It comes after polling by YouGov showed Plaid Cymru, Wales’s pro-independence party, opened up a 14-point lead over Reform UK. With the SNP predicted to retain control in Holyrood, Plaid Cymru to form a government in Wales, and Sinn Féin the largest party in Northern Ireland – Scotland’s First Minister has said there could be nationalist leaders in each of the devolved nations, which could lead to the end of the UK.
Eluned Morgan was asked on Sky News with Trevor Phillips if she agreed with Swinney’s assessment.
“I think there’s a real possibility of that,” she said.
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“I think it’s time people woke up to that as a possibility.
“The elections in May could have profound implications, not just for the people of Wales and their public services, but also for the situation in the whole of the United Kingdom.
“The danger is real, the fact that Plaid Cymru and possibly the Greens may be distracted constantly, not looking at improving people’s bread-and-butter issues, bringing those waiting lists down, building schools, filling potholes like we’ve done – 200,000 since I’ve been First Minister.”
Earlier, Morgan said: “There’s a challenge ahead of us, and these are tricky times, and we’re clear about that.
“For the first time, we have a situation where two pro-independence parties could gather together and really start on a genuine separatist move when it comes to Wales.”
Eluned Morgan on Sky News with Trevor Phillips (Image: Sky News)
As well as Plaid Cymru, the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) are also doing well in the polls, and could hold the balance of power come May 7.
A recent YouGov poll put Plaid Cymru as the largest party in Wales, on 37% (+7) of the vote, with Reform in second place on 23% (-6). For the first time, the Greens were in third place at 13%, while Labour hit its lowest ever point in a Senedd voting intention poll, on 10%, on par with the Tories.
“This is not something that people have foreseen, but there is a real threat, not just to public services in Wales here, but also to the Union,” Morgan told Sky News.
“And the break-up of the Union is something that I think we need to take seriously, but we have a job to do between now and May, as a Labour Party, as a Labour government in Wales, to make sure that people know there’s a trust.”
Labour have been Wales’ biggest party in every subsequent Westminster election and all six Senedd elections since devolution in 1999.
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It was also put to Morgan that if the SNP win in May then Keir Starmer would not be Prime Minister by the end of 2026.
Asked if she agreed, Morgan replied: “Well, that will be a decision for the parliamentary group, but I do think there will be pressure on the Prime Minister, inevitably, if Labour performs badly.
“So it is in the UK Labour government’s interest to make sure that they can support us in every way, including perhaps giving us more power in certain areas that we’ve been requesting for a while.”
We told how top pollster John Curtice said that if Labour loses their winning streak in Wales, that would be the biggest threat to Starmer’s leadership.
Last week Morgan called for the devolution settlement to be updated to ensure “fairness” amongst the UK nations.
Speaking at the Institute for Government (IFG), she argued that an independent adjudicator should be appointed to ensure fairness across all four nations when it comes to Westminster funding.
Morgan called for a “new chapter of devolution” and said that Wales should have the “same powers as Scotland”.