NICK Thomas-Symonds has taken over from Paul Murphy as Labour’s MP for Torfaen.

Mr Thomas-Symonds won the seat with 16,931 votes, a majority of 8,169.

Graham Smith for the Tories came in second with 8,769 votes, followed by Ken Beswick of UKIP who received 7,203 votes.

Mr Thomas-Symonds is a barrister and has written biographies of Labour heroes Aneurin Bevan and Clement Attlee, He said following his win: “I’m absolutely delighted by the result here this evening. There were more Labour votes cast in this constituency than in 2010. As a new candidate I’m delighted with the positive campaign we’ve fought and the reception we’ve had on the doorstep for Labour’s policies and values. I think that has been reflected in the result tonight.

“I want to pay tribute to my predecessor as MP for Torfaen, Paul Murphy. Paul was an outstanding servant of this valley, of Wales and all our country and I know that in Paul I have the model to follow.”

Mr Murphy had represented the seat since 1987, and served as both Wales and Northern Ireland Secretary. He announced his retirement in late January and left behind a Labour majority of 9,306, slightly narrowed this year.

Turn-out in Torfaen remained static with a slight dip, on 61.4 per cent down from 61.5 per cent in 2010.

When it came to postal votes, 82 per cent were returned, a total of 9,984.

Returning Officer Alison Ward announced the results at 2.40am on Friday morning at the Pontypool Active Living Centre, where the Labour, Tory, UKIP, Green and Communist candidates were there to hear the results.

Plaid Cymru came in fourth place with 2,169, followed by the Liberal Democrats with 1,271, the Green Party with 746, the Socialist Labour Party with 697 and the Communist Party with 144.