Changing a government is easy to celebrate. Improving on it is harder.
Since May’s Senedd election, Wales has entered a different political era. Plaid Cymru won 43 seats, Reform UK took 34, and Welsh Labour was reduced to nine. The electorate’s decision was clear, and Labour must take responsibility for its defeat. Official election results
But respecting that result does not mean believing Wales is better off because of it. I believe we have lost something valuable: a Labour government whose strongest purpose was to make Welsh self-government deliver practical security for ordinary people.
Four months into the new administration, it would be premature to claim that every household is poorer or that every public service has deteriorated because Labour left office. My argument is about the political direction Wales has taken, the priorities competing for attention, and what we risk undervaluing in the rush to welcome change.
Labour’s record deserves an honest defence
No credible defence of Welsh Labour can start with the claim that everything was working. A party that loses power after so long must examine its decisions, its delivery and its relationship with the people it represents.
Yet a disappointing ending does not erase everything that came before it.
Free prescriptions, introduced in Wales in April 2007, reflected a straightforward principle: needing medicine should not mean facing another bill. That was a concrete expression of what government could do to make everyday life more secure. Welsh Government account of free prescriptions
Universal free school meals for children in maintained primary schools were fully rolled out by September 2024. Fairness requires acknowledging that this commitment emerged through Labour’s cooperation agreement with Plaid Cymru. It was a shared achievement, delivered under a Labour-led government. Rollout announcement, Child Poverty Strategy
These policies established expectations about what people should be able to rely on. They made collective provision part of everyday life.
Labour’s departure has not automatically undone them. Their continued value is precisely why the record of Labour government deserves more than dismissal.
The new constitutional emphasis worries me
The clearest reason for my concern is the attention now being given to the constitutional future of Wales.
In the Senedd on 22 September, Rhun ap Iorwerth defended Wales having the ability to determine the timing and process of an independence referendum. He also said his government was not pushing for a referendum now. That distinction matters, and criticism should reflect it accurately. Senedd proceedings, 22 September 2026
Even so, I question the priority.
Ministerial time, political attention and the capacity of government are limited. I want the most sustained effort directed towards the services people use, the wages they earn and the communities they live in. Constitutional ambitions should face the same hard questions about costs, benefits and practical consequences as any other major policy.
The Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales recognised possible long-term advantages to independence, while identifying substantial short- and medium-term risks involving public finances, currency and borders. Those are serious considerations for anyone whose priority is household security. Commission conclusions
Welsh Labour should offer a confident alternative: stronger Welsh democracy, fairer resources and a commitment to solidarity across the United Kingdom. It must make that case with conviction and with results.
A weaker Labour voice leaves a gap
The election also left Reform UK with 34 seats and Labour with nine. Whatever anyone thinks of the previous government, that is a profound change in the balance of Welsh politics.
My concern is that arguments about national identity and constitutional allegiance will increasingly set the terms of debate. I want a strong Labour voice keeping public provision, decent work and economic inequality at its centre.
Those concerns belong to no single party. Plaid’s new Programme for Government includes commitments on waiting lists, living costs, jobs, education and child poverty. It deserves to be judged fairly against them. Programme announcement
But announcing priorities is the beginning of governing. The test is whether people experience meaningful improvements, and how quickly.
The departure of Labour cannot itself count as an achievement on that score.
Labour has to earn its way back
Believing Wales is worse off without Welsh Labour in government does not mean believing Labour is entitled to govern.
It must listen to the people who rejected it. It must explain what it would change. It must defend the parts of its record that improved lives while being candid about where delivery fell short.
Above all, it needs a convincing account of what another Labour government would achieve. Familiarity will not be enough. Neither will nostalgia.
For me, the loss is already political: the tradition of Welsh Labour government, at its best, offered a practical connection between Welsh identity, shared public services and solidarity beyond our borders. I believe that combination still offers Wales its strongest future.
I want the current government to improve people’s lives. Wales cannot afford for anyone to wish otherwise.
But I will judge this new era by what it delivers. A change in the party holding office is no substitute for a change in people’s circumstances—and the case that Wales has gained from losing Welsh Labour remains to be proved.
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