Parliament resumed this week following the Christmas break and the General Election.
Here in Blaenau Gwent we received a 49% share of the vote which amounted to 14,862 votes, winning by a majority of 8,647.
Nationally, Labour received 31% of the vote, and we lost 61 seats.
Whilst we did well enough locally, this was a poor result for Labour across the UK.
We need to rebuild our electoral support and fight hard again. This is the task we must dedicate ourselves to in the weeks and months ahead.
I want to thank everyone who helped during the election campaign.
I believe we ran a strong campaign locally.
We made our way around our borough week in, week out, often through heavy rain and sometimes very cold weather.
It was very hard work, but ultimately led to success here.

Leadership contest
Blaenau Gwent desperately needed a Labour Government last month, but unfortunately we have been stuck with yet another five years of the Tories.
To get Labour into Government so it can give communities like Blaenau Gwent the support we need, we must win across the whole country.
It’s a difficult job and we are lucky to have many good candidates for it, but I believe the best person to do this is Keir Starmer.
Keir is a future Labour Prime Minister with a proven track record of fighting for working people and holding the Tories to account.
He has dedicated his life to standing up for people who need help:

• He represented the National Union of Mineworkers when they took the Tory Government to court for failing to properly support miners when they closed the pits.
• As Director of Public Prosecutions, he brought in important changes to help protect people who had been victims of abuse.
•  He helped the environmental activists who were being sued by the corporate giant McDonalds.

In Parliament, I’ve seen first-hand how he’s been unwavering in fighting to protect jobs, workers’ rights and strong environmental standards.
Within the Labour Party I think he has the ability to unite us and build a talented shadow cabinet, so we have the best possible team. I know he’s best placed to take on Boris Johnson and this Tory Government in Parliament then defeat them.
I am proud to nominate him to be the next leader of our party and the next Labour Prime Minister.

Social media links
Post-election https://bit.ly/3dIrs01
Return to Parliament https://bit.ly/2MFvJ8p
Queen’s Speech / Broken promises https://bit.ly/30jI3Dt
Keir Starmer nomination https://bit.ly/3cKEkRK

* Please note this is just some of the activity from the last four weeks.
Visit NickSmithforBlaenauGwent on Facebook for regular updates