Devolution at stake as Reform plans a Senedd challenge

The Conservatives, Labour, yes Labour, Ukip, True Wales , Brexit party have in the past attempted to either stop devolution or campaign to abolish our then Welsh Assembly and I can see Reform UK emboldened by their success in England try to do the same to our Senedd Cymru. Yes, the threat from any party whose sole purpose is to disrupt rather than rule is real. Former leader of Ukip, Brexit party and now Reform UK Nigel Farage caused irreparable damage with Brexit and didn't have a care in the world for those affected being a millionaire who thinks he's a celebrity. Plaid Cymru is the only alternative willing and able to govern Wales. Welsh Labour are in absolute chaos and centrist UK Labour are basically copying & pasting Conservative party policies. Just take the King's speech yesterday where not one bill mentioned devolving any power to our Senedd. Basically it was Keir Starmer saying , "as you were Wales. Blue Labour's in town like a Conservative cavalry." Personally I think UK Labour don't want to devolve more powers to our Senedd Cymru out of fear Wales becomes a confident prosperous nation. See, prosperity breeds confidence and with confidence comes independence. UK Labour favours a poor dependent voter cow backwater Wales on the western fringe of Britain ripe for resource rape. Welsh Labour's had 25 years to change Wales , and yes 11 of the 25 years our then Assembly had no ability to legislate, but even with limited powers were as we are now in tandem with a UK Labour government in Westminster from 1997 to 2010 and Wales merely limped along until Plaid Cymru in coalition demanded as part of their "One Wales" coalition deal to have a referendum resulting in Wales returning to being a legislature after 600+ years. Where Plaid changed Wales for the better Reform UK would ravage like a political cancer. Anyone with an ounce of common sense would remember when Ukip/Brexit party gained 7 list seats in the Senedd. What a disaster. They did nothing but spit on Wales whilst collecting their £60+k AM wage packet . The very same are now members of Reform UK like Nathan Gill who intends standing in 2026. We must take the threat serious and fight fire with fire.

Any kind of idea to remove devolution should be classed as a hate crime. Reform and their vile racism and hatred have no place in Wales.

This is Wales - our people would sooner vote in the anti-Christ than anyone who would put this country first. It all comes down to perceptions, and that being the most important thing of the “Welsh”. They won’t vote for anything or anyone that upsets our neighbours to the east! You only have to look at how easily they fall for the “too small and poor to survive” narrative, despite the fact that several of the richest per capita nations on earth all have populations under 10 million.

In the short term, Westminster and the Senedd should seek to further entrench in law that the Senedd cannot be abolished. If Labour are serious about Devolution and that we have a Parliament because we are a nation, not a city mayorality, then they need to protect it. In the long-term, we need independence.

If the Welsh Cons were wiped out and replaced by Reformers I don't think anyone would notice.

Labour needs to legislate to ensure that the Senedd cannot be abolished. It's no good pretending that they will be in power forever, like they did in the early 2000s (remember Peter Hain's very patronising mantra: "its Labour in Westminster, Labour in Wales, working together for the people of Wales"?). Surely the lessons of 13 years of Tory rule, which the majority of Wales did not vote for, have to be acted upon now. Imagine a situation where Reform, propping up a Tory minority government, had abolition of the Senedd as a key demand? We should be very worried - and Labour especially so!

"I see senior Welsh politicians calling for a war on social media against the populist right." Great. That's what we need to restore decency and intelligent debate to politics: more people being offended on social media. I despair of our current crop of politicians. I'm not sure if they have simply given up on ever changing anything in the real world and have adopted performative anger as a substitute, or if they genuinely believe that if they say "racism is unacceptable" often enough, it will somehow go away. Either way, the result is the same. Somehow we've created a culture where saying the right things is more important than doing the right things.

Dyna yn union fy ofnau i hefyd ~ Those are exactly my fears too

Unfortunately the only way to win over the non-voters and floaters is to compete on I’m A Celebrity or Strictly. I heard the same people saying “I like Farage” that were bleating “I like Boris” last time. Can Rhun dance do you think?

To be brief the rise of Reform in Wales should have been the real story this election. A party barely five years old getting more votes than a party approaching its centenary. Concerning Plaid I see no chance of them doing a SNP and capturing the nation. Sadly Mr Edwards does not mention the I word when explaining how to tackle Reform. 'My fear is that those respective parties are so institutionally used to opposition that they lack the intellectual capacity to meet the opportunities and challenges they now face'. This is an excellent point although a would add voter mentality to it as well.

Time serious politics, exposed the refrom crap. They are the UK version of the Trump cancer. Improve lives and they gain little support. But our poltics is arrogant, thats how brecshit happened. Now ideally indy would get us shot of such evil

An unnecessarily pessimistic article, presumably trying to pump up hopes for Plaid. No harm in supporting Plaid but I don't like dishonest propaganda. Welsh Labour did well under Drakey. The welsh NHS for example is strained but heaps better than its English version. Gething is/ was a blot flung in by Starmer. But now that's being cleared thanks to this lovely news organisation, a cleaner leader has a chance of continuing where Drakey left it. To more devo, and federation.

I would imagine that by the 2030s any referendum to abolish the Senedd would be unwinnable. By then the institution would have been around for 40 years, the overwhelming majority wouldn't know Wales without the Senedd. Only the over 50s would remember the pre-devolution days. That being said I do worry about the rise of Reform in Wales. Many on the nationalist side make the false assumption that being anti-tory equates to being left-wing, It doesn't. Wales is anti-tory because the tories don't care about Wales or communities within Wales. Labour party pundits also make similar assumptions towards Millenials and Gen Z. 'They will never vote Tory when they get older, because they will never get onto the property ladder'. Yet that doesn't mean they won't vote for Reform, whom unlike the Tories do not have the baggage of Thatcher. The more disadvantaged you are in life the more susceptible you are to populist propaganda. The main issue is social media, where populist propaganda and misinformation thrives. Younger people are far more likely to get their news sources online, via opinionated platforms on YouTube rather than conventional media platforms. Andrew Tate, Joe Rogan and Alex Jones attract younger audiences. As Bill Clinton once said 'its the economy stupid' it is imperative that this new government addresses the cost of living crisis, allow devolved and local governments to boost their economies, therefore making the electorate less likely to consider irrational alternatives. For Plaid Cymru and the Yes Cymru movement they need to look to social media to get their message across. I hear a lot about how Welsh matters are neglected by UK media platforms (& yes we should complain), but I don't see Welsh independence movements having any existence on YouTube (At least not that I know of). Plaid should adopt a Wales First campaign. Not a left-wing or right-wing approach but a broadchurch. Demonstrate to the electorate that the Union is economically disadvantaging Wales.

Lots of comments from people worried about devolution being reversed. Zero comments from anyone pointing to any practical benefit that has come from devolution. Many people like the concept of devolution, but the devolved administration has done nothing to prevent the decline of Welsh health, education, industry, agriculture and travel infrastructure. All of these are worse in Wales than in England, even though Wales has a higher per capita budget to spend. Surely the best way to prevent an anti-devolution party getting votes is to show the electorate the benefits of devolution. Examples of this are few and far between, and will remain so until the Welsh Government pulls up its socks and shows that it is more than just a hideously expensive way of waving a Welsh flag.

REFORM are not for abolishing the Senedd, and I defy anyone to produce the evidence. Plaid are in turmoil with more independence supporters in other groups and only feted in their traditional areas. Labour will has always ruin the country...see Wales supported by santa's little helpers Plaid. REFORM will outperform Labour in 2026 mark my words!!!