{"id":390687,"date":"2026-01-26T03:22:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T03:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/390687\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T03:22:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T03:22:18","slug":"real-possibility-of-union-break-up-after-elections-admits-welsh-fm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/390687\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Real possibility’ of Union break-up after elections, admits Welsh FM"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n It comes after polling by YouGov showed Plaid Cymru, Wales\u2019s pro-independence party, opened up a 14-point lead over Reform UK. With the SNP<\/a> predicted to retain control in Holyrood<\/a>, Plaid Cymru to form a government in Wales, and Sinn F\u00e9in the largest party in Northern Ireland – Scotland\u2019s First Minister has said there could be nationalist leaders in each of the devolved nations, which could lead to the end of the UK.\n<\/p>\n

\n Eluned Morgan was asked on Sky News<\/a> with Trevor Phillips if she agreed with Swinney\u2019s assessment.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think there’s a real possibility of that,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE: Scottish Greens rekindle ties with Zack Polanski\u2019s party after trans\u2011rights split<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think it’s time people woke up to that as a possibility.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe 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.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe 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 \u2013 200,000 since I’ve been First Minister.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Earlier, Morgan said: \u201cThere’s a challenge ahead of us, and these are tricky times, and we’re clear about that.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cFor 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.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n \"ElunedEluned Morgan on Sky News with Trevor Phillips (Image: Sky News)\n<\/p>\n

\n 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.\n<\/p>\n

\n 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<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis 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,\u201d Morgan told Sky News.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cAnd 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<\/a>, as a Labour government in Wales, to make sure that people know there’s a trust.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Labour have been Wales\u2019 biggest party in every subsequent Westminster<\/a> election and all six Senedd elections since devolution in 1999.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE: Anas Sarwar fails to explain why MSP with links to sex offender retains Labour whip<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n It was also put to Morgan that if the SNP win in May then Keir Starmer<\/a> would not be Prime Minister by the end of 2026.\n<\/p>\n

\n Asked if she agreed, Morgan replied: \u201cWell, 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.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cSo 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.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n We told how top pollster John Curtice<\/a> said that if Labour loses their winning streak in Wales, that would be the biggest threat to Starmer\u2019s leadership.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Last week Morgan called for the devolution settlement to be updated to ensure \u201cfairness\u201d amongst the UK nations.\n<\/p>\n

\n 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.\n<\/p>\n

\n Morgan called for a \u201cnew chapter of devolution\u201d and said that Wales should have the \u201csame powers as Scotland\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It comes after polling by YouGov showed Plaid Cymru, Wales\u2019s pro-independence party, opened up a 14-point lead over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-390687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}