Did teenagers have the final say? A by-election in a sleepy Welsh town has become a test of the changing political tide in Wales and across the UK. But could teenage voters tip the balance?
Election defeat ‘humiliation for Labour’
Patient Plaid: Election winner Whittle (above) first joined Plaid Cymru aged 15 in 1968, but has waited until his 70s to get his taste of victory. Comprehension quiz
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The word “triggered” most nearly means:
A: Stopped or halted
B: Caused to happen
C: Won easily
D: Postponed
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Which word is the closest synonym for “historic”?
A: Boring
B: Modern
C: Significant
D: Secret
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How many capital letters should this sentence have? Where should you put them?
in the end, it was plaid cymru that won the seat, with reform uk in second and labour pushed to third.
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Which political party won the by-election in Caerphilly?
A: Labour
B: Reform UK
C: The Liberal Democrats
D: Plaid Cymru
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According to the article, why was this election important for teenagers?
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Why does the article say the result is a “disaster” for the UK’s Labour prime minister?
A: Because his party, Labour, was pushed into third place in an area where it is usually strong.
B: Because the voting system is changing to “first past the post”.
C: Because Lindsay Whittle had tried 14 times to win.
D: Because 16- and 17-year-olds were allowed to vote.
Answers
Tap to reveal
1. B 2. C 3. They should be on: In (start of sentence), Plaid Cymru (party name), Reform UK (party name), and Labour (party name). 4. D 5. It was only the second time that 16 and 17-year-olds had been allowed to vote in Wales. 6. A
1. B 2. C 3. They should be on: In (start of sentence), Plaid Cymru (party name), Reform UK (party name), and Labour (party name). 4. D 5. It was only the second time that 16 and 17-year-olds had been allowed to vote in Wales. 6. A
Glossary
Caerphilly - A town in south Wales with a population of 41,000.
Plaid Cymru - The Welsh nationalist party. Its first MP, Gwynfor Evans, entered parliament in 1966 — the same year as the Aberfan disaster.
Election - A vote in which someone is chosen to represent a group of people.
By-election - An election held outside a general election to replace an MP who has resigned or otherwise left office.
Constituency - An area whose voters elect a person to represent them.
Wales - Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is part of the island of Great Britain.
Reform UK - Officially Reform UK, a political party set up in 2018 as the Brexit Party. Its most prominent figure is Nigel Farage.
NHS - The National Health Service, the publicly funded healthcare system in the UK. The NHS was founded in 1948.
First Past the Post - A voting system in which the winner is simply whoever comes first in each area. As such, the winning party almost never has a majority of the vote, and sometimes might even win a smaller share of the vote than its opponent.
Proportional voting system - Proportional representation covers a number of different voting systems in which the number of seats a party gets links closely to the proportion of the total votes cast they received. Some people think it is fairer than the First Past The Post method, in which the person with the most votes is declared the winner.