales seats to watch on Friday night

In some areas of Wales, the battle at the general election ballot box will be fiercer than others.

Before voters go to the polls on Thursday, the party has focused its efforts on places it thinks it can win, so as not to waste money on communities that have no hope.

Of Wales’ 32 seats there are about 10 or 11 major battlegrounds.

That’s not to say there won’t be disruptions elsewhere, but these are the fights that will happen.

If the night goes badly for the Conservatives, one Friday and three former Welsh secretaries could face losing their seats in Wales.

On the other hand, a bad night for Labor could see the party struggle to regain the ground it lost to the Tories in the last general election.

Meanwhile Plaid Cymru hopes to continue – and progress – in its own backyard in west and north Wales.

North Wales is going from mostly red to blue in 2019, but there is also Plaid green in play.

Ynys Môn it is a three-way battle between the incumbent Tory Virginia Crosbie, who has campaigned hard on her record in Wylfa, the leader of Plaid from the local council of Llinos Medi and appropriately named Ieuan Môn Williams, who hopes to win back the seats Labor lost five. last year. Chairs are one of Plaid’s big targets.

Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr is notionally the safest Welsh seat of the Tories, but all bets could be off after the candidate Craig Williams was caught in a gambling scandal.

Labor has never taken this seat.

East Clwyd could be a real battleground, with a potentially loyal Tory vote and problems over bin collection for Labour-run Denbighshire council, as Labor struggles to regain Wrexham and won a new seat from Bangor Aberconwy.

Welsh Secretary David TC Davies is one of the cabinet ministers fighting to save his back seat. Monmouthshire.

The seat previously known as Monmouth has received a nominal Labor vote. Labour’s Catherine Fookes – buoyed by Sir Keir Starmer’s visit earlier in the campaign – worked hard to cause disruption.

Meanwhile, former Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns can be under threat Vale of Glamorgan, where he faced Labor’s Kanishka Narayan.

Polls have suggested Bridgend can go back to Labour. Meanwhile, Reform can see the best performance in Wales in seats like Blaenau Gwent and Rhymneywhere did the predecessors of the Brexit Party perform well in 2019?

Carmarthen it is one of the original three-way war, although perhaps the war is too far for Conservative chief whip Simon Hart – who is also David TC Davies’ predecessor as Welsh secretary.

If he loses, it will be one of the big Tory casualties of the night.

Farming and pylons – the responsibility of the Welsh Labor government – has a big local problem, which Plaid has tried to capitalize on. Both parties really want to win this seat.

Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe here are three other scraps. This was defended by the Conservative Welsh Office Minister, Fay Jones, with Labor and the Lib Dems confident of the possibility.

Is the Labor-leaning nature of Cwm Tawe, added to the constituency in the boundary changes, considered more? Or will voters in the Swansea Valley make a different choice after years of living in a safe Labor seat?

Keep an eye on it Mid and South Pembrokeshire, where another former Conservative Welsh Secretary, Stephen Crabb, has campaigned under the media radar. Labor has chosen a non-local candidate who has publicly supported Vaughan Gething.

The Withyhedge landfill site, owned by a controversial donor to the first minister, is in the constituency – a fact Mr Crabb has used repeatedly in his social media adverts.

You can see the full list of candidates for all the seats above here.