New Year New Wales

Mark Hooper - Plaid Cymru's lead candidate for Penybont Bro Morgannwg

It is New Year’s Eve 2025, and it is a cold early morning in Barry – not as cold as Cumbria, the radio tells me, but still. I am tapping on my keyboard with my fingers peeking out from my jumper sleeves. I could put the heating on, but everyone else in the house is still in bed, and the clunk of the boiler kicking in would likely wake them up and after all what are big jumpers for if not mornings like these.

I can see lots of the town I grew up in from my window as I type. The final sunrise of the year – bright, crisp, new, sets the tone for the last day of 2025 and what comes next in 2026. It is, yes, (yet) another new year - we have had them before, and we will have these timestamps of our lives again, but this one is, for Wales, and Welsh politics, significant.

In just over four months' time, Wales will be different. We will have a new Government running our public services. The politics of the devolution era has been dominated by Labour here in Wales. Despite this hold on power, for much of that time, responsibility for delivery has been the excuse-ridden, buck-passed performatively between Westminster and Cardiff. The only people losing out being the residents of Wales, who have had to endure an NHS forever on the brink, poorly-delivered public services and a Government unwilling or unable to effectively stand up for Welsh interests.

Twenty-six years of failure have been enough for the long-suffering electorate in Wales. The Welsh branch of Starmer’s Labour has their marching orders; orders to be officially issued in ballot boxes across Wales on May 7^th. The Labour Party is not in the running for who leads Wales from May. Everyone knows it, including most in the Labour Party. The party is well and truly over.

And the Tories. The right of their Party has scrambled unedifyingly to ReformUK over the past year, whilst the remaining rump are struggling for relevance. Even in former strongholds like Cowbridge, they come third behind Plaid and ReformUK. Some, like the ever-angry Andrew RT Davies, desperately try to out-nasty Farage, leaving those few remaining one-nation types wondering where their Party has gone. The Tories will be lucky to return enough for a five-a-side team come May – they will not matter in the post election reckoning – 14 years and more of failure at Westminster have rightfully ensured that.

Now it gets a little more concerning. Our super constituency is a target for ReformUK – highlighted internally (by them) as “Gold+”. They want three of the six seats here – the kind of tally that would put them close to the biggest party in Wales. A Party of anger and fear, funded by billionaires pretending to care about communities in Wales. We see their misinformation and lies, and we stand strongly against them. Wales, as a political entity, needs to work much better – we have credible plans to make that so, and we won’t, unlike Farage and his pals, punch down on the weakest in society to make better happen.

The only party that will stop them getting three seats in our patch is Plaid Cymru. The last poll (Wales Governance Centre/YouGov – Dec 17^th 2025) suggested Plaid’s Sarah Rees would get that sixth seat here, but the Party in seventh place would be ReformUK. Some have warned of complacency setting in at Plaid Cymru – let me assure you we are focused entirely on making sure we defeat ReformUK here in Pen Y Bont Bro Morgannwg and play our positive part in building a better tomorrow.

May’s election could (and should, in my view) be decided by voters under 35. No ifs or buts, if their electoral muscles were to be exercised, it would be game over for Farage and his nasty gang. In the latest polling, six times as many 18–24-year-olds support Plaid versus ReformUK and three times as many 25–34-year-olds (shame they didn’t poll 16–17-year-olds who can also vote in this election!). Labour and the Lib Dems performed even worse than ReformUK, and as for the Tories, the polling was frankly embarrassing. There is no better time than May to make sure young people’s voices are heard and their votes are counted. This is the election that matters. This is the election for young people in Wales to vote for Plaid Cymru.

Penultimately, I have a sincere, but to the point, message for those considering voting Green or Lib Dem in this super-constituency. Simply put, your vote will not count positively – the only winners will be ReformUK. This is not the case everywhere across Wales. There are a few places which will return Senedd members from both these parties, I’m sure, but it will not be in the Vale and Bridgend. Neither party will get to the threshold required under the proportional system being used. We could argue the merits or otherwise of this system (Plaid has consistently supported the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system), and we’d probably agree, but that will not change the system; we are beyond semantics and on the electoral battlefield – make your vote count; vote for Plaid Cymru.

Oftentimes, parties ask supporters of the relatively weaker party to lend their votes to stop a much worse outcome. A tactical vote. Given the dangers posed by either a ReformUK Welsh Government or them winning the most seats in the Senedd but being unable to form a government (because nobody else is willing to work with them), the worst outcomes are clear. But unlike most tactical votes, potential supporters of both parties who do vote Plaid can do so positively. Whilst Plaid Cymru does have policy differences with the Greens and Lib Dems, we also have significant areas upon which we agree. We will stand on a credible and deliverable manifesto that will make Wales fairer and more prosperous. You can vote Plaid Cymru with confidence AND still stop ReformUK in their tracks. We have seen this in Caerphilly, and we can see the same here.

Together we can ensure 2026 and beyond is hopeful, not hateful, where public services that we all rely on get properly funded, where the groundworks for a fairer, stronger economy are laid and where we have a Welsh Government that will always stand up for Wales and our interests from day one. Business as usual is not the option we are choosing, and that is why we are asking YOU to join with us and play your part in this most crucial of elections. You could join us, donate to support our activities locally or simply tell us we will be getting your vote on May 7^th. It will take a coalition of progressive support to win in just over four months, and in Sarah and I you will be electing two members who will not let you down.

 

Mark Hooper is a Vale of Glamorgan Councillor for Plaid Cymru. He leads the Party’s list in the super constituency of Pen Y Bont Bro Morgannwg, which covers the Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend parliamentary constituencies. Sarah Rees, Head of Oxfam Cymru, is Plaid’s second-placed candidate. Full details of all Plaid Cymru’s candidates across Wales can be found here.