As expected, Labour suffered a crushing defeat at the election for the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) on 7 May. Labour won just nine seats out of 96 in a newly extended Senedd, down from 30 seats out of 60 previously. The First Minister, Eluned Morgan, lost her seat and has resigned as Labour leader in Wales. It would be difficult to overstate the scale of this defeat, or the seismic change it represents. There has never been anything but a Labour-led administration in the 27-year history of devolution. In fact, Labour has been the dominant force in Welsh politics for over a century.
But the Labour Party of 100 years ago was very different from the Labour of 2026. Welsh Labour leaders played a prominent role in the 1926 general strike, whereas now, Labour attacks strikers and censures MPs for attending picket lines.
Labour paid the price for its pro-big business, anti-worker stance, not only in Westminster, but in Cardiff Bay where Welsh Labour has acted as a transmission belt passing on cuts and austerity measures with barely a word of protest.
Plaid tops poll
The Welsh working class has delivered its verdict and mainly chose either Plaid Cymru (nationalist party) or Reform (right wing populist anti-immigrant party) as weapons with which to beat Labour. Plaid Cymru is now the biggest party with 43 seats, six short of a majority. It would be arithmetically possible for Plaid Cymru to form a coalition government with Labour, but understandably the Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth has rejected the option of coalition with the party the electorate has thrown out, and plans to operate as a minority government after being elected First Minister.
The experience of Plaid Cymru in control of councils has been that it is so far no different from Labour when it comes to making cuts. People voted Plaid Cymru to remove Labour and to stop Reform. Plaid played down its formal position on independence, and the national question was not the main factor in the election with its campaign mainly centred on the theme of stopping Reform. Plaid will be exposed in government, although it will try to hide behind the fact that it is a minority government, and will put the blame on Labour in Westminster for lack of funding.
The trade union leaders cannot allow Plaid to get away with such excuses. The expectations of a whole layer of workers will be that the new government will bring change. The unions should demand the new administration uses every power at its disposal to fight the cost-of-living crisis and resist austerity from Westminster. This would represent a marked change from the experience of Plaid-led councils.
Reform gains
The 34 seats won by Reform is a setback, and some on the left have interpreted this as a move to the right in society. However, it would be both pessimistic and incorrect to brand the bulk of Reform voters as right wing or racist. Many people who voted Reform were first and foremost voting for change in the hope that a new party could somehow reverse the depressing trend of cuts to public services, low wages and poor housing. It must be admitted that Reform is in a strong position as the opposition in the Senedd and will now try to portray itself as the anti-establishment party in preparation for the local authority elections in 2027.
Other parties were squeezed out, although the Greens now have two members of the Senedd for the first time and the Liberal Democrats retain one seat. The Socialist Party stood in two constituencies, Gwyr Abertawe and Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf under the banner of the Welsh Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. Many people we spoke to during the campaign said they agreed with much or even all our programme but would be voting tactically for Plaid Cymru or the Greens to stop Reform.
‘Your Party’
Your Party, the party established by MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, unfortunately did not stand in Wales and chose not to endorse any other party. The former Labour MP Beth Winter, who was initially one of the interim leaders of Your Party in Wales, resigned from Your Party and stood as a community independent, but was not elected. Your Party would have been far more effective by building on the potential of the 55,000 people in Wales who initially supported it, and standing in all 16 constituencies.
The Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) calls on the trade unions to stop financing the Labour Party and launch its own mass party with a socialist programme. Such a party could provide the genuine alternative to austerity that is sorely needed.