Wales’ Labour first minister Eluned Morgan says she will ‘call out’ Starmer

Wales’ First Minister Eluned Morgan has said she will “call out” Labour in Westminster when it “gets it wrong for Wales”.

In a major speech the Welsh Labour leader said she will “not stay silent” if Sir Keir Starmer’s UK government takes decisions “we think will harm Welsh communities”.

Referring to Gavin and Stacey, Morgan said what is right for Essex may not be right for Barry, the town that it was filmed in.

She called for UK ministers to halt part of its plans to cut disability benefits, rethink cuts to the winter fuel allowance, and demanded Wales benefit more from wind power via the Crown Estate.

Sir Keir Starmer said there would not be a rethink on winter fuel cuts, but that the government needed to “explain the decisions we’ve taken”.

Meanwhile a poll published on Tuesday suggested that support for Labour among voters had fallen to a historic low.

It comes after the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, introduced changes to personal independence payments (PIP) and cuts to health-related universal credit during the Spring Statement.

Morgan told party members and politicians: “It’s nation and the people of Wales before party for me.”

The speech comes 12 months ahead of the next Senedd election, with Labour so far polling neck and neck with Plaid Cymru and Reform.

The Welsh Conservatives said it was a “last ditch, desperate attempt to save the Labour party’s bacon”.

Plaid Cymru said it was a “desperate attempt by a floundering first minister to reset her premiership”.

Reform, which is hoping to win its first seats in the Senedd next year, said Labour was “more focused on slogans than solutions”.

Speaking in Cardiff Bay, Morgan said she will not “hesitate to challenge from within, even when that means shaking things up”.

But using the analogy of the BBC sitcom, she said: “There will be times when what’s right for Essex is not right for Barry.

“Like Nessa and Smithy, there will be a bond, but there will also be issues.

“Where we disagree, we will say it, where we see unfairness, we will stand up for it.”

She insisted that what she was describing was not a “split” but was instead “grown up modern government” and patriotic.

Morgan used her speech to set out a list of requests of the UK government.

She said the cuts in winter fuel payments was something that “comes up time and time again, and I hope the UK government will rethink this policy”.

Morgan called for Wales to benefit more from the Crown Estate, which is being used to build offshore wind projects off the coast of Wales.

She argued that Wales should have control over the land in the same way the Scottish government does, which receives revenues from the Crown Estate north of the border.

“We saw them take our coal, we saw them take our water. We will not let them take our wind, not this time, not on my watch,” she said.

The first minister called for a shake-up to how her government is funded, saying the Barnett formula which determines how Wales is funded “does not serve Wales well,” she said.

“It needs to be changed to reflect the needs of our country, not the numbers of people who live here.”

She made the case for Wales to be “at the front of the queue” for rail investment, calling the HS2 classification as an England and Welsh project an “almighty injustice”.

In the speech Morgan stopped short of calling for cuts to disability benefit to be stopped.

But in an interview with BBC Wales after the speech, Morgan said: “I want certain parts of them certainly to be scrapped.

“What we’d like to see is them following some to the models that have worked for us in Wales – rather than it be about cuts, it should be about leading people, holding their hands through a process.

“Cutting someone’s benefit is not going to push them into work.”

She added: “I certainly think PIP has to be rethought. That is a significant problem for many of our communities.”

About 275,000 people of working age in Wales claim PIP and 150,000 claim the health-related element of universal credit.

Morgan said disability cuts are likely to hit parts of Wales “six times more proportionally in some areas of Wales, compared to England”.

Morgan also used her speech to attack her rivals. She said Reform “sow and reap grievance”, while Plaid Cymru “promise a lot, but they expect someone else to foot the bill”.

The rise of Reform and a split on the left meant that the “whole shape of the future of Wales” was at stake at the next election.

Morgan said the Welsh government’s “red Welsh Labour way” was working for the people of Wales, with free prescriptions, a cap on social care and high recycling rates.

She said: “I warn people in Wales, be careful not to take these things for granted.

“These are political choices that Welsh Labour has made and other parties can and will snatch them away from you.”

The speech took place at the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay, with a number of Labour Members of the Senedd, and Llanelli MP and Wales Office minister Nia Griffith, in attendance.

The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, said the UK government needed “to explain the decisions we’ve taken”, after “disappointing” election results in England, but insisted he had to “stabilise the economy”.

Earlier No10 said there would not be a reversal to winter fuel cuts, after calls for a rethink including from Eluned Morgan

Starmer said his cabinet had discussed the election results when it met on Tuesday morning, repeating that “it’s really important that we indicate to voters that we get it”.

He said the government would “turbocharge” it’s change agenda “so that people can feel it in their everyday lives.”

Starmer’s press secretary said Eluned Morgan was “absolutely right that Welsh Labour is in a unique position to deliver for Wales”.

Asked about her comments on the winter fuel payment, he said: “We won’t agree on everything, but we are aligned in our mission to deliver security and renewal for working people.”

Meanwhile, Labour has slumped to a historic low in a new YouGov opinion poll which suggests the party is supported by just 18% of the Welsh public.

ITV Wales/Cardiff University’s Barn Cymru Senedd election poll puts Plaid Cymru in the lead on 30%, Reform on 25%, and the Tories on 13%.

The Liberal Democrats polled at 7%, and the Greens at 5%.

Cardiff University academics estimated that if the result was the same at the next Senedd election in May Plaid would emerge as the largest party with 35 seats.

Reform would be on 30, Labour on 19, the Tories on 9 and the Lib Dems 3.

Parties will need 49 seats to form a government in the new Senedd, which will have 36 more politicians than now.

Labour has come first in every assembly and Senedd election since 1999.

Dr Jac Larner, from Cardiff University’s Welsh Governance Centre, said: “This poll represents a substantial shift from previous Welsh polls and as always carries the health warnings of a single poll.

“However, the results support a broader pattern emerging throughout the UK – both Labour and Conservative parties are experiencing substantial erosion of support, though flowing in different directions, resulting in a newly fragmented four-party political landscape in Wales.”

By Gareth Lewis, BBC Wales political editor

Labour’s pitch seems to be this as the Senedd election looms: Eluned Morgan will push much harder than she has before on a whole host of issues.

The argument goes that as a Labour first minister she is the only one who can be in the room with Keir Starmer – a first minister from another party would be shouting from the outside.

It comes with risk. If she shouts louder and still does not get what she wants, then how will that go down with voters?

It is a tricky balance – on the one hand she needs UK Labour for things like rail investment and Crown Estate, and on the other she wants to be distinct. It means the message might confuse some voters.

Opposition parties are not impressed and see this as a last ditch and ultimately futile attempt by Welsh Labour to cling on to their position as biggest party in the Senedd.