Labour was facing an historic defeat in Wales that could spell the end of 100 years of the party’s dominance.
First Minister Baroness Eluned Morgan lost her seat as the party conceded it would no longer govern the country.
As the first results began to come in, Labour said it was ‘deeply disappointed’ that it would not longer lead the government.
Labour looked likely to be pushed into third place in Wales as the first Reform UK members were elected and Plaid Cymru looked set to do well.
The Welsh parliament will return 96 members in a new electoral system. Under the previous system, Labour returned 30 out of 60 members in 2021.
But Sir Keir Starmer‘s expects to be reduced to just 10 members after it was squeezed by Plaid Cymru on the Left and Reform on the Right.
The party was the largest in Wales for more than a century and won the most seats in the Welsh Parliament since its creation more than two decades ago.
100 years of history down the pan for Welsh Labour as party faces embarrassing third place
Earlier yesterday, Labour’s deputy leader in Wales conceded an historic defeat in its traditional heartland.
Huw Irranca-Davies, the deputy first minister, suggested that Labour would not return to power in Wales as ballots were being counted across the nation.
Asked by the BBC if Labour would be in the position to form the next Welsh government, he replied: ‘I don’t think we’re going to be in that situation.’
Mr Irranca-Davies insisted Welsh Labour had put forward a ‘very positive manifesto’, adding: ‘I think it has been a good manifesto, it really has, and we have tried to argue on policies and also the next chapter for Wales.
‘But if it hasn’t cut through to the people of Wales, we’re not going to be in that position then to actually form the next government.’
Lady Morgan, the leader of Welsh Labour, had previously said she was at risk of losing her seat of Ceredigion Penfro in this election.
After Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called for Sir Keir to go earlier this year, Lady Morgan was widely expected to echo his call but did not.
Asked this week if the PM could hang on if Labour lost in Wales, she said she would not be drawn into ‘speculation’.
Plaid Cymru and Reform have topped opinion polls throughout the election campaign.
A Plaid Cymru source said: ‘From what we have so far…. It’s looking good.’ The Labour vote has ‘collapsed’, they added.
In Newport last night, Reform’s Wales leader Dan Thomas became the first member of his party to be elected to the Senedd.
In a victory speech, he said: ‘Labour’s historic demise in their heartland is a lesson for all politicians to never forget the people who elected you.’
No party is likely to reach a majority of 49 of the 96 Senedd seats under Wales’s new proportional voting system
Elections expert Sir John Curtice estimated that the overall turnout to be about 53per cent, with nearly all constituencies accounted for, by far the highest for a Welsh election.
A Labour defeat in Wales would have political significance of historic proportions. The party has won every Welsh election since the Senedd was first established in 1999.