Eluned Morgan and Huw Irranca-Davies formally announced their intention to stand on a joint ticket for the role of First Minister of Wales during a press conference at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show on Monday July 22nd.
Both politicians expressed their desire to rebuild the relationship between the people of Wales and the Welsh Government. If successful, Eluned Morgan would become the first female Head of State for Labour in the UK and the first female First Minister of Wales. Huw Irranca-Davies confirmed his intention to support her as the first deputy First Minister of Wales. The following is a transcript of the press conference.
“Thank you very much for joining us this afternoon. As you can imagine, it’s been a very quick week in terms of pulling things together and organising.
“I today confirm my intention to put my name forward to stand for election as the new leader of Welsh Labour, and I do so on a joint ticket with my friend and colleague, Hugh Irancca-Davies, who would become my deputy first minister.
“This is an opportunity for us to opportunity for us to reset after a rocky period. We will restore the relationship between Welsh people and Welsh Labour.
Neither politicians underestimate the challenges ahead
“Neither Huw nor I underestimate the challenge ahead. We don’t belong to any faction in the party, we haven’t picked sides, but we do belong to the great Welsh Labour radical tradition which has shaped our party and the country since the start of devolution. I’m confident we have support from across the party and from across the labor movement, including our trade union colleagues and local authority representatives.
“But if elected as the next Welsh Labour Leader, it’s clear we need to learn lessons from recent weeks. We’ll need to listen to our party and to the people of Wales.
“We’ve just celebrated 25 years of devolution in Wales. It’s high time for a woman to become Welsh Labour’s first female leader and hopefully, Labour’s first ever female head of state in the United Kingdom. We’re launching our campaign here at the Royal Welsh in the heart of rural Wales. We’ve never had a first minister that represents a rural constituency. We’ve never had a first minister who represents a constituency or region outside of South Wales.
“We’re here to do things a little differently. I want to tell you a little bit about myself. Throughout my life, I’ve been sustained by my faith in my family. I grew up on the largest council estate in Europe. My belief in a better future was tested by the intensity of poverty and the absence of hope.
“But every day, I saw my parents work to help people in difficulty, mobilising the strength of the local community, and I saw potential in politics to make a difference. We both have a deep sense of public service and social justice. The same sense which motivates us and motivates 100 and 1000 of people who work for our public services across Wales, keeping us all safe and secure.
“There’s a lot of work to be done to deliver on the promises we made at the last election. Together, our mission will be to focus on the issues that matter most to the people of Wales, Creating good quality jobs, including in the green sector and beyond, better public services that deliver for people, reducing waiting lists, improving education, building homes, and better public transport.
Hoping joint ticket appeals to Labour colleagues and Labour movement
“It gives me, great pride and some, significant humility, what I say as well, to stand alongside my friend and colleague, Eluned, and to put forward to Labour colleagues, but also to the nation as well, a joint ticket, that we hope will bring not just unity to the party, but also unity to the nation as well, away from the polarisation of opinions and to people working together, people who engage, people who listen to other people’s opinions and people who come together to find the solutions that are right for Wales.
“If this joint ticket appeals to our Labour colleagues and to the Labour Movement and if it appeals to the country, this sense of putting people first, putting the nation first as well, then it will give me enormous pride and no little satisfaction to find, towards the end of the summer, if there is a contest, because we have to wait until the nominations close on Wednesday.
“To be in a position where we could be standing not only on the unity ticket, but coming to the point where we have the first powerful, strong woman with deep values within social values in the right priorities for the people of this country.
“To say we can deliver this for Wales, for the country, and for the government as well. To do it alongside some alongside somebody who has decades of experience within the European Parliament, within the houses of parliament in West Minister and here in Wales as well.
“So that is the offer that we bring to people, a ticket of unity, a ticket of hope, and an opportunity for a fresh start as well.
We hope this appeals to as many in the Labour family and as many in the nation as possible. Thank you for listening.”
Carmarthenshire News Online asked both politicians how soon it would be before people on long waiting lists in Wales would see the benefit of the new alliance between a UK Labour Government and the Welsh Government, given that historically, they have cried wolf for many of the crisis Wales has encountered during the 20 plus years tenureship of Welsh Labour.
Eluned Morgan responded: “I think you will see a change now because some of you may have noticed that the Labour Party did extremely well in the general election in Wales recently. That means we have allies now in Westminster in a way that we didn’t before.
“Those relationships are already stronger than anything we’ve seen in recent years. We’ll be working with our Labour colleagues in Westminster, where appropriate to make sure that we can serve and deliver for the people of Wales. So the difference, fundamentally, is that now we have partners in government, and the very fact that both you (Huw) and I have those links right into Westminster, should be very useful for us in terms of those relationships.
Huw Irranca-Davies said:
“It was a similar moment when Keir Starmer, within days of the new government coming into place, actually went to visit every constituent part of the UK here in Wales as well.
“I received a call within 48 hours of that from Steve Reed, the new DEFRA secretary of state, saying that is a momentous change. That gives us some hope, I have to say, in moving. As I sit here today in these in the middle of the Royal Welsh, I think that’s what farmers want to hear as well, that governments want to work hand in glove. We have a real opportunity here.”
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