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The ruling Labour Party in Britain suffered a setback, losing a regional parliament seat in its long-standing stronghold of Wales on Friday, a troubling sign for Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he prepares for next year’s local elections.
Labour, which has been the predominant party in the Welsh Parliament since its establishment in 1999, finished a disappointing third in the by-election in Caerphilly, south Wales, a seat it had never lost before.
The Welsh nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, secured the assembly seat, while Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK came second, winning 36 per cent of the vote and limiting Labour to 11 per cent.
After the count, victorious Plaid Cymru candidate Lindsay Whittle said that Labour’s support “has just vanished into thin air.”
For over a century, Labour has dominated the political landscape in traditionally working-class areas of south Wales, where the once-thriving heavy industries, such as mining, have largely ceased operations in recent decades.
The party has held the Caerphilly seat in the UK parliament since it was created in 1918 and in the Welsh parliament, known as the Senedd, since its founding nearly 30 years ago.
Labour, whose national poll ratings have significantly declined since Starmer took over in July last year, faces a tough challenge to retain voter support in May during local elections across Wales, London, and Scotland, where the pro-independence Scottish National Party is expected to maintain its hold on power.
Reform UK has consistently led in many national polls by double-digit margins throughout much of this year, although a general election is not expected until 2029.
