Plaid Cymru and its leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, made political history this month: they won the Senedd. For the first time ever, Wales now has a progressive majority that is not dependent on Labour. Polls had put Plaid and Reform UK neck and neck. In the run-up to the election, some of my Welsh friends were panicking. They were relieved that Reform came second.
I was never convinced that Reform’s brand of essentially English ethno-nationalism was ever going to triumph in Wales. The party seemed to think it could transpose its tactics from next door and that they’d work in the same way. Yet unlike Plaid, Reform UK has no story to tell about what it means to be Welsh.
