Wales has been hit by a political earthquake – and the UK government is in a very tricky position |
On Saturday, I stood on the steps outside the Senedd, listening to the leader of Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwerth, take questions from the media. It was one of those rare moments of almost feeling history being made. As one of the other journalists said to me: “I have never seen a political event like this in Wales.”
A crowd of Plaid supporters had gathered to welcome their 43 new MSs. People were giddy with excitement: for the first time since the party was founded just over 100 years ago, it was about to form the next Welsh government. And for the first time in Wales’s history, the country’s highest-ranking political representative would be from a party committed to securing independence – to breaking away from the United Kingdom. Some of the Senedd members were crying. The crowd starting singing the Welsh national anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, and were joined by the assembled politicians.
As for Welsh Labour, the section of a party often described as having been “born” in the industrial heartlands of Wales, this was the first time in a century it was not the biggest party here. It was not even second. It was in third place behind Reform UK.
The results in Wales will set Reform up very well for the next general election. Its 34 MSs will each have an £80,000 salary and three to four members of staff, and, in the Senedd, they will get £1.2m in funding for their group staff. These are serious resources that the party will utilise to build a platform for the 2029 election.
That said, to judge Nigel Farage’s party by its own words, it wasn’t a great night. Farage had previously said........