LIVE POD - Is Welsh Labour Dead? Is Plaid *Really* the 'Party of Wales'?
The Hiraeth Pod is BACK! With our good friends at That's Devolved we hosted this post-election debate night live in Porter's Cardiff with two fantastic guests and a great audience.
With the extraordinary Senedd 2026 result still recent in the memory, we tackle two of the biggest questions arising:
- Is Welsh Labour Dead? With it's century-long winning streak ending in brutal fashion, what are the vital signs for the once-dominant Welsh Labour brand that saw it lead Welsh Government for 27 years?
- Is Plaid Cymru Really the Party of Wales? After winning seats in every Welsh constituency on the path to forming the new national government, is it's self-styled moniker finally true despite support from only 18% of registered voters?
Our two guests debate with the audience -
Kiera Marshall MS (Plaid Cymru, Caerdydd Penarth):
Owain Williams (Welsh Labour):
As always you can find out more from the Hiraeth Pod on our socials (inc. Instgram/TikTok/X/BlueSky/Mastodon and our website: www.walespolitics.com
Please follow That's Devolved on X/BlueSky/Instagram!
And support independent venues in Cardiff, such as the wonderful Porters: https://www.porterscardiff.org/
Produced by Mimosa Cymru
Music: Bike Sharing to Paradise by Dan Bodan
Press/Media enquiries to: Hiraeth@walespolitics.com
31 Dec 2024
Renewing Welsh democracy, half-a-loafers, and the best old people’s home in London
There are few people that have been at the centre of Welsh national politics for as long as Mark Drakeford. As a councillor, special advisor, Assembly Member, Cabinet Secretary, Minister, and First Minister - as well as leader of Welsh Labour - his experience is unrivalled.
In this session recorded at Labour Party conference Mark is interviewed by friend of the pod Jess Blair (of the Electoral Reform Society) about his thoughts on Welsh democracy past, present, and future, the key debates around redesigning the electoral system for the Senedd in 2026 and beyond and some of the big challenges he faced bringing the legislation through both our national parliament and the Labour Party itself.
Mark also takes questions from the floor about widening representation in the Senedd, republicanism, House of Lords reform, and expanding the franchise.
You can follow our speakers here:
- Mark Drakeford MS: https://x.com/MarkDrakeford
- Jess Blair: https://x.com/JessBlair7
- ERS Cymru: https://x.com/ERScymru
As always, you can find the latest from us on the socials @hiraethpod, including BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/hiraethpod.bsky.social
We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks.
Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod
28 Dec 2024
The Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales
We're closing out the year with a few pods that we couldn't quite find a way to squeeze in the feed earlier in the year, including this one which is an interview with Dr Rowan Williams and Prof Laura McAllister who co-chaired the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales.
Recorded in October 2024 at Cardiff Business School and chaired by Sarah Lethbridge of the Executive Education team, the pod invites both Laura and Rowan to reflect on the work that they did on the commission, the progress on the recommendations they made in their final report, and to answer questions from an in-person and virtual audience about their work.
They also address the new context of recently-formed Labour Governments in Wales and the UK (a long way from the Mark Drakeford- and Liz Truss-led governments when the commission was announced!) and answer questions in relation to local government and the new Senedd electoral system.
You can read the Commission's Final Report here: https://www.gov.wales/independent-commission-on-the-constitutional-future-of-wales-final-report
Find out more about Rowan here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan_Williams
Find Laura here on X: https://x.com/LauraMcAllister
And Sarah here: https://x.com/sarahlethbridge
with the Cardiff Business Executive Education team here: https://x.com/CbsExec
As always, you can find the latest from us on the socials @hiraethpod, including BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/hiraethpod.bsky.social
We hope you find this podcast interesting and useful. Please do send feedback, it's always great to hear what our audience thinks.
Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you have enjoyed it, please leave us a nice rating or comment on your podcast app or on YouTube and, if you are able to do so, please consider supporting our work from just £3/month on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hiraethpod
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