"While Plaid Cymru introduced fresh faces to the Senedd, it failed to deliver the sense of renewal that was needed after Labour's tiresome years in power."
While presenting itself as the alternative to Labour, it often struggled to articulate a fundamentally different vision for government. On many of the issues that had come to define Labour's long tenure, from public service reform to economic growth, Plaid's proposals appeared evolutionary rather than transformative. The result was a party that looked new on the surface but, for many voters seeking a decisive break from the political status quo, offered more continuity than change."
Too often, it positioned itself as a softer version of Labour rather than a genuine alternative, offering familiar solutions to problems that many believed required a more radical rethink. For voters frustrated by years of Labour rule, Plaid represented change in personnel more than change in direction."
Critics on both the right and within parts of the nationalist movement have argued that Plaid Cymru has sometimes struggled to differentiate itself clearly from Welsh Labour on policy and governing approaches.
Some commentators have questioned whether Plaid Cymru under ap Iorwerth has sufficiently clarified its long-term priorities, particularly regarding the balance between day-to-day governance issues and the party's commitment to Welsh independence.
Some critics contend that, despite dissatisfaction with Labour in Wales, Plaid Cymru under his leadership did not initially convert that discontent into a dramatic surge of support. The criticism is that the party sometimes appeared to benefit more from opponents' difficulties than from a compelling alternative vision. It appears that Ron...sorry Rhun has still got his BBC hat on putting sound-bites over actual action!!!
How the Clear Red Water policies took Wales to the bottom
Welsh Labour promised a better way. After 25 years, voters are entitled to ask: where is it?
For more than two decades, Welsh Labour sold voters a comforting story. “Clear Red Water” meant Wales would do politics differently from Westminster: kinder, fairer, less market-driven and proudly Welsh. It sounded good. It won elections. It gave Cardiff Bay a slogan. But slogans do not fix hospitals, teach children or create jobs. The brutal truth is this: Wales has been governed for a generation by people who kept telling us they were different. Too often, they forgot to prove they were better. Of course, Wales has problems that were not made in Cardiff. Old industrial decline, poor transport links and Westminster decisions all matter. But after 25 years of Labour-led devolution, blaming everyone else is no longer enough.
Take the Welsh NHS. Free prescriptions are popular. Keeping market reforms at arm’s length sounds noble. But patients do not sit on waiting lists comforted by political purity. They want treatment. They want appointments. They want ambulances that arrive. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has pointed to Welsh health and education underperformance compared with England, even though Wales spends more per person on devolved public services. That blows a hole in the easy excuse that this is only about money.
If the system costs more but delivers less, something is wrong. Management matters. Accountability matters. Productivity matters. But under the Clear Red Water mindset, reform has too often been treated like betrayal. Schools tell the same story. Ministers talk about a broader, kinder approach than England’s. Fine. But parents want children who can read, write, count and compete. Warm words are no use if results disappoint and absences rise. The economy is the biggest failure of all. Wales cannot fund world-class public services on a weak economic base. Welsh Labour has always sounded confident about sharing wealth. It has been far less convincing at creating it. Low productivity, lower household incomes and high economic inactivity still scar too many Welsh communities. These problems did not begin with devolution. But devolution was meant to help solve them, not provide a permanent alibi.
Yes, the Welsh model has had wins: free prescriptions, free school breakfasts, organ donation reform and a language of equality. Good. But humane policies are not the same as national success. People do not live inside press releases. They live with GP delays, ambulance waits, struggling schools, low wages, poor transport and town centre's that feel forgotten. Clear Red Water started as a claim of confidence. It ended as a shield against failure. Wales does not need to abandon social democracy. It needs to abandon complacency. After a quarter of a century, voters deserve more than a slogan. They deserve results.
THE UNNACEPTABLE TRUTH!!!
A number of politicians walked out of the Senedd chamber after a contribution by a Reform UK Senedd member. Labour, Green Party and Plaid Cymru politicians, including some government ministers, walked out of the Senedd chamber during a debate tabled by Reform UK.
The debate was over international funding and called for all Welsh Government international spending to be ended. While the Conservatives backed the proposal from Reform UK, the remaining majority of Senedd members do not.
Reform UK says the annual £9m spend of Welsh Government money internationally should be stopped. The money makes up 0.03% of the annual Welsh Government budget, but Reform UK says the money should be spent on Welsh projects.
The day's plenary proceedings had started with the Llwyd, or Presiding Officer, warning politicians to monitor their language and tone.
My perspective…
People are left disheartened when elected representatives walk out instead of facing uncomfortable arguments in open debate. For many voters, it is deeply disappointing to see politicians leave the chamber rather than answer views they disagree with.
Nothing saddens people more than seeing public debate abandoned at the moment it becomes most difficult. When representatives walk out instead of engaging, many people see not principle, but a failure of democratic courage. Voters deserve debate, not departure; walking out leaves many people frustrated, saddened and unheard.
Walking out is not courage; it is evasion dressed up as principle. When politicians leave instead of arguing, voters see weakness, not leadership. A chamber that cannot face dissent has no right to lecture anyone about democracy.
If representatives walk out the moment debate turns uncomfortable, they expose contempt for the very scrutiny they claim to defend. Voters do not send politicians to the chamber to flinch, sulk and leave; they send them to argue.
Acting like spoilt children is not the answer the Welsh public needs nor wants!
