South Wales Guardian Opinion

9:35am Wednesday 7th May 2008

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THE EVENTS at Llanelli's Selwyn Samuel Centre as local election results poured in on Friday morning left one with a distinct sense of déjà vu.

What transpired was an uncanny echo of general election of May 1997 when the Tories were swept away by a Labour landslide after 18 years of power.

One by one, the Conservative party's big names tumbled during a rout the like of which has never been seen before and possibly never will again.

Last Friday it was the turn of the Labour party - albeit at a local level - to reap the discontent by voters clearly disenchanted by policies at local and national level.

It seems every election, whether local of national, has a key moment.

On Friday that moment arrived fairly early in proceedings when Ammanford's Hugh Evans - who had previously been returned with a 299 majority - was pushed to the brink of losing his seat by Plaid's Deian Harries.

This was the shattering point when some of the Amman Valley's most experienced Labour councillors realised they were on a hiding to nothing - and the writing was on the wall.

For those who lost their seats it was a bitter blow - particularly as their fate was probably decided by the actions of a deeply unpopular Labour Government in Westminster.

In football parlance, Prime Minister Gordon Brown is deep in the relegation mire and sliding towards the open trap door.

The big question now is whether Labour can learn from this resounding message from the voters and somehow renew themselves in time for a General Election now less than two years away.

If they fail to do so the alternative is a long, lingering death which the Tories under John Major suffered just over a decade ago.

* * * * * * A car crash in the early hours has left two young men dead and two families inconsolable with grief.

The cause of the latest horrific accident in the Amman Valley is still under investigation and it would be inappropriate to comment further.

All we can say with certainty is that the lives of a lot of people in our area will never be the same again.

Whatever the reasons, the number of young people dying on our roads is still unacceptably high.

One the most poignant aspects of this latest tragedy is that it happened a stone's throw from a memorial garden to two other young men who lost their lives in an horrendous accident that claimed four lives in Pontaman two-and-a-half years ago.

* * * * Kevin Edwards, a British National Party candidate who stood against Plaid Cymru's Sian Thomas in last week's county council elections, polled 193 votes in the Penygroes ward.

This followed an ill-tempered campaign marked by accusation and counter-accusation from both sides.

Plaid have accused the BNP of "dirty tricks" - the BNP insist their supporters have also been subjected to intimidation.

Some of what has been alleged would appear to have more in common with Zimbabwe than Penygroes and the fact this particular election has thrown up such poisonous allegations should be of deep concern to us all.