Senedd Election 2021 party profile: Welsh Labour

Choice at this election “very straightforward”, says First Minister Mark Drakeford

Plaid Cymru are calling for an independence referendum, while the Conservatives are calling for closer alignment with Westminster.

But First Minister Mark Drakeford, who leads Welsh Labour, says the choice at this election is “very straightforward on this issue”.

Speaking to Caerphilly Observer during a visit to Caerphilly Miners’ Centre on April 16, Mr Drakeford said: “You have the Tories who don’t believe in Wales, you have Plaid Cymru who don’t believe in the United Kingdom, and you’ve the Labour Party that believes in both.

“A strong Wales in a successful United Kingdom – that’s what we will be standing for – and that is where I firmly believe the bulk of Welsh opinion is.

“People are proud of the fact that we have a Senedd, that we’ve been able to take decisions here in Wales into our own hands and do things in a way that is right for us.”

But for Mr Drakeford, who replaced Carwyn Jones as First Minister in 2018, the coronavirus pandemic has defined his tenure at the helm of Welsh Labour.

The pandemic has highlighted the significance devolution has in Wales, and given Mr Drakeford a profile no previous First Minister of Wales has had.

He said: “Coronavirus is not over – the global pandemic isn’t over.

“We will continue as a Welsh Government, if we are re-elected, with the careful step-by-step approach we have taken – not acting as though coronavirus is a thing of the past.

“If we did that, chances are very high we would throw away all the ground that we have worked so hard to gain. If we can continue as we are at the moment, with figures falling every day, then we will be able to move on to the next things that we will want to reopen.”

At the last election in 2016, Welsh Labour won all three constituencies in Caerphilly County Borough.

The three Senedd Members elected five years ago – Hefin David in Caerphilly, Rhianon Passmore in Islwyn and Dawn Bowden in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney – are all standing for re-election.