Henry Hill

Welsh politics shows how devolution has failed

(Getty images)

Wales often gets left out when people write and think about the Union. People denounce Brexit as an ‘English’ project despite the Principality voting Leave. Now Scotland is (finally) stealing the headlines with the Salmond scandal, and Northern Ireland looks like it will soon be centre-stage as Unionist opposition to the Government’s Northern Irish Protocol hardens.

But something genuinely interesting is happening in Welsh politics. If a new poll published for St David’s Day is any indication, politics in Cardiff Bay could be about to become much more polarised around the constitutional question.

Labour have held office in Wales ever since the advent of devolution in 1999, and always been the largest party by a comfortable margin. To date, no other party has managed to get within ten seats of them.

But if new figures from YouGov are correct, they might be on track to slip from 29 seats to just 24, their lowest total ever.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in