‘Ship stabilised’ after turbulent year for Labour in Wales – Eluned Morgan

After a turbulent year for Labour in Wales, the First Minister says she has “stabilised the ship”.

With three leaders having taken charge of the Welsh government in 12 months, Eluned Morgan insists she has brought calm waters to the party, and that they are in a strong position going into the new year.

But the party faces challenges from Plaid Cymru and an insurgent Reform UK ahead of the next Senedd elections in 2026.

‘Good budget’

Speaking to the PA news agency, Baroness Morgan said: “I’m in a position now where I feel like I’ve stabilised the ship.

“We just had a really good budget, and I can end the term knowing that I can bounce into the new year.

“My hope when I took on the job was that I could get everything stabilised by Christmas, that I had a real clear direction of travel, and I think that’s where we’re at now.”

Despite a positive general election result which saw Labour voted the largest party in Westminster, Baroness Morgan described the summer as having been “turbulent” for the party in Wales.

Vaughan Gething, who had taken over from Mark Drakeford as leader of the Welsh government in March, was forced to resign after four months in office which had been mired in rows over donations to his leadership campaign.

‘Difficult patch’

“We hit a difficult patch, but it’s remarkable how quickly it stabilised,” Baroness Morgan said.

“The Labour group has really united.

“But more than that, they’ve all signed up to the direction that I’m taking the party and the country in, which is really to focus on the bread-and-butter issues.

“Now we’re drilling down on those, making sure that the money that we put into the system follows the priorities that I set out when I took on the job.”

While Baroness Morgan, who previously sat in the House of Lords and was an MEP, has managed to stabilise the Labour group since she became First Minister in August, recent polling suggests the party’s struggles are not over.

Recent polls by YouGov show Plaid leading the Senedd voting intention at 24%, while Labour and Reform sit at 23% each. The Welsh Conservatives sit at 19%.

‘Dreams’

She said: “When (voters) really think seriously about what the offer is by the other parties, they will start to recognise that what they’re offering is dreams, what we offer is a practical reality.

“Plaid Cymru is saying that they’re unlikely to support us in our budget.

“If we don’t get that budget through, we will not get the billion pounds extra the UK Government has promised us.

“Now that is irresponsible, and they will have to account to the electorate.”

The First Minister said her party were taking the threat of Reform “seriously”, but she did not “look upon them as a Welsh-based party”.

“Our priority is always on the people of Wales,” she said.

“What we need to do in relation to Reform is to make sure that we’re listening and responding to people’s concerns.

“What I did as soon as I came in is I went on a listening exercise around Wales to make sure that we were responding to the things that people care about.”

The First Minister insisted her opponents, including Plaid’s leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, were “talking nonsense” when they said she was not standing up to the UK Labour Government.

HS2

Mr ap Iorwerth and his party had argued the First Minister had failed to demand the funding his party believed Wales was owed from the HS2 rail project.

The Treasury designated the project an England and Wales scheme, despite none of the track being laid in the latter country.

If it had been labelled an England-only project, Wales would benefit from additional funding, which Plaid estimates to be worth around £4 billion.

Baroness Morgan said: “First of all, let’s celebrate the incredible extra finance that’s come our way.

“We’ve just had the best budget settlement we’ve had since the parliament was established in Wales.

“But on top of that, where I think there’s an injustice, for example, in relation to the HS2, I will shout about that injustice.

“I bring it up on every single occasion with the Prime Minister, and I will not let up on that until we get justice for Wales.”

‘Sensitive’

She said Sir Keir Starmer was “sensitive” to the unique issues faced by Wales, such as its older population, but insisted she would “always take on the UK Labour Government if it’s not working for Wales”.

“They’ve certainly heard loud and clear my frustrations, we’re going through with them now where the opportunities might be to get additional rail infrastructure into Wales, but this is not going to happen overnight,” she said.

“We’ve got to make sure we’ve got the projects lined up and that we’ve got the people able to do the work.”

She spoke to PA following one of her listening exercises, where she went round businesses in Abercynon discussing local issues, including break-ins at bakeries, as well as what the Welsh budget would mean for businesses.

She said that in the past there had been too much distance between politicians and the public, which she wanted to cut down.

“What I’m interested in doing is to make sure we cut out the bullshit in relation to politics and that we cut through and deliver directly and at speed.”

Over the next year, Baroness Morgan said she wanted to confront the challenges facing the country – particularly NHS waiting lists, which continued to reach new record lengths.

She said: “We’ve poured extra money now into the NHS and we’re determined to try and bring the longest waiters waiting list down.

“That was difficult when we didn’t have the money, and after 14 years of austerity they’ve now turned the taps on, and we hope that that will help us to address the issues.”