The shift in Welsh Labour’s approach is obvious from the venue chosen.
Vaughan Gething was named leader of Welsh Labour four months ago in the gleaming setting of one of Cardiff University’s science centers.
Today, the setting was a simple cabin with wood panels next to an Iron Age hill fort in Cardiff’s Caerau-Ely neighborhood.
“Look at this, everybody!” to “see this, yet we should make it happen and continue on”.
It is not necessarily the case that the present setting wasn’t painstakingly picked – Ely is Eluned Morgan’s home turf.
She also makes history today by becoming the first woman to lead Welsh Labour and the first woman to serve as first minister.
In spite of this historic event, Welsh Labour has had a terrible six months, with the party splitting apart and the general election result.
However, Labour MSs are hopeful that Ms. Morgan’s “unity ticket” with the current deputy first minister, Huw Irranca Davies, will indeed unite the party.
They are also aware that things cannot continue as they did.
Ms. Morgan will take on the challenges of her predecessor and some new ones once she is confirmed as first minister, but there is one bright spot.
First of all, there isn’t much money available for public services.
The usual problem that Ms. Morgan’s government will have to solve is how to fund everything else, including schools, local government, and social services, while also maintaining the NHS and trains.
In order to obtain budget approvals, she must also build relationships with politicians from other parties and the Senedd, where Labour holds 30 of the 60 seats.
And those additional issues?
It is not a very good gift.
Labour is doing poorly in polls for the 2026 Senedd election, and it appears that voters are now clearly distinguishing between Westminster politics and Senedd politics.
They’ve been hard hit by the Gething era.
Ms. Morgan’s use of those public services could be the key to regaining support from voters.
She’ll likewise have to tell us a big motivator for she, as the absence of challenge implies an absence of pronouncement.
Also, she should convincingly pitch to Welsh electors that having two Work states – one in Ridges and one in Westminster – cooperating, benefits Ribs.
That is the beam of daylight.
The relationship with Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, which Vaughan Gething briefly had, Mark Drakeford never had, and Carwyn Jones only had for five months, is the promising aspect of her tenure.
Electors stand by and citizens anticipate.
She won out of the blue.
However, Eluned Morgan’s struggle for 2026 is just getting started.
See also: Eluned Morgan will probably be the first female FM in Wales
