Plaid Cymru eyes up prospects for Welsh Government as Labour licks its wounds

David Lynch and Eleanor Storey, Press Association

Plaid Cymru is set to gather its 43-strong team of Welsh parliamentarians together, as the party sizes up the prospects of forming the next Government of Wales while Labour licks its wounds from a historic defeat.

Rhun ap Iorwerth, the leader of Plaid Cymru, has effectively declared victory for his party in the Welsh elections, after it became the largest party in the new Senedd.

However, Plaid fell short of attaining a majority of 49 Members of the Senedd (MSs).

This means it will either have to enter a coalition with other parties if it wishes to form a Government, or a less formal arrangement where rival political outfits agree to back it in certain Senedd votes.

Plaid will “reach out” to other parties with urgency, Mr ap Iorwerth said on Friday, adding that he plans to put his name forward to be nominated as the next first minister.

Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and the Greens have all ruled out the prospect of working with Reform UK, which is the second largest party in the new Senedd with 34 MSs.

So the prospect of parties ganging up against Plaid to prevent it forming the Welsh Government is unlikely.

Labour, with its nine MSs, would be an obvious coalition partner for Plaid to reach a majority.

The two parties have a history of governing together: the Welsh nationalist party has previously been a junior coalition partner to Labour between 2007 and 2009, and also agreed a co-operation deal with Welsh Labour in 2021.

Labour is meanwhile hoping to regroup after its historic defeat in the election, and must elect a new Welsh leader after Eluned Morgan resigned upon losing her West Wales seat.

Baroness Morgan’s defeat – a “Portillo moment” of the Welsh election akin to the shock when Conservative former minister Michael Portillo lost his Westminster constituency in 1997 – marks her out as the first serving leader of a Government to lose her seat in British electoral history.

Her loss, and Labour’s defeat after nearly 27 years in power in Wales, heaps pressure on Sir Keir Starmer, who is facing calls to resign.

In her valedictory speech, Lady Morgan urged Sir Keir to “change course” and reconnect with Britain’s working classes.

She also appeared open to the idea of the rump of Welsh Labour working with Plaid Cymru, but warned: “There are no simple answers, and the budgets are limited.”