Ken Skates appointed interim Welsh Labour leader

Nation.Cymru staff

Ken Skates has been appointed interim leader of Welsh Labour following the party’s disastrous Senedd election result.

Skates takes over after former First Minister Eluned Morgan resigned on Friday after losing her seat in the Senedd election.

Welsh Labour said Skates would remain in the role until a timetable is agreed for a full leadership contest.

In his first comments as interim leader, Skates acknowledged the scale of the defeat and said the party needed to reflect honestly on the result.

“Today is just the beginning of a process that will help us to understand what we got wrong,” he said.

“Because we did get it wrong.

“There is no reading of this result that endorses every action we have taken as a party and our task now is to take the time needed and to work out what has happened.”

He added that the review would require involvement from across the party.

“It is a task that will require every single one of us to take part in – every member, every councillor, every MS, MP, Lord and all roles in between,” he said.

“But it is not a task that is beyond us.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has thanked Ken Skates for “stepping up” as interim Labour leader in Wales.

He said a period of “necessary reflection and rebuilding” was required after the disastrous elections for Labour which saw First Minister Baroness Eluned Morgan lose her seat.

Sir Keir said: “Thank you to Ken Skates for stepping up to provide leadership for Labour in Wales and the Senedd as we begin a period of necessary reflection and rebuilding.

“Ken is a talented and experienced MS, and I know he will do a fantastic job bringing Welsh Labour together and holding the new government to account for working people.”

The election marked the worst result in Welsh Labour’s modern history, ending the party’s long dominance of devolved Welsh politics.

Labour, which has governed Wales continuously since devolution began in 1999, finished third behind Plaid Cymru and Reform UK.

Plaid Cymru won 43 seats in the new 96-member Senedd, with Reform securing 34. Labour was reduced to just nine seats, while the Conservatives won seven, the Greens two and the Liberal Democrats one.

Baroness Morgan, who became Welsh Labour leader in 2024, is the first serving head of government in the UK to lose their seat while in office.

‘Full responsibility’

Speaking after her defeat in Llandysul, she accepted “full responsibility” for the result but also urged the UK Labour Government led by Keir Starmer to “change course”.

Skates has served as Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales since March 2024 and previously held senior economy and transport roles in the Welsh Government.

Before entering politics, he worked as a journalist and studied at the University of Cambridge.

He had represented Clwyd South in the Senedd from the election of 2011 and was re-elected on Friday in the new Fflint Wrecsam constituency.