#welsh-labour — Public Fediverse posts

SWANSEA CROWN COURT: Former Carmarthen MP, 83, cleared of groping woman on train

A former Labour MP has been cleared of sexually assaulting a woman on a train to Swansea.

Gwynoro Jones, 83, from Gorseinon, was found not guilty by a unanimous jury at Swansea Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday July 21). He had denied sexually assaulting the woman on a Great Western Railway service from London to Swansea on 16 July 2024.

Jones, who was the Labour MP for Carmarthen between 1970 and 1974 and was sent for trial last November, was accused of rubbing the woman’s arm and tapping her on the bottom during the journey.

After leaving Labour, Jones chaired the SDP and the SDP–Liberal Alliance in Wales during the 1980s, and later worked as a schools inspector and company director before becoming known as a broadcaster and current affairs commentator.

The trial heard Jones was a passenger in the first class carriage of the train and had bought two small bottles of red wine on board.

The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court she had felt “very awkward and uncomfortable” after being touched. “The way he was touching me — that’s not normal,” she said.

She told the jury Jones had asked her personal questions, including whether she was single and where she lived. “I just answered politely. I stayed quiet for the rest of it,” she said, adding that she claimed he had told her she was “pretty”.

Describing the alleged tap on her bottom, she said: “It was hard, but not that hard. It definitely wasn’t a soft touch. I went into shock. I just kind of froze.” She also claimed it had left a bruise.

Giving his evidence in Welsh, Jones told the court he had rubbed the woman’s arm because he had “accidentally spat sushi” on her while talking, and had “brushed it away”.

Georgia Donohue, prosecuting, challenged that account. “I’m going to say you didn’t get the food on her arm before you touched her — I’m going to say the food came from your fingers,” she said. Jones denied this, saying he had been speaking with food in his mouth: “My son always tells me not to speak with food in my mouth.”

On the claim he had called the woman pretty, Jones said he had “never used the word pretty in my life”. “Pretty flowers, pretty view maybe, but never pretty woman,” he said, telling the court that asking people questions was “a Welsh thing, a west Walian thing”.

He said hearing and sight problems meant he had been holding his phone out into the aisle to focus on the screen, and believed the corner of the phone had made contact with the woman. “It was a complete mistake,” he said. “I said sorry straight away, of course. It was an accident.”

Defence barrister Kate Williams suggested to the complainant that she had “blown this entirely out of proportion” — which the woman denied, insisting: “This was not an accident.”

The jury returned its unanimous verdict on Tuesday afternoon, with Judge Geraint Walter telling the former politician: “Mr Jones, you can leave the dock now.”

The judge thanked jurors for their work on the case, and said he would consider an application from Jones — who did not receive legal aid funding — to recover his privately paid costs.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

Former Carmarthen MP Gwynoro Jones to stand trial on sexual assault charge
Jones was sent for trial at Swansea Crown Court in November after denying the charge.

Welsh dark-web administrator jailed over hoax that shut down a Cardiff city-centre street
The ‘swatting’ hoaxer was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court earlier this month.

Swansea man among eight charged with child sexual exploitation offences spanning decades
The Operation Oak charges cover alleged offences across several decades.

World champion kickboxer, 18, to stand trial accused of murdering Ceiran Evans
The trial date was set at Swansea Crown Court earlier this month.

More court coverage from Swansea Crown Court →

KINNOCK: Aberafan Maesteg MP becomes Welsh Secretary in Andy Burnham’s new cabinet

Stephen Kinnock, the MP for Aberafan Maesteg, has been appointed Secretary of State for Wales — the first cabinet post of his career — as new Prime Minister Andy Burnham named his top team.

Mr Kinnock took up the role on Tuesday following his appointment on Monday evening, and the Wales Office says he will now begin a full programme of meetings and visits across Wales.

His promotion puts the MP for the Port Talbot steelworks at the cabinet table at a critical time for the town, with the £1.25bn electric arc furnace project at Tata Steel — and questions over its timetable — now landing squarely on his government’s desk.

Mr Kinnock said: “It is the privilege of my life to be appointed Welsh Secretary, and to serve the people of Wales as part of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s new Cabinet.”

He pledged to build “a strong Wales within a strong United Kingdom where everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential with good growth in every Welsh postcode”.

The MP — son of former Labour leader Neil Kinnock — has represented the Port Talbot area since 2015 and served as a junior health minister under Sir Keir Starmer. He backed Mr Burnham for the leadership last month, telling constituents the new Prime Minister could reconnect Labour with working communities.

He replaces Cardiff East MP Jo Stevens after two years in the role. Ms Stevens said serving as Welsh Secretary had been “a privilege and an honour”, pointing to what she described as the biggest budget settlement for Welsh public services since devolution, support for the steel industry and a £14bn commitment for Welsh railways.

Mr Kinnock is not the only Welsh MP promoted: Rhondda and Ogmore MP Sir Chris Bryant joins the cabinet as Northern Ireland Secretary, while Vale of Glamorgan MP Kanishka Narayan takes the new-look Artificial Intelligence brief.

First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth congratulated Mr Burnham and said the change presented “an opportunity for a reset” between Cardiff and London — saying the new Welsh Secretary must be someone who “respects and wants to see devolution work”.

Not everyone is convinced a new name changes anything. Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster spokesperson David Chadwick MP said Wales “won’t see any real change unless Welsh Labour politicians finally start fighting Wales’ corner in government”, arguing Welsh Labour MPs under Sir Keir had acted as “representatives of the UK Government in Wales, rather than representatives of Wales in the UK Government”.

Closer to home, the reshuffle leaves questions still hanging over the area’s other Labour MPs — with junior ministerial appointments expected to be confirmed over the coming days.

Chief among them is Swansea West MP Torsten Bell, who has served as Pensions Minister and whose future in the role is yet to be announced. His former boss, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden, keeps his job in the new cabinet.

There has also been no announcement yet affecting Llanelli MP Dame Nia Griffith, who has served as a Wales Office minister, Gower MP Tonia Antoniazzi, Neath and Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris, or Mid and South Pembrokeshire MP Henry Tufnell.

Mr Burnham became Britain’s seventh Prime Minister in a decade on Monday after Sir Keir’s resignation, promising the biggest shift of power out of London in modern history — and using his first day in office to announce plans to scrap VAT on domestic electricity bills from October.

For Wales, attention now turns to what the Kinnock era means in practice: the steel transition on his own doorstep, rail funding, and the relationship with a Plaid Cymru-led Welsh Government that has already asked for a reset.

We will update this story as appointments affecting local MPs are confirmed.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

Kinnock backs Burnham for PM as local Labour MPs react
How the area’s MPs responded to Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation.

‘No formal change’ to furnace timetable — as row breaks out over who knew what
The electric arc furnace questions now on the new Welsh Secretary’s desk.

As Burnham promises to ‘rewire Britain’, could Swansea Bay ever get a powerful regional mayor?
What the new Prime Minister’s devolution agenda could mean here.

WELSH LABOUR: Ken Skates confirmed as leader — the morning after his nine MSs sank Plaid’s budget

Ken Skates has been confirmed as the permanent leader of Welsh Labour — hours after the party helped inflict the heaviest defeat yet on the Plaid Cymru government it now leads the opposition to.

Welsh Labour says all nine members of its Senedd group nominated Skates when nominations opened last Thursday, confirming his appointment without a wider contest.

Among the nine is Mike Hedges, the Gŵyr Abertawe MS and the region’s longest-serving Labour member in the Senedd.

His deputy is a Swansea MP. Carolyn Harris, the member for Swansea East, is deputy leader of Welsh Labour, and said Skates had her full backing.

“He has my full backing as he undertakes the big task ahead of him — listening, learning, rebuilding and doing that crucial job of holding Plaid Cymru, and Reform UK, to account in the Senedd,” she said.

A leader confirmed in a week of open warfare

The confirmation lands in the middle of the sharpest fight of the new Senedd term. The Plaid government’s £294m budget was voted down 49–44 on Tuesday night, with Labour among the parties that rejected it — and the government’s finance minister accusing Labour of destructive opposition.

The wreckage he inherits

Skates became interim leader in May, after Eluned Morgan lost her seat at the election and stood down as leader.

That election ended 27 years of Labour rule in Wales, with Rhun ap Iorwerth confirmed as the first Plaid Cymru First Minister — and Labour reduced to nine seats in the enlarged 96-member Senedd, having held 30 of 60 in the old chamber.

Lee Waters, the former Llanelli MS, said after the result that the party faces an “existential crisis” — conceding the 20mph policy he masterminded had come at a political price.

Two coronations in one year

The pattern is now familiar at both ends of the M4. At Westminster, Andy Burnham succeeded Keir Starmer as UK Labour leader without a contest — the man now tipped to be Britain’s next prime minister — and Skates’ confirmation makes it two Labour leaders installed unopposed this year.

Harris was on the losing side of the first. In May she publicly backed Starmer to stay, while Gower’s Tonia Antoniazzi joined the calls for him to go.

Four leaders in under three years

Skates is Welsh Labour’s fourth leader in under three years. Mark Drakeford’s departure triggered the last contested leadership election — and it turned on a Neath politician.

Jeremy Miles, then the Neath MS, narrowly lost that contest to Vaughan Gething in March 2024. Gething stood down within months, and Eluned Morgan took over that summer without a contest.

Morgan’s resignation after May’s election defeat brought Skates in as interim leader. His confirmation this week means three of the four leaders since Drakeford have been installed unopposed — the Miles-Gething race remains the only time the members have had a say.

Miles did not seek re-election to the Senedd in May.

The Skates record — and the Llanelli connection

Skates was first elected in 2011 and held several Welsh Government roles, including Transport Secretary and Economy and Infrastructure Secretary. He was re-elected in May for the new Fflint Wrecsam constituency.

His return to transport in 2024 came at the expense of a local figure. Skates took the brief over from Waters, then the Llanelli MS, whose time in the role produced two of the most contested policies of recent years — the default 20mph limit and the ban on most new road building.

Skates moved to soften both: announcing a route back to 30mph for some roads, and easing the government’s stance on new road schemes.

“I joined the party as a 14-year-old, and my belief still stands that no child’s future should be determined by their background,” he said of his appointment.

“The Labour movement for me is a movement for fairness, justice, security and liberty. It is a movement that seeks to empower people and communities, to fight against injustice, intolerance, nepotism and cruelty.”

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

BUDGET DEFEAT: Plaid government’s £294m spending plan voted down 49–44
Labour among the parties that rejected the new government’s first budget on Tuesday night.

SENEDD: Rhun ap Iorwerth confirmed as First Minister as Plaid Cymru makes history
The May vote that ended 27 years of Labour rule in Wales.

LEE WATERS: Architect of Wales’ 20mph law admits it ‘came at a price’
The former Llanelli MS’s warning that Labour faces an existential crisis.

ELECTED MAYOR: As Burnham promises to ‘rewire Britain’, could Swansea Bay ever get a powerful regional mayor?
What the new UK Labour leader’s devolution push could mean for this corner of Wales.

SWANSEA: Gower MP calls on Keir Starmer to step aside — as Swansea East’s Carolyn Harris backs him to stay
How Swansea’s two Labour MPs split over Starmer’s future in May.

BUDGET DEFEAT: Plaid government’s £294m spending plan voted down 49–44 — as schools funding row claims its first casualty

Wales’s new Plaid Cymru government has been defeated on its first budget, with the Senedd voting down its spending plans by 49 votes to 44 this evening.

Welsh Labour, Reform UK and the Conservatives combined against the supplementary budget — which the government says contained £294m of extra funding to cut NHS waiting times, expand childcare and extend free school meals.

The defeat caps a day of extraordinary pressure on the government, with Welsh Labour demanding the budget be withdrawn and the two school leaders’ unions declaring a formal trade dispute over pay and funding for children with additional learning needs.

At the heart of it is the row over that funding, known as ALN — and a pot of £247m in day-to-day spending that the budget left unallocated.

Labour wanted £100m of that unallocated money spent on ALN between now and next April. On Monday night, First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth wrote to the party with what he described as a final proposal: an extra £40m this year and in each of the next two.

Labour rejected it, and its finance spokesman Huw Thomas told the Senedd the government should have pulled the budget and negotiated with the unions.

In a bad-tempered debate, Thomas warned that any suggestion ALN money would be withheld until a later date was “pernicious,” “vindictive” — and would “lead to widespread industrial action.”

Cabinet Minister for Finance Elin Jones defended the plan, saying it “delivered £294m of extra funding to reduce NHS waiting times, expand childcare, and extend free school meals.”

“It contained no reductions to existing services,” she said. “It was about putting additional funding to work where it could make the greatest difference to the people of Wales.”

But she did not hide her anger at Labour, telling BBC Wales she was “flabbergasted” by the party’s “change of heart” — and accusing it of behaving as a “destructive opposition” with “a lot to learn in making deals.”

Welsh Labour’s interim leader Ken Skates called the result “deeply regrettable” — but insisted the funding offered for additional learning needs “simply wasn’t enough.”

“This isn’t the outcome we wanted,” he said, adding there was “still time to negotiate and bring back new proposals” — and that Labour welcomed much of the budget’s funding, “particularly for reducing NHS waiting lists,” and wanted to see it delivered.

Reform UK voted against throughout, saying none of its demands had been met — including a guaranteed job for newly qualified nurses and paramedics, ALN funding going directly to councils, and an end to overseas spending.

The party’s Senedd leader Dan Thomas said: “Rhun ap Iorwerth’s government has now lost the confidence of this Senedd on his own budget. It’s time he listened to the people of Wales rather than lecturing them.”

Conservative group leader Darren Millar said it was “bonkers” for the government to bring the budget to a vote without a deal in place: “The arithmetic in this Senedd means that Welsh government budgets, and Welsh government legislation, cannot be agreed without cross-party agreement.”

His party’s shadow finance minister, Sam Rowlands, said the budget had “the wrong priorities, offering the same tired approach we saw under Labour despite Plaid’s promises of change.”

Wales’s trade unions urged both sides back to the table. Laura Doel, general secretary of TUC Cymru, said: “The chronic underfunding of additional learning needs provision must be addressed in any future supplementary budget. Wales’ teachers and students deserve nothing less.”

The defeat — in the final week before the Senedd’s summer recess — does not bring the government down, and day-to-day spending continues while a new supplementary budget is drawn up.

Jones signalled the government will try again within months: “We remain committed to delivering these priorities and we will continue to engage constructively with other Senedd parties as we develop our spending plans in the Autumn.”

But for a minority administration less than 100 days old — elected in May after ending 27 years of Labour dominance — losing the vote on its own budget is by far its biggest setback yet, and the dispute with the teaching unions, now heading for the conciliation service ACAS, rolls on regardless.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

SWANSEA SCHOOLS: ‘Owed £11m’ for children with additional needs, says council leader
The build-up to tonight’s knife-edge vote.

TEACHERS’ PAY: Welsh Government to consult on 3.5% rise
The pay decision that triggered the unions’ trade dispute.

HEOL GOFFA ROW: Plaid accuses Labour of causing ‘unnecessary distress’
The parties’ earlier clash over ALN funding.

https://www.europesays.com/videos/60749/ People in Chepstow apartment block out of pocket after roof renovation goes wrong | ITV Cymru Wales #ALN #Anglesey #budget #Chepstow #itv #ItvNews #ITVNewsInFull #MoelfreCafe #NorthWalesPolice #PlaidCymru #RhunApIorwerth #TeacherStrikes #WelshGovernment #WelshLabour

SWANSEA SCHOOLS: ‘Owed £11m’ for children with additional needs, says council leader — as Plaid’s budget faces knife-edge vote tonight

Swansea’s schools are owed at least £11m this year to support children with additional learning needs, the city’s council leader has claimed — money he says Wales’s new government is holding back.

Rob Stewart, the Labour leader of Swansea Council, made the claim as a national row over school funding came to a head in the Senedd — with a knife-edge budget vote expected at around 7pm tonight, after a debate beginning at 6pm.

Writing on social media, Stewart said the Plaid Cymru government had been given £330m as a result of extra special educational needs spending in England — but was offering just £40m to Welsh schools this year.

That, he said, was “£290m less than they should have”, and he called on the government to “pass on the money they have been given to the schools and pupils who need it.”

The £11m is Stewart’s own calculation of the city’s share rather than a confirmed allocation — and it lands as Labour politicians at every level train their fire on the government’s handling of the fund.

The dispute centres on what is known as additional learning needs, or ALN — the support schools give to children with a range of extra needs, where demand has been rising faster than budgets — and it has become the flashpoint in the biggest test yet for a government less than 100 days old.

Nationally, the row has escalated on two fronts at once: the teaching unions and the Labour opposition are both piling pressure on the government in the same week.

The two unions representing Wales’s school leaders — NAHT Cymru and ASCL Cymru — have jointly declared a formal trade dispute with the government over pay and ALN funding, and requested talks through the conciliation service ACAS.

Their dispute follows the government’s decision to consult on a 3.5% pay rise for teachers, rejecting the 4.25% figure recommended by the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of NAHT, said ignoring the independent pay body “undermines the whole process”, and that the decision would “feel like a slap in the face” for teachers whose pay had fallen in value since 2010.

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of ASCL, said schools were “on their knees” trying to support children with additional needs without adequate funding, and that the unions had registered the dispute “reluctantly and as a last resort.”

The actual figure, as reported by ITV Cymru Wales, is £327m — close to Stewart’s number, though the unions have put the sum at more than £500m. The government is not required to spend the money on ALN, and both the current Plaid administration and the previous Labour government have argued Wales faces different needs in the sector.

Into that fight has stepped Welsh Labour‘s interim leader, Ken Skates, who has written to the First Minister urging him to withdraw the supplementary budget — the revised spending plan due to be voted on tonight — altogether.

In his letter, Skates called the unions’ trade dispute “both unprecedented and deeply regrettable”, and said Labour could not back a level of ALN funding “that falls short of the scale of the need.”

Skates told ITV Cymru Wales the government was “now negotiating on multiple fronts” and described “quite frankly, a chaotic process of negotiations” — saying there was “no other option” but to withdraw the budget.

Welsh Labour’s council leaders across Wales issued their own joint statement backing the demand, warning that without the money, councils faced “impossible choices between ALN and other vital services.”

Plaid has hit back hard, insisting the government has already moved — and accusing Labour of walking away from the table.

The government’s offer has moved twice during the talks — first £80m over two years, and now £120m over three, according to ITV Cymru Wales. Labour has rejected both, holding out for £100m in the current financial year.

Plaid Cymru MS Kiera Marshall branded Labour’s rejection of the earlier offer “deeply irresponsible”, saying “parents, pupils and teachers will rightly question Labour’s commitment to this issue.”

Marshall also pointed to what else rests on the budget: £145m towards cutting NHS waiting lists, £55m for the expansion of funded childcare, £15m to roll out free school meals in secondary schools, and £20m for social housing.

A Welsh Labour spokesperson countered that “there wasn’t a penny on the table for additional learning needs until Welsh Labour fought for it” — and that £40m this year “falls far short of what children and young people with additional learning needs require.”

A Plaid Cymru source hit back, saying that by voting the budget down Labour would be “teaming up with the Tories and Reform” — and had “learnt nothing from their humiliating election defeat in May.”

It is the second time in months the two parties have clashed over ALN funding, after Plaid accused Labour of causing “unnecessary distress” over Ysgol Heol Goffa in Llanelli.

For Swansea, the stakes are immediate: Labour’s council leaders say demand for ALN support is growing — and any shortfall in this year’s settlement lands directly on the city’s schools.

A petition organised by NAHT Cymru calling for the full £500m to be ring-fenced for ALN has now passed 11,000 signatures — enough to be considered for a Senedd debate.

Reform UK and the Welsh Conservatives have both confirmed they will vote against, meaning that if Labour follows through, the government’s defeat tonight is all but certain.

Defeat would not bring the government down — finance minister Elin Jones could simply table a new supplementary budget — but it would be a bruising early blow for a minority administration less than 100 days old.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

TEACHERS’ PAY: Welsh Government to consult on 3.5% rise
Unions attacked the decision to reject the independent 4.25% recommendation.

LLANELLI: ‘£35m black hole’ row erupts over Ysgol Heol Goffa funding
The special school’s funding became a flashpoint between Labour and Plaid.

FREE SCHOOL MEALS: £15m to extend support to more Swansea Bay secondary pupils
The expansion is one of the measures riding on the supplementary budget.

LABOUR EXIT: ‘They could have given me a hearing’ — Geraint Davies disputes Labour’s account of his blocked candidacy

Former Swansea West MP Geraint Davies has challenged the Labour Party’s account of the disciplinary process that ended his 22-year parliamentary career — saying the party “could have provided me with a hearing” before the 2024 election “but chose not to.”

His comments respond to a Labour statement carried by Swansea Bay News last week, in which the party set out why no hearing took place before candidate nominations closed.

Mr Davies represented Swansea West from 2010 to 2024. He had previously been MP for Croydon Central in London from 1997 until losing the seat in 2005, before returning to Westminster five years later in Swansea — a city where, he has said, his family has lived for five generations.

He was suspended by Labour in June 2023 over anonymous allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women — claims he denied, which did not involve criminal conduct, and which were never tested at a hearing. He sat as an independent MP while the investigation continued.

In late May 2024, days after the general election was called, he confirmed he would not stand — saying at the time he was “disappointed that I have yet to have a Labour Party hearing and the opportunity to clear my name.”

Responding to his account earlier this month, a Labour spokesperson said the party “assesses all complaints thoroughly in line with our rules and procedures.”

“Any suggestion that a case would be delayed for political reasons is strongly denied,” they said.

It was also understood the party had proposed expediting Mr Davies’s case in February 2024, which he declined, and that a hearing proposed for 19 May 2024 did not go ahead because his lawyer was unavailable.

Mr Davies has now disputed how both points have been framed.

He said the February proposal was for a “paper-only” hearing, with no physical or oral attendance, which he declined because he wanted to question the complainants — who, he said, had “put forward no corroborated evidence.”

He said that once the election was announced on 22 May 2024, he then proposed a paper-only hearing himself, in the two weeks before nominations closed on 7 June — but that the party refused.

“Shockingly, on May 23, in a reversal of their position, the Labour Party then refused a paper-only hearing, saying they wouldn’t do so for political expediency,” he said.

“The Party has now confirmed that all testimonies were in place for a full hearing on May 19 — but still refused a paper-only hearing between May 22 and June 7.”

“The Labour Party could have provided me with a hearing then but chose not to. This denied me the opportunity to be re-elected as the Swansea West MP — and freed up a second South Wales seat for London parachutists.”

Torsten Bell — now Pensions Minister — was selected as Labour’s Swansea West candidate by the party’s National Executive Committee rather than the local party, a decision that drew criticism from local activists at the time. Alex Barros-Curtis, Labour’s then executive legal director, who oversaw the complaints process, was later selected for the vacant Cardiff West seat. Both were elected in July 2024.

Mr Davies has consistently argued it is “difficult not to conclude” that the objective of the process was “to ensure that I did not stand for re-election” — a suggestion Labour strongly denies.

Since this article was first published, Labour has gone further in rebutting that suggestion, giving its fullest account yet of the process — on background, as the party does not comment publicly on disciplinary matters.

It is understood the complaints were examined by an independent investigator, and that both the investigator and the party’s National Executive Committee found there was a case to answer.

It is understood the party amended its usual complaints process in Mr Davies’s case to speed it up, knowing an election could be called at any time — and that Mr Davies added to the delays by asking for more time to file his evidence.

On the collapsed hearing of 19 May 2024, the party’s position, it is understood, is that it could still have gone ahead before the election was called on 22 May had Mr Davies instructed alternative counsel when his own was unavailable.

Once the election was called, it is understood all disciplinary hearings were suspended as party staff moved onto the campaign — and, with Mr Davies ineligible, a Swansea West candidate had to be selected at short notice.

Mr Barros-Curtis was approached for comment when Swansea Bay News first reported the story, and did not respond.

Updated 13 July: this article has been updated to include the Labour Party’s response.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

LABOUR EXIT: ‘An affront to the people of Swansea’ — ex-MP Geraint Davies goes public over blocked candidacy
The original story, including the Labour Party’s response.

Locals reportedly unhappy at London think-tank chief parachuted in as Labour candidate in safe Swansea West seat
Our May 2024 coverage of Torsten Bell’s selection.

Suspended Swansea West MP will not seek re-election
Mr Davies’s decision as the 2024 election was called.

TREBANOS: Rugby club stalwart wins by-election for Plaid — as Reform takes second and Labour slumps to fourth

A Trebanos RFC stalwart has won the village’s by-election, holding the Neath Port Talbot Council seat for Plaid Cymru with more than half the vote.

Jamie Watkins took 223 of the 436 votes cast on Thursday — 51% — in the Swansea Valley ward, which takes in Trebanos and Craig Trebanos near Pontardawe.

The by-election was called after former Plaid councillor Rebeca Phillips was elected to the Senedd in May, representing the new Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd constituency — a seat she contested as part of the candidate team Plaid unveiled last summer.

Reform UK’s Graeme Kerrison took second place with 88 votes — 20% — ahead of Welsh Liberal Democrat Hayley Davies on 77 votes (18%).

Welsh Labour’s Stephanie Rhian Everitt finished fourth with 37 votes — 8% of the total.

That marks a steep fall for Labour in the ward. In 2017, when Trebanos was a straight two-way fight, the party’s candidate polled 187 votes against Plaid’s 284.

Welsh Conservative Liz Hill O’Shea polled seven votes and Wales Green Party candidate Griff Miller four.

Turnout was 31%, with 437 ballot papers issued from an electorate of 1,415 and one paper rejected — down from 45% when the ward last went to the polls in a scheduled election in 2017.

Cllr Watkins is a familiar face in the village — a Pontardawe Town Councillor for Trebanos since 2021, an Openreach worker, and a long-serving figure at Trebanos RFC, where he has held a string of roles and now volunteers as a referee, officiating games with local schools.

His campaign focused on the everyday — parking, and helping residents hit by flooding — and carried the endorsement of the woman whose move to the Senedd triggered the contest, with Rebeca Phillips MS backing him during the campaign.

The result keeps Plaid’s grip on a ward it has held for years, in a county borough the party runs — and comes with the party now also leading the Welsh Government after May’s Senedd election.

All of Wales’ councils face full elections in May 2027, meaning Cllr Watkins will defend the seat within a year.

Second place will offer Reform some comfort after a bruising run of local contests since the party won its first Senedd seats in May.

Last month Plaid took the Llangennech seat on Carmarthenshire County Council from Reform — a seat vacated, like Trebanos, by a councillor elected to the Senedd, in that case Reform’s Carmelo Colasanto, now a Sir Gaerfyrddin MS. In Swansea, Reform missed out in both Morriston and Mumbles, where Labour clung on by 86 votes and the Conservatives gained a seat, and in May the Welsh Liberal Democrats took Fairwood from the Conservatives.

Across five council by-elections in the area since the Senedd election, Reform has yet to win a seat — and lost the only one it was defending. Two of those seats fell vacant the same way, with a sitting councillor bound for the Senedd: Plaid held its one, and Reform lost theirs.

Every seat in Wales goes back to the voters in May 2027, when the full council elections are held.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

LLANGENNECH: Plaid Cymru take council seat from Reform in by-election
The seat Reform gained — and lost within a year.

SWANSEA BY-ELECTIONS: Labour holds Morriston by 86 votes and Conservatives take Mumbles as Reform and Plaid miss out
June’s double contest in the city.

Plaid Cymru unveil Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd candidates ahead of 2026 Senedd election
Where Rebeca Phillips’ Senedd journey began.

LABOUR EXIT: ‘An affront to the people of Swansea’ — ex-MP Geraint Davies goes public over blocked candidacy

Former Swansea West MP Geraint Davies has gone public with his account of how his 22-year parliamentary career ended — telling Swansea residents he was “unfairly and unjustly prevented” from standing for re-election.

In a statement posted on Facebook today, the ex-Labour MP said he wanted to set the record straight “in case there remains any misunderstanding” about his departure from the party after more than 40 years of membership.

Mr Davies represented Swansea West from 2010 until 2024, winning four elections, and previously served as MP for Croydon Central.

He was suspended by Labour in June 2023 after allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women were published anonymously online — allegations he denied, which did not involve criminal conduct, and which were never tested at a hearing.

Mr Davies says the suspension came a week before he was due to be confirmed as Labour’s Swansea West candidate for the 2024 general election.

In an interview with Nation.Cymru last month, he said the party’s handling of the case amounted to being put on “political death row”.

He says he waited 23 weeks to be told what the complaints against him were — against a six-week standard recommended by the party-commissioned Forde Report — and that no disciplinary hearing was convened in more than a year of suspension.

When the general election was called in May 2024, he says the party refused to hold a hearing in the two weeks before candidate nominations closed — meaning he remained suspended and could not stand as Labour’s candidate.

Mr Davies says he repeatedly asked for the hearing he believed would clear his name, and responded to the complaints within two weeks of finally receiving them.

He resigned from the party after the election, describing its complaints process as one he had “completely lost my trust and confidence” in.

Torsten Bell, now Pensions Minister, was selected as Labour’s Swansea West candidate and elected in July 2024.

The complaints process was overseen by the party’s then executive legal director, Alex Barros-Curtis — who was later selected as Labour’s candidate for the vacant Cardiff West seat, and elected in July 2024.

Mr Davies told Nation.Cymru it was “difficult not to conclude” that the objective of the process “was not to get to the truth of the allegation in an independent forum, but to ensure that I did not stand for re-election”.

In a statement, a Labour Party spokesperson said the party “assesses all complaints thoroughly in line with our rules and procedures”.

“We cannot comment on the specific details of individual cases, however any suggestion that a case would be delayed for political reasons is strongly denied,” they said.

It is understood the party made proposals to expedite and determine Mr Davies’ case in February 2024, but that he declined to take this up.

A hearing was subsequently proposed for 19 May 2024, but it is understood Mr Davies’ lawyer said she was not available on that date.

In his Facebook post, Mr Davies — whose family, he said, has lived in Swansea for five generations — called the way the seat changed hands “an affront to the people of Swansea”.

Mr Davies has remained publicly active since leaving Westminster, criticising the chancellor last year over rail funding for Wales.

This article was updated on 8 July to include a response from the Labour Party. Mr Davies has since disputed the party’s account — read his full response here.

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RABBIT ROW: ‘They’re not moving toys’ — Swansea MS hits back after rabbit training course call branded ‘hare-brained’

A Swansea politician whose call for rabbit owners to complete a training course was ridiculed across the UK has hit back — insisting the idea came from rabbit charities, and amounts to nothing more than a half-day online course.

Mike Hedges, the Labour and Co-operative Member of the Senedd for Gŵyr Abertawe, was branded “hare-brained” by political opponents after telling the Senedd that people should only be able to own a rabbit “after a short training course where individuals can show they understand the needs of rabbits”.

The call came in the same First Minister’s Questions exchange that saw Mr Hedges push for a ban on tethering horses — along with the microchipping of cats, a ban on keeping primates, an end to the cage breeding of game birds, and a ban on Larsen traps.

A Conservative source told BBC Wales the proposal was “hare-brained”, adding that people would be “hopping mad” Labour saw it as a priority and that Mr Hedges should stop “rabbiting on about bunny licences”. Conservative Senedd member Andrew RT Davies also questioned “the practicality of the kind of training that has been suggested”.

But speaking to That’s TV, Mr Hedges said the idea had not come from him at all — but from rabbit charities alarmed at how easily the animals are sold.

He said charities were concerned that a shop would sell someone a rabbit, a hutch and some wire — and then “wish you luck as you take the rabbit home”.

“There’s really a lot of work to be done looking after a rabbit,” he said. “Rabbits are social animals. In Germany you can’t buy a rabbit — you have to buy two rabbits, because rabbits like to be with other rabbits.”

He said prospective owners needed to learn how to feed rabbits, look after them and socialise with them — “and to also know that they’re not moving toys. They don’t like being picked up and held”, unlike cats.

“It’s not a huge request. It’s a half-day online course, which will explain to people what rabbits need,” he said. “If they do that before they buy the rabbit, some people will say ‘I don’t really want a rabbit’. Others will know what they have to do to look after it.”

He added: “We have got to a stage now where we’re quite good — I wouldn’t say very good, but quite good — looking after dogs and cats. But the other animals that we treat as pets, we need to do more on.”

Eight things you might not know about rabbits

• Males are bucks, females are does — and baby rabbits are kits.
• They’re deeply social animals: with a companion, rabbits are calmer, happier and less stressed — and they even play tricks on each other.
• They need far more room than a hutch. In the wild, a warren of tunnels can stretch across more than two acres and house 50 rabbits.
• Their front teeth never stop growing — around 3mm a week — which is why a constant supply of hay is essential to grind them down.
• They eat their own special droppings, passing food through twice to squeeze out every last bit of nutrition.
• A happy rabbit purrs — a gentle chattering of the teeth. But tooth grinding can be a sign of pain.
• That mid-air leap with a twist and a kick? It’s called a binky, and it means a rabbit is having a very good day.
• A doe can fall pregnant at four months old, carries for just four weeks — and can conceive again within hours of giving birth. In a single year, two rabbits could become 82.

Source: RSPCA

The welfare sector has largely lined up behind him. RSPCA Cymru said rabbits are “among our most forgotten and misunderstood pets” and among the most neglected in the UK — and is calling on the Welsh Government to commit to an “overdue review” of the Code of Practice for the Welfare of Rabbits, which has not been updated since it was published in 2009.

The charity says it has rescued more than 4,000 rabbits from abandonment and mistreatment in just two years.

Welfare charity Hop to Save Rabbits said it was “very encouraged” to see the issue raised in the Senedd and supported “a short rabbit welfare course before acquisition”, saying rabbits can be obtained too easily and with too little understanding of their needs — leading to unsuitable housing, loneliness, mis-sexing, unwanted litters and abandonment.

Closer to home, Nibbles Rodent & Rabbit Rescue, based near Crymych in Pembrokeshire, has launched its Rabbits Left Behind campaign calling for the Welsh rabbit code to be reviewed — pointing out that the codes for dogs, cats and horses have all been updated more recently.

First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth did not commit to the proposal, but told the Senedd that Wales is “a nation of animal lovers” which needs “champions for the welfare and well-being of animals in our Senedd” — adding that legislation “is one route, and one that we will always be open to considering” as part of a new animal health and welfare plan.

Wales’ Greens leader Anthony Slaughter said his party would lend support “wherever there is a case to improve human knowledge around how to best care for a pet” — and Mr Hedges drew hundreds of supportive comments on social media, with rabbit owners saying the animals’ complex needs are widely misunderstood.

For now, there is no plan for compulsory rabbit training in Wales. But the row has reopened a bigger question — whether the country’s 17-year-old rabbit welfare guidance is overdue an update.

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STARMER RESIGNATION: Kinnock backs Burnham for PM as local Labour MPs react

Labour MPs across the area have paid tribute to Sir Keir Starmer following his resignation — with one already backing Andy Burnham to replace him.

Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock, a government minister and the son of former Labour leader Lord Neil Kinnock, was quick to throw his weight behind the frontrunner.

He said Sir Keir had pulled Labour “back from the brink” to win the 2024 landslide, and had been “a committed and dignified Prime Minister, always putting country before party”.

Kinnock said he was proud of what the government had achieved, pointing to progress on GP access, a fall in small boat crossings, and better pay and conditions for workers.

But he said the country now needed “a fresh start with a Prime Minister who can inspire public confidence”.

He added: “I believe Andy Burnham has these qualities — and I am excited by the prospect of the positive change his leadership is set to bring.”

Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, confirmed earlier on Monday that he would put himself forward to succeed Sir Keir, and is widely seen as the frontrunner.

Gower MP Tonia Antoniazzi also paid tribute to the outgoing Prime Minister, though she stopped short of naming a preferred successor.

She said Sir Keir had “served our nation with devotion and dignity”, and that she wanted to thank him for his leadership.

“This will not have been an easy decision, but I respect it and support it in the interests of our country,” she said.

Antoniazzi said it was important that the party now came together and continued “to focus on delivering tangible change for the people who we were elected to serve”.

In neighbouring Pembrokeshire, Mid and South Pembrokeshire MP Henry Tufnell also thanked Sir Keir, saying he had helped to make Britain “fairer, safer, and more prosperous over the past two years”.

Tufnell said his own focus remained on his constituents, with priorities “unchanged” — bringing jobs and growth to Pembrokeshire, improving public services, and tackling the cost-of-living crisis.

Bridgend and Porthcawl MP Chris Elmore, who also served in Sir Keir’s government, said that without his leadership “the Labour Party would not be in Government”. He said Sir Keir had taken the party “from our worst defeat in decades to one of the biggest majorities in our movement’s history” in the space of five years.

Elmore pointed to stronger employment rights, children lifted out of poverty and the railways being brought back under public control, and said that for Sir Keir it had “always been country first, party second”.

Swansea West MP Torsten Bell, also a government minister, said Sir Keir had “turned around our party” and given “huge service to our country”, both as Prime Minister and as a former public prosecutor. He pointed to stronger workers’ rights, rising wages and falling waiting lists, adding that the party now owed the country “a redoubling of our efforts to build a better Britain”.

Several other Labour MPs in the area had not commented publicly by Monday afternoon, among them Llanelli’s Dame Nia Griffith and Swansea East’s Carolyn Harris.

Sir Keir announced on Monday morning that he would step down as Prime Minister and Labour leader, having “heard the answer” of his party on whether he was the right person to lead it into the next election.

He will remain in post until a new leader is chosen, with nominations opening on 9 July and a successor expected before Parliament returns on 1 September.

The resignation follows months of pressure that intensified after Labour’s heavy losses in May’s elections, and after Burnham’s by-election victory in Makerfield last week.

It comes as Wales adjusts to its own changed political landscape, with Labour having lost power in the Senedd in May for the first time since devolution.

For the area’s Labour MPs, the coming weeks will shape not just who leads their party — but the direction of a UK government many of them serve in.

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KEIR STARMER: Prime Minister resigns — Welsh reaction as Labour leadership race begins

Sir Keir Starmer has announced he is to resign as Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party.

In a statement outside 10 Downing Street on Monday morning, he said he had “heard the answer” of his party on whether he was the right person to lead it into the next general election, and would step aside.

He said every decision he had taken in office had been about “putting the country I love first”.

Sir Keir will remain as Prime Minister until a new Labour leader is chosen. He said nominations would open on 9 July and close by the time Parliament breaks for its summer recess on 16 July, meaning a successor should be in place before MPs return on 1 September.

The move follows months of pressure that intensified after Labour’s heavy losses in May’s elections, and after Andy Burnham’s by-election victory in Makerfield last week.

Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, has confirmed he will put himself forward to replace Sir Keir, and is widely seen as the frontrunner — though the contest has not formally begun and others may yet stand.

In a statement, Burnham thanked Sir Keir for “huge service to our country” and said the priority now must be “stability, seriousness and a continued focus on the issues that matter most”. He said the transition should be “orderly and responsible” and “a positive process of renewal” for the party and the country.

The most significant Welsh response came from First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Plaid Cymru leader who took office after May’s Senedd election.

He said he was “disappointed that the Welsh Government’s ability to engage with the UK Prime Minister on issues that matter to the people of Wales is being hampered by the turmoil in Westminster”.

Wishing Sir Keir well, he said he wanted his successor to recognise that “Wales needs a new relationship with Westminster, with a focus on greater powers, fair funding and respect for the democratic mandate delivered by the people of Wales”.

The First Minister said he would seek “a constructive relationship with whoever is in Number 10”, but added: “We have clear expectations that the respect agenda must work both ways.”

Wales saw its own dramatic reverse for Labour in May, when the party lost power in the Senedd for the first time since devolution.

Welsh Labour’s interim leader, Ken Skates, led his party’s tribute to the outgoing Prime Minister.

Skates said Sir Keir had brought the party “back from oblivion” and delivered “one of the greatest victories the Labour Party has seen”.

He pointed to the rise in the minimum wage, the boost to the state pension and stronger employment rights under Sir Keir’s leadership, as well as what he called a “record devolution settlement” for Wales and “generational” plans for £14bn of rail investment.

“He has led the country through exceptionally tough times with dignity and authenticity, and I want to put on record my deepest thanks to him,” Skates said.

Skates, who became interim Welsh Labour leader in May after the party’s Senedd election defeat, said Labour now owed it to Sir Keir and the country to “come together” and keep “delivering for people right across Wales, and the UK”.

Other opposition voices used the moment to call for a change in approach.

David Chadwick, the Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe and the party’s Wales spokesperson, said changing the person at the top would not change much “unless Labour finally confronts the structural problems that continue to hold Wales back”.

He said the next Prime Minister must pursue a closer relationship with the EU and a fairer funding formula for Wales, adding: “Wales needs more than a new Prime Minister. We need a Westminster government that finally takes Wales seriously.”

The resignation also drew sharp responses from opposition leaders at Westminster.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the public was “sick of being let down by an endless merry-go-round of prime ministers while nothing really changes”, arguing the moment had to be about “changing our broken politics”, not just who occupies Number 10.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for an immediate general election, describing Sir Keir as the “most incompetent” prime minister the country had had, and claiming a Burnham-led government would simply continue his predecessor’s approach.

A change of Prime Minister raises questions for Wales, with major commitments — among them rail funding and the wider devolution settlement — now resting on the priorities of whoever succeeds Sir Keir.

Several of the Swansea Bay area’s representatives served in or alongside Sir Keir’s government, and further reaction is expected through the day.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

FREE SCHOOL MEALS: £15m to extend support to more Swansea Bay secondary pupils from September

More secondary school pupils across Swansea Bay and Carmarthenshire are set to qualify for free school meals, under a £15m Welsh Government investment confirmed today.

The money will begin removing the strict income limit that currently shuts many families out, even when they are on Universal Credit.

At present, a secondary pupil only qualifies for free school meals if their family receives Universal Credit and earns less than £7,400 a year, excluding benefits.

The new funding starts the work of scrapping that cap, so that any secondary-age child in a household on Universal Credit can qualify, regardless of household income.

The change will be rolled out from September, starting with pupils in Years 7 and 8, whose parents will be able to apply for the new scheme.

The £15m is split into £10m of capital funding — to upgrade school kitchens and dining areas — and £5m to introduce and run the expanded scheme.

It forms part of the Welsh Government’s supplementary budget for 2026-27, due to be published on 23 June.

The move builds on the rollout of free school meals to all primary school children in Wales, which was delivered under the 2021 to 2024 co-operation agreement between the then Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru.

Education Minister Anna Brychan said the funding marked the first step in a wider commitment to extend the meals to more secondary pupils.

“This funding marks the first step in our commitment to extend free school meals to more secondary pupils, ensuring that support reaches families who need it most,” she said.

“By starting to invest, we are laying the foundations for a fair and sustainable expansion that will make a real difference in pupils’ daily lives.”

She said the policy was about removing barriers to learning, adding that access to nutritious food improved concentration, attainment and health.

“Building on the success of universal primary free school meals, we will ensure that as children move into secondary education those who need it most will continue to receive the support they need to thrive,” she said.

First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth said extending eligibility was an important step in tackling child poverty and reducing inequality across Wales.

“Starting this work is a key aspect of our 100 Day Plan and beyond — taking practical action by putting money back into families’ pockets and ensuring every young person has the opportunity to succeed, regardless of their background,” he said.

The expansion comes against a backdrop of stubbornly high child poverty in the region, with around one in four children in Swansea estimated to be growing up in poverty.

The Welsh Government said it was working with partners to deliver the scheme “at pace”, with further details promised shortly.

For families across the region, the practical question will be how and when to apply — with the first applications, for Years 7 and 8, expected to open in the autumn term.

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FUNDED CHILDCARE: Swansea families set to benefit as Welsh Government pumps £55m into expansion

Hundreds more two-year-olds across Wales will get funded childcare under a new cash injection — with Swansea already among the first areas to offer it.

Hundreds more families across Wales are in line for funded childcare after the Welsh Government announced a £55 million investment.

The money will speed up the rollout of 12.5 hours of funded childcare a week for all two-year-olds, delivered through councils including in Swansea.

Swansea was the second area in Wales to offer the scheme to every two-year-old, after Merthyr Tydfil, with Newport following soon after.

Wrexham has now joined that list, becoming the first North Wales authority to reach the milestone.

The £55m forms part of the Welsh Government’s First Supplementary Budget for 2026-27.

It includes £10m of capital funding to expand and improve childcare settings, aimed at boosting the quality and number of places available.

Ministers say the cash will help providers manage rising demand and stay afloat financially, while also supporting Welsh-medium childcare.

That ties into the long-standing target of reaching one million Welsh speakers by 2050.

The investment is a step towards the government’s wider promise of 20 hours of funded care a week for every child aged nine months to four years old.

At full rollout, ministers claim that offer will be the most generous anywhere in the UK.

Sioned Williams, the Plaid Cymru Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice and Equality, who holds the childcare brief, said the move showed the government was “accelerating our commitments to the families of Wales.”

“Childcare costs in Wales are the highest in the UK and I am determined to help families all over Wales, while also supporting children’s development,” she said.

She added that she was “particularly pleased” Wrexham was now expanding its offer, and that the government would keep working with councils to roll it out everywhere.

Research by Coram Family and Childcare last year found Wales had the highest holiday childcare costs of the British nations, lending weight to her claim.

A new expert steering group will advise on the next stages of the rollout, focusing on training enough staff, digital applications and improving access for families.

The funding lands just days after the policy behind it caused chaos in the Senedd.

Reform UK tabled a debate on 11 June demanding the new Plaid government publish full costings and a timetable for its childcare offer within its first 100 days.

But the motion was amended to point out that Reform’s own election manifesto contained no childcare commitments — and in a tangle that drew mockery, 11 Reform members ended up voting for the amended motion attacking their own party.

Reform has claimed the full childcare offer could cost between £388m and £710m a year, well above the roughly £400m figure Plaid has cited.

The latest announcement also marks a change of guard, with funded childcare milestones celebrated earlier this year by the then Labour government’s children’s minister, Dawn Bowden.

Welsh Labour lost power to Plaid Cymru at May’s Senedd election and now sits in opposition.

The party gave the funding a cautious welcome.

Lynne Neagle, Welsh Labour’s spokesperson for children, education and lifelong learning, welcomed the news that Wrexham would offer free childcare to all two-year-olds, and said she hoped more councils would follow.

She said the previous Welsh Labour government had worked to expand Flying Start provision across Wales, and that it was “great to see the government commit to our manifesto pledge and continue this work.”

But she said questions remained. “We await further information on the government’s supplementary budget, but as it stands there are still many unanswered questions around the funding commitments,” she said.

Flying Start is the Welsh Government’s flagship early-years programme, offering childcare, parenting support and health visiting to families with young children.

Funded childcare for two-year-olds is being expanded in phases, with the latest cash intended to widen access ahead of the next academic year.

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LLANELLI: MP pleads with Plaid government to honour £27m promise for new special school

Llanelli’s MP has urged the new Plaid-led Welsh Government to “honour” a £27m commitment for a long-promised new special school in the town.

Dame Nia Griffith says repeated delays to the £35m Ysgol Heol Goffa project have caused “huge consternation and anxiety” for current pupils, parents and families still waiting for a place.

She has written to Anna Brychan MS, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Welsh Language, calling on her to give “early and full support” by committing to match-funding of 75 per cent for the school.

That figure matters. The usual Welsh Government contribution for a project like this is 65 per cent.

The previous Labour education minister, Lynn Neagle, had confirmed the new school would be eligible for the higher 75 per cent rate — subject to a satisfactory business case.

Dame Nia is now pressing the new Plaid administration to commit to that figure in full, rather than let it slip back to the standard rate.

Her intervention raises the stakes in a funding row that erupted at County Hall last week.

At a full meeting of Carmarthenshire County Council, Labour group leader councillor Deryk Cundy asked whether the authority’s 25 per cent share — roughly £9m — had been “ring-fenced” for the new school.

Plaid’s cabinet member for education, councillor Glynog Davies, replied: “It hasn’t been, well not yet.”

That answer angered Labour councillors, who pointed out that in December councillor Davies had told the same chamber the money “has been ring-fenced”.

“Which version of Glynog Davies’s answers are we, and the school community, to believe?” councillor Cundy said after the meeting.

He accused the administration of “dragging its heels”, asking why a business case would take 15 months when an independent report had already set out that the school needed to be expanded to meet legal requirements.

Lliedi councillor Shaun Greaney, a prominent campaigner for the school, said it was “disgraceful” that councillor Davies was now casting himself as its champion.

He said more than 9,000 people had signed a petition for a new school after what campaigners called Plaid’s “broken promises”, and accused the party of trying to “pull the wool over people’s eyes”.

Councillor Davies has firmly rejected that account. He has accused Labour of causing “unnecessary distress” and misrepresenting the process “for cheap political purposes”, insisting there is “no intention to pull out now”.

He has said the funding depends on a business case that has yet to be completed, and that the council is pressing ahead with plans for a larger school near Ysgol Penrhos.

A formal consultation on the £35m rebuild opened earlier this month, with responses running until 21 July, and the school earmarked to open in 2029.

The Welsh Government has been asked to confirm whether it will commit to the 75 per cent funding rate.

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HEOL GOFFA ROW: Plaid accuses Labour of causing ‘unnecessary distress’ over special school claims

Plaid Cymru’s education cabinet member has accused Labour councillors in Llanelli of causing “unnecessary alarm and distress” to parents and staff at Ysgol Heol Goffa — escalating the row over funding for the town’s promised £35m special school.

The row erupted after Wednesday’s full council meeting, when Labour claimed a “£35m black hole” sat beneath the plans after Cllr Glynog Davies confirmed funding for the project had not yet been formally committed by either the council or the Welsh Government.

In a statement issued on Friday, Cllr Davies branded the Labour claims “unfounded” — and said the suggestion that the new school may not go ahead was an insinuation made for political ends.

“They obviously don’t understand, or choose to misrepresent the process, for cheap political purposes,” he said.

“Work on designing the larger 150 pupil school on a new site is well advanced, so I can assure parents, staff and learners that there is no intention to pull out now. Changing government in Cardiff has no bearing on this, because government funding depends on presenting the full business case, which will happen shortly.”

The cabinet member reserved his sharpest words for Llanelli Labour town councillor Shaun Greaney — a longstanding campaigner on the school — over what Cllr Davies said was an accusation that Plaid councillors had “an old-fashioned attitude to children with special needs”.

“It’s quite shocking that Cllr Shaun Greaney, who seems to live in a constant state of outrage, should accuse Plaid councillors of having ‘an old-fashioned attitude to children with special needs’,” he said. “Moving ahead with a larger new school, costing tens of millions of pounds, disproves his allegations.”

And he linked Labour’s attacks to the party’s performance in last month’s Senedd election: “I appreciate that Labour must be in trauma after their devastating losses in the Senedd elections, but for them to cause unnecessary distress on this issue is reprehensible.”

Labour’s claims followed the chamber exchange in which Cllr Davies confirmed funding had not yet been signed off. Labour opposition group leader Cllr Deryk Cundy said afterwards: “Clearly, despite all the public fanfares, no money has been actually committed to the new Ysgol Heol Goffa. My biggest fear is that Plaid will claim again — at some point in the future — that it doesn’t have enough money to proceed with the new school, as they have in the past.”

Cllr Greaney had said the school community would be “devastated” if the funding position set out in the chamber was correct — adding: “Personally, I think they are a disgrace and should all resign.”

Under the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Communities for Learning programme, the council would pay a quarter of the cost of the new school with the government contributing 75 per cent — but the government’s share is only confirmed once the council submits a full business case, which Cllr Davies says “will happen shortly”.

The school for pupils with additional learning needs was first promised a replacement building a decade ago. The council scrapped the previous plans in May 2024 citing rising costs — prompting a petition of more than 9,000 signatures — before re-committing in 2025 to a £35m, 150-place school near Ysgol Pen Rhos, with a planned opening of September 2029.

The formal consultation on the proposals is open until Tuesday 21 July.

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@ChrisMayLA6 #LibDems were in coslition with Scittish Labour 1999–2007, and got #STV for Scittish local elections.

But LibDems were later almost wiped out in Wales. So when #PlaidCyrmu and #WelshLabour agreed to abandon #AMS for the #Senedd, there was no strong LibDem voice for STV. The Senedd is now #dHondt only.

2024 showed how #FPTP is clearly broken in Westminster elections. Labour's ⅔ of seats on ⅓ of votes was so obscene that there should have been huge, destructive riots.

>>

@ChrisMayLA6 #LibDems were in coslition with Scittish Labour 1999–2007, and got #STV for Scittish local elections.

But LibDems were later almost wiped out in Wales. So when #PlaidCyrmu and #WelshLabour agreed to abandon #AMS for the #Senedd, there was no strong LibDem voice for STV. The Senedd is now #dHondt only.

2024 showed how #FPTP is clearly broken in Westminster elections. Labour's ⅔ of seats on ⅓ of votes was so obscene that there should have been huge, destructive riots.

>>

@ChrisMayLA6 #LibDems were in coslition with Scittish Labour 1999–2007, and got #STV for Scittish local elections.

But LibDems were later almost wiped out in Wales. So when #PlaidCyrmu and #WelshLabour agreed to abandon #AMS for the #Senedd, there was no strong LibDem voice for STV. The Senedd is now #dHondt only.

2024 showed how #FPTP is clearly broken in Westminster elections. Labour's ⅔ of seats on ⅓ of votes was so obscene that there should have been huge, destructive riots.

>>

@ChrisMayLA6 #LibDems were in coslition with Scittish Labour 1999–2007, and got #STV for Scittish local elections.

But LibDems were later almost wiped out in Wales. So when #PlaidCyrmu and #WelshLabour agreed to abandon #AMS for the #Senedd, there was no strong LibDem voice for STV. The Senedd is now #dHondt only.

2024 showed how #FPTP is clearly broken in Westminster elections. Labour's ⅔ of seats on ⅓ of votes was so obscene that there should have been huge, destructive riots.

>>

@ChrisMayLA6 #LibDems were in coslition with Scittish Labour 1999–2007, and got #STV for Scittish local elections.

But LibDems were later almost wiped out in Wales. So when #PlaidCyrmu and #WelshLabour agreed to abandon #AMS for the #Senedd, there was no strong LibDem voice for STV. The Senedd is now #dHondt only.

2024 showed how #FPTP is clearly broken in Westminster elections. Labour's ⅔ of seats on ⅓ of votes was so obscene that there should have been huge, destructive riots.

>>

LEE WATERS: Architect of Wales’ 20mph law admits it ‘came at a price’ as he warns Labour faces ‘existential crisis’

The former Senedd member who masterminded Wales’ default 20mph speed limit has admitted the policy “came at a price” as he warned that Welsh Labour now faces an “existential crisis.”

Lee Waters, who served as a Welsh Government transport minister and held the Llanelli seat for a decade, said watching his party’s collapse at last month’s election had been a “painful and frustrating experience.”

Labour was reduced to just nine seats on 7 May, finishing third behind Plaid Cymru on 43 and Reform UK on 34 — its worst result since Welsh devolution began in 1999.

Waters described it as a “slow-motion car crash,” and said the party had been “saved from wipe out” by the narrowest of margins.

“We came within 4,000 votes of the Conservatives, that’s how bad it was,” he told BBC Radio Wales’ Sunday Supplement.

The former minister said there was “no single reason why Labour collapsed,” but argued that confronting the scale of the defeat had to come first.

“This is an existential crisis and I think Labour now needs to go back to first principles and rethink what it is for,” he said.

It was Waters who, as deputy minister, drove through the law setting a default 20mph limit on Wales’ restricted roads — a policy that drew one of the largest petitions in Senedd history and became a lightning rod for opposition across the Swansea, Carmarthenshire and Neath Port Talbot areas.

Asked about its role in the defeat, he did not shy away from it. “There are things like 20mph that definitely took up a lot of political capital and caused a lot of difficulty,” he said.

“We took a hit for that, you know, I’m not denying that. It’s achieved great things, but it’s come at a price.”

Waters stood down at the election. His old Llanelli constituency was abolished under the new Senedd boundaries and absorbed into the enlarged six-member Sir Gaerfyrddin seat, which combines the Caerfyrddin and Llanelli Westminster areas and now covers the whole of Carmarthenshire. Plaid Cymru and Reform UK took all six seats there.

His warning echoes the reckoning already under way among Labour figures closer to home. Swansea MS Mike Hedges, one of the nine Labour members left standing, drew criticism after appearing to blame the media for the result, telling a reporter outside the Senedd they had “got the result you wanted.”

Hedges, who held the Gŵyr Abertawe seat, had earlier warned that Wales could face another election within a year as the party counted the cost of its historic defeat.

Waters also turned to the challenges now facing the new Plaid Cymru government, suggesting the move from opposition to power would force difficult choices.

He pointed to First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth’s pledge to tackle congestion on the M4 with a “roads-based solution,” after Labour shelved plans for an M4 relief road around Newport in 2019.

“Will it be easy to deliver? No, it won’t, nor will it be cheap,” Waters said, adding that in opposition a party is “not forced to confront the trade-offs” that come with governing.

A Welsh Labour spokesperson said the results had been “catastrophic” and that the party needed time to determine what went wrong.

“Voters raised serious issues about NHS access, roads, local services, cost of living and trust in politics,” the spokesperson said. “These are the issues people live with every day and they felt we weren’t doing anything to help. We can’t ignore that.”

Before entering the Senedd, Waters was head of the active travel charity Sustrans Cymru — a background that shaped his championing of walking, cycling and lower urban speeds throughout his time in government.

The 20mph law remains in force, though the new Welsh Government has faced continued pressure over its implementation.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

SENEDD ELECTION: Mike Hedges warns Wales could face another election next year as Labour count the cost of historic defeat
The Swansea MS on Labour’s reckoning after its worst-ever Senedd result.

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Rob Stewart steps in over the call for Hedges to stand aside.

HOW WALES VOTES: Swansea MS Mike Hedges says new Senedd election system “does not work” — and “any system is better than the one we used”

Mike Hedges, the Labour MS for Gŵyr Abertawe — the constituency covering Swansea and Gower — has called for an open public discussion on the way Wales elects its Senedd Members, saying the new voting system “does not work.”

The May 2026 election was the first held under Wales’s reformed electoral system, which expanded the Senedd from 60 to 96 Members and introduced a fully proportional model based on 16 constituencies, each electing six Members from closed party lists.

Hedges, who was re-elected in Gŵyr Abertawe, says the system failed on its own terms.

“The new system does not work — it was meant to be proportional but it was not,” he said. “The electorate generally did not understand it.”

His central concern is tactical voting. Hedges argues the election effectively became a two-party contest between Plaid Cymru and Reform UK, and that this squeezed the vote going to everyone else.

“We did not have tactical voting — we had voters choosing between two parties, which depressed the votes of the other parties,” he said. “Those who thought they were voting tactically were actually not voting tactically. It did not work in five of the sixteen seats.”

He believes the effect was decisive in his own constituency, where he says fewer than 2,000 votes determined the final seat.

“Take 2,000 off one party and add it to another,” he said, expressing confidence in the figure. He argued that if Reform votes in the constituency had instead gone to the Conservatives, it would have produced a Conservative seat.

The criticism is notable coming from a Member elected under the very system he is attacking. Hedges took one of the six Gŵyr Abertawe seats, while Plaid Cymru took three and Reform UK two, as Labour‘s vote share across Wales fell to third behind both parties.

On the solution, Hedges is clear that change is needed — but stops short of backing the alternative favoured by the new Plaid Cymru government.

Asked whether he would support a move to the Single Transferable Vote — which Plaid committed in its 2026 manifesto to pursuing cross-party support for — he said he was open to reform but not to that particular model.

“We need an open discussion on the size of the Senedd and voting system,” he said. “I do not like STV, but any system is better than the one we used in the last election.”

It places him in unusual agreement with the Plaid government on the principle that the system should be reviewed, even as he rejects their preferred fix.

As a more immediate practical step, Hedges argues that better information would help voters navigate the system as it stands. “The most important thing next time is constituency polls,” he said — suggesting that seat-by-seat polling would give voters a clearer picture of the real contest in their area, rather than relying on national trends.

The new system was introduced through the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act 2024, passed by the previous Labour Welsh Government. Supporters argued the closed-list proportional model would produce a chamber that more accurately reflected how people voted, and that the larger Senedd would improve scrutiny of Welsh laws.

Critics — now apparently including some within Labour’s own ranks — have questioned the closed-list element, which means voters choose a party rather than ranking individual candidates, and whether the public was given enough information to understand how it worked.

Whether Hedges’s call for a review gains traction may rest with the Plaid Cymru government, which has its own manifesto commitment to explore electoral reform — albeit by a different route to the one the Swansea MS would choose.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

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How the first election under the new voting system reshaped the Senedd.

Plaid Cymru top the poll in Gŵyr Abertawe as Reform UK and Labour also take seats
The full Gŵyr Abertawe result, where Mike Hedges held on for Welsh Labour.

LONG READ: Welsh Labour at a Crossroads https://www.byteseu.com/2060192/ #Devolution #GreatBritain #LabourParty #UKLabour #UnitedKingdom #WelshLabour

https://www.europesays.com/britain/50808/ LONG READ: Welsh Labour at a Crossroads #devolution #LabourParty #UK #UKLabour #UnitedKingdom #WelshLabour

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BRITON FERRY: Two years on, the Wales Coastal Path closure on the estuary has become a political football — as 20 Labour councillors demand action over sinkholes that nobody will pay to fix

Twenty opposition Welsh Labour councillors from Neath Port Talbot have written to the new Welsh Government Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability demanding urgent action and funding to reopen long-closed sections of the Wales Coastal Path through Baglan, Briton Ferry and Sandfields West — a stretch that has now been fenced off for more than two years over fears of subsidence and sinkhole collapse.

The letter, sent this week to Plaid Cymru MS Llŷr Gruffydd — who took on the newly created rural resilience portfolio when Plaid Cymru formed Wales’s first ever Plaid-led government earlier this month — lands at the heart of a long-running political dispute over who should pay to fix a deteriorating path on land owned by the Welsh Government and maintained, until 2023, by the council.

Campaign led by three local councillors

The campaign for the path’s reinstatement has been led by Cllr Josh Tuck (Baglan), Cllr Gareth Rice (Briton Ferry) and Cllr Rob Wood, whose wards either border or contain the closed section. This week’s letter to the Cabinet Minister has been signed by 17 of their Welsh Labour colleagues from across the borough.

Cllr Rice’s ward of Briton Ferry contains the stretch of path that runs alongside the Briton Ferry estuary — where the original closure was made in April 2023 after the path was deemed too dangerous to use.

Closed since April 2023

According to the council’s own official response to a 2024 enquiry from Aberavon and Maesteg MP Stephen Kinnock, the section was closed in April 2023 because of “subsidence connected to the formation of sinkholes, which unfortunately made the path hazardous to use.”

The same letter, written by NPT’s Head of Planning and Public Protection Ceri Morris, set out a longer history of problems. Repair schemes had been carried out approximately every four years since 2012 to fill or bridge the sinkholes that were continually forming in the area — but those works “did not address the wider problem that is affecting the adjacent land.”

By early 2023, the council said, officers had noticed new cracks opening up along the path. “The Authority considered it had no option other than to close the path on safety grounds,” the letter said.

Walkers were redirected along the cycle route from The Quays Offices, passing through the industrial estate to pick up the Wales Coast Path connection at Purcell Avenue.

Walkers using eroded unofficial route around closure

More than two years on, councillors say walkers are increasingly bypassing the official closure altogether and using an unofficial route through eroded ground alongside the fencing — raising fresh concerns that the closure may be creating new safety risks rather than removing them.

The letter from the 20 councillors describes the closures as “a visible symbol of neglect along a key part of our coastline” and says that despite repeated questions to Neath Port Talbot Council from elected members, no clear timetable has ever been provided for restoration.

March 2024: borehole testing

The council’s 2024 response confirmed that NPT had used Wales Coast Path funding in March 2024 to carry out “an extensive bore hole testing scheme to ascertain the extent of the issues in this area.” Officers were said to be reviewing the final report to ascertain whether the route remains feasible for future use as the Wales Coast Path.

But the council was clear that reopening depends on funding from above. “Whilst it was not the Authority’s intention to permanently close this section of the path, ultimately it comes down to whether funding becomes available from Welsh Government,” Mr Morris wrote.

The official council position has been that NPT itself cannot continue to fund repeated repair schemes indefinitely — and that even if it did, the underlying subsidence affecting the adjacent land would mean the path could only be reopened on a temporary basis without a wider intervention.

A funding dispute the council says rests with Welsh Government

The closure has happened entirely under the current Plaid Cymru-led rainbow coalition, which took control of Neath Port Talbot Council in 2022 — meaning the path has been fenced off for almost the whole of this administration’s time in office.

Council leader Cllr Steve Hunt has previously stated publicly that the path “has nothing at all to do with NPTCBC” because the underlying land is in the ownership of the Welsh Government — placing responsibility for any repair work with whoever forms that government.

David Rees, who served as Welsh Labour MS for Aberavon until losing his seat at the May 2026 Senedd election, said in 2024 that he had been told by NPT that the council needed money from Welsh Government to fix the path, while Welsh Government had stated that the council had already received maintenance funding. “It is unlikely to re-open until this is resolved as the argument of people’s safety will be dominant,” he said at the time. Two years on, his prediction has held: the path remains closed.

“A flagship national asset”

The Wales Coastal Path is an 870-mile route around the entire Welsh coastline, launched in 2012 as the first dedicated long-distance walking route to cover an entire country. It is jointly funded by the Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales, with day-to-day maintenance delivered by local authorities. The Welsh Government also owns the adjacent land affected by the subsidence — making it both funder and landowner in the dispute.

The letter from the 20 councillors describes the path as “internationally recognised” and intended to be “a source of pride for Wales” — but says that large sections through Baglan, Briton Ferry and Sandfields West remain “inaccessible, fenced off and deteriorating.”

A cross-party political map

The letter has been copied to all six Members of the Senedd for the new Afan Ogwr Rhondda constituency, which covers the affected communities under the new D’Hondt voting system introduced for the May 2026 election.

Those six MSs are Sera Evans, Alun Cox and Elyn Stephens, all of Plaid Cymru; Benjamin Hodge McKenna and Steve Bayliss, both of Reform UK; and former Welsh Labour cabinet member Huw Irranca-Davies, who was elected Llywydd of the Senedd earlier this month and is now politically impartial.

Cabinet Minister Llŷr Gruffydd, MS for Clwyd, only took on the rural resilience brief on 13 May after First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth appointed his first cabinet. The portfolio includes responsibility for Wales’s outdoor and natural environment infrastructure.

‘We loved watching the birds and wildlife’

Baglan residents Gaynor and Graham, both members of the RSPB, said the loss of the path had stripped local people of a free, accessible community asset.

“The coastal path at Briton Ferry has always been a lovely, easy, flat walk for people of all ages,” they said. “Walkers from Neath and Port Talbot used it, not just residents of Baglan and Briton Ferry. It’s a local asset that’s free to use, and obviously helps people’s fitness, mental health and well-being. Apart from meeting people socially along the way, it really needs to be reinstated.

“For us personally, we loved watching the birds and wildlife as we are both members of the RSPB. In these challenging times it would be great to have somewhere that’s free to enjoy.”

Three areas of damage

The councillors set out three distinct impacts of the closures.

On health and wellbeing, the letter says the closures have cut off vital routes for walking, cycling and daily exercise relied upon by residents for years.

On active travel, the closures have severed key walking and cycling connections between Baglan, Briton Ferry, Sandfields and the wider Swansea Bay coastline.

And on local business and tourism, the councillors say visitors have been diverted away from the area’s seaside businesses, undermining wider Welsh Government ambitions around tourism and outdoor recreation.

“Unacceptable and unworthy”

Calling for a “clear programme for restoration and reopening,” the councillors describe the current position as “unacceptable for local communities and unworthy of a flagship national route such as the Wales Coastal Path.”

“Its continued closure damages confidence in public infrastructure and undermines wider Welsh Government ambitions around tourism, wellbeing and active travel,” the letter states.

The 20 signatories

Alongside Cllr Josh Tuck, Cllr Gareth Rice and Cllr Rob Wood, the letter is signed by Cllr Carol Clement-Williams (Baglan), Cllr Suzanne Paddison (Sandfields West), Cllr Sarah Thomas, Cllr Laura Williams, Cllr Mike Harvey, Cllr Lauren Heard (Neath East), Cllr Stephanie Grimshaw (Aberavon and Baglan Moors), Cllr Saifur Rahaman and Cllr Alan Lockyer (Neath North), together with the Welsh Labour ward councillors for Margam and Taibach and for Port Talbot.

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SWANSEA: Labour signed a deal to move Welsh Government offices from Penllergaer to the city centre. Plaid won’t say if they’ll honour it.

A pre-election agreement to base Welsh Government staff in Swansea’s new city centre public sector hub is hanging in the balance — after the incoming Plaid Cymru administration said it would review its office estate as a new government, with no decisions yet taken on any specific sites.

Swansea Council confirmed it had been in advanced talks with the previous Labour Welsh Government to secure a formal and physical presence for Welsh Government staff in the new five-storey hub being built at the former St David’s Shopping Centre site — and that letters of intent had been exchanged before the Senedd election.

A council spokesperson said: “We were engaging with the Welsh Government prior to the Senedd elections to look at options for them to have a formal and physical presence in Swansea city centre, which supports our regeneration activities and their investment in town and city centres. Now that a new government is in place we will open up this dialogue again with the hope of concluding discussions as soon as we are able to.”

The Welsh Government did not confirm the pre-election agreement, but said no decisions had been taken on future accommodation arrangements, including whether any specific sites would be used or how much space might be occupied.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “As a new administration, we will take the opportunity to review our office estate as part of good financial and asset management, and we are committed to doing so on a regular basis. As part of that work, a range of potential options will be explored with public sector partners, including different ways of using existing buildings. Any decision on the Welsh Government estate will be for Ministers.”

The proposed deal was understood to have involved the Welsh Government relocating staff from its existing offices near junction 47 of the M4 at Penllergaer to the new city centre hub, with the council potentially taking on the Penllergaer building as part of the arrangement.

That proposal drew pointed criticism from Cllr Chris Holley, the Liberal Democrat leader of the opposition on Swansea Council — and a man with direct experience of the building in question. Cllr Holley led the council between 2004 and 2012, and was at the helm when the Welsh Development Agency was abolished in 2006 and its Penllergaer office was transferred to the Welsh Government.

He said the building had struggled to attract occupants ever since, arguing it had become a liability for the Welsh Government following the WDA’s departure. He said he understood blue light services had already been approached about taking the space and had declined.

“Yes of course [I support Welsh Government jobs in the city centre] — but not at any cost,” Cllr Holley said. “They have lots of offices around Wales, yet we have to swap one for another.”

He also questioned the logic of the council taking on premises that a large organisation had been unable to fill. “If it didn’t work for the Welsh Government, how is it going to work for Swansea Council?” he said.

Welsh Government figures show around 400 staff have their location recorded as Penllergaer — but average daily attendance at the building was running at just 10% in March 2025, well below the two-days-a-week expectation for civil servants. Across its 20 sites in Wales, the Welsh Government employs around 5,700 people at a total annual cost of £24.5 million.

The Penllergaer site has its own complicated history. Swansea Council itself once had offices in the area — the former Lliw Valley Borough Council building, which the authority sold in 2016 partly to address a budget deficit. That site was sold to Carmarthenshire developer Enzo Developments, who later received planning permission for 80 homes and a preserved Grade II listed equatorial observatory — though Enzo’s Homes subsequently went into liquidation on a separate development in 2025.

The public sector hub at the heart of the proposed deal is the first building in the new Porth Copr district — the area that will eventually replace the former St David’s Shopping Centre car park, knitting together Copr Bay, St Mary’s Square and the Quadrant. Work on the site is already under way, with the hub designed to anchor public sector workers in the city centre and generate daily footfall for traders.

The council’s own commitment to the hub is separately driven by its planned departure from the seafront Civic Centre — which received a £20 million UK Government funding boost in March to support its redevelopment for housing, leisure and commercial uses.

Meanwhile, the Penllergaer business park has its own new chapter under way nearby — with a major logistics depot, understood to be an Amazon last-mile delivery hub, approved on an adjacent site in March, already raising questions about the capacity of junction 47 to absorb the additional traffic.

Council leader Rob Stewart was contacted for comment.

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SENEDD: Swansea’s Mike Hedges handed Culture and Sport brief as Ken Skates names Welsh Labour’s new Senedd spokesperson team

Mike Hedges, the Swansea MS who went viral last week after appearing to tell an ITV journalist the media had “got the result they wanted” following Labour’s historic Senedd defeat, has been handed a senior shadow brief as interim leader Ken Skates names his spokesperson team.

Hedges, who holds the Gŵyr Abertawe constituency seat, will serve as Labour’s shadow spokesperson for Culture, Sport, Local Government and Legislation — one of seven shadow portfolios announced this morning as Labour begins the long task of rebuilding as an opposition party after its worst Senedd result in history.

The election on 7 May saw Labour reduced to just nine Senedd seats, with Plaid Cymru forming Wales’s new government. Hedges came fourth in the six-seat Gŵyr Abertawe constituency — with Plaid taking three seats and Reform UK two — as Labour’s vote share fell to third place behind both parties.

In the days that followed, the veteran MS attracted attention when ITV journalist Rhys Williams approached him on the steps of the Senedd. When asked if he had anything to say, Hedges replied: “No, thanks. You’ve had the result you wanted, what more?” The 24-second exchange was viewed more than 200,000 times on X.

Hedges, who has been an MS since 2011 and is a former leader of Swansea Council, refused to elaborate further when pressed on what he meant. The clip became one of the most-shared moments of the post-election fallout — a snapshot of a party struggling to come to terms with a defeat few had predicted quite so devastating in scale.

Hedges was also the subject of internal Labour tensions in the build-up to the election, after a senior Welsh Labour figure publicly called on him to stand aside for former Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart. Stewart publicly backed Hedges and rejected the suggestion.

It is the first time in more than 25 years that Labour has had to build an opposition team in the Senedd. With just nine MSs, the group is small enough that each member carries multiple responsibilities — and the shadow team unveiled today reflects that reality, with Ken Skates himself doubling as both interim leader and health spokesperson.

Ken Skates MS takes the role of interim leader himself, also serving as Labour’s shadow spokesperson for Health, Care and National Security — a significant shift from his previous role as Cabinet Secretary for Transport in the outgoing Labour government.

Jayne Bryant MS takes the shadow Housing, Communities, Public and Preventative Health brief, a portfolio that echoes her previous role as Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government in government. Lynne Neagle MS, who was Cabinet Secretary for Education in the Welsh Government, steps into the shadow Children, Education and Lifelong Learning role — a near-identical remit, this time from the opposition benches.

Vikki Howells MS becomes Labour’s Chief Whip as well as shadow spokesperson for Environment, Farming, Energy and Transport — including Planning. Shav Taj MS takes the shadow Employment, Equalities and Economic Transformation brief, while Huw Thomas MS picks up shadow Finance, Democracy, Citizenship and Welsh Language. Sarah Murphy’s portfolio will be announced on her return from maternity leave.

Labour is not alone in rebuilding after the election. The Welsh Conservatives — who ended the election with seven seats, fewer than Labour and the smallest group in the chamber outside the Greens — named their new shadow cabinet team last week under leader Darren Millar MS. Former Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies MS, whose new constituency covers Bridgend, was appointed Shadow Minister for Farming and the Environment alongside six other shadow ministers.

Reform UK, the second largest party in the Senedd with 34 seats, has named its leader — Dan Thomas MS — and deputy leader Helen Jenner MS, but has not yet announced portfolios or the rest of its shadow cabinet team. As the official opposition, Reform will face intense scrutiny over how quickly it can organise and hold the new Plaid government to account.

Plaid Cymru’s new Welsh Government cabinet, confirmed by First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth last week, is already in place and governing. For Labour, the Conservatives and Reform, the work of opposition begins in earnest — and for a party that has held power in Cardiff Bay since devolution began in 1999, the adjustment for Welsh Labour may prove the most profound of all.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

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‘Respect the democratic vote’: Rob Stewart backs Mike Hedges after anonymous Welsh Labour call for him to quit Senedd seat

Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart has publicly thrown his weight behind Mike Hedges – declaring his “full support” for the city’s only Welsh Labour MS and insisting voters’ democratic verdict at the ballot box must be respected.

The intervention comes less than 24 hours after Swansea Bay News reported that a senior Welsh Labour figure had urged Hedges to resign mid-term to make way for Stewart – meaning the Council leader could enter the Senedd without facing the electorate again.

Stewart – who was Welsh Labour’s second-placed candidate on the Gwyr Abertawe list and was not elected last week – publicly rejected that route in a statement posted to his Facebook account on Sunday afternoon.

“Let me be clear,” Stewart said. “As a democratic nation we should all respect the democratic vote and decision of the public.”

The Council leader said Hedges had been rightly elected at the top of the Welsh Labour list and had his backing.

“Each party ranks its candidates in the new list system and Mike was top of our list and was rightly elected,” Stewart said. “He has my full support.”

Stewart also pointedly underlined how the new D’Hondt voting system works – and the fact that any seat replacement would happen without a public vote.

“Under the new system any candidate stepping down is replaced by someone from the same party – the next on their list,” he said. “There are no by-elections in this system.”

The Council leader explained the reasoning behind that mechanic, saying voters had been asked to back a party rather than an individual.

“This is because it’s a PR system,” he said. “And in that system the voters are asked to vote for a party – not a person.”

The statement marks the most significant public intervention so far from any Welsh Labour figure in Swansea on the question of mid-term resignations – and effectively shuts down the suggestion that Stewart would accept a back-door route into the Senedd.

It comes after Swansea Bay News reported on Saturday that a senior Welsh Labour figure – speaking anonymously to Welsh political journalist Will Hayward – had urged Hedges and fellow long-serving Welsh Labour MS Lynne Neagle to resign mid-term to allow second-placed candidates on Welsh Labour’s lists to take their seats.

The same source had branded Welsh Labour “functionally broken” and called for a total overhaul of the party – accusing it of a decade-long failure to confront its own decline.

Stewart’s statement neither names the anonymous source nor responds directly to the wider criticisms levelled at the party – instead focusing on the specific question of Hedges’ position and the legitimacy of the democratic process.

The Council leader’s full backing of Hedges is significant. As the second-placed candidate on the Welsh Labour list, Stewart would be the direct beneficiary of any Hedges resignation – and his public rejection of that route effectively rules out one of the scenarios floated by the anonymous Welsh Labour source.

Hedges himself has not commented publicly on the anonymous call for him to step down.

The Welsh Labour party has not formally responded to either intervention.

Welsh Labour was reduced to just nine seats at last week’s Senedd election, down from 30 in the previous Senedd, with the party wiped out entirely in six constituencies. Mike Hedges is the only Welsh Labour Member of the Senedd for Swansea.

Plaid Cymru emerged as the largest party with 43 seats, with Reform UK securing a historic 34 seats. Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth is expected to lead a minority government as Wales’ next First Minister.

Stewart – who has been Council leader since 2017 – will remain in his role at Swansea Council, where Welsh Labour holds an overall majority and is expected to face the city’s voters at the council elections next year.

Our Senedd Election 2026 coverage

Mike Hedges should quit Senedd seat for Rob Stewart, senior Welsh Labour figure says
The anonymous intervention that branded Welsh Labour ‘functionally broken’ and called for two MSs to make way for new talent.

Mike Hedges warns Wales could face another election next year
The newly re-elected Swansea Labour MS on the prospect of an early Senedd election if Plaid’s first budget falls.

Gwyr Abertawe: Plaid top the poll as Reform UK and Labour also take seats
How Swansea voted – and how Mike Hedges held on as the city’s only Welsh Labour MS.

Rhun ap Iorwerth to lead Plaid minority government
What happens next as Plaid prepares to take power.

Ken Skates appointed interim Welsh Labour leader
Welsh Labour picks up the pieces after being reduced to nine seats.

https://www.europesays.com/uk/950226/ ‘Rebuilding and decoupling – the future of Welsh Labour’ #2026SeneddElection #Britain #Chancellor #DowningStreet #government #GreatBritain #HouseOfCommons #KeirStarmer #Labour #LabourParty #MPs #Parliament #PM #Politics #PrimeMinister #RachelReeves #UK #UKLabourParty #UKPolitics #UnitedKingdom #Wales #WelshLabour

https://www.europesays.com/uk/950089/ Welsh Labour leader says Senedd election result ‘catastrophic’ – live updates #Britain #GreatBritain #PlaidCymru #Politics #ReformUK #Senedd #SeneddElection #UK #UnitedKingdom #Wales #WelshLabour

SWANSEA: Mike Hedges should quit Senedd seat for Rob Stewart, senior Welsh Labour figure says in scathing attack on ‘functionally broken’ party

Newly re-elected Swansea Member of the Senedd Mike Hedges should resign mid-term to make way for new talent – and his replacement could be Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart, walking into the Senedd without facing voters again.

That is the explosive demand from a senior Welsh Labour figure who has launched a scathing attack on the party’s record – declaring Welsh Labour “functionally broken” and accusing it of a decade-long failure to confront its own decline.

The intervention – first reported by Welsh political journalist Will Hayward – comes less than 48 hours after Hedges held on as the only Welsh Labour MS for Swansea following the party’s catastrophic election defeat.

The senior Welsh Labour source, who is not named, said it was “perhaps too much to hope” that Hedges and fellow long-serving Welsh Labour MS Lynne Neagle would realise they should resign mid-term to let “talented, second-place candidates” take their seats.

That second-place candidate in Swansea is Rob Stewart – meaning the leader of Swansea Council could enter Wales’ parliament without facing the electorate again, if Hedges were to step aside.

Under the new D’Hondt voting system used at this week’s election, when a sitting MS resigns mid-term their seat passes to the next eligible candidate on their party’s list – rather than triggering a by-election.

Stewart was not elected at this week’s election. Plaid Cymru topped the poll in Gwyr Abertawe with three seats, Reform UK took two, and Hedges held on as Welsh Labour’s number one candidate. Stewart, sitting in second place on the list, missed out as Welsh Labour’s vote collapsed across the city.

The senior figure’s broader assessment of the party was devastating.

Welsh Labour, the source said, “requires a total overhaul; it is functionally broken and will not be fixed overnight.”

The defeat had been “a decade in the making” – they argued – claiming Welsh Labour had repeatedly avoided an honest reckoning with its record in government and instead chosen “to paper over the cracks.”

The source took aim at Welsh Labour’s recent campaign messaging, dismissing slogans such as “partnership in power” and “two governments working together” as vapid – and arguing the party had abandoned its mantle as the party that would stand up for Wales.

Blame for the result, they said, lay across the party – with MSs who failed to step up in the Senedd, with MPs who spent years chasing Reform UK voters and with party factions and unions who had “treated leadership contests as personality contests” or “extensions of Westminster paranoia.”

The source argued that rushing into a permanent leadership contest would be a mistake – calling instead for potential candidates to be required to listen to voters first and present a concrete plan for the future.

The intervention also called for Welsh Labour to scrap the deputy leader role entirely, or fundamentally redefine it.

And in a striking line, the source warned others not to scapegoat party staff for the defeat. “Watch out for those who pin defeat mostly on the staff,” they said – “and then ask what their voter contact rate was.”

The intervention is the latest sign of significant internal turmoil within Welsh Labour following the historic election result, in which the party was reduced from 30 seats in the previous Senedd to just nine.

It comes only hours after Welsh Labour’s new interim leader Ken Skates – elected unanimously by the new Welsh Labour group on Saturday morning – acknowledged the scale of the defeat and admitted the party “got it wrong.”

Welsh Labour has not formally responded to the comments. Mike Hedges has not commented publicly on the suggestion that he should resign mid-term, and Rob Stewart has not commented on whether he would take a Senedd seat through such a route.

The new 96-seat Senedd will sit for the first time in the coming weeks, with Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth set to lead a minority government following his party’s election as the largest in the chamber with 43 seats.

Reform UK secured a historic 34 seats and Welsh Labour just nine, with the Welsh Conservatives on seven, the Wales Green Party on two and the Welsh Liberal Democrats on one.

Swansea Bay News will continue to cover developments as the new Welsh Labour leadership contest takes shape and the new Welsh Government is formed.

Our Senedd Election 2026 coverage

Mike Hedges warns Wales could face another election next year
The newly re-elected Swansea Labour MS on the prospect of an early Senedd election if Plaid’s first budget falls.

Gwyr Abertawe: Plaid top the poll as Reform UK and Labour also take seats
How Swansea voted – and how Mike Hedges held on as the city’s only Welsh Labour MS.

Rhun ap Iorwerth to lead Plaid minority government after historic victory ends 27 years of Labour rule
What happens next as Plaid prepares to take power.

Ken Skates appointed interim Welsh Labour leader after historic Senedd defeat
Welsh Labour picks up the pieces after being reduced to nine seats.

First Minister Eluned Morgan loses seat and resigns as Welsh Labour leader
The historic moment Wales’ First Minister became the first leader of any UK government to lose her seat while in office.

SENEDD ELECTION: Mike Hedges warns Wales could face another election next year as Labour count the cost of historic defeat

Mike Hedges has warned that Wales could face another Senedd election within a year, as Labour Members of the Senedd began to count the cost of their historic defeat.

The veteran MS, who held on in the new Gwyr Abertawe constituency, said that if Plaid Cymru formed a minority government and their budget fell, an election could follow — just as Labour’s budgets had faced repeated challenges from Plaid in the outgoing Senedd.

“Let’s assume that Plaid form a government — when they bring their budget forward, well, the other parties will have the same chance to do to Plaid what Plaid have done to Labour consistently over the budget,” he told reporter Will Hayward at the count. “So if the budget falls, we might have an election.”

Rhun ap Iorwerth confirmed on Saturday that he will lead a Plaid minority government, working with other parties on a case-by-case basis rather than seeking a formal coalition. Plaid won 43 seats — six short of the 49 needed for a majority — with Labour reduced to just nine seats after a catastrophic night for the party.

Speaking with what he described as “disappointment,” Hedges said the scale of the Labour collapse had shocked him, revealing that one box he had expected to win over half the votes in had seen his party come third.

He said he had been canvassing on the doorstep until the day before the election and had been told by one voter — who he said had backed him for 30 years — that the man had not voted for him this time. “He apologised for it, but I can’t count apologies in the votes,” Hedges said.

Hedges was critical of the new large constituency system introduced for the expanded Senedd, saying that if he had been running Labour’s campaign he would “not have had this system” as a starting point.

He also called for legislation — originally championed by former Plaid leader Adam Price — to prevent politicians lying at election time, suggesting it would have changed the nature of the campaign. “If we’d got that through, we’d have had a different dialogue,” he said.

First Minister Eluned Morgan lost her seat and resigned as Welsh Labour leader on election night, with Ken Skates confirmed as interim leader on Saturday afternoon as the party began to assess its position. The defeat brought 27 years of Labour rule in Wales to an end.

On the prospect of working with the other parties in the new Senedd, Hedges was blunt, saying he had “great difficulty” working with either Plaid Cymru or Reform UK. He said Plaid’s independence agenda would cost Wales between £12 billion and £16 billion a year — roughly equivalent to the health budget — while Reform “want to turn us into West England.”

“But we’re going to all have to work together for the benefit of the people of Wales,” he added.

Senedd Election 2026 — our coverage

Rhun ap Iorwerth to lead Plaid minority government after historic victory ends 27 years of Labour rule
What happens next as Plaid prepares to take power.

Plaid Cymru largest party, Reform UK make historic breakthrough — the new political map of Wales
Full results and analysis from the night that changed Welsh politics.

Ken Skates appointed interim Welsh Labour leader after historic Senedd defeat
Labour picks up the pieces after being reduced to nine seats.

First Minister Eluned Morgan loses seat and resigns as Welsh Labour leader
A dramatic end to Labour’s era in government.

Gwyr Abertawe: Plaid top the poll as Reform UK and Labour also take seats
How Swansea voted — and how Mike Hedges held on.

Ken Skates appointed interim Welsh Labour leader after historic Senedd defeat

Welsh Government Transport Secretary Ken Skates has been appointed interim leader of Welsh Labour – taking over from Eluned Morgan after the First Minister lost her seat at yesterday’s Senedd election.

Skates received unanimous support from Welsh Labour’s new nine-strong group of Members of the Senedd at meetings held this morning of the party’s Executive Committee and the Senedd group.

He will serve as interim leader until a timetable is set for a full leadership election in line with Welsh Labour rules.

Skates was first elected to the Senedd in 2011 and has held a series of senior Welsh Government roles – including Economy and Infrastructure Secretary and most recently Transport Secretary. He was re-elected to represent Fflint Wrecsam yesterday after a tense day in which Welsh Labour had at one point feared he might lose his seat.

His appointment comes less than 24 hours after Eluned Morgan became the first ever serving Welsh First Minister to lose her seat at an election, and the first leader of any government in the United Kingdom to lose her seat while in office.

Speaking after his appointment, Skates acknowledged the scale of Welsh Labour’s defeat directly.

“Today is just the beginning of a process that will help us to understand what we got wrong,” he said. “Because we did get it wrong. There is no reading of this result that endorses every action we have taken as a Party, and our task now is to take the time needed and to work out what has happened.”

The new interim leader said the task of rebuilding the party would fall to its entire membership.

“It is a task that will require every single one of us to take part in – every member, every councillor, every MS, MP, Lord and all roles in between,” he said. “But it is not a task that is beyond us.”

Skates set out his vision for Welsh Labour’s future direction, returning to the party’s history and traditions.

“I believe today, as I always have, that Welsh Labour is at its best when we are the champions of the people of Wales,” he said. “Our role is to serve, to fight for the issues that matter most.”

He invoked the party’s Welsh roots and key policy achievements. “We are the Party that first sent Keir Hardie to Parliament, that created the NHS,” Skates said. “We are the Party of devolution, the Party of free prescriptions, universal free school meals, social partnership and the future generations act.”

“We are a party with an incredible history of serving Wales and her people, and we have so much more to give.”

Skates also paid tribute to his predecessor.

“I would like to thank Eluned for everything she has done over the past 2 years as our First Minister, and in her 30 years of service to Wales and the Labour Party,” he said. “Her grit and determination in the face of true challenge is something we as a Party will always be proud of.”

“She broke the glass ceiling, and her role in history as the first woman to lead our Party and country is an achievement second to none.”

The Welsh Labour party will now begin the process of selecting a new permanent leader – though the timetable for that contest has not yet been confirmed.

Welsh Labour was reduced to just nine seats at yesterday’s election, down from 30 in the previous Senedd, with the party wiped out entirely in six constituencies including Sir Gaerfyrddin and Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd.

Plaid Cymru emerged as the largest party with 41 seats, with Reform UK securing a historic breakthrough at 34 seats. Coalition negotiations are now expected to follow, with Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth widely expected to become Wales’ next First Minister.

That would mark the first time since devolution began in 1999 that Wales has had a First Minister from a party other than Labour – and ends a century-long run of Welsh Labour electoral dominance dating back to 1922.

Our Senedd Election 2026 coverage

First Minister Eluned Morgan loses seat and resigns as Welsh Labour leader
The historic moment Wales’ First Minister became the first leader of any UK government to lose her seat while in office.

Sir Gaerfyrddin: Reform UK and Plaid Cymru take three seats each as Welsh Labour wiped out
Adam Price returns to the Senedd as Reform UK secures its first ever west Wales breakthrough.

Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd: Reform UK tops the poll as Jane Dodds holds on for the Welsh Lib Dems
Reform UK takes three seats in the upper Swansea Valley, Powys and Neath – with Welsh Labour wiped out entirely.

Gwyr Abertawe: Plaid Cymru top the poll as Mike Hedges holds for Welsh Labour
The Swansea result and Council leader Rob Stewart’s reaction to a difficult day for the city’s Welsh Labour group.

https://www.europesays.com/uk/947054/ The 16 politicians who lost their seats at Senedd 2026 #Britain #GreatBritain #PlaidCymru #SeneddElection #UK #UnitedKingdom #Wales #WelshConservatives #WelshLabour

https://www.europesays.com/videos/23406/ Plaid Cymru biggest party after Senedd Election as Labour suffer historic defeat | ITV Cymru Wales #Election #ElunedMorgan #GreenParty #itv #ItvNews #ITVNewsInFull #LiberalDemocrats #PlaidCymru #reform #senedd #WelshConservatives #WelshLabour #WelshLiberalDemocrats

#Cymru brings the biggest defeat of 2026: #ElunedMorgan, First Minister of Wales & leader of Welsh Labour.

Under #Wales's d'Hondt voting system, a party winning at least 17% of the votes in any constituency is guaranteed one of the six seats in that constituency. Cast iron guaranteed.

But in Ceredigion Penfro, #WelshLabour won only 7.3%. So no seats there for Labour.

After winning every Welsh election since the 1920s, the #LabourParty is now 3rd in the #Senedd. It's over.

#Welshpol #ukpol

#Cymru brings the biggest defeat of 2026: #ElunedMorgan, First Minister of Wales & leader of Welsh Labour.

Under #Wales's d'Hondt voting system, a party winning at least 17% of the votes in any constituency is guaranteed one of the six seats in that constituency. Cast iron guaranteed.

But in Ceredigion Penfro, #WelshLabour won only 7.3%. So no seats there for Labour.

After winning every Welsh election since the 1920s, the #LabourParty is now 3rd in the #Senedd. It's over.

#Welshpol #ukpol

#Cymru brings the biggest defeat of 2026: #ElunedMorgan, First Minister of Wales & leader of Welsh Labour.

Under #Wales's d'Hondt voting system, a party winning at least 17% of the votes in any constituency is guaranteed one of the six seats in that constituency. Cast iron guaranteed.

But in Ceredigion Penfro, #WelshLabour won only 7.3%. So no seats there for Labour.

After winning every Welsh election since the 1920s, the #LabourParty is now 3rd in the #Senedd. It's over.

#Welshpol #ukpol

#Cymru brings the biggest defeat of 2026: #ElunedMorgan, First Minister of Wales & leader of Welsh Labour.

Under #Wales's d'Hondt voting system, a party winning at least 17% of the votes in any constituency is guaranteed one of the six seats in that constituency. Cast iron guaranteed.

But in Ceredigion Penfro, #WelshLabour won only 7.3%. So no seats there for Labour.

After winning every Welsh election since the 1920s, the #LabourParty is now 3rd in the #Senedd. It's over.

#Welshpol #ukpol

#Cymru brings the biggest defeat of 2026: #ElunedMorgan, First Minister of Wales & leader of Welsh Labour.

Under #Wales's d'Hondt voting system, a party winning at least 17% of the votes in any constituency is guaranteed one of the six seats in that constituency. Cast iron guaranteed.

But in Ceredigion Penfro, #WelshLabour won only 7.3%. So no seats there for Labour.

After winning every Welsh election since the 1920s, the #LabourParty is now 3rd in the #Senedd. It's over.

#Welshpol #ukpol

SENEDD ELECTION 2026: Plaid Cymru largest party, Reform UK historic breakthrough, Welsh Labour reduced to nine seats — the new political map of Wales

Wales has woken up to a new political landscape this evening – one in which Plaid Cymru has emerged as the largest party in the Senedd, Reform UK has secured a historic breakthrough, and Welsh Labour has been reduced to nine seats after more than a quarter of a century in power.

The Senedd Election 2026 – the first to be held under the new D’Hondt voting system and with an expanded 96-seat parliament – has reshaped Welsh politics in ways that almost nobody predicted even a year ago.

The final picture, with all 16 constituencies declared, sees Plaid Cymru take 43 seats, Reform UK 34, Welsh Labour 9, the Welsh Conservatives 7, the Greens 2 and the Welsh Liberal Democrats 1.

The most striking individual story of the day was the defeat of First Minister Eluned Morgan in her Ceredigion Penfro constituency – a result that immediately triggered her resignation as Welsh Labour leader.

Morgan became the first ever serving Welsh First Minister to lose her seat at an election, and the first leader of any government in the United Kingdom to lose her seat while in office.

“I take responsibility for the Labour result in Wales,” she told the count from the stage at Ceredigion Penfro. “The age of two-party dominance is dead.”

Wales now faces an immediate Welsh Labour leadership contest and the prospect of a new First Minister – with Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, who held his Bangor Conwy Mon seat with ease, the most likely candidate to lead the next Welsh Government.

“It has become clear that Wales has demanded that change of leadership,” ap Iorwerth said after his re-election. “Plaid Cymru is ready to serve.”

The election produced a record turnout for a Senedd election – 51.65% across Wales, the first time the 50% benchmark has ever been broken at a Welsh parliamentary election.

That turnout had been forecast as a positive indicator for Reform UK, which had focused much of its campaign on mobilising voters who had not traditionally turned out at Welsh elections.

The forecast proved correct. Reform UK topped the poll in four constituencies – Casnewydd Islwyn, Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, Sir Fynwy Torfaen and Clwyd – and won three seats in three more.

Welsh leader Dan Thomas, who became an MS himself after winning a seat in Casnewydd Islwyn, called Reform “the people’s army” of Welsh politics.

“In just five years, Reform has gone from winning 1% of the vote in the Senedd elections to being the main contender for government, smashing Labour in the process,” Thomas said.

For Plaid Cymru, the election represents a remarkable consolidation of support. The party topped the poll in 11 of the 16 constituencies and took three seats in nine of them – including a clean sweep of four seats in Gwynedd Maldwyn.

Among those returning to the Senedd for Plaid is former leader Adam Price, who was elected in Sir Gaerfyrddin from third place on his party’s list – itself a sign of how strongly Plaid performed in the constituency.

The constituency-by-constituency breakdown shows just how starkly the political map of Wales has been redrawn.

For Welsh Labour, the result is bleak. The party has been wiped out entirely in six constituencies – Sir Gaerfyrddin, Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni, Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, Ceredigion Penfro, Clwyd and Gwynedd Maldwyn – and reduced to a single seat in most others.

Welsh Labour’s nine surviving Members of the Senedd are dominated by senior figures. Cabinet members Huw Irranca-Davies (Deputy First Minister), Sarah Murphy (Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing), Lynne Neagle and Ken Skates (Transport) all held their seats. Mike Hedges was returned in Gwyr Abertawe and Jayne Bryant in Casnewydd Islwyn.

The defeat of First Minister Eluned Morgan, however, is the headline loss – and brings to an end a century-long run of Welsh Labour electoral dominance dating back to 1922.

Welsh Labour’s collapse was particularly stark across south-west Wales. The party was wiped out entirely in Sir Gaerfyrddin and Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, reduced to one seat in Gwyr Abertawe and Afan Ogwr Rhondda, and lost its First Minister in neighbouring Ceredigion Penfro.

Speaking after Mike Hedges’ re-election as the only Welsh Labour MS for Swansea, Council leader Rob Stewart – who was Labour’s number two on the Gwyr Abertawe list and was not elected – acknowledged the difficulty of the result.

“Obviously, this is not the result we worked for,” Stewart said. “Nationally, it has been a really difficult night for Welsh Labour and UK Labour.”

Stewart said the threat of Reform UK had loomed over the campaign. “Clearly the threat of Reform has been at the forefront of many voters’ minds, and we heard on the door that when people could not give us their vote this time, they didn’t want to go to Reform and have clearly opted for Plaid Cymru,” he said.

The Welsh Conservatives have ended the day with seven seats – a smaller party than at the last Senedd, but with three of their leaders past and present returned. Andrew RT Davies, the former Welsh Conservative leader, was re-elected in Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg. Current leader Darren Millar held his seat in Clwyd. And former Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Paul Davies returned to the Senedd via Ceredigion Penfro.

Conservative Senedd colleague Samuel Kurtz failed to be re-elected.

The Greens secured two seats in Wales for the first time – both in Cardiff. Anthony Slaughter, the party’s Welsh leader, took his seat in Caerdydd Penarth and called it a “historic breakthrough” for the Greens in Wales.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats secured a single seat – that of leader Jane Dodds, who held on in Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd. The party had hoped for a stronger result but its presence in the Senedd is preserved.

What now follows is coalition politics on a scale Wales has not seen since devolution began.

With 49 seats needed for an overall majority, Plaid Cymru is eight short of governing alone. Polling expert Sir John Curtice had projected the party would win between 41 and 46 seats – the final figure of 41 sits at the lower end of that projection.

The arithmetic of the new Senedd makes a Plaid Cymru-led coalition almost certain – but the question is who Plaid will choose to govern with.

A formal coalition with Welsh Labour would deliver a stable majority of 50 seats – though the politics of bringing the heavily defeated party of government into a new coalition would be difficult.

A confidence-and-supply arrangement with the Welsh Lib Dems and Greens would still leave Plaid three seats short of a majority, requiring further support from other parties.

A coalition with Reform UK would command a vast majority of 75 seats – but is politically inconceivable, with Reform’s positions on devolution and Welsh public services fundamentally at odds with Plaid’s.

The most likely outcome, observers suggest, is a Plaid-led minority government supported on a confidence-and-supply basis by smaller parties – or a formal coalition with Welsh Labour rebuilding from the wreckage of today’s result.

Either way, the next First Minister of Wales is very likely to be Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorwerth – a fundamental shift in Welsh political leadership for the first time since devolution began in 1999.

The election also marks Wales’ political landscape becoming significantly more fragmented. The new Senedd has six different parties represented – up from four after the 2021 election – reflecting both the new electoral system and the political reorientation that has taken place.

Welsh political expert Professor Laura McAllister told BBC Wales that Eluned Morgan had been dealt an impossible hand. “The odds were stacked so hard against her, she didn’t get an ounce of help from her UK party, or the Prime Minister,” she said.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute to Morgan in a statement issued shortly after her defeat, calling her “a formidable First Minister and tireless champion for Wales” – though earlier in the day senior Welsh Labour figures had called for him to consider his own position over the scale of the party’s Welsh defeat.

The new Senedd will sit for the first time in the coming weeks, when its 96 Members of the Senedd will be sworn in and the process of forming the next Welsh Government will formally begin.

For now, however, the picture is clear. Wales has rejected its long-time governing party, embraced a populist insurgency, and elevated a nationalist alternative to the largest party in its parliament for the first time in history.

The age of two-party dominance, as Eluned Morgan said in her resignation speech, is dead. What replaces it begins now.

Our Senedd Election 2026 coverage

First Minister Eluned Morgan loses seat and resigns as Welsh Labour leader
The historic moment Wales’ First Minister became the first leader of any UK government to lose her seat while in office.

Sir Gaerfyrddin: Reform UK and Plaid Cymru take three seats each as Welsh Labour wiped out
Adam Price returns to the Senedd as Reform UK secures its first ever west Wales breakthrough.

Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd: Reform UK tops the poll as Jane Dodds holds on for the Welsh Lib Dems
Reform UK takes three seats in the upper Swansea Valley, Powys and Neath – with Welsh Labour wiped out entirely.

Gwyr Abertawe: Plaid Cymru top the poll as Mike Hedges holds for Welsh Labour
The Swansea result and Council leader Rob Stewart’s reaction to a difficult day for the city’s Welsh Labour group.

GWYR ABERTAWE: Plaid Cymru top the poll as Reform UK and Labour also take seats — Mike Hedges holds for Welsh Labour

Plaid Cymru has topped the poll in Gwyr Abertawe – taking three of the constituency’s six Senedd seats in a result that confirms the political shift now sweeping across south Wales.

Reform UK took two seats and Welsh Labour took the remaining seat – with veteran Swansea politician Mike Hedges holding on as the city’s only Labour Member of the Senedd.

The result was declared this evening at the Gwyr Abertawe count by Returning Officer Martin Nicholls.

Plaid Cymru topped the poll with 25,076 votes, ahead of Reform UK on 21,641. Welsh Labour received 11,195 votes – a fraction of its previous performance in Swansea.

The Welsh Conservatives received 7,523 votes, the Wales Green Party 6,383 and the Welsh Liberal Democrats 6,262. None won a seat in the constituency.

The six new Members of the Senedd for Gwyr Abertawe are:

• Gwyn Williams (Plaid Cymru)
• Francesca O’Brien (Reform UK)
• Safa Elhassan (Plaid Cymru)
• Mike Hedges (Welsh Labour)
• Steven Rodaway (Reform UK)
• John Davies (Plaid Cymru)

Mike Hedges’ re-election ensures Welsh Labour retains a presence in Swansea – but represents a significant reduction for a party that has long counted the city among its strongholds.

Hedges was Labour’s first-placed candidate in Gwyr Abertawe. Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart, who was Labour’s second-placed candidate, was not elected.

The result also marks the election of Reform UK’s first ever Members of the Senedd for Swansea – with Francesca O’Brien and Steven Rodaway both elected.

O’Brien had earlier today predicted on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that Welsh Labour would collapse, describing the election as a referendum on First Minister Eluned Morgan and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Plaid Cymru’s three new MS – Gwyn Williams, Safa Elhassan and John Davies – represent a significant breakthrough for the party in a constituency where it has not historically been the dominant force.

The constituency recorded a turnout of 50.9% – just below the national average of 51.65%, which itself was a record for a Senedd election.

The Gwyr Abertawe electorate stands at 155,120, with 78,924 ballot papers issued. A total of 187 ballot papers were rejected and not counted.

In response to the result, Council leader Rob Stewart praised Hedges and said he was looking forward to him continuing to work for Swansea at Cardiff Bay.

“I want to thank everyone who voted for our Labour team in Gwyr Abertawe today,” Stewart said. “I am looking forward to Mike Hedges returning to the Senedd and continuing to work extremely hard for Swansea, as he has done since 2011.”

Stewart acknowledged the difficulty of the result. “Obviously, this is not the result we worked for,” he said. “Nationally, it has been a really difficult night for Welsh Labour and UK Labour.”

He paid tribute to Welsh Labour’s record in government. “I’m proud of what the Labour Welsh Governments have delivered for Wales over many years,” he said.

Stewart said the threat of Reform UK had been a major factor on the doorstep. “Clearly the threat of Reform has been at the forefront of many voters’ minds, and we heard on the door that when people could not give us their vote this time, they didn’t want to go to Reform and have clearly opted for Plaid Cymru,” he said.

He added that he had not detected significant enthusiasm for Plaid’s vision. “While I understand the voters’ logic, I haven’t detected any great love for Plaid’s vision for Wales,” Stewart said. “However, they appear to have done well, and we will respect that.”

Stewart said Welsh Labour had to listen carefully to voters. “We must also be prepared to reflect carefully and listen with humility to the people,” he said. “There must be no dodging, no deflection, just determination to put things right and redouble our efforts to deliver at all levels on the things we promised.”

The Council leader said his focus would now be on local delivery. “Here in Swansea, my work continues and will increase in pace,” he said. “The work Swansea Labour has been doing resonated with voters on the door, and clearly we will be standing on our record of delivery at next year’s elections.”

He pointed to investment in the city as the foundation for that record. “We’ll stand on the billion-pound investment in Swansea, the new homes, new schools, better jobs and opportunities, and our drive to keep building a better Swansea together,” he said.

Stewart said he would continue as Council leader. “As Leader of this great city, I will keep doing all I can to improve people’s lives and lead the delivery of that better Swansea,” he said.

He thanked party members and supporters. “My sincere and heartfelt thanks go to the volunteers, activists, members and supporters who gave everything to this campaign,” he said.

And he paid tribute to Eluned Morgan, who lost her own seat in Ceredigion Penfro this afternoon and resigned as Welsh Labour leader. “Special thanks also go to Eluned Morgan, who has led Welsh Labour with distinction, empathy and heart through a genuinely difficult time,” Stewart said.

Stewart also paid tribute to Rebecca Evans and Julie James, who stepped down at this election after long service in the Senedd. “I also want to wish Rebecca Evans and Julie James well in whatever they do next,” he said. “They have stepped down from the Senedd after long and distinguished service to Gower and Swansea West.”

The Gwyr Abertawe result follows a similar pattern to other south Wales constituencies declared earlier today – with Welsh Labour reduced to a single seat or wiped out entirely in the face of a Plaid Cymru and Reform UK surge.

Across Wales, polling expert Sir John Curtice has projected Plaid Cymru will win between 41 and 46 seats – short of the 49 needed for an overall majority – with Reform UK on 32 to 34.

That makes coalition negotiations almost certain to follow once all 16 constituencies have declared.

Two constituencies remain to declare this evening – Gwynedd Maldwyn and Fflint Wrecsam.

Our Senedd Election 2026 coverage

First Minister Eluned Morgan loses seat and resigns as Welsh Labour leader
The historic moment Wales’ First Minister became the first leader of any UK government to lose her seat while in office.

Sir Gaerfyrddin: Reform UK and Plaid Cymru take three seats each as Welsh Labour wiped out
Adam Price returns to the Senedd as Reform UK secures its first ever west Wales breakthrough.

Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd: Reform UK tops the poll as Jane Dodds holds on for the Welsh Lib Dems
Reform UK takes three seats in the upper Swansea Valley, Powys and Neath – with Welsh Labour wiped out entirely.

Welsh Labour bracing for historic loss as counting begins
Our overnight roundup of the political mood as counting got under way across Wales.

What does a Welsh defeat mean for Keir Starmer?
Senior Welsh Labour figures have called for the prime minister to consider his position if the result is as bad as predicted.

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SENEDD ELECTION: First Minister Eluned Morgan loses seat and resigns as Welsh Labour leader

First Minister Eluned Morgan has lost her seat at the Senedd election – and resigned as Welsh Labour leader on the spot.

Speaking from the stage at her Ceredigion Penfro count this afternoon, the defeated Labour leader said her party needed to take a hard look at itself.

“I’ve lost my seat here in Ceredigion Penfro and I will be stepping down as Welsh Labour leader,” she told the count. “I take responsibility for the Labour result in Wales.”

Morgan received 6,495 votes in the constituency – just 170 more than the Green Party – finishing well behind Plaid Cymru, who took 31,943 votes.

Reform UK won 23,003 votes in the constituency, with the Conservatives taking 14,789.

Her defeat is historic on multiple fronts. She is the first ever serving Welsh First Minister to lose her seat at an election since the Senedd was established in 1999.

And she is the first leader of any government in the UK to lose her seat while in office.

Morgan, who became Wales’ first female First Minister in 2024, said she was proud of what Welsh Labour had achieved in government but acknowledged the scale of the challenge facing public services.

“I’m very proud of what Welsh Labour has achieved over all the years we have led in the Senedd,” she said. “But today the pressures on public services are enormous and change is not coming fast enough.”

She told the count that voters were demanding answers Welsh Labour could not deliver. “Many expect simple answers to very complex questions but there are no simple answers and the budgets are limited,” she said.

And she signalled that the political landscape had been fundamentally reshaped. “The age of two-party dominance is dead,” she said.

The result triggers an immediate Welsh Labour leadership contest – and means Wales will need a new First Minister.

Welsh Labour now faces the prospect of selecting an interim leader within hours, with the new Senedd due to meet for the first time in the coming weeks.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute to Morgan in a statement issued shortly after her defeat.

“Eluned Morgan has been a formidable First Minister and tireless champion for Wales,” he said. “She broke barriers and has never stopped fighting for families in the communities she loves.”

The Prime Minister paid tribute to Morgan’s record in office. “Together, we have worked to lift children out of poverty, cut hospital waiting lists, and create thousands of new jobs,” he said.

“I want to thank Eluned Morgan for the over 30 years of service she has already given to our country and our party. I have no doubt her contribution to Wales will endure.”

The tribute came as senior Welsh Labour figures earlier today called for Sir Keir himself to consider his position over the scale of the party’s defeat in Wales.

Welsh political expert Professor Laura McAllister told BBC Wales that Morgan had been dealt an impossible hand.

“Let’s be fair to the First Minister, I don’t think she could have done much to salvage this election,” she said.

McAllister said Morgan had received no support from her UK party. “The odds were stacked so hard against her, she didn’t get an ounce of help from her UK party, or the Prime Minister,” she said. “The pleas she made were flat turned down.”

She added that Morgan had inherited a difficult legacy. “She inherited a divided party that had lost its energy and soul,” McAllister said.

But she said Welsh Labour had still made errors during the campaign. “Having said all that, they made some fundamental mistakes with the campaign,” she said.

The Ceredigion Penfro result also saw the return of former Welsh Conservative leader Paul Davies, who held his seat. His Senedd colleague Samuel Kurtz failed to be re-elected.

Plaid Cymru took three seats in the constituency, with Reform UK taking two and the Conservatives one.

Morgan’s defeat brings to an end a remarkable political journey. She rose through Welsh Government to become Health Minister and then First Minister last year, taking over from Vaughan Gething following his resignation.

Her tenure as First Minister was always going to be a challenging one – taking over a party in Wales that had been in power for more than a quarter of a century and was facing the most difficult electoral landscape it had ever seen.

This morning, in our overnight coverage, we reported that senior Welsh Labour sources had been describing Morgan’s seat as on a knife edge.

That knife edge has now fallen.

The Senedd vote also ends a century-long run of Labour election successes in Wales – with Welsh Labour having won every major Welsh election since 1922.

The Welsh Labour party will now move quickly to begin the process of selecting a new leader, who will become Wales’ next First Minister at a moment of unprecedented political turbulence.

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, who was re-elected in Bangor Conwy Mon earlier this afternoon, signalled his party was ready to step up.

“It has become clear that Wales has demanded that change of leadership,” he said. “I look forward to saying more about this later as the full picture becomes complete. Plaid Cymru is ready to serve.”

Polling expert Sir John Curtice has projected Plaid Cymru will win between 41 and 46 seats – short of the 49 needed for an overall majority – with Reform UK on 32 to 34.

Coalition negotiations look almost certain to follow.

Our Senedd Election 2026 coverage

Sir Gaerfyrddin: Reform UK and Plaid Cymru take three seats each as Welsh Labour wiped out
Adam Price returns to the Senedd as Reform UK secures its first ever west Wales breakthrough.

Welsh Labour bracing for historic loss as counting begins
Our overnight roundup of the political mood as counting got under way across Wales.

What does a Welsh defeat mean for Keir Starmer?
Senior Welsh Labour figures have called for the prime minister to consider his position if the result is as bad as predicted.

Polls have closed – here’s what happens next, and how the new D’Hondt voting system works
Our complete guide to the count, the D’Hondt formula, and when results were due to land.

SIR GAERFYRDDIN: Reform UK and Plaid Cymru take three seats each as Welsh Labour wiped out — Adam Price returns to the Senedd

Reform UK and Plaid Cymru have taken three Sir Gaerfyrddin seats each in a knife-edge result that ends Welsh Labour’s representation in Carmarthenshire entirely.

The result, declared this afternoon at the Carmarthenshire count, marks Reform UK’s first ever Senedd breakthrough in west Wales – and represents an historic collapse for Welsh Labour in a region it has long counted among its strongholds.

Plaid Cymru topped the poll with 36,160 votes, ahead of Reform UK on 27,542. Welsh Labour received 6,458 votes – a fraction of its previous performance in the area.

Plaid Cymru’s Cefin Campbell topped the poll, taking the first seat. Reform UK’s Gareth Beer took the second – becoming the first Reform UK Member of the Senedd ever elected in west Wales.

Plaid’s Nerys Evans took the third seat, with Reform’s Carmelo Colasanto taking the fourth.

The fifth seat went to Adam Price – the former Plaid Cymru leader and former MS for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr – marking his return to the Senedd.

The sixth and final seat went to Reform UK’s Sarah Edwards, after going to a recount with the margin understood to be around 140 votes.

Welsh Labour, the Welsh Conservatives and other parties failed to secure a single seat in the constituency.

The six new Sir Gaerfyrddin Members of the Senedd will be:

• Cefin Campbell (Plaid Cymru)
• Gareth Beer (Reform UK)
• Nerys Evans (Plaid Cymru)
• Carmelo Colasanto (Reform UK)
• Adam Price (Plaid Cymru)
• Sarah Edwards (Reform UK)

Adam Price’s return to the Senedd is one of the most significant individual stories of the day. The veteran Plaid politician, who previously served as MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr before becoming MS for the same area, stepped down as Plaid Cymru leader in 2023.

His return – via Plaid’s Sir Gaerfyrddin list – gives Plaid Cymru one of its most experienced political operators back at Cardiff Bay. Price had originally been selected third on Plaid’s list, meaning his election demonstrates just how strongly the party performed in the constituency.

The result is a significant moment for Reform UK in Wales. The party had targeted Sir Gaerfyrddin as a key constituency, with Welsh leader Dan Thomas visiting Llanelli during the campaign to push for what he described as a major breakthrough in west Wales.

That breakthrough has now been delivered.

For Plaid Cymru, the result represents both consolidation and concern – three seats in one of its traditional strongholds is a strong return, but the party will have hoped to push for four against a Labour vote that had collapsed.

The constituency recorded a turnout of 55.97% – significantly higher than the 47.8% recorded in Casnewydd Islwyn and the 47.7% in Blaenau Gwent Caerffilii Rhymni, both of which declared earlier in the day.

Higher turnout has been described throughout the campaign as a positive indicator for Reform UK, with the party having focused much of its strategy on mobilising voters who had not traditionally turned out at Welsh elections.

The pattern in Sir Gaerfyrddin echoes the result earlier this afternoon in Casnewydd Islwyn – where Reform UK and Plaid Cymru also took two seats each, with Labour reduced to a single seat and the Welsh Conservatives picking up the sixth.

It also echoes Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg, where Plaid topped the poll ahead of Reform but the same six-seat split of two Reform, two Plaid, one Labour and one Conservative was returned.

Across the south Wales results so far, Welsh Labour’s collapse from its previous position of dominance is unmistakable.

Sir Gaerfyrddin is the third constituency to declare today, with attention now turning to Gwyr Abertawe – where the count is expected to conclude shortly.

Other constituencies in our area are also expected to declare in the coming hours, including Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, Ceredigion Penfro and Afan Ogwr Rhondda.

Reform UK leader Dan Thomas, who became an MS himself earlier today after winning a seat in Casnewydd Islwyn, said in his victory speech that “the Welsh Valleys have been ignored, let down and forgotten by the old parties of Wales” – a message that now appears to be resonating across rural and post-industrial Wales alike.

The Sir Gaerfyrddin declaration ends an era in Carmarthenshire politics – with the constituency returning no Labour MS to the Senedd for the first time since the institution was established in 1999.

The full picture of how the new 96-seat Senedd will look should become clear over the coming hours, with the latest declaration of the day expected from Fflint Wrecsam at around 5.30pm.

Polls open as voting underway across Wales for Senedd Election – live updates

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