SWANSEA: Labour signed a deal to move Welsh Government offices from Penllergaer to the city centre. Plaid won’t say if they’ll honour it.

A pre-election agreement to base Welsh Government staff in Swansea’s new city centre public sector hub is hanging in the balance — after the incoming Plaid Cymru administration said it would review its office estate as a new government, with no decisions yet taken on any specific sites.

Swansea Council confirmed it had been in advanced talks with the previous Labour Welsh Government to secure a formal and physical presence for Welsh Government staff in the new five-storey hub being built at the former St David’s Shopping Centre site — and that letters of intent had been exchanged before the Senedd election.

A council spokesperson said: “We were engaging with the Welsh Government prior to the Senedd elections to look at options for them to have a formal and physical presence in Swansea city centre, which supports our regeneration activities and their investment in town and city centres. Now that a new government is in place we will open up this dialogue again with the hope of concluding discussions as soon as we are able to.”

The Welsh Government did not confirm the pre-election agreement, but said no decisions had been taken on future accommodation arrangements, including whether any specific sites would be used or how much space might be occupied.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “As a new administration, we will take the opportunity to review our office estate as part of good financial and asset management, and we are committed to doing so on a regular basis. As part of that work, a range of potential options will be explored with public sector partners, including different ways of using existing buildings. Any decision on the Welsh Government estate will be for Ministers.”

The proposed deal was understood to have involved the Welsh Government relocating staff from its existing offices near junction 47 of the M4 at Penllergaer to the new city centre hub, with the council potentially taking on the Penllergaer building as part of the arrangement.

That proposal drew pointed criticism from Cllr Chris Holley, the Liberal Democrat leader of the opposition on Swansea Council — and a man with direct experience of the building in question. Cllr Holley led the council between 2004 and 2012, and was at the helm when the Welsh Development Agency was abolished in 2006 and its Penllergaer office was transferred to the Welsh Government.

He said the building had struggled to attract occupants ever since, arguing it had become a liability for the Welsh Government following the WDA’s departure. He said he understood blue light services had already been approached about taking the space and had declined.

“Yes of course [I support Welsh Government jobs in the city centre] — but not at any cost,” Cllr Holley said. “They have lots of offices around Wales, yet we have to swap one for another.”

He also questioned the logic of the council taking on premises that a large organisation had been unable to fill. “If it didn’t work for the Welsh Government, how is it going to work for Swansea Council?” he said.

Welsh Government figures show around 400 staff have their location recorded as Penllergaer — but average daily attendance at the building was running at just 10% in March 2025, well below the two-days-a-week expectation for civil servants. Across its 20 sites in Wales, the Welsh Government employs around 5,700 people at a total annual cost of £24.5 million.

The Penllergaer site has its own complicated history. Swansea Council itself once had offices in the area — the former Lliw Valley Borough Council building, which the authority sold in 2016 partly to address a budget deficit. That site was sold to Carmarthenshire developer Enzo Developments, who later received planning permission for 80 homes and a preserved Grade II listed equatorial observatory — though Enzo’s Homes subsequently went into liquidation on a separate development in 2025.

The public sector hub at the heart of the proposed deal is the first building in the new Porth Copr district — the area that will eventually replace the former St David’s Shopping Centre car park, knitting together Copr Bay, St Mary’s Square and the Quadrant. Work on the site is already under way, with the hub designed to anchor public sector workers in the city centre and generate daily footfall for traders.

The council’s own commitment to the hub is separately driven by its planned departure from the seafront Civic Centre — which received a £20 million UK Government funding boost in March to support its redevelopment for housing, leisure and commercial uses.

Meanwhile, the Penllergaer business park has its own new chapter under way nearby — with a major logistics depot, understood to be an Amazon last-mile delivery hub, approved on an adjacent site in March, already raising questions about the capacity of junction 47 to absorb the additional traffic.

Council leader Rob Stewart was contacted for comment.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

Work begins at former St David’s site for major new office development
Site investigation works are under way at the former St David’s Shopping Centre as the new public sector hub moves forward.

£20m boost for Swansea Civic Centre days after MPs call for action
UK Government funding confirmed for the redevelopment of the seafront Civic Centre site.

Giant distribution warehouse approved next to M4 — but will Junction 47 grind to a halt?
A major last-mile delivery hub approved at Penllergaer Business Park raises serious traffic concerns.

Carmarthenshire house builder goes into liquidation leaving half-built development
Enzo’s Homes, which bought the former Lliw Valley council offices site at Penllergaer, went into liquidation in 2025.

SENEDD: Swansea’s Mike Hedges handed Culture and Sport brief as Ken Skates names Welsh Labour’s new Senedd spokesperson team

Mike Hedges, the Swansea MS who went viral last week after appearing to tell an ITV journalist the media had “got the result they wanted” following Labour’s historic Senedd defeat, has been handed a senior shadow brief as interim leader Ken Skates names his spokesperson team.

Hedges, who holds the Gŵyr Abertawe constituency seat, will serve as Labour’s shadow spokesperson for Culture, Sport, Local Government and Legislation — one of seven shadow portfolios announced this morning as Labour begins the long task of rebuilding as an opposition party after its worst Senedd result in history.

The election on 7 May saw Labour reduced to just nine Senedd seats, with Plaid Cymru forming Wales’s new government. Hedges came fourth in the six-seat Gŵyr Abertawe constituency — with Plaid taking three seats and Reform UK two — as Labour’s vote share fell to third place behind both parties.

In the days that followed, the veteran MS attracted attention when ITV journalist Rhys Williams approached him on the steps of the Senedd. When asked if he had anything to say, Hedges replied: “No, thanks. You’ve had the result you wanted, what more?” The 24-second exchange was viewed more than 200,000 times on X.

Hedges, who has been an MS since 2011 and is a former leader of Swansea Council, refused to elaborate further when pressed on what he meant. The clip became one of the most-shared moments of the post-election fallout — a snapshot of a party struggling to come to terms with a defeat few had predicted quite so devastating in scale.

Hedges was also the subject of internal Labour tensions in the build-up to the election, after a senior Welsh Labour figure publicly called on him to stand aside for former Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart. Stewart publicly backed Hedges and rejected the suggestion.

It is the first time in more than 25 years that Labour has had to build an opposition team in the Senedd. With just nine MSs, the group is small enough that each member carries multiple responsibilities — and the shadow team unveiled today reflects that reality, with Ken Skates himself doubling as both interim leader and health spokesperson.

Ken Skates MS takes the role of interim leader himself, also serving as Labour’s shadow spokesperson for Health, Care and National Security — a significant shift from his previous role as Cabinet Secretary for Transport in the outgoing Labour government.

Jayne Bryant MS takes the shadow Housing, Communities, Public and Preventative Health brief, a portfolio that echoes her previous role as Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government in government. Lynne Neagle MS, who was Cabinet Secretary for Education in the Welsh Government, steps into the shadow Children, Education and Lifelong Learning role — a near-identical remit, this time from the opposition benches.

Vikki Howells MS becomes Labour’s Chief Whip as well as shadow spokesperson for Environment, Farming, Energy and Transport — including Planning. Shav Taj MS takes the shadow Employment, Equalities and Economic Transformation brief, while Huw Thomas MS picks up shadow Finance, Democracy, Citizenship and Welsh Language. Sarah Murphy’s portfolio will be announced on her return from maternity leave.

Labour is not alone in rebuilding after the election. The Welsh Conservatives — who ended the election with seven seats, fewer than Labour and the smallest group in the chamber outside the Greens — named their new shadow cabinet team last week under leader Darren Millar MS. Former Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies MS, whose new constituency covers Bridgend, was appointed Shadow Minister for Farming and the Environment alongside six other shadow ministers.

Reform UK, the second largest party in the Senedd with 34 seats, has named its leader — Dan Thomas MS — and deputy leader Helen Jenner MS, but has not yet announced portfolios or the rest of its shadow cabinet team. As the official opposition, Reform will face intense scrutiny over how quickly it can organise and hold the new Plaid government to account.

Plaid Cymru’s new Welsh Government cabinet, confirmed by First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth last week, is already in place and governing. For Labour, the Conservatives and Reform, the work of opposition begins in earnest — and for a party that has held power in Cardiff Bay since devolution began in 1999, the adjustment for Welsh Labour may prove the most profound of all.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

Mike Hedges warns Wales could face another election as Labour counts the cost of historic defeat
Our coverage of the aftermath of Labour’s worst-ever Senedd result.

Senior Welsh Labour figure calls on Mike Hedges to quit Senedd seat for Rob Stewart
The internal tensions that threatened Hedges before the election.

South west Wales politicians take key roles as Rhun ap Iorwerth names his first Plaid Cymru cabinet
The new Welsh Government that Labour and the other opposition parties must now hold to account.

‘Respect the democratic vote’: Rob Stewart backs Mike Hedges after anonymous Welsh Labour call for him to quit Senedd seat

Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart has publicly thrown his weight behind Mike Hedges – declaring his “full support” for the city’s only Welsh Labour MS and insisting voters’ democratic verdict at the ballot box must be respected.

The intervention comes less than 24 hours after Swansea Bay News reported that a senior Welsh Labour figure had urged Hedges to resign mid-term to make way for Stewart – meaning the Council leader could enter the Senedd without facing the electorate again.

Stewart – who was Welsh Labour’s second-placed candidate on the Gwyr Abertawe list and was not elected last week – publicly rejected that route in a statement posted to his Facebook account on Sunday afternoon.

“Let me be clear,” Stewart said. “As a democratic nation we should all respect the democratic vote and decision of the public.”

The Council leader said Hedges had been rightly elected at the top of the Welsh Labour list and had his backing.

“Each party ranks its candidates in the new list system and Mike was top of our list and was rightly elected,” Stewart said. “He has my full support.”

Stewart also pointedly underlined how the new D’Hondt voting system works – and the fact that any seat replacement would happen without a public vote.

“Under the new system any candidate stepping down is replaced by someone from the same party – the next on their list,” he said. “There are no by-elections in this system.”

The Council leader explained the reasoning behind that mechanic, saying voters had been asked to back a party rather than an individual.

“This is because it’s a PR system,” he said. “And in that system the voters are asked to vote for a party – not a person.”

The statement marks the most significant public intervention so far from any Welsh Labour figure in Swansea on the question of mid-term resignations – and effectively shuts down the suggestion that Stewart would accept a back-door route into the Senedd.

It comes after Swansea Bay News reported on Saturday that a senior Welsh Labour figure – speaking anonymously to Welsh political journalist Will Hayward – had urged Hedges and fellow long-serving Welsh Labour MS Lynne Neagle to resign mid-term to allow second-placed candidates on Welsh Labour’s lists to take their seats.

The same source had branded Welsh Labour “functionally broken” and called for a total overhaul of the party – accusing it of a decade-long failure to confront its own decline.

Stewart’s statement neither names the anonymous source nor responds directly to the wider criticisms levelled at the party – instead focusing on the specific question of Hedges’ position and the legitimacy of the democratic process.

The Council leader’s full backing of Hedges is significant. As the second-placed candidate on the Welsh Labour list, Stewart would be the direct beneficiary of any Hedges resignation – and his public rejection of that route effectively rules out one of the scenarios floated by the anonymous Welsh Labour source.

Hedges himself has not commented publicly on the anonymous call for him to step down.

The Welsh Labour party has not formally responded to either intervention.

Welsh Labour was reduced to just nine seats at last week’s Senedd election, down from 30 in the previous Senedd, with the party wiped out entirely in six constituencies. Mike Hedges is the only Welsh Labour Member of the Senedd for Swansea.

Plaid Cymru emerged as the largest party with 43 seats, with Reform UK securing a historic 34 seats. Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth is expected to lead a minority government as Wales’ next First Minister.

Stewart – who has been Council leader since 2017 – will remain in his role at Swansea Council, where Welsh Labour holds an overall majority and is expected to face the city’s voters at the council elections next year.

Our Senedd Election 2026 coverage

Mike Hedges should quit Senedd seat for Rob Stewart, senior Welsh Labour figure says
The anonymous intervention that branded Welsh Labour ‘functionally broken’ and called for two MSs to make way for new talent.

Mike Hedges warns Wales could face another election next year
The newly re-elected Swansea Labour MS on the prospect of an early Senedd election if Plaid’s first budget falls.

Gwyr Abertawe: Plaid top the poll as Reform UK and Labour also take seats
How Swansea voted – and how Mike Hedges held on as the city’s only Welsh Labour MS.

Rhun ap Iorwerth to lead Plaid minority government
What happens next as Plaid prepares to take power.

Ken Skates appointed interim Welsh Labour leader
Welsh Labour picks up the pieces after being reduced to nine seats.

SWANSEA: Mike Hedges should quit Senedd seat for Rob Stewart, senior Welsh Labour figure says in scathing attack on ‘functionally broken’ party

Newly re-elected Swansea Member of the Senedd Mike Hedges should resign mid-term to make way for new talent – and his replacement could be Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart, walking into the Senedd without facing voters again.

That is the explosive demand from a senior Welsh Labour figure who has launched a scathing attack on the party’s record – declaring Welsh Labour “functionally broken” and accusing it of a decade-long failure to confront its own decline.

The intervention – first reported by Welsh political journalist Will Hayward – comes less than 48 hours after Hedges held on as the only Welsh Labour MS for Swansea following the party’s catastrophic election defeat.

The senior Welsh Labour source, who is not named, said it was “perhaps too much to hope” that Hedges and fellow long-serving Welsh Labour MS Lynne Neagle would realise they should resign mid-term to let “talented, second-place candidates” take their seats.

That second-place candidate in Swansea is Rob Stewart – meaning the leader of Swansea Council could enter Wales’ parliament without facing the electorate again, if Hedges were to step aside.

Under the new D’Hondt voting system used at this week’s election, when a sitting MS resigns mid-term their seat passes to the next eligible candidate on their party’s list – rather than triggering a by-election.

Stewart was not elected at this week’s election. Plaid Cymru topped the poll in Gwyr Abertawe with three seats, Reform UK took two, and Hedges held on as Welsh Labour’s number one candidate. Stewart, sitting in second place on the list, missed out as Welsh Labour’s vote collapsed across the city.

The senior figure’s broader assessment of the party was devastating.

Welsh Labour, the source said, “requires a total overhaul; it is functionally broken and will not be fixed overnight.”

The defeat had been “a decade in the making” – they argued – claiming Welsh Labour had repeatedly avoided an honest reckoning with its record in government and instead chosen “to paper over the cracks.”

The source took aim at Welsh Labour’s recent campaign messaging, dismissing slogans such as “partnership in power” and “two governments working together” as vapid – and arguing the party had abandoned its mantle as the party that would stand up for Wales.

Blame for the result, they said, lay across the party – with MSs who failed to step up in the Senedd, with MPs who spent years chasing Reform UK voters and with party factions and unions who had “treated leadership contests as personality contests” or “extensions of Westminster paranoia.”

The source argued that rushing into a permanent leadership contest would be a mistake – calling instead for potential candidates to be required to listen to voters first and present a concrete plan for the future.

The intervention also called for Welsh Labour to scrap the deputy leader role entirely, or fundamentally redefine it.

And in a striking line, the source warned others not to scapegoat party staff for the defeat. “Watch out for those who pin defeat mostly on the staff,” they said – “and then ask what their voter contact rate was.”

The intervention is the latest sign of significant internal turmoil within Welsh Labour following the historic election result, in which the party was reduced from 30 seats in the previous Senedd to just nine.

It comes only hours after Welsh Labour’s new interim leader Ken Skates – elected unanimously by the new Welsh Labour group on Saturday morning – acknowledged the scale of the defeat and admitted the party “got it wrong.”

Welsh Labour has not formally responded to the comments. Mike Hedges has not commented publicly on the suggestion that he should resign mid-term, and Rob Stewart has not commented on whether he would take a Senedd seat through such a route.

The new 96-seat Senedd will sit for the first time in the coming weeks, with Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth set to lead a minority government following his party’s election as the largest in the chamber with 43 seats.

Reform UK secured a historic 34 seats and Welsh Labour just nine, with the Welsh Conservatives on seven, the Wales Green Party on two and the Welsh Liberal Democrats on one.

Swansea Bay News will continue to cover developments as the new Welsh Labour leadership contest takes shape and the new Welsh Government is formed.

Our Senedd Election 2026 coverage

Mike Hedges warns Wales could face another election next year
The newly re-elected Swansea Labour MS on the prospect of an early Senedd election if Plaid’s first budget falls.

Gwyr Abertawe: Plaid top the poll as Reform UK and Labour also take seats
How Swansea voted – and how Mike Hedges held on as the city’s only Welsh Labour MS.

Rhun ap Iorwerth to lead Plaid minority government after historic victory ends 27 years of Labour rule
What happens next as Plaid prepares to take power.

Ken Skates appointed interim Welsh Labour leader after historic Senedd defeat
Welsh Labour picks up the pieces after being reduced to nine seats.

First Minister Eluned Morgan loses seat and resigns as Welsh Labour leader
The historic moment Wales’ First Minister became the first leader of any UK government to lose her seat while in office.

SENEDD ELECTION: Mike Hedges warns Wales could face another election next year as Labour count the cost of historic defeat

Mike Hedges has warned that Wales could face another Senedd election within a year, as Labour Members of the Senedd began to count the cost of their historic defeat.

The veteran MS, who held on in the new Gwyr Abertawe constituency, said that if Plaid Cymru formed a minority government and their budget fell, an election could follow — just as Labour’s budgets had faced repeated challenges from Plaid in the outgoing Senedd.

“Let’s assume that Plaid form a government — when they bring their budget forward, well, the other parties will have the same chance to do to Plaid what Plaid have done to Labour consistently over the budget,” he told reporter Will Hayward at the count. “So if the budget falls, we might have an election.”

Rhun ap Iorwerth confirmed on Saturday that he will lead a Plaid minority government, working with other parties on a case-by-case basis rather than seeking a formal coalition. Plaid won 43 seats — six short of the 49 needed for a majority — with Labour reduced to just nine seats after a catastrophic night for the party.

Speaking with what he described as “disappointment,” Hedges said the scale of the Labour collapse had shocked him, revealing that one box he had expected to win over half the votes in had seen his party come third.

He said he had been canvassing on the doorstep until the day before the election and had been told by one voter — who he said had backed him for 30 years — that the man had not voted for him this time. “He apologised for it, but I can’t count apologies in the votes,” Hedges said.

Hedges was critical of the new large constituency system introduced for the expanded Senedd, saying that if he had been running Labour’s campaign he would “not have had this system” as a starting point.

He also called for legislation — originally championed by former Plaid leader Adam Price — to prevent politicians lying at election time, suggesting it would have changed the nature of the campaign. “If we’d got that through, we’d have had a different dialogue,” he said.

First Minister Eluned Morgan lost her seat and resigned as Welsh Labour leader on election night, with Ken Skates confirmed as interim leader on Saturday afternoon as the party began to assess its position. The defeat brought 27 years of Labour rule in Wales to an end.

On the prospect of working with the other parties in the new Senedd, Hedges was blunt, saying he had “great difficulty” working with either Plaid Cymru or Reform UK. He said Plaid’s independence agenda would cost Wales between £12 billion and £16 billion a year — roughly equivalent to the health budget — while Reform “want to turn us into West England.”

“But we’re going to all have to work together for the benefit of the people of Wales,” he added.

Senedd Election 2026 — our coverage

Rhun ap Iorwerth to lead Plaid minority government after historic victory ends 27 years of Labour rule
What happens next as Plaid prepares to take power.

Plaid Cymru largest party, Reform UK make historic breakthrough — the new political map of Wales
Full results and analysis from the night that changed Welsh politics.

Ken Skates appointed interim Welsh Labour leader after historic Senedd defeat
Labour picks up the pieces after being reduced to nine seats.

First Minister Eluned Morgan loses seat and resigns as Welsh Labour leader
A dramatic end to Labour’s era in government.

Gwyr Abertawe: Plaid top the poll as Reform UK and Labour also take seats
How Swansea voted — and how Mike Hedges held on.

Ken Skates appointed interim Welsh Labour leader after historic Senedd defeat

Welsh Government Transport Secretary Ken Skates has been appointed interim leader of Welsh Labour – taking over from Eluned Morgan after the First Minister lost her seat at yesterday’s Senedd election.

Skates received unanimous support from Welsh Labour’s new nine-strong group of Members of the Senedd at meetings held this morning of the party’s Executive Committee and the Senedd group.

He will serve as interim leader until a timetable is set for a full leadership election in line with Welsh Labour rules.

Skates was first elected to the Senedd in 2011 and has held a series of senior Welsh Government roles – including Economy and Infrastructure Secretary and most recently Transport Secretary. He was re-elected to represent Fflint Wrecsam yesterday after a tense day in which Welsh Labour had at one point feared he might lose his seat.

His appointment comes less than 24 hours after Eluned Morgan became the first ever serving Welsh First Minister to lose her seat at an election, and the first leader of any government in the United Kingdom to lose her seat while in office.

Speaking after his appointment, Skates acknowledged the scale of Welsh Labour’s defeat directly.

“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.”

The new interim leader said the task of rebuilding the party would fall to its entire membership.

“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.”

Skates set out his vision for Welsh Labour’s future direction, returning to the party’s history and traditions.

“I believe today, as I always have, that Welsh Labour is at its best when we are the champions of the people of Wales,” he said. “Our role is to serve, to fight for the issues that matter most.”

He invoked the party’s Welsh roots and key policy achievements. “We are the Party that first sent Keir Hardie to Parliament, that created the NHS,” Skates said. “We are the Party of devolution, the Party of free prescriptions, universal free school meals, social partnership and the future generations act.”

“We are a party with an incredible history of serving Wales and her people, and we have so much more to give.”

Skates also paid tribute to his predecessor.

“I would like to thank Eluned for everything she has done over the past 2 years as our First Minister, and in her 30 years of service to Wales and the Labour Party,” he said. “Her grit and determination in the face of true challenge is something we as a Party will always be proud of.”

“She broke the glass ceiling, and her role in history as the first woman to lead our Party and country is an achievement second to none.”

The Welsh Labour party will now begin the process of selecting a new permanent leader – though the timetable for that contest has not yet been confirmed.

Welsh Labour was reduced to just nine seats at yesterday’s election, down from 30 in the previous Senedd, with the party wiped out entirely in six constituencies including Sir Gaerfyrddin and Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd.

Plaid Cymru emerged as the largest party with 41 seats, with Reform UK securing a historic breakthrough at 34 seats. Coalition negotiations are now expected to follow, with Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth widely expected to become Wales’ next First Minister.

That would mark the first time since devolution began in 1999 that Wales has had a First Minister from a party other than Labour – and ends a century-long run of Welsh Labour electoral dominance dating back to 1922.

Our Senedd Election 2026 coverage

First Minister Eluned Morgan loses seat and resigns as Welsh Labour leader
The historic moment Wales’ First Minister became the first leader of any UK government to lose her seat while in office.

Sir Gaerfyrddin: Reform UK and Plaid Cymru take three seats each as Welsh Labour wiped out
Adam Price returns to the Senedd as Reform UK secures its first ever west Wales breakthrough.

Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd: Reform UK tops the poll as Jane Dodds holds on for the Welsh Lib Dems
Reform UK takes three seats in the upper Swansea Valley, Powys and Neath – with Welsh Labour wiped out entirely.

Gwyr Abertawe: Plaid Cymru top the poll as Mike Hedges holds for Welsh Labour
The Swansea result and Council leader Rob Stewart’s reaction to a difficult day for the city’s Welsh Labour group.

#Cymru brings the biggest defeat of 2026: #ElunedMorgan, First Minister of Wales & leader of Welsh Labour.

Under #Wales's d'Hondt voting system, a party winning at least 17% of the votes in any constituency is guaranteed one of the six seats in that constituency. Cast iron guaranteed.

But in Ceredigion Penfro, #WelshLabour won only 7.3%. So no seats there for Labour.

After winning every Welsh election since the 1920s, the #LabourParty is now 3rd in the #Senedd. It's over.

#Welshpol #ukpol

SENEDD ELECTION 2026: Plaid Cymru largest party, Reform UK historic breakthrough, Welsh Labour reduced to nine seats — the new political map of Wales

Wales has woken up to a new political landscape this evening – one in which Plaid Cymru has emerged as the largest party in the Senedd, Reform UK has secured a historic breakthrough, and Welsh Labour has been reduced to nine seats after more than a quarter of a century in power.

The Senedd Election 2026 – the first to be held under the new D’Hondt voting system and with an expanded 96-seat parliament – has reshaped Welsh politics in ways that almost nobody predicted even a year ago.

The final picture, with all 16 constituencies declared, sees Plaid Cymru take 43 seats, Reform UK 34, Welsh Labour 9, the Welsh Conservatives 7, the Greens 2 and the Welsh Liberal Democrats 1.

The most striking individual story of the day was the defeat of First Minister Eluned Morgan in her Ceredigion Penfro constituency – a result that immediately triggered her resignation as Welsh Labour leader.

Morgan became the first ever serving Welsh First Minister to lose her seat at an election, and the first leader of any government in the United Kingdom to lose her seat while in office.

“I take responsibility for the Labour result in Wales,” she told the count from the stage at Ceredigion Penfro. “The age of two-party dominance is dead.”

Wales now faces an immediate Welsh Labour leadership contest and the prospect of a new First Minister – with Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, who held his Bangor Conwy Mon seat with ease, the most likely candidate to lead the next Welsh Government.

“It has become clear that Wales has demanded that change of leadership,” ap Iorwerth said after his re-election. “Plaid Cymru is ready to serve.”

The election produced a record turnout for a Senedd election – 51.65% across Wales, the first time the 50% benchmark has ever been broken at a Welsh parliamentary election.

That turnout had been forecast as a positive indicator for Reform UK, which had focused much of its campaign on mobilising voters who had not traditionally turned out at Welsh elections.

The forecast proved correct. Reform UK topped the poll in four constituencies – Casnewydd Islwyn, Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, Sir Fynwy Torfaen and Clwyd – and won three seats in three more.

Welsh leader Dan Thomas, who became an MS himself after winning a seat in Casnewydd Islwyn, called Reform “the people’s army” of Welsh politics.

“In just five years, Reform has gone from winning 1% of the vote in the Senedd elections to being the main contender for government, smashing Labour in the process,” Thomas said.

For Plaid Cymru, the election represents a remarkable consolidation of support. The party topped the poll in 11 of the 16 constituencies and took three seats in nine of them – including a clean sweep of four seats in Gwynedd Maldwyn.

Among those returning to the Senedd for Plaid is former leader Adam Price, who was elected in Sir Gaerfyrddin from third place on his party’s list – itself a sign of how strongly Plaid performed in the constituency.

The constituency-by-constituency breakdown shows just how starkly the political map of Wales has been redrawn.

For Welsh Labour, the result is bleak. The party has been wiped out entirely in six constituencies – Sir Gaerfyrddin, Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni, Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, Ceredigion Penfro, Clwyd and Gwynedd Maldwyn – and reduced to a single seat in most others.

Welsh Labour’s nine surviving Members of the Senedd are dominated by senior figures. Cabinet members Huw Irranca-Davies (Deputy First Minister), Sarah Murphy (Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing), Lynne Neagle and Ken Skates (Transport) all held their seats. Mike Hedges was returned in Gwyr Abertawe and Jayne Bryant in Casnewydd Islwyn.

The defeat of First Minister Eluned Morgan, however, is the headline loss – and brings to an end a century-long run of Welsh Labour electoral dominance dating back to 1922.

Welsh Labour’s collapse was particularly stark across south-west Wales. The party was wiped out entirely in Sir Gaerfyrddin and Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, reduced to one seat in Gwyr Abertawe and Afan Ogwr Rhondda, and lost its First Minister in neighbouring Ceredigion Penfro.

Speaking after Mike Hedges’ re-election as the only Welsh Labour MS for Swansea, Council leader Rob Stewart – who was Labour’s number two on the Gwyr Abertawe list and was not elected – acknowledged the difficulty of the result.

“Obviously, this is not the result we worked for,” Stewart said. “Nationally, it has been a really difficult night for Welsh Labour and UK Labour.”

Stewart said the threat of Reform UK had loomed over the campaign. “Clearly the threat of Reform has been at the forefront of many voters’ minds, and we heard on the door that when people could not give us their vote this time, they didn’t want to go to Reform and have clearly opted for Plaid Cymru,” he said.

The Welsh Conservatives have ended the day with seven seats – a smaller party than at the last Senedd, but with three of their leaders past and present returned. Andrew RT Davies, the former Welsh Conservative leader, was re-elected in Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg. Current leader Darren Millar held his seat in Clwyd. And former Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Paul Davies returned to the Senedd via Ceredigion Penfro.

Conservative Senedd colleague Samuel Kurtz failed to be re-elected.

The Greens secured two seats in Wales for the first time – both in Cardiff. Anthony Slaughter, the party’s Welsh leader, took his seat in Caerdydd Penarth and called it a “historic breakthrough” for the Greens in Wales.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats secured a single seat – that of leader Jane Dodds, who held on in Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd. The party had hoped for a stronger result but its presence in the Senedd is preserved.

What now follows is coalition politics on a scale Wales has not seen since devolution began.

With 49 seats needed for an overall majority, Plaid Cymru is eight short of governing alone. Polling expert Sir John Curtice had projected the party would win between 41 and 46 seats – the final figure of 41 sits at the lower end of that projection.

The arithmetic of the new Senedd makes a Plaid Cymru-led coalition almost certain – but the question is who Plaid will choose to govern with.

A formal coalition with Welsh Labour would deliver a stable majority of 50 seats – though the politics of bringing the heavily defeated party of government into a new coalition would be difficult.

A confidence-and-supply arrangement with the Welsh Lib Dems and Greens would still leave Plaid three seats short of a majority, requiring further support from other parties.

A coalition with Reform UK would command a vast majority of 75 seats – but is politically inconceivable, with Reform’s positions on devolution and Welsh public services fundamentally at odds with Plaid’s.

The most likely outcome, observers suggest, is a Plaid-led minority government supported on a confidence-and-supply basis by smaller parties – or a formal coalition with Welsh Labour rebuilding from the wreckage of today’s result.

Either way, the next First Minister of Wales is very likely to be Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorwerth – a fundamental shift in Welsh political leadership for the first time since devolution began in 1999.

The election also marks Wales’ political landscape becoming significantly more fragmented. The new Senedd has six different parties represented – up from four after the 2021 election – reflecting both the new electoral system and the political reorientation that has taken place.

Welsh political expert Professor Laura McAllister told BBC Wales that Eluned Morgan had been dealt an impossible hand. “The odds were stacked so hard against her, she didn’t get an ounce of help from her UK party, or the Prime Minister,” she said.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute to Morgan in a statement issued shortly after her defeat, calling her “a formidable First Minister and tireless champion for Wales” – though earlier in the day senior Welsh Labour figures had called for him to consider his own position over the scale of the party’s Welsh defeat.

The new Senedd will sit for the first time in the coming weeks, when its 96 Members of the Senedd will be sworn in and the process of forming the next Welsh Government will formally begin.

For now, however, the picture is clear. Wales has rejected its long-time governing party, embraced a populist insurgency, and elevated a nationalist alternative to the largest party in its parliament for the first time in history.

The age of two-party dominance, as Eluned Morgan said in her resignation speech, is dead. What replaces it begins now.

Our Senedd Election 2026 coverage

First Minister Eluned Morgan loses seat and resigns as Welsh Labour leader
The historic moment Wales’ First Minister became the first leader of any UK government to lose her seat while in office.

Sir Gaerfyrddin: Reform UK and Plaid Cymru take three seats each as Welsh Labour wiped out
Adam Price returns to the Senedd as Reform UK secures its first ever west Wales breakthrough.

Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd: Reform UK tops the poll as Jane Dodds holds on for the Welsh Lib Dems
Reform UK takes three seats in the upper Swansea Valley, Powys and Neath – with Welsh Labour wiped out entirely.

Gwyr Abertawe: Plaid Cymru top the poll as Mike Hedges holds for Welsh Labour
The Swansea result and Council leader Rob Stewart’s reaction to a difficult day for the city’s Welsh Labour group.

GWYR ABERTAWE: Plaid Cymru top the poll as Reform UK and Labour also take seats — Mike Hedges holds for Welsh Labour

Plaid Cymru has topped the poll in Gwyr Abertawe – taking three of the constituency’s six Senedd seats in a result that confirms the political shift now sweeping across south Wales.

Reform UK took two seats and Welsh Labour took the remaining seat – with veteran Swansea politician Mike Hedges holding on as the city’s only Labour Member of the Senedd.

The result was declared this evening at the Gwyr Abertawe count by Returning Officer Martin Nicholls.

Plaid Cymru topped the poll with 25,076 votes, ahead of Reform UK on 21,641. Welsh Labour received 11,195 votes – a fraction of its previous performance in Swansea.

The Welsh Conservatives received 7,523 votes, the Wales Green Party 6,383 and the Welsh Liberal Democrats 6,262. None won a seat in the constituency.

The six new Members of the Senedd for Gwyr Abertawe are:

• Gwyn Williams (Plaid Cymru)
• Francesca O’Brien (Reform UK)
• Safa Elhassan (Plaid Cymru)
• Mike Hedges (Welsh Labour)
• Steven Rodaway (Reform UK)
• John Davies (Plaid Cymru)

Mike Hedges’ re-election ensures Welsh Labour retains a presence in Swansea – but represents a significant reduction for a party that has long counted the city among its strongholds.

Hedges was Labour’s first-placed candidate in Gwyr Abertawe. Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart, who was Labour’s second-placed candidate, was not elected.

The result also marks the election of Reform UK’s first ever Members of the Senedd for Swansea – with Francesca O’Brien and Steven Rodaway both elected.

O’Brien had earlier today predicted on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that Welsh Labour would collapse, describing the election as a referendum on First Minister Eluned Morgan and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Plaid Cymru’s three new MS – Gwyn Williams, Safa Elhassan and John Davies – represent a significant breakthrough for the party in a constituency where it has not historically been the dominant force.

The constituency recorded a turnout of 50.9% – just below the national average of 51.65%, which itself was a record for a Senedd election.

The Gwyr Abertawe electorate stands at 155,120, with 78,924 ballot papers issued. A total of 187 ballot papers were rejected and not counted.

In response to the result, Council leader Rob Stewart praised Hedges and said he was looking forward to him continuing to work for Swansea at Cardiff Bay.

“I want to thank everyone who voted for our Labour team in Gwyr Abertawe today,” Stewart said. “I am looking forward to Mike Hedges returning to the Senedd and continuing to work extremely hard for Swansea, as he has done since 2011.”

Stewart acknowledged the difficulty of the result. “Obviously, this is not the result we worked for,” he said. “Nationally, it has been a really difficult night for Welsh Labour and UK Labour.”

He paid tribute to Welsh Labour’s record in government. “I’m proud of what the Labour Welsh Governments have delivered for Wales over many years,” he said.

Stewart said the threat of Reform UK had been a major factor on the doorstep. “Clearly the threat of Reform has been at the forefront of many voters’ minds, and we heard on the door that when people could not give us their vote this time, they didn’t want to go to Reform and have clearly opted for Plaid Cymru,” he said.

He added that he had not detected significant enthusiasm for Plaid’s vision. “While I understand the voters’ logic, I haven’t detected any great love for Plaid’s vision for Wales,” Stewart said. “However, they appear to have done well, and we will respect that.”

Stewart said Welsh Labour had to listen carefully to voters. “We must also be prepared to reflect carefully and listen with humility to the people,” he said. “There must be no dodging, no deflection, just determination to put things right and redouble our efforts to deliver at all levels on the things we promised.”

The Council leader said his focus would now be on local delivery. “Here in Swansea, my work continues and will increase in pace,” he said. “The work Swansea Labour has been doing resonated with voters on the door, and clearly we will be standing on our record of delivery at next year’s elections.”

He pointed to investment in the city as the foundation for that record. “We’ll stand on the billion-pound investment in Swansea, the new homes, new schools, better jobs and opportunities, and our drive to keep building a better Swansea together,” he said.

Stewart said he would continue as Council leader. “As Leader of this great city, I will keep doing all I can to improve people’s lives and lead the delivery of that better Swansea,” he said.

He thanked party members and supporters. “My sincere and heartfelt thanks go to the volunteers, activists, members and supporters who gave everything to this campaign,” he said.

And he paid tribute to Eluned Morgan, who lost her own seat in Ceredigion Penfro this afternoon and resigned as Welsh Labour leader. “Special thanks also go to Eluned Morgan, who has led Welsh Labour with distinction, empathy and heart through a genuinely difficult time,” Stewart said.

Stewart also paid tribute to Rebecca Evans and Julie James, who stepped down at this election after long service in the Senedd. “I also want to wish Rebecca Evans and Julie James well in whatever they do next,” he said. “They have stepped down from the Senedd after long and distinguished service to Gower and Swansea West.”

The Gwyr Abertawe result follows a similar pattern to other south Wales constituencies declared earlier today – with Welsh Labour reduced to a single seat or wiped out entirely in the face of a Plaid Cymru and Reform UK surge.

Across Wales, polling expert Sir John Curtice has projected Plaid Cymru will win between 41 and 46 seats – short of the 49 needed for an overall majority – with Reform UK on 32 to 34.

That makes coalition negotiations almost certain to follow once all 16 constituencies have declared.

Two constituencies remain to declare this evening – Gwynedd Maldwyn and Fflint Wrecsam.

Our Senedd Election 2026 coverage

First Minister Eluned Morgan loses seat and resigns as Welsh Labour leader
The historic moment Wales’ First Minister became the first leader of any UK government to lose her seat while in office.

Sir Gaerfyrddin: Reform UK and Plaid Cymru take three seats each as Welsh Labour wiped out
Adam Price returns to the Senedd as Reform UK secures its first ever west Wales breakthrough.

Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd: Reform UK tops the poll as Jane Dodds holds on for the Welsh Lib Dems
Reform UK takes three seats in the upper Swansea Valley, Powys and Neath – with Welsh Labour wiped out entirely.

Welsh Labour bracing for historic loss as counting begins
Our overnight roundup of the political mood as counting got under way across Wales.

What does a Welsh defeat mean for Keir Starmer?
Senior Welsh Labour figures have called for the prime minister to consider his position if the result is as bad as predicted.

SENEDD ELECTION: First Minister Eluned Morgan loses seat and resigns as Welsh Labour leader

First Minister Eluned Morgan has lost her seat at the Senedd election – and resigned as Welsh Labour leader on the spot.

Speaking from the stage at her Ceredigion Penfro count this afternoon, the defeated Labour leader said her party needed to take a hard look at itself.

“I’ve lost my seat here in Ceredigion Penfro and I will be stepping down as Welsh Labour leader,” she told the count. “I take responsibility for the Labour result in Wales.”

Morgan received 6,495 votes in the constituency – just 170 more than the Green Party – finishing well behind Plaid Cymru, who took 31,943 votes.

Reform UK won 23,003 votes in the constituency, with the Conservatives taking 14,789.

Her defeat is historic on multiple fronts. She is the first ever serving Welsh First Minister to lose her seat at an election since the Senedd was established in 1999.

And she is the first leader of any government in the UK to lose her seat while in office.

Morgan, who became Wales’ first female First Minister in 2024, said she was proud of what Welsh Labour had achieved in government but acknowledged the scale of the challenge facing public services.

“I’m very proud of what Welsh Labour has achieved over all the years we have led in the Senedd,” she said. “But today the pressures on public services are enormous and change is not coming fast enough.”

She told the count that voters were demanding answers Welsh Labour could not deliver. “Many expect simple answers to very complex questions but there are no simple answers and the budgets are limited,” she said.

And she signalled that the political landscape had been fundamentally reshaped. “The age of two-party dominance is dead,” she said.

The result triggers an immediate Welsh Labour leadership contest – and means Wales will need a new First Minister.

Welsh Labour now faces the prospect of selecting an interim leader within hours, with the new Senedd due to meet for the first time in the coming weeks.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute to Morgan in a statement issued shortly after her defeat.

“Eluned Morgan has been a formidable First Minister and tireless champion for Wales,” he said. “She broke barriers and has never stopped fighting for families in the communities she loves.”

The Prime Minister paid tribute to Morgan’s record in office. “Together, we have worked to lift children out of poverty, cut hospital waiting lists, and create thousands of new jobs,” he said.

“I want to thank Eluned Morgan for the over 30 years of service she has already given to our country and our party. I have no doubt her contribution to Wales will endure.”

The tribute came as senior Welsh Labour figures earlier today called for Sir Keir himself to consider his position over the scale of the party’s defeat in Wales.

Welsh political expert Professor Laura McAllister told BBC Wales that Morgan had been dealt an impossible hand.

“Let’s be fair to the First Minister, I don’t think she could have done much to salvage this election,” she said.

McAllister said Morgan had received no support from her UK party. “The odds were stacked so hard against her, she didn’t get an ounce of help from her UK party, or the Prime Minister,” she said. “The pleas she made were flat turned down.”

She added that Morgan had inherited a difficult legacy. “She inherited a divided party that had lost its energy and soul,” McAllister said.

But she said Welsh Labour had still made errors during the campaign. “Having said all that, they made some fundamental mistakes with the campaign,” she said.

The Ceredigion Penfro result also saw the return of former Welsh Conservative leader Paul Davies, who held his seat. His Senedd colleague Samuel Kurtz failed to be re-elected.

Plaid Cymru took three seats in the constituency, with Reform UK taking two and the Conservatives one.

Morgan’s defeat brings to an end a remarkable political journey. She rose through Welsh Government to become Health Minister and then First Minister last year, taking over from Vaughan Gething following his resignation.

Her tenure as First Minister was always going to be a challenging one – taking over a party in Wales that had been in power for more than a quarter of a century and was facing the most difficult electoral landscape it had ever seen.

This morning, in our overnight coverage, we reported that senior Welsh Labour sources had been describing Morgan’s seat as on a knife edge.

That knife edge has now fallen.

The Senedd vote also ends a century-long run of Labour election successes in Wales – with Welsh Labour having won every major Welsh election since 1922.

The Welsh Labour party will now move quickly to begin the process of selecting a new leader, who will become Wales’ next First Minister at a moment of unprecedented political turbulence.

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, who was re-elected in Bangor Conwy Mon earlier this afternoon, signalled his party was ready to step up.

“It has become clear that Wales has demanded that change of leadership,” he said. “I look forward to saying more about this later as the full picture becomes complete. Plaid Cymru is ready to serve.”

Polling expert Sir John Curtice has projected Plaid Cymru will win between 41 and 46 seats – short of the 49 needed for an overall majority – with Reform UK on 32 to 34.

Coalition negotiations look almost certain to follow.

Our Senedd Election 2026 coverage

Sir Gaerfyrddin: Reform UK and Plaid Cymru take three seats each as Welsh Labour wiped out
Adam Price returns to the Senedd as Reform UK secures its first ever west Wales breakthrough.

Welsh Labour bracing for historic loss as counting begins
Our overnight roundup of the political mood as counting got under way across Wales.

What does a Welsh defeat mean for Keir Starmer?
Senior Welsh Labour figures have called for the prime minister to consider his position if the result is as bad as predicted.

Polls have closed – here’s what happens next, and how the new D’Hondt voting system works
Our complete guide to the count, the D’Hondt formula, and when results were due to land.