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We are now eight months into this UK Labour government in Westminster. So let’s ask ourselves, what has changed?
Keir Starmer and his government have certainly made headlines, but all too often for their screeching policy u-turns and jaw-dropping before-and-after general election hypocrisy. From slashing the winter fuel payment for millions of pensioners and maintaining the Tories’ cruel two-child cap to denying state pension injustice compensation to 1950s-born women, the poor get poorer while the bankers get to keep their uncapped bonuses.
We are yet to see their big, dazzling promises for ‘change’ delivered. For most people, it just feels rather like more of the same. As the cost of living continues to bite — with energy and water bills, food prices, and council tax rising in most areas — hardworking people are still feeling the squeeze.
Labour’s decisions have exacerbated these effects on families already struggling to make ends meet, although it’s true to observe that these cost-of-living challenges are not unique to the UK. Rising costs and social hardship — all compounded by the current geopolitical instability — are forcing countries across Europe to change track in order to serve the best interests of their people.
Starmer recently announced his intention to ramp up defence spending “in light of the grave threats that we face”. With the public purse already under severe strain, however, this proposed increase comes at the expense of welfare and international aid, both of which face huge cuts by the UK government. While the UK government chooses to double down on economic austerity, other European countries have opted for more socially-responsible solutions: committing to protecting peace in Europe while simultaneously prioritising the wellbeing of their people.
Germany, for example, has taken a markedly different route, with Friedrich Merz’s new government changing its fiscal rules and creating a 500-billion-euro fund to boost investment in core infrastructure – including transport and education — to stimulate economic growth. Following 14 years of Tory austerity, it’s difficult to ignore the irony of a centre-right party in Germany investing in the country’s future, while the UK’s supposedly centre-left Labour is busy making cuts in the very areas which will kickstart the economy.
That is why I highlighted Germany’s plans in last week’s PMQs, and asked whether the UK government would consider a similar approach by focusing on strategic investment rather than imposing further hardship on the very poorest people through cuts to welfare and international aid.
Sad to say, the PM’s response was disappointing in the extreme. Despite recent commendable diplomatic efforts on the international stage, the prime minister’s domestic strategy remains dishearteningly divisive. Cooperation across the House is essential to tackle the major economic and social challenges facing the UK. Yet, instead of fostering a collaborative environment, the PM chose to play political games, using PMQs as an opportunity to attack Plaid Cymru rather than engage with the legitimate concerns raised regarding the gravity of the current domestic and international situation.
The political landscape in Wales is changing fast. Labour may have won the last general election with a ‘landslide’ victory but their support in Wales plummeted. Despite the media’s obsession with Reform, Plaid Cymru is the real opposition to Labour in Wales with recent polls showing that we hold the lead ahead of the 2026 Senedd elections. Labour is struggling to fight the changing tide, and Keir Starmer’s petty diversion tactic speaks volumes.
Labour has been the biggest party in Wales for over a century, but in just over a year’s time, they know that they are at risk of making history for failing to maintain that record. The people of Wales are frustrated and disillusioned and with good reason. After 25 years in power, Labour has failed the people of Wales. We are a country grappling with an overstretched NHS, struggling schools, rising child poverty, and stagnant living standards. While Reform UK may be capitalising on this frustration, they offer no real solutions. Politicians of protest feed off despair and hopelessness while Labour politicians’ promises of change ring hollow when they’ve squandered decades in self-satisfied inactivity. Plaid Cymru is providing radical solutions grounded in a true knowledge of our communities. We are the only credible alternative — offering a fresh vision rooted in hope, fairness, and ambition, and Labour knows it.
While Labour continues to put party before country, Plaid Cymru has proven time and again that we are the only party that stands up for Wales, both in the Senedd and in Westminster. Plaid Cymru presented an amendment to the Crown Estate Bill calling on the UK Treasury to devolve responsibility of the Crown Estate in Wales to the Welsh government to allow any profits generated to stay in our communities for the benefit of our people. This is official Welsh Labour policy but not a single Labour MP voted in favour of the amendment. The so called ‘partnership in power’ is just a hollow slogan. More and more people in Wales see right through it.
Keir Starmer may be attacking Plaid Cymru, but his party’s betrayal of the people of Wales is entirely of their own doing. The people of Wales deserve better and know that Labour will not offer any real answers to their problems with further cuts and U-turns. They will not even equip Wales with the powers to enable us to grow our own economy out of begging bowl status. More and more people are waking up to the realisation that Plaid Cymru is the only party that will prioritise the people of Wales and deliver for them.
Labour is clearly struggling to counter the political shift in Wales, but I should like to remind the PM that it would be worthwhile to focus on providing real solutions to the UK’s problems rather than scrambling to get pre-scripted petty political digs.
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The post Liz Saville Roberts: ‘Deflection tactics won’t salvage Labour’s reputation in Wales’ appeared first on Politics.co.uk.
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