Plaid Cymru has won the Welsh Senedd elections, ending 100 years of Labour dominance in Wales and blocking the momentum of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. The centre-left Welsh nationalist party secured 43 seats, while Reform UK came second with 34, pushing Labour into a distant third place with nine seats. The Conservatives won seven, the Greens two, and the Liberal Democrats one.
Leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said he stood ready to become first minister and form the next Welsh government, taking over from Welsh Labour, which has governed since devolution began in 1999. Speaking in Llandudno, he said: “The people of Wales have today decided on the next steps in Wales’s journey. Plaid Cymru now stands ready to take the necessary steps to form the next government.” He added: “This is a moment 100 years in the making.”
Under Wales’s new, more representative electoral system, at least 49 seats are needed for a majority. No party won that, but Plaid Cymru can comfortably form a minority government. Ap Iorwerth said he would talk to other parties that share Plaid’s goals to create a fair, compassionate nation, adding: “Plaid Cymru will press ahead with those conversations with urgency.”
Eluned Morgan, who took over Welsh Labour in 2024, became the first leader of a government in the UK to lose their seat while in office. Speaking at her election count in Llandysul, she said she would resign as Welsh Labour leader and took “full responsibility” for the result, calling Labour’s prospects “catastrophic”. She added: “The age of two party dominance is at an end and we will need to adjust to a world where multiple parties contend for power.”
The Plaid win makes a Welsh independence referendum a future possibility and means all three of the UK’s Celtic nations will now be controlled by separatist parties. Labour’s rout in Wales is a once-in-a-century political and cultural shift, driven by frustration at Labour’s management of public services, which have fallen behind other UK nations on many metrics.
