Tag Archives: 2026 senedd elections

Welsh Liberal Democrats need more than “stop” politics

By Jack Meredith | Sat 16th May 2026 - 12:55 pm

In many ways, the 2026 Senedd election was historic. Wales is the first country in Great Britain to adopt proportional representation, utilising the D’Hondt voting system over a Mixed Member voting system. Its parliament has expanded from 60 to 96 members. For the first time in over a century, Labour is no longer the dominant party in Wales. Plaid is now the largest party, with its leader, Rhun ap Iorweth, becoming the new First Minister of Wales. Reform UK is the official opposition, and the Greens have made their Senedd debut.

But for all that has changed, one thing has remained the same: the Welsh Liberal Democrats still only hold one seat.

There is no point in pretending this was the result we wanted. While Jane Dodds’ re-election guarantees there is a voice for Welsh liberalism in the Senedd, this campaign has been one of survival, when it should have been one of growth.

The story of this election is far from complex. Welsh Labour’s support collapsed, while Plaid Cymru and Reform UK grew to represent the governing alternative and protest alternative, respectively. Their messages were simple and concentrated. Plaid argued that Labour had governed for too long, that Reform UK was dangerous, and only the literal Party of Wales could govern Wales as it should be. Reform, meanwhile, argued that the system was broken because of the same old establishment politicians, and it was time for a radical shift.

And what was the Welsh Liberal Democrat message? We argued that “only we can stop independence” and that “only we can stop Reform”. An understandable goal for a party that opposes nationalism and populism, but also one that painted us as reactive and always on the back foot. While Plaid and Reform wanted to bring change to the Welsh government, for better or worse, we told voters to be afraid of change, playing into both parties’ hands by framing ourselves as “just another establishment pro-union party”.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged welsh liberal democrats | 16 Comments

Friday late afternoon update:

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 8th May 2026 - 6:00 pm

Well, I’m back from my count where I saved my deposit and came within a couple of hundred votes of beating the Conservatives.

I am beyond exhausted, but I will try and pull together what we know so far.

Scotland

The bad news is that we have lost Shetland. It will seem like a big shock to everyone to lose a seat that we have represented in Westminster for 75 years and in Holyrood since devolution. I feel for Emma Macdonald, who ran a busy and beautiful campaign. I think there was some worry about Shetland at the start of the campaign but that we had become more confident. It’s a huge loss, let’s make no bones about it.

In the other group of Northern Isles, Liam McArthur was returned with what I think is the highest percentage vote share of any MSP ever – 70.9%.

He is one of 5 MSPs we have at 5:30 pm. This is one more than we had in 2021 and means that we will be an officially recognised group from the start of the new Parliament.

The others are Sanne Dijkstra-Downie who gained the new seat of Edinburgh Northern which was notionally SNP, Alex Cole-Hamilton, who now enjoys a 13,000 majority in Edinburgh North Western, Willie Rennie who won Fife North East with 63.7% of the vote and an increased majority and Adam Harley, who has just won the constituency of Strathkelvin and Bearsden for the first time in the history of the Scottish Parliament from the SNP.

It’s looking that we might also soon win in Caithness, according to the BBC. Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch and Inverness and Nairn are two horse races between us and the SNP.

Alan Reid missed out on winning Argyll and Bute by 2.500 votes, a seat he held at Westminster between 2001 and 2015.

And they haven’t started on the lists yet, where we hope to pick up another few seats.

Wales

I’m beyond gutted that we didn’t win our two biggest prospects for gains, Sam Bennett in Swansea and Rodney Berman in Cardiff. However, thankfully, Jane Dodds has got back in in the last seat in her constituency so we will still have representation. It’s such a shame that this will be the third term that we have had a sole representative in the Senedd. She will no doubt have an important role, though given the overall numbers between Plaid and Reform.

England

Overall, we are 92 Councillors up, but London seems to be a tale of two halves. In the south, we’ve already had almost North Korean results in Richmond and Sutton – a testament to the brilliant work of our councillors. Kingston added to that with 44 out of 48.

Posted in News | Also tagged 2026 holyrood elections and 2026 local elections | 18 Comments

And that’s a wrap – thanks everyone!

By The Voice | Thu 7th May 2026 - 10:00 pm

Millions of steps taken, thousands of doors knocked on and phone calls made. There will be a lot of very tired Lib Dems this evening.

Many of us will have to wait till tomorrow to know the results. Only a few areas are counting tonight and we’ll round up those results in the morning.

Alex Cole-Hamilton has said a big thank you to the teams who have been out across Scotland today:

As polls close I would like to thank all of the Scottish Liberal Democrat candidates and activists who have worked so hard to deliver a positive and energetic campaign from

…

Posted in News | Also tagged 2026 holyrood elections and 2026 local elections | Leave a comment

Good luck!

By Mary Reid | Thu 7th May 2026 - 8:06 am

So what are you doing reading this? Shouldn’t you be out telling or knocking up on the doorsteps?

OK, so I do know that not everyone has the opportunity, or the capacity, to do either of those tasks, and, of course, if that applies to you then your support is also precious.

During the day the BBC follows some pretty strict guidelines about what they can report – which is why there is always a story about dogs in polling stations. Things only really swing into action at 10pm.

So what should we be looking for after polls close?

In Wales the counts for the Senedd elections will begin on Friday morning, although returning officers are allowed to verify the votes the night before, which may speed things up a bit. Once the count begins Wales has adopted the D’Hondt system for the first time. Six members are elected for each of the 16 constituencies, but voters can only select the party list they wish to support rather than individual members.

In Scotland the counts for the Scottish Parliament won’t begin until Friday morning either. Scottish elections are always logistically challenging because of the many very remote locations, so expect some delays. Voters will be selecting their MSPs using the Additional Member System. The country is divided into 73 constituencies, each of which elects a member under FPTP. The constituencies are clustered into eight regions and they each elect 7 further members, with voters selecting a single party list. A modified D’Hondt system allocates these additional members to reflect the overall balance of the votes. (Londoners will recognise this as the method for electing the London Assembly)

In England, there is a patchwork of local council elections in 136 local authorities. These include district councils, unitaries (some newly formed), metropolitan boroughs, county councils and all the London boroughs. Most of these are all-in all-out every four years, but some are electing by thirds. It is important to note that the seats being contested today only cover about a third of all the principal council seats in England. In addition six directly elected mayors are up for election. Some councils will be counting overnight, some on Friday.

Only Northern Ireland has a quiet day, with no elections taking place.

Mark Pack – election guru and past Party President – has an interesting analysis here: 6 ways to judge the Liberal Democrat election results.

We would love to hear from you in the comments about counts that are worth watching out for. I will kick off by saying that my money (metaphorically) is on the London Borough of Merton; it is one of those rare instances where we have won a Westminster seat – Paul Kohler in Wimbledon – before gaining control of the council. And it is counting overnight so we should get the result by breakfast on Friday.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged 2026 local elections and 2026 scottish parliament elections | 1 Comment

Let’s get Welsh Lib Dems elected!

By Jack Meredith | Mon 30th March 2026 - 11:48 am

On Thursday, 7 May, Wales will go to the polls to vote for a new government under a new closed-list voting system.

Every seat is up for grabs, and the Liberal Democrats will be contesting all of them.

In my local area, Swansea and Gower, Councillor Sam Bennett will be advancing the Liberal Democrat cause, hoping to provide a measured, liberal voice in the Senedd.

His dedication to fighting for Swansea and Gower communities, social justice and equality is a testament to his politics and to the liberal flame that continues to burn in Wales.

I’ll be joining his campaign team to …

Posted in Wales | 1 Comment

Elections kick off – six exhilarating weeks ahead

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 25th March 2026 - 8:36 am

It’s that time of year again. My social media feeds are all full of pictures of groups of people out canvassing or leafletting, of people handing in their nomination papers.

It must be the start of the “official” campaign for the huge array of national and local elections coming up on May 7th.

The Scottish Parliament, the Senedd in Wales and every Council seat in London is up for grabs along with local elections around the country from Liverpool to some places where they didn’t know until a few weeks ago that the elections were back on again.

I have to show you …

Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged 2026 local elections, 2026 scottish parliament elections, david green, ed davey and featured | 3 Comments

Beyond 2026: how the Liberal Democrats can win a post-Labour Neath

By Jack Meredith | Fri 9th January 2026 - 12:44 pm

With the 2026 Senedd election now around four months away, Welsh politics has entered a new phase. Campaigns are taking shape, narratives are hardening, and for the first time since devolution, both the electoral map and the voting system have fundamentally changed. Old assumptions about “safe seats” no longer apply.

In Neath, that shift is particularly stark. Under the new boundaries, Neath now sits within the Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, combining Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe, Neath, and Swansea East into a single six-member constituency elected by closed-list proportional representation.

Recent polling for this new constituency points to a fragmented outcome: two Reform UK seats, two Labour seats, one Plaid Cymru seat, and one Green seat, with the Green replacing what had previously been grouped under a generic “Other” category. This is not a two-party contest, and it is not a temporary anomaly. It is a snapshot of a post-Labour political landscape beginning to take shape.

For the Liberal Democrats, the strategic question is therefore not how to force a late breakthrough in the final months before 2026. It is about positioning the party to inherit trust once the first wave of volatility has passed.

2026 is not the realignment; it is the signal

What is happening in Neath is not simply electoral churn. It is the slow unravelling of a political settlement that once bound work, unions, public services, and Labour representation together into a single political home.

That settlement is weakening, not because Neath has rejected centre-left values, but because Labour increasingly feels distant, defensive, and managerial in devolved government. The new voting system has not caused this; it has merely exposed it.

Plaid Cymru and Reform UK are the immediate beneficiaries of that break. Plaid offers national confidence and Welsh self-assertion. Reform offers anger, disruption, and a rejection of politics as it is. Both speak to frustration. Neither yet represents a settled governing alternative for towns like Neath.

Realignments rarely resolve themselves in a single election. Protest comes first. Consolidation comes later. The next Senedd election after 2026 is where voters will begin looking for a new political anchor.

The work of earning that role must start now.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged welsh senedd | 2 Comments

If Plaid Cymru takes the lead, Welsh Liberal Democrats must be ready to engage

By Jack Meredith | Sat 20th September 2025 - 2:53 pm

Recent polling carried out ahead of the 2026 Welsh Elections suggests that, for the first time since the inception of a devolved Welsh administration, Labour will not be the largest party, with both Plaid and Reform vying to be the leader of a minority government.

The race to lead the Senedd has yet to begin, but the Welsh Liberal Democrats must consider their place in a Welsh political landscape that, for the first time since 1999, Plaid Cymru could lead the government. I’ll save speculation for a Reform-led Welsh government for another time.

Plaid Cymru’s aim for the longest time was to secede Wales from the UK, and have it rejoin the EU as an independent nation. Its current leader, Rhun ap Iorweth, however, has ruled out plans for independence within the first term of a Plaid Cymru-led government. Plaid’s current policies, according to their website, include securing “fair funding for Wales” from Westminster to invest in areas like public transport and healthcare, implementing an “Essentials Guarantee” scheme to ensure Welsh citizens in need receive “at least the minimum required for their daily life”, and petitioning the UK government to withdraw from the international arms supply trade.

It is fair to say that in quite a few areas, the Welsh Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru can find common ground. We both support the strengthening of LGBTQ+ rights, reintegration into the EU, the creation of a National Care Service, and a wide array of climate and environmental policies. It would make sense, should it come to it, for the Welsh Liberal Democrats to work with Plaid Cymru, whether it be a coalition, supply and confidence deal, etc.

The elephant in the room, of course, is the I word: independence. While Plaid’s long-term goal is Welsh Independence, the Liberal Democrats are a federalist party, so in that regard, we do stand in contrast to one another. But herein lies an opportunity to sidestep issues of independence and focus on shared democratic reform.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged plaid cymru, senedd and welsh lib dems | 8 Comments

How should the Welsh Liberal Democrats fight the Senedd elections?

By Jack Meredith | Fri 6th June 2025 - 10:19 am

A few days ago, I authored an opinion piece examining the measures the Welsh Liberal Democrats must undertake to avert total defeat in the 2026 Senedd elections. This piece advocates for a renewed emphasis on federalism, and as one commentator articulated, “Devo-Maxing” (a term I have come to employ quite frequently).

In this article, I intend to investigate an alternate approach that embraces the principles of social democracy.

It is widely acknowledged that Wales embodies a social-democratic ethos. Since 1999, it has consistently elected Labour into government, routinely repudiating free-market rhetoric in favour of left-of-centre ideals, regardless of whether a Conservative or Labour administration presents the rhetoric. From David Lloyd George’s People’s Budget, the establishment of the welfare state and pension schemes, to Nye Bevan’s implementation of Beveridge’s concepts to realise the National Health Service, to Rhodri Morgan’s notion of “clear red water” distinguishing Welsh Labour from Tony Blair’s New Labour, social democracy intricately permeates the fabric of Welsh identity.

It is, therefore, quite remarkable that only one Liberal Democrat leader has ever addressed the Trade Union Congress: the late, esteemed Charles Kennedy.

Mr. Kennedy delivered a speech at the conference on Wednesday, September 11, 2002, following the address by former TUC general secretary John Monks at the Liberal Democrat conference held on Wednesday, September 20, 2000.

During his address, Mr. Kennedy articulated how some of the earliest trade union members in Britain were affiliated with the Liberal Party and emphasized that Beveridge posited that liberty transcended mere freedom from governmental control; it included liberation from “economic servitude to want and squalor and other social evils.” He highlighted that the Liberal Democrats champion dialogue and cooperation with both sectors of industry, acknowledging that, while disagreements with union perspectives may arise, we remain committed to listening and addressing their concerns.

As we transition to contemporary Wales, we observe that Welsh Labour have significantly diminished from their former stature. Current First Minister Eluned Morgan was compelled by her party to condemn the UK government’s decision to reduce support for the most vulnerable, lamentably stating that voters were “taking Welsh Labour for granted,” and employed fear tactics regarding the potential termination of free prescriptions should another party assume power.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged Wales | 13 Comments

How should the Welsh Liberal Democrats approach the Senedd elections?

By Jack Meredith | Wed 28th May 2025 - 8:55 am

In just under a year, Wales will go to the polls to vote in the Senedd elections.

These elections will determine the composition of the new 96-member Senedd, with polls currently indicating either a Labour minority government (Survation and Nation Cymru) or a Plaid Cymru minority government (YouGov). Regardless of which party becomes the senior partner in government, every poll positions Reform just single digits away from forming a minority government themselves. Survation and Nation Cymru place them joint-second with Plaid, while YouGov ranks them outright second, only 5% behind Plaid; the party’s prospects appear promising.

Each poll also suggests that the Welsh Liberal Democrats will secure only 4-7% of the overall vote, indicating a significantly weakened position.

With the rise of Reform, it would be easy to argue that the Welsh Lib Dems should “play the Reform game,” as some within the Labour Party have advocated for their own party’s future. While this position might seem alluring to some, the notion of embracing xenophobic populism turns my stomach. I regard myself as a liberal internationalist, a progressive who supports the spread of human rights globally, and holds the belief that if you seek a better life for yourself and your family, and you’re willing to work hard and contribute to society, then you’re more than welcome in the UK; THAT is why I am a member of the Liberal Democrats.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged Wales | 8 Comments

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Tag Archives: 2026 senedd elections

Welsh Liberal Democrats need more than “stop” politics