Drakeford: New voting system will block Reform UK in Wales

Former first minister Mark Drakeford has defended the new proportional representation system set to be used in May’s Senedd elections, claiming it will prevent Reform UK from taking power in Wales.

Speaking on a podcast hosted by Labour MS Lee Walters, Mr Drakeford said: “What the new voting system guarantees is that there will be a progressive government in Wales after the election because we will have a system where if 30% of the population in Wales vote for a party of the far right, you’ll have 30% of the votes in the Senedd.”

He added: “I think the new system guarantees a greater sense of continuity than if we were facing an election under our current system, where it’s very likely a Reform insurgent party would take a whole swathe of the 40 first past the post seats on 32% of the vote – and we are mercifully defended against that.”

However, the latest YouGov polling tells a different story. It puts Plaid Cymru on 38 seats and Reform UK on 37, with Labour trailing on just 11 seats out of 96 📊

The new system will see voters elect 96 Senedd members through closed party lists in 16 constituencies, replacing the old mix of 40 first past the post seats and 20 PR seats.

Reform leader Nigel Farage has welcomed the changes, saying after the recent Caerphilly by-election: “They’ll be fought under D’Hondt. If that result was repeated across Caerphilly and Blaenau next year, there’d be three Plaid members and three Reform members. So I can’t be disappointed by that in any way at all. We’re cracking on.”