‘Reform is a challenge’: Eluned Morgan hits south Wales valleys in constant campaign mode | Eluned Morgan

The next Welsh parliament elections are more than a year away but the first minister, Eluned Morgan, appeared to be on the campaign trail already as she swept through the town of Blackwood in the south Wales valleys.

Within half an hour, she had spoken to dozens of people, asking what they wanted of her government, acknowledging where things needed to be improved, challenging voters who she felt were not being fair on her party.

“I’m constantly in election mode,” said Morgan, who became Labour’s first female head of government in the UK in July. “I’m very aware we’re 14 months away from an election, and I’ve only just taken on the role of first minister. That’s not a lot of time for me to establish myself.”

She has a huge job ahead. Labour has been the party of power in Wales for more than a century, a mighty election-winning machine, but in the 2026 Senedd elections faces an unprecedented squeeze from Reform UK on the right and Plaid Cymru on the left.

Polling suggests Labour is very unlikely to win a majority – and one possibility is it may end up ruling with Plaid – but it is not unfeasible that next summer a union between the Tories and Reform UK could be running Wales.

“Reform is definitely a challenge,” Morgan said. “We’ve got to take the threat seriously. It’s five years since Brexit and the disillusionment that people felt then, the disconnectedness, still needs to be addressed.”

Morgan, a vicar’s daughter, grew up on a council housing estate in Cardiff. “I want to demonstrate that I’m not disconnected,” she said. “I know what you’re talking about. I’m from your community.”

The first minister is “nervous” that changes to the voting system and an increase in the size of the Senedd may mean the Welsh parliament ends up with a large number of Reform UK members.

“But in Wales we believe in community. We believe we’re better off when we pool our resources, when we look after each other. Reform is about creating divisions. People will have to think very seriously about what potentially they could lose,” said Morgan.

Plaid is also a problem for Morgan. Plaid has long worked with Labour but says it will not support its budget in March. Morgan cautions that if the budget is not passed, Wales risks losing money allocated by the UK Treasury.

“Plaid could be voting down the potential of a billion and a half extra money for Wales. I think people of Wales will be very unforgiving if they realise there was money there to fix the NHS and it wasn’t picked up.”

During the visit to Blackwood (the home town of the indie rock band Manic Street Preachers), Morgan received a warm welcome in the miners’ institute, which has just benefited from £210,00 of government “resilience fund” money and is preparing for sellout performances of the adult pantomime Sleeping With Beauty.

Morgan pounced on Richard, 87, and Jan, 86, as they exited a travel agency, having booked a holiday to Tenerife. They told her it was easy to get a GP’s appointment but expressed concern that Cardiff University is proposing to shut its nursing school amid swingeing cuts.

Though this feels like an election campaign visit, Morgan bills it as one of her “listening exercises” that she does on Thursdays and Fridays. She does not set up anything in advance but simply drops in. “The first time I did it, the security guys freaked. They’re used to it now.”

From what she has been told so far, she is focusing on four areas: health, connectivity, opportunities for all and the economy. “I’m trying to get back to the bread and butter issues.”

Nicholas Davies, the owner of the Q Studio hair salon in Blackwood, was unconvinced. His customers were discussing headlines in UK tabloids claiming antisocial behaviour from young people was making the town “worse than the Bronx” when Morgan walked in.

Davies said he employed 40 people before Covid – six now. “I’m born and bred Blackwood. I used to be proud to say I was from here. It used to be a thriving place. Not now. I’m voting Reform all day long.”

No matter what happens next summer, Morgan is a history-maker, the first Labour female leader in the UK. “It is about time, isn’t it? I don’t know why it’s taken so long. I’m just really pleased that we’ve got there.” In an ideal world, the next UK Labour leader should be a woman, she said.

As a radical young woman, Morgan picked coffee in Nicaragua alongside the Sandinistas. “Asked where she would go now if she was that young woman, Morgan said: “I definitely wouldn’t go picking coffee with the Sandinistas today because it’s all very sour out there.

“I’d probably want to go and help reconstruct Palestine. They’ve been pulverised and I worry about that.” She said the 7 October attack was “disgraceful” but the response “massively disproportionate”.

But her focus is Wales. “What I’m interested in is making sure that everybody gets a chance to make the best of themselves. That is what inspired me at the beginning and it still inspires me today.”