The first minister of Wales has warned that Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is a “major threat” to Labour at future elections.
Eluned Morgan, who is also the leader of the Labour Party in Wales, said she was “really fearful” that the party could make gains in the Welsh parliament.
The former MEP was speaking at the 2025 Hay Festival of Literature and Arts, which is partnered with The Independent for the second year running.
She appeared on a panel alongside historian and broadcaster David Olusoga and author Helen Rebanks as part of the festival’s daily News Review event, chaired by The Independent’s chief book critic Martin Chilton.
Responding to a story about Mr Farage challenging Sir Keir Starmer to join him at a working men’s club, Ms Morgan said: “I just think this is comedy. This is so sad that our politics has come to this, where you’re being judged on who can drink the most pints in a pub.”
Recalling how seven Ukip members were elected to the Welsh parliament in 2016, she told the audience: “We’ve seen it of course, and we are really fearful that we’re going to see this repeated again in the next [Welsh assembly] election next summer.”
She continued: “There is a real danger today. We’ve got to take this threat of Reform really seriously. You’ve seen what’s happened in the local elections. But there’s also opportunities to expose the incompetence that I am absolutely assured will come as a result of the new elected mayors and the new councils.”
During Sunday morning’s event, the panel discussed a wide range of topics inspired by the day’s headlines, including Donald Trump lashing out at Vladimir Putin after he launched the largest drone strike on Ukraine of the war so far overnight.
Ms Morgan acknowledged that Sir Keir was walking a “difficult tightrope” between the US administration and trade ties with the EU.
Fellow panelist Ms Rebanks, who wrote the bestselling book The Farmer’s Wife, argued Sir Keir’s recent trade deals with the US had been damaging for farmers and could put the nation’s health at risk.
“It’s just incredibly challenging to work out a path forwards for a farmer to make a sustainable business. With the trade deals that’s just happened, it’s like we’re being chucked in the sea as a farming community, with our legs and hands tied, and there’s sharks in there,” she said.
“I’m worried for the health of the nation with what’s coming over in these ships coming in with food.”
Spread over 11 days, the 38th spring edition of the annual cultural event is set in Hay-on-Wye, the idyllic and picturesque “Town of Books”. Among the star-studded lineup are Mary Trump, Michael Sheen and Jameela Jamil.
The Independent has partnered with the festival once again to host “The News Review”, a series of panels where our journalists explore current affairs with leading figures from politics, science, the arts and comedy every morning.
