News

Eluned Morgan targets Haverfordwest as Welsh Labour fights to hold its ground

Published

2 months ago

April 5, 2026

A HAVERFORDWEST teaching assistant became the quiet centrepiece of Welsh Labour’s manifesto launch — and, in doing so, revealed a party focused less on momentum than on damage limitation in towns like ours.

Eluned Morgan’s manifesto launch speech was meant to speak to the whole of Wales. But tucked inside it was a telling local calculation.

When the Welsh Labour leader told delegates about a teaching assistant in Haverfordwest who had “never voted in her life” but would now back Labour because of a pay rise, it was no throwaway line.

In political terms, it was no throwaway line. Morgan was invoking a voter from the very constituency battleground where Labour needs reassurance to cut through.

After years in power, Welsh Labour knows it cannot simply rely on habit, loyalty or anti-Tory feeling to carry it over the line. It needs to reconnect with lower-paid working people in towns like Haverfordwest — voters who may still support parts of Labour’s record, but are increasingly doubtful that life in Wales is getting better.

That is why Morgan’s speech mattered.

Far from sounding like a leader marching confidently towards victory, she sounded like someone trying to hold together a delicate coalition of public sector workers, traditional Labour supporters and anxious voters tempted by change, but wary of the alternatives.

The tone was revealing from the outset.

This was not a speech built on triumph. It was built on caution.

Morgan spoke of pressure on families, pressure on public services and pressure on her own party. She acknowledged that many voters feel something “isn’t quite right” and said people want “a little more certainty” and “a little less dread”.

That is not the language of a party taking victory for granted. It is the language of a party that knows it must steady nervous voters before polling day.

In that sense, the Haverfordwest example was politically shrewd.

Teaching assistants and school support staff are not just another part of the workforce. They are exactly the sort of voters Labour needs to keep onside — public-facing, often modestly paid, rooted in their communities and living the everyday pressures politicians talk about so freely.

By highlighting a Haverfordwest worker who had never voted before, Morgan was trying to tell a wider story: that Welsh Labour can still reach the ordinary voter who feels overlooked, underpaid and unconvinced by politics in general.

But there was another message buried in the anecdote.

Labour is plainly worried about disengagement.

A voter who has “never voted in her life” is useful in a speech not just because she is newly supportive, but because she represents a wider problem for all parties — the sense that many people have drifted away from politics altogether.

Morgan knows frustration with government in Cardiff Bay is real, especially after long-running complaints over NHS access, stretched public services, transport and the cost of living. Her answer was not to offer excitement, but reassurance.

That came through again and again.

She promised there would be no rise in income tax. She attacked “easy promises” and “slogans”. She said she would not “gamble” with people’s lives. She framed the election not as a call for upheaval, but as a choice between seriousness and protest.

In plain terms, Labour is trying to turn this election into a referendum on risk.

That is often what governing parties do when they sense frustration in the electorate, but hope voters remain more cautious about the opposition.

It also helps explain why west Wales featured so prominently in the speech.

Morgan promised a new hospital for west Wales as part of a wider NHS building programme. She also pledged that patients would be able to access a primary healthcare professional within 48 hours if they had a problem that could not wait.

Those lines will have landed strongly in Pembrokeshire, where concern over health services has become one of the most potent and emotional issues in local politics.

But they also expose Labour’s weakness.

After decades as the dominant force in Welsh politics, Labour is still having to promise basic improvements in areas where public frustration is already deepest. Voters may welcome those pledges, but many will also ask why, after all this time, they are still being asked to wait.

That is the central tension in Morgan’s speech.

She wants to campaign as both the agent of improvement and the guardian of stability. She is asking people to believe Labour can fix problems that have grown on Labour’s watch, while also arguing that nobody else can be trusted to take over.

It is not an impossible argument. But it is a difficult one.

For readers in Pembrokeshire, perhaps the most revealing thing about the speech is not just what it promised, but what it exposed.

It exposed a Welsh Labour leadership that knows west Wales matters.

It exposed a party that sees lower-paid workers and public service staff as central to its survival.

And it exposed a leader who understands that this election is not being fought on favourable ground.

The repeated slogan was “fairness you can feel”.

But the speech itself suggested something more hard-headed than hopeful.

Welsh Labour is no longer campaigning like a movement expecting gratitude. It is campaigning like a government asking voters, however frustrated they may be, not to take a chance on anything else.

Charity

Tenby club raises £1,000 for Wales Air Ambulance

Published

5 hours ago

May 22, 2026

Tom Sinclair

TENBY INNER WHEEL CLUB has raised £1,000 for Wales Air Ambulance after holding a popular fish and chip supper fundraiser.

The club has supported the lifesaving charity for 12 years, raising £8,600 in total.

The latest event, held at the Boathouse in Saundersfoot, included both lunch and evening sittings, as well as a raffle.

The Inner Wheel Club of Tenby is a women’s organisation focused on friendship and service. It currently has 23 members who raise money for a range of good causes.

Karen Tulley, from the club, said: “Our members use our skills to promote and help good causes, while having plenty of fun at the same time.

“We are all aware that Wales Air Ambulance relies totally on donations and receives no government funding, which is why we are always keen to make this a really good event and raise as much money as we can.

“The air ambulance service is essential, particularly in rural areas.”

Following the fundraiser, Mike May, Wales Air Ambulance Regional Fundraising Manager, attended the club’s annual meeting, where he was presented with the £1,000 cheque.

He said: “A huge thank you to everyone at Inner Wheel Club of Tenby for raising a further £1,000 for our service.

“The members have fundraised for us for 12 years and in that time they have raised an incredible £8,600, which is amazing. We really do appreciate their ongoing support of our all-Wales charity.

“Fundraisers like these will ensure that the Wales Air Ambulance continues to be there for the people of Wales when they need us most.”

Wales Air Ambulance is a consultant-led service which takes hospital-standard treatment to patients and, if needed, transfers them directly to the most appropriate hospital.

The charity must raise £13m every year to keep its helicopters in the air and rapid response vehicles on the road.

Pic: Mike May, Wales Air Ambulance Regional Fundraising Manager, at the cheque presentation.

Community

Protest planned outside police station calling for Chief Constable’s removal

Published

6 hours ago

May 22, 2026

Tom Sinclair

Campaigners accuse Dyfed-Powys Police of failing to safeguard children in Carmarthenshire

A PROTEST calling for the removal of Dyfed-Powys Police Chief Constable Dr Richard Lewis is due to take place outside Llanelli Police Station this weekend.

The demonstration, organised by campaign group Predator Awareness and activist Zack Griffiths, is scheduled for Saturday (May 23) at 11:00am.

Promotional material shared online claims the protest is being held because the current Chief Constable has “failed to safeguard the children of Carmarthenshire”.

Campaigners are urging members of the public to gather outside Llanelli Police Station under the slogan: “No more silence. No more excuses. Protect our children.”

The specific concerns behind the protest have not been fully outlined publicly, although organisers have linked it to wider safeguarding concerns.

When approached by The Herald, Dyfed-Powys Police confirmed officers were aware of the planned demonstration.

***Protest planned: Campaigners are calling for the removal of Dyfed-Powys Police Chief Constable Dr Richard Lewis (Pic: supplied).***

A police spokesperson said: “We are aware of plans for a protest in Llanelli this weekend.

“We will always seek to facilitate lawful peaceful protest while balancing it with the rights of others, keeping the public safe, and preventing crime and disorder — and we encourage anyone organising a protest to contact us so we can work together to ensure any demonstrations are done safely and with respect for the wider community.”

The protest is expected to take place outside Llanelli Police Station on Saturday morning.

News

Bank holiday rail works to affect Cardiff and Valleys passengers

Published

6 hours ago

May 22, 2026

Tom Sinclair

PASSENGERS are being urged to plan ahead this bank holiday weekend as essential rail improvement works take place across the Cardiff and Valleys network.

Transport for Wales said all lines through Cardiff Queen Street will be closed on Sunday (May 24) and Bank Holiday Monday (May 25).

Rail replacement buses and service diversions will be in operation to keep passengers moving.

Services from Treherbert, Aberdare and Merthyr Tydfil will continue to run into Cardiff Central via the City Line, through Ninian Park. Replacement buses will run between Radyr and Llandaf, Cathays, Cardiff Queen Street and Cardiff Bay.

The works come as warm weather is forecast and services to popular coastal destinations, including Barry Island and the North Wales coast, are expected to be busier than usual.

Passengers are also being reminded that a new timetable came into effect on Sunday (May 17), with some trains now calling at different stations and at different times.

Industrial action by West Midlands Railway is also expected to affect Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton and Hereford to Birmingham routes on Friday (May 22) and Saturday (May 23). TfW said its own services are likely to be busier as a result, with extra capacity provided where possible.

Sarah Higgins, Operations Director at Transport for Wales, said: “Transport for Wales will be running its normal timetable over the Bank Holiday weekend, but some services may be much busier than usual due to industrial action at West Midlands Railway affecting Shrewsbury–Birmingham and Hereford–Birmingham services on Friday 22 and Saturday 23 May.

“With high temperatures also forecast, customers are encouraged to take extra care when travelling, check for the latest travel information using the TfW website, mobile app, or social media channels, and to stay hydrated.”

On Sunday and Monday, buses will replace trains between Rhymney or Caerphilly and Cardiff Central, and between Radyr and Cardiff Central via Llandaf, Cathays and Cardiff Queen Street.

Penarth to Coryton services will terminate at Cardiff Central, with tickets accepted on Cardiff Bus routes 21, 23 and 27. On Monday only, tickets will also be valid on Cardiff Bus routes 92, 93 and 94 between Penarth and Cardiff city centre.

For the Cardiff Bay Line, tickets will be accepted on Cardiff Bus route 6, with an additional hourly bus running between Radyr and Cardiff Bay, calling at Llandaf, Cathays and Cardiff Queen Street.