People take for granted that Labour will always be in power in Wales, the First Minister has said, as she warned that Reform UK are the “biggest threat” to the nation’s way of life ahead of key elections next year.
Baroness Eluned Morgan warned in her speech to the Welsh Labour conference that the Senedd elections will be a “moment of reckoning” as Nigel Farage’s party are “rising”, prompting people to ask “big, serious questions about what kind of future they want for Wales”.
Reform is looking to end Labour’s 26 years of domination at the Senedd elections in May next year.
Labour performed poorly in this year’s local elections in England, which saw Mr Farage’s party win a swathe of council seats.
“I think they’re the biggest threat to Wales and our way of life,” Baroness Morgan told the PA news agency.
“I think people take Labour for granted in Wales. It’s something that, you know, there’s an expectation that we’ll always be in power.
“So the things that are real in people’s lives today, like free prescriptions, free parking in hospitals, free school meals for children in school. All of these things are political choices, and Reform would make different political choices.”
Asked if she felt the best way to counter the threat of Reform in the elections was to shift to the left, she said: “What I’m clear is that we’ve got to stay true to the values of Welsh Labour.
“And the values of Welsh Labour are consistent with the red Welsh way … and there are times when we will be in a different place from the UK.
“And yes, I think the political centre of gravity in Wales is further to the left than throughout the UK.”
She had earlier accused Mr Farage of “peddling fantasies about sending people’s grandchildren down coal mines and reopening blast furnaces” while the Welsh government deals with the “cost of industrial decline”.
Mr Farage has said his party wants to restart Port Talbot’s blast furnaces, which were shut down in September, with a new electric arc furnace being built in their place.
The Prime Minister warned in his own speech that Mr Farage “isn’t interested in Wales” and has no viable plan for Port Talbot’s blast furnaces.
Sir Keir Starmer said the Reform leader has “no idea what he’s talking about” when it comes to the furnaces, and has “no plan at all”.
The Prime Minister had earlier warned of the prospect of the Tories, Reform UK and Plaid Cymru forming a coalition in the Senedd in what he called a “backroom stitch-up”.
The elections to the Senedd will use a proportional system for the first time, meaning coalitions are likely.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has not ruled out making deals with Plaid Cymru or Reform.
The Prime Minister said it would risk a “return to the chaos and division of the last decade” and risk rolling back the progress his party is starting to make.
It would be “working families left to pick up the bill”, he added.
“Whether that’s with Reform or with Plaid’s determination to cut Wales off from the rest of the country, with no plan to put Wales back together,” he said.
