NEIL KINNOCK: 'Labour must be relevant to people's everyday lives and offer realistic hope'

This time next year the people of Wales will be voting in an election like no other.

A new voting system, with 16 year olds included, voting for more politicians in an enlarged Senedd, and polls showing three parties neck and neck – Welsh Labour, Plaid Cymru and Reform all make for a special contest. And last week’s results in England will encourage Reform to strut even more.

That Party has just eight Councillors in Wales – two elected and six defectors from non-Labour Parties – and Farage’s has form in Wales: his UKIP won seven Senedd seats in 2016. They had dissolved into a circus of two different Parties and an independent before wipe-out in 2021.

Wales is facing particular industrial and social challenges with the transition in steelmaking that has huge implications for the economy and families, the possible impact of Trump tariffs on a country that sells two thirds of its goods exports to the USA, and sickness rates that, because of the past and low incomes, has higher illness rates than elsewhere in the UK.

That is why now is the perfect time for Welsh Labour’s First Minister, Eluned Morgan, to spell out in practical terms what her leadership of Welsh Labour means for the future.

I’ve known Eluned for nearly 40 years and she served for 15 of those with my Glenys in the European Parliament. She’s a very bright, straight talking, lively woman who is well known for liking the phrase “More Do, Less Chat”.

She took on the demanding role of First Minister of Wales last August and started by touring the country for weeks, turning up at markets, hospitals and cafes asking people directly what they wanted to see from her government.

Since then she and her Cabinet have focussed relentlessly on making those priorities a reality. For instance, she listened and changed the breadth of the 20-mph speed limit across Wales to fit local conditions and realities.

Most importantly, the efforts of her government and the NHS workforce are turning around the NHS in Wales. Hospital waiting lists are down for the third month in a row and there was a 26% fall in just one month.

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

Waits of more than two years are at the lowest level for four years and the time people have to wait for outpatient appointments have fallen by almost a third since 2022.

That progress is expected to continue. It’s happening because since July the Welsh Labour Government in Cardiff and the Labour Government in Westminster have been working together. That has certainly paid off.

Last autumn, using a realistic approach to devolution funding, Rachel Reeves’ first Budget gave Wales the largest ever amount of money since devolution 25 years ago. And more money has flowed to Wales from the Treasury since then.

That revenue has enabled the Welsh Government to pump millions into the NHS and other services which, as in the rest of the UK, had been grossly underfunded during the 14 years or Tory austerity.

But that extra money from Westminster and waiting lists coming down is not, by itself, enough to win the fight that lies ahead for Eluned Morgan.

There is a lot to learn from the outcomes of the local elections in England, including the seepage of votes to Liberals, Greens and abstentions which – ironically – made the task of Reform much easier. And the fight in Wales will be even more intense.

To earn sustained support, Labour has to be relevant to people’s everyday lives and offer realistic hope for the future. In Wales, Labour has to embody Welsh values of community, fairness and determination.

They are qualities that have held firm, despite the corrosion of vital services and of industries and the flatlining of wages while the Conservatives were in power in Westminster and Whitehall.

Eluned Morgan epitomizes those Welsh Labour values. She understands people's hopes and fears.

She embraces the future while respecting the past and, crucially, she has great integrity and boundless enthusiasm for the task of serving Wales.

She is already showing that she is the only Welsh leader who can stand up for Wales while sustaining productive mutual relations with the UK Government.

That is effective leadership – the sort that Wales needs to build a greener, fairer, more productive and confident future.

READ MORE: