Labour’s stunning byelection loss in Wales shows parties who cannot adapt will be crushed

Labour's Stunning Byelection Loss in Wales

UK politics is moving at speed, with voter loyalties shifting and atomising in unprecedented ways.

If anyone inside No 10 allowed themselves a sigh of relief at Reform UK’s advance being stymied in the Caerphilly byelection, they would then have heard the warning from Lindsay Whittle, Plaid Cymru’s winning candidate:

“You are on your way out after 100-plus years.”
Labour in Wales might or might not be “a dying beast”, as Whittle argued, but this one-off Senedd race illustrated how it was on course to lose its grip on Welsh politics in May, with potentially wider implications for Keir Starmer and his party.

The idea that the full Senedd elections will result in Labour being supplanted by Plaid and Reform has long been heralded by polling, but here it was in stark voting figures: a Labour share of 46 per cent when the seat was previously contested in 2021, now down to 11 per cent; a consistent first place in the town since the Senedd was created in 1999 had tumbled to third.

Author's summary: Labour's loss in Wales shows parties must adapt to survive.

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The Irish Times The Irish Times — 2025-10-24

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