Eluned Morgan acknowledges challenge facing Labour at Senedd election

First Minister Eluned Morgan has acknowledged the “challenge” Labour faces at May’s Senedd election, as polling suggests the party’s long dominance of Welsh politics could come to an end.

Speaking to Times Radio, the Welsh Labour leader was asked whether she was effectively fighting a rearguard action in the face of rising support for opposition parties.

“Well, what we recognise is we have a challenge on our hands,” she said.

Labour has led the Welsh Government continuously since the Senedd was established in 1999 — a 26-year hold on power now facing one of its most serious electoral tests. Recent polling has suggested the party could struggle to retain its dominant position when voters go to the polls on 7 May.

The First Minister argued that Welsh politics was entering what she described as a “third chapter” of devolution.

She said the first period after 1999 had been marked by growth under a Labour government at Westminster, followed by 14 years of austerity under the Conservatives, which required the Welsh Government to focus on “defending the devolution settlement and protecting the people of Wales through cuts”.

Now, she said, the return of a UK Labour government had changed the financial outlook.

“We’ve had for two years in succession the biggest uplift in terms of funding that we’ve seen since the Senedd began,” she said.

She pointed to a recent £14 billion rail funding commitment for Wales, arguing that the country had previously been “short changed” under Conservative governments.

“Those taps are being turned on,” she said, adding that being able to “pick up the phone to the Prime Minister” was delivering tangible benefits for Wales.

Asked whether Sir Keir Starmer’s standing could influence the Welsh election, Morgan insisted the focus should remain on devolved issues.

“Keir Starmer’s not standing in the Welsh election, and neither is Nigel Farage. I’m standing,” she said.

Policy pledges

The First Minister also highlighted a series of policy pledges ahead of the election, including a lifelong training guarantee, a proposed £2 cap on bus fares and 100 new bus routes. She said NHS waiting lists in Wales had fallen by more than 90% from their post-pandemic peak.

She also rejected suggestions that change for its own sake would benefit Wales, arguing that long-term Labour leadership had enabled strategic investment, including in rail infrastructure and recycling.

“The job of the First Minister is to focus on the things that really matter to the people of Wales,” she said.