Alex Davies-Jones selected to replace Owen Smith in Pontypridd

Alex Davies-Jones has been selected by party members in Pontypridd to fight the long-held Labour seat currently represented by former leadership hopeful Owen Smith MP.

The new candidate has been a councillor for Tonyrefail West ward on Rhondda Cynon Taf council since May 2017. She works for Dwr Cymru Welsh Water as a community engagement manager and has previously been a researcher in both the House of Commons and the Welsh Assembly.

Following the result, Davies-Jones tweeted: “It gives me the greatest honour to announce that I am the Labour Party parliamentary candidate for my home constituency of Pontypridd. It would be the ultimate privilege to represent my community at Westminster.”

Owen Smith announced last month that he wouldn’t be standing in the 2019 election for “political and personal reasons”. A vocal critic of Jeremy Corbyn, he launched a leadership challenge in 2016 but failed to secure enough votes to oust the incumbent.

Earlier this year, Smith revealed that he was “considering” quitting the Labour Party altogether over its position on Brexit. The pro-Remain MP had been sacked in 2018 as a frontbencher over his support for a fresh EU referendum.

The seat has been continuously held by Labour since 1922, when they took the seat from the Liberals. Smith currently holds the seat with a majority of 11,448 and has been the MP since 2010.