Labour 'a family' says MP amid Morgan-Starmer differences

A Labour MP has said the party in Wales is like a family that will always fall out but will "knuckle down and come together" ahead of the Senedd election.

Ruth Jones was speaking after the First Minister distanced herself from some of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's policies for the first time, in a speech earlier this week.

It also follows a meeting between Eluned Morgan and Welsh MPs in which she is believed to have accused them of not standing up for Wales.

This week an ITV Wales / Cardiff University poll suggested Labour had sunk to a historic low, in third place in Wales at 18% behind Plaid Cymru at 30% and Reform at 25%.

Jones, the MP for Newport West and Islwyn, said: "We understand what is going on on the doorstep. We do get it.

"Going forward, we need to make sure there is a good message getting out there.

"In terms of the relationship with the Senedd, we are brothers and sisters in the same party, we will always have rows, we will always fall out but we are always family and at the end of the day we will come together to make sure we get the best Senedd result for the Labour Party that we can."

Labour has come first in every assembly Senedd election since the start of Welsh devolution in 1999.

Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies told Politics Wales the most recent poll was "more surprising than others" but he felt it reflected the "reality of where politics in Wales, and across the UK, currently is".

"There is a real battle going on and, on that basis I, Eluned Morgan and the whole of the Labour family can take nothing for granted," he said.

"We have got to battle to earn people's votes over the year ahead before the Senedd election."

Former Plaid Cymru Assembly Member Nerys Evans said the poll summed up the public's feelings towards a "failing" government.

"A third of our children are in poverty, reading and writing rates are the lowest in the UK, economic productivity is the worst in the UK," she said.

"The challenge for Plaid is to show they are the alternative progressive left of centre government in waiting because this government is not doing what it should be doing in terms of protecting our young people, jobs and public services."

Meanwhile, the Welsh Conservatives are set to meet in Llangollen, Denbighshire, for their conference next week, at a time when they are coming under huge pressure from Reform.

Sian Jones, a former advisor to the Conservative UK Government, said: "It is quite a pivotal moment for the leadership of Darren Millar.

"It's not just about setting out what a possible alternative Conservative vision could look like in a way that is different from the more protest-driven policies of Reform, but also how do they galvanise their membership base?

"How do they motivate their members to make sure they are ready to knock on doors come the election next year? That is the challenge he has."