Latest news with #WelshElections
Sky News
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Reform UK poses 'very serious threat' to Labour, Welsh first minister warns
The threat from Reform in Wales is "very serious", the country's Labour leader said as exclusive polling revealed Nigel Farage's party is the first choice for Welsh voters. Speaking to Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan said: "We think the threat from Reform is a very serious threat. "I think it is important people recognise that things that we see every day in our lives in Wales may be snatched away from us, and the kind of stability that we've had for a long time." Ms Morgan admitted "we've got a lot of work to do to get voters back" ahead of the May 2026 Senedd (Welsh parliament) elections - something backed up by exclusive polling that reveals Reform is beating Welsh Labour, who have been in power in the Senedd since 1999. A More in Common poll for Sky News found 28% of people in Wales would vote for Reform if an election for the Senedd was called tomorrow. That was followed closely by nationalist party Plaid Cymru on 26%, Labour with 23%, the Conservatives on 10%, Lib Dems with 7%, the Green Party with 4% and 2% for other parties or independent candidates. Of those who voted for Labour at last year's general election, less than half (48%) would vote for them again, while 15% would go to Plaid Cymru and 11% to Reform - although 13% were undecided. A total of 883 people representative of the Welsh population were asked from 18 June to 3 July. Last month, Mr Farage told an event in the steel town of Port Talbot, he would reopen Welsh coal mines to provide fuel for blast furnaces. Ms Morgan said she will not be "chasing Reform down a path... because those aren't my values". "What we'll be doing is offering a very clear alternative, which is about bringing communities together," she said. "I think it's really important that we're authentic and we're clear with people about what we stand for. "I think we've got to lead with our values so we're about bringing communities together not dividing them and I do think that's what reform is interested in is dividing people and people do need to make choices on things like that." She admitted "there is a possibility" Reform could be the largest party in the Senedd "and that is really concerning". However, she said the way voting in Wales works means it would be "difficult for them to rule by themselves". Would she go into coalition with Reform?
The Independent
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Tory conference to be held in ‘smallest house in the world', Welsh minister jokes
The Tories will be able to hold their first post-election conference in the 'smallest house in the world' due to their reduced numbers, a Welsh minister has joked. Ken Skates, the cabinet member for North Wales, has said the Welsh Conservatives will fit 'in the porchway' of The Smallest House after next May's Welsh parliament election, during questions in the Senedd on Wednesday. The home, which sits on Conwy's seafront in north Wales, is believed to be the smallest house in the United Kingdom. Measuring just 72 inches wide, the house, which has not been lived in for some time, has become a tourist destination. The minister's comments followed a question about the impact a proposed tourism levy would have on the north Wales economy from Gareth Davies, Tory MS for the Vale of Clwyd. The Visitor Levy Bill, which is going through the Senedd, will allow councils to charge up to £1.30 per person per night for staying in tourist accommodation, with the money going towards local infrastructure. Mr Skate's joke also comes 10 months ahead of the next Senedd election, where recent polls have put the Tories in a predicted fourth place. The Westminster party was also wiped out in Wales in the general election last year, going from 14 seats to zero. However, Labour is also expected to face a difficult battle in May's elections. Recent polling by Survation placed them at 27%, with Reform and Plaid Cymru close behind on 24% each, while previous YouGov polling had the incumbent party in third place. Mr Skates told Mr Davies he visited Conwy following the Welsh Labour Conference, which was held in Llandudno last weekend. Addressing Mr Davies, he said: 'At the end of the conference, I thought I'd just spend a little more time in the area. 'I actually went over to Conwy as well, which is a fabulous place too. 'You'll be aware that it has the smallest house in the world on the seafront there. 'I was told that your party is going to be holding your post-election conference in the porchway, in that particular tourist attraction next year.' Mr Skates added that he would be discussing the visitor levy with the north Wales business council on Friday, calling the fee an 'opportunity,' which he insisted had been welcomed in other areas like Manchester. Mr Davies said he 'appreciates the sharpness and the wit of the Cabinet Secretary' but argued the levy could lead to a decrease in people staying in Wales, with many councils having already ruled out implementing it.
Telegraph
28-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Starmer: Farage takes people for fools
The Prime Minister has branded Nigel Farage 'a wolf in Wall Street clothing' and claimed 'he's got no idea what he's talking about'. In a fresh attack on the Reform UK leader Sir Keir Starmer, speaking at Welsh Labour's annual conference on Saturday morning, said: 'Nigel Farage isn't interested in Wales, he's interested in Nigel Farage.' Reform is currently polling in first place in Wales in the run up to Senedd elections next year. Mr Farage's party is expected to win a number of Labour seats in the principality thanks to a new proportional-voting system that will be introduced in the 2026 Welsh elections. Labour, which has led every Welsh government since devolution was introduced in 1999, now polls in third place in Wales behind Reform and Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party. In his speech to Welsh Labour MPs and party delegates, Sir Keir said: 'Nigel Farage isn't interested in Wales, he's interested in Nigel Farage. And he takes people for fools. Just look what he said earlier this month. Going to Port Talbot pretending he's got a plan to reopen a blast furnace when he's got no idea what he's talking about and he's got no plan at all.' Sir Keir also accused Mr Farage of 'intending to charge people to use the NHS' and planning 'unfunded tax cuts for billionaires'. 'While we're planning the future, there are those who are firmly stuck in the past. Take Farage. When you ask him about Clacton, he thinks it's running in the 2:10 at Ascot. A wolf in Wall Street clothing.' The Prime Minister repeated allegations that 'Reform claims to be the party of patriotism while sucking up to Putin' and said party figures had been 'abusing our armed forces online'. The latter claim follows Richard Tice, Reform's deputy leader, voicing criticism of the head of an RAF base for having insufficient security measures after it was sabotaged by the activist group Palestine Action. The speech marks the latest in a series of attacks by the Prime Minister on the leader of Reform, which has five seats in the House of Commons but is leading in the polls. Sir Keir has said he considers Mr Farage's party to be the main challenger to Labour now, describing the Conservative opposition as a 'dead-party walking' under Kemi Badenoch's leadership. The Prime Minister has described his tussling with the Reform leader as part of a 'a battle for the heart and soul of the country'. 'If we're to win that battle, we have to be the progressives fighting against the populists of Reform – yes, Labour has to be a progressive political party,' he told The Observer in an interview this week.
The Independent
26-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Reform a ‘real threat' at future elections, Welsh first minister warns
The first minister of Wales has warned that Nigel Farage's Reform UK is a 'major threat' to Labour at future elections. Eluned Morgan, who is also the leader of the Labour Party in Wales, said she was 'really fearful' that the party could make gains in Welsh parliament. The former MEP was speaking at the 2025 Hay Festival of Literature and Arts, which is partnered with The Independent for the second year running. She appeared on a panel alongside historian and broadcaster David Olusoga and author Helen Rebanks as part of the festival's daily News Review event, chaired by The Independent's chief book critic Martin Chilton. Responding to a story about Farage challenging Sir Keir Starmer to join him at a working men's club, Ms Morgan said: 'I just think this is comedy. This is so sad that our politics has come to this where you're being judged on who can drink the most pints in a pub.' Recalling when seven UKIP members were elected to Welsh parliament in 2016, she told the audience: 'We've seen it of course and we are really fearful that we're going to see this repeated again in the next [Welsh assembly] election next summer.' She continued: 'There is a real danger today. We've got to take this threat of Reform really seriously. You've seen what's happened in the local elections. But there's also opportunities to expose the incompetence that I am absolutely assured will come as a result of the new elected mayors and the new councils.' During Sunday morning's event, the panel discussed a wide range of topics inspired by the day's headlines, including Donald Trump lashing out at Vladimir Putin after he launched the largest drone strikes on Ukraine of the war so far overnight. Ms Morgan acknowledged that Sir Keir was walking a 'difficult tightrope' between the US administration and trade ties with the EU. Fellow panelist Helen Rebanks, who wrote the bestselling book The Farmer's Wife, argued Sir Keir's recent trade deals with the US had been damaging for farmers and could put the nation's health at risk. 'It's just incredibly challenging to work out a path forwards for a farmers to make a sustainable business. With the trade deals that's just happened, it's like we're being chucked in the sea as a farming community with our legs and hands tied and there's sharks in there,' she said. 'I'm worried for the health of the nation with what's coming over in these ships coming in with food.' Spread over 11 days, the 38th spring edition of the annual cultural event is set in Hay-on-Wye, the idyllic and picturesque 'Town of Books'. Among the star-studded lineup are Mary Trump, Michael Sheen and Jameela Jamil. The Independent has partnered with the festival once again to host 'The News Review', a series of panels where our journalists explore current affairs with leading figures from politics, science, the arts and comedy every morning.
