{"id":8164,"date":"2026-05-04T09:54:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T09:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=8164"},"modified":"2026-05-04T09:54:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T09:54:56","slug":"in-wales-uk-labour-party-loses-grip-on-storied-heartland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=8164","title":{"rendered":"In Wales, UK Labour Party loses grip on storied heartland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 300px 160px; gap: 2px; width: 460px; background: #eee; padding: 2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u6574\u884c\u5bbd\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876674\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 90px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876676\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u5de6\u4fa7\u7ad6\u6392 -->\r\n  <div style=\"height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876672\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"height: 500px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876680\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u6469\u5929\u697c\uff08\u548c\u5de6\u4fa7\u5b8c\u5168\u5bf9\u9f50\uff09 -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row: 3\/5; height: 750px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876678\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  \r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e6\" data-zoneid=\"5876682\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em><small>The hard-right Reform UK is tapping into anti-Labour sentiment &#8211; Copyright AFP &#8211;<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Peter HUTCHISON<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Wales \u2014 the cradle of Britain\u2019s revered National Health Service and a former industrial powerhouse \u2014 has been a Labour Party stronghold for well over a century.<\/p>\n<p>But that is set to end in crunch polls Thursday as impatient Britons abandon their old political loyalties for anti-establishment parties amid persistent cost of living pressures.<\/p>\n<p>A Labour defeat in the country of three million people will be a major indictment of lacklustre UK leader Keir Starmer\u2019s two-year-old premiership and likely amplify calls for his resignation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel very sad that I\u2019m not voting Labour this time,\u201d said 59-year-old Ross Mumford,\u00a0explaining he had always supported the centre-left party, just like his father and grandfather.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been a part of the family but it\u2019s coming to an end this year,\u201d the delivery driver told AFP outside the Welsh parliament in the capital Cardiff.<\/p>\n<p>Wales, with its strong working-class roots and deep sense of community, has been woven into the fabric of Labour since the party was founded in 1900.<\/p>\n<p>The party\u2019s first leader, Keir Hardie, represented a constituency in the country\u2019s industrial South Valleys, while Welshman Aneurin Bevan spearheaded the founding of the NHS in 1948.<\/p>\n<p>Labour has led Wales\u2019 devolved government \u2014 whose powers include running health, education and transport \u2014 since the inception of the parliament, called the Senedd, in 1999.<\/p>\n<p>Polls\u00a0widely predict that 27-year-run will finish when voters head to the polls on May 7, although a new voting system means who will triumph instead is uncertain.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u2018Upset\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n<p>Surveys show Labour trailing the hard-right Reform UK party and progressive Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru,\u00a0mirroring\u00a0a UK-wide squeeze of Britain\u2019s ruling party from both ends of the political spectrum.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mumford thinks Starmer\u00a0has \u201clied through his teeth\u201d in a scandal over sacked US envoy Peter Mandelson. He will vote Reform, believing firebrand leader Nigel Farage is a straight-talker.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s give them a try. What have we got to lose?\u201d he said, a common refrain among voters unhappy with how Labour has governed the UK since July 2024 following 14 years of Conservative rule.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hope Porter, 35, another previous Labour voter told AFP she will likely cast her ballot for the left-wing Greens. She is angry at Starmer\u2019s stance on the Gaza war.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re Tories in red at this point. I don\u2019t think they are actually for working class people anymore,\u201d the artist said, enjoying an evening stroll outside the Senedd.<\/p>\n<p>In Cardiff city centre, sitting near a statue of ex-Labour MP Bevan, 83-year-old Sue Jenkins said she isn\u2019t ready to give up on Labour yet.<\/p>\n<p>The retiree thinks\u00a0Starmer \u201ccould do better\u201d but feels he has done well to stand up to President Donald Trump over the US and Israel conflict.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Labour don\u2019t get in, I\u2019ll be very upset,\u201d Jenkins told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>Labour candidate Huw Thomas\u00a0insists one party will find it difficult to win a majority, meaning \u201cit\u2019s all to play for\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe narrative that this is the end of the Labour Party in Wales, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a given,\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-three miles (37 kilometres) north in Merthyr Tydfil \u2014 where Hardie was an MP \u2014 half a dozen Reform volunteers\u00a0hand out fliers from under a gazebo.<\/p>\n<p>Several passing drivers sound their horns in support, receiving thumbs up from the canvassers, although one woman shouts \u201cracists\u201d at the group.<\/p>\n<p>Unemployment and deprivation are the main issues in the post-industrial town once famous for its coal mining and ironworks, says candidate David Hughes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are losing hope,\u201d the 59-year-old told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u2018Enormous problems\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n<p>Volunteer Robert Clarke, 69,\u00a0likes Reform\u2019s pledge to\u00a0scrap net zero energy targets \u2014 he\u2019s \u201cnot a great fan\u201d of wind turbines on Wales\u2019 rolling hills \u2014 and cut irregular immigration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnless we change the direction this country is taking, I feel my grandchildren will not have a country,\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>In the nearby picturesque town of Pontypridd, Plaid Cymru campaigners buoyantly knock on doors, sensing victory in another traditional Labour heartland.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re definitely picking up disaffected voters,\u201d candidate Heledd Fychan told AFP, saying people felt \u201cbetrayed\u201d by Labour\u2019s\u00a0moves to remove heating subsidies from the elderly.<\/p>\n<p>Back in Cardiff, 65-year-old retired teacher Ceri James says he will\u00a0vote for Plaid because of their \u201cpositive\u201d messaging.<\/p>\n<p>Speculation is rife in Westminster that losing Wales could be the moment restless Labour MPs decide to try to oust Starmer as leader.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Defeat \u201cwill pose enormous problems\u00a0for the party,\u201d politics expert Laura McAllister of Cardiff University told AFP.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- \u603b\u5bb9\u5668\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u5bbd908px Grid\u7d27\u51d1\u5e03\u5c40 -->\r\n<div style=\"display: grid; 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