Plaid hits out at Eluned Morgan over claim only Labour can govern in Wales

Emily Price 

Plaid Cymru has hit out at First Minister Eluned Morgan after she suggested that Welsh Labour should stay in power because it is the only party with previous governing experience in Wales.

In an interview with BBC Radio Wales Breakfast on Wednesday (April 22) Morgan warned Welsh voters that “now is not the time for change”.

It comes as her party trails in the polls ahead of the 7 May election, with a new YouGov survey released on Tuesday (21 April) predicting Reform UK has drawn level with Plaid Cymru in the contest to become the largest party in the Senedd.

Morgan told BBC Wales that in a world of “global instability” voters should stick with the party that has run Wales’ government since 1999.

Plaid Cymru hit out at the First Minister over her comments, branding her “desperate” and accusing Welsh Labour of “taking Wales for granted”.

A Welsh Labour source hit back saying: “If Plaid get that worked up over a fair point, it does make you wonder how they’d cope with the reality of running Wales.

“After months of peddling massively misleading messages about the voting system, a little less faux outrage and a bit more humility might be in order.”

During the interview, the First Minister said that other Welsh parties would not know how to get NHS waiting lists down.

She said: “When you get new parties who don’t know the system, don’t know how to do it, there will be a halt to progress and I fear that’s what’s likely to happen if you get new governments.”

The Welsh Government is set to release official waiting list figures this week.

While the number of people waiting for treatment fell by a record amount in January, the number of patients waiting beyond target times for both diagnostics and therapies increased.

Morgan admitted that despite “significant progress” she did not know if she would meet her own targets.

Freeze

Earlier this month, the Welsh Government came under heavy criticism after the Welsh Ambulance Service announced it would not be offering roles this year due to “financial and operational issues”.

Morgan argued that the recruitment freeze was the result of improved staff retention within the health service.

She told BBC Wales: “We have increased the numbers very significantly in the NHS. We had very high levels of agency workers in the NHS.

“The fact is those have come tumbling down. We have much better retention rates, and that is the reason why we’re in this situation.

“It’s because, ironically, things have become better and clearly there is knock-on effect.

“I do understand why people in those situations be very frustrated. I’m very confident that when you’ve got 112,000 people working in the NHS, there is always staff turnover and there will be opportunities for these people in future.”

Power

During a Channel 4 News leaders debate on Tuesday (April 21) Morgan pledged a guarantee that if Welsh Labour are elected again, patients will be seen by a professional practitioner in primary care within 48 hours.

Plaid’s leader Rhun ap Iorwerth pointed out that Welsh Labour could have already delivered on this commitment during the 27 years the party was in power.

Morgan argued that during that time, the country had faced austerity, the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit and inflation.

She said: “I had a bill when I was health minister for £80 million to heat hospitals that I wasn’t expecting. That’s inflation.

“You have to deal with that – you wouldn’t know about this Rhun because you haven’t run anything ever, that is the problem.”

A Plaid spokesperson said: “The audacity of Labour who think they have some divine right to continue governing in Wales because that’s always been the case.

“Not only is it anti-democratic, but it quite frankly reeks of desperation and shows just how much they have and continue to take Wales for granted. It’s no wonder people are turning away from Labour in their droves.

“Labour’s failure to deliver for Wales for almost three decades – whether it’s the crisis facing our health service or an economy that simply isn’t working for its people – shows exactly why people are instead looking for that positive alternative in Plaid Cymru, with our ready to go plans to renew our NHS, create more-well paid jobs to strengthen the economy, and tackle child poverty with our transformational free childcare offer.

“On 7 May, the people of Wales can finally show Labour the door and vote new leadership with Plaid Cymru – and choose hope over Reform’s hate.”

Welsh Labour was invited to comment.

Next month’s Senedd election is described as a “once in a century” event for Welsh democracy, introducing the most significant reforms to the Welsh Parliament since its creation in 1999.

A historic shift in the political landscape in Wales is also expected with Welsh Labour’s dominance predicted to come to an end after almost 27 years.

Under the Senedd’s new proportional voting system, the largest party rarely wins an outright majority and must instead secure the support of other parties to form a government.

Welsh Labour, Plaid Cymru, the Welsh Green Party and the Liberal Democrats have all indicated they would not support a Reform UK First Minister – but haven’t ruled out working together.