Politics

  • Politics

    Why Wales Needs A Political Education

    Why Wales Needs a Political Education

    By Kaiesha Page

    If democracy is devolved, understanding it should be too

    Wales has its own parliament, its own laws, and growing responsibility over everyday life. Yet for many people, how Welsh politics actually works remains unclear.

    Turnout in Senedd elections continues to lag behind Westminster contests. Responsibility for decisions is frequently misunderstood. Public frustration often targets the wrong level of government. These are not signs of apathy alone — they are symptoms of a deeper problem: a lack of political education that reflects Wales’ devolved reality.

    Democracy cannot function well if citizens are expected to participate in systems they do not fully understand.

    Devolution Changed Power — Not Knowledge

    Since devolution, political power in Wales has expanded significantly. Decisions about health, education, housing, transport, and local government now sit largely within Welsh control. But public understanding has not kept pace with that shift.

    Many voters remain unsure what the Senedd does, how it differs from Westminster, or who is responsible for specific policy outcomes. This confusion weakens accountability and distorts debate. When blame is misdirected, scrutiny loses its force.

    Political education is not about telling people what to think — it is about giving them the tools to know who to question.

    The Welsh Baccalaureate: A Missed Opportunity?

    Wales is not starting from nothing. The Welsh Baccalaureate includes elements of citizenship, community engagement, and ethical awareness. At its best, it encourages students to think critically about society and their role within it.

    But political literacy within the Welsh context remains uneven. Understanding devolution, voting systems, and the division of powers is often treated as peripheral rather than essential. For many students, Welsh politics is encountered briefly — if at all — before being overshadowed by UK-wide narratives.

    If the Welsh Bacc is meant to prepare young people for life in Wales, then a clearer, more confident engagement with Welsh democracy should be central to it, not optional.

    Why Political Education Matters

    Political education is often misunderstood as partisan or ideological. In reality, it is practical.

    It teaches people how decisions are made, how to influence them, and how to recognise when systems are failing. It equips citizens to engage critically rather than emotionally, and to challenge power without disengaging from it.

    In a devolved system, political literacy is not a luxury. It is infrastructure.

    Beyond Schools: A National Responsibility

    Wales does not suffer from a lack of opinion. It suffers from a lack of shared understanding.

    A stronger culture of political education would not guarantee better outcomes — but it would create fairer debate, sharper scrutiny, and more informed engagement. It would help voters distinguish between structural limits and political choices, between inevitability and failure.

    If Wales wants a healthier democracy, it must invest not just in institutions, but in understanding.

    Education as Democratic Infrastructure

    Devolution gave Wales power. Political education must give people access to it.

    Strengthening civic understanding — through the Welsh Baccalaureate and beyond — is not about defending the system or promoting a particular vision of Wales. It is about ensuring that democracy here is something people can navigate, challenge, and shape with confidence.

    A devolved nation deserves a politically literate public. Without it, power risks drifting upward — and trust drifting away.

  • Podcasts, Politics

    Talking Wales: Why Welsh Voices Still Struggle to Be Heard

    Talking Wales: Why Welsh Voices Still Struggle to Be Heard

    By Kaiesha Page

    Visibility, power, and the quiet marginalisation of a devolved nation

    Wales is talked about often, but rarely on its own terms.

    In UK political debate, Welsh issues tend to surface only at moments of crisis — when waiting times spike, floods hit, or an election threatens to disrupt expectations. Outside of those moments, Wales is frequently treated as background noise: referenced briefly, summarised loosely, then folded back into a broader “British” conversation that rarely fits.

    This is not a problem of absence. Welsh voices exist, speak clearly, and engage deeply. The issue is that they are still struggling to be heard — or taken seriously — within national political, media, and cultural spaces.

    The Media Filter

    Much of the difficulty lies in how Welsh stories are filtered.

    UK-wide media remains heavily London-centric, both in outlook and infrastructure. Editorial priorities are shaped by Westminster rhythms, English policy debates, and assumptions about what constitutes national relevance. Welsh politics, operating on a different timetable and within a different constitutional framework, often fails to cut through unless it mirrors those concerns.

    As a result, Welsh stories are frequently flattened — stripped of context, framed as regional curiosities, or reduced to comparisons that obscure more than they explain.

    Devolution Without Visibility

    Devolution was meant to bring decision-making closer to the people. In many ways, it has. But visibility has not followed power in equal measure.

    Welsh policy decisions often receive limited scrutiny outside Wales itself. When they do attract attention, they are frequently misunderstood or misattributed, feeding confusion about responsibility and accountability. This lack of clarity weakens public understanding and reinforces the perception that Welsh politics is either peripheral or derivative.

    A system that operates out of sight struggles to command confidence — even when it is functioning as intended.

    Who Gets to Speak for Wales?

    Another persistent problem is representation.

    Welsh voices that do break through are often those that fit pre-existing expectations — familiar accents, predictable positions, or narratives that align neatly with wider UK debates. More complex, critical, or locally grounded perspectives are less likely to be amplified.

    This creates a narrow public image of Welsh political thought, one that underrepresents dissent, diversity, and internal debate. Wales becomes a place that reacts rather than initiates, responds rather than leads.

    The Confidence Gap

    There is also an internal dimension to this struggle.

    Years of being overlooked can erode confidence — not just institutionally, but culturally. Welsh politicians, commentators, and institutions are often more cautious in asserting authority, conscious of operating within a UK framework that still centres power elsewhere.

    This caution can read as modesty. But it can also limit influence. Voices that hesitate to claim space are easier to ignore.

    Why It Matters

    The marginalisation of Welsh voices is not simply a question of pride or recognition. It has practical consequences.

    When Welsh perspectives are absent from national debates, policies are shaped without full understanding of how they land across the UK. When Welsh governance is poorly understood, accountability weakens. When Welsh experiences are treated as secondary, inequality is quietly reinforced.

    Being heard is not about volume — it is about legitimacy.

    Beyond Being Spoken For

    Wales does not need to shout louder. But it does need to be listened to more carefully.

    That requires change on multiple levels: media institutions that take devolved politics seriously; political leaders willing to assert autonomy without apology; and a cultural shift that recognises Wales not as an afterthought, but as a nation with its own political logic and voice.

    Until then, Welsh voices will continue to speak — but too often into a space that still isn’t fully prepared to listen.

  • Politics

    2025: The Year Wales Took Stock​

    2025: The Year Wales Took Stock

    By Kaiesha Page

    Not a year of upheaval, but one of reckoning

    2025 was not meant to be a defining year in Welsh politics. There was no Senedd election, no dramatic constitutional moment, and little expectation of disruption. Yet events had a way of intruding. Flooding hit communities across Wales, exposing long-standing vulnerabilities in infrastructure and emergency preparedness. In Caerphilly, a by-election punctured assumptions about political certainty, drawing attention precisely because of its timing. Just one year before the most important election that Wales has faced. 

    Together, these moments cut through the relative calm of the political calendar. They forced Wales to confront not future promises, but present realities — about governance, resilience, and trust.

    Public Services Under Sustained Scrutiny

    Pressure on public services remained one of the most persistent features of Welsh public life throughout the year. NHS waiting times continued to dominate public concern, alongside workforce shortages and delayed treatment. In education, debates around attainment gaps and funding pressures resurfaced with renewed urgency.

    Local authorities were increasingly open about the limits of what could be delivered within existing budgets. What felt different in 2025 was not the nature of these challenges, but the public response. Familiar explanations carried less weight, and patience appeared thinner.

    The Cost of Living Never Really Left

    Despite a shift in national rhetoric, the cost of living crisis continued to shape daily life across Wales.

    Food prices remained high, rents continued to rise, and energy bills stayed well above pre-crisis levels. Demand for food banks and local support services showed little sign of easing. For many households — particularly in lower-income, post-industrial, and rural communities — financial pressure remained constant rather than temporary.

    The gap between economic indicators and lived experience became harder to ignore.

    Flooding and the Question of Preparedness

    The flooding that affected parts of Wales during the year brought these pressures into sharp focus. Homes were damaged, transport disrupted, and communities left dealing with both immediate loss and longer-term uncertainty.

    Beyond the physical impact, the floods raised uncomfortable questions about resilience. For communities already stretched by rising costs and strained services, extreme weather events felt less like anomalies and more like warnings. The issue was no longer simply response, but readiness.

    Caerphilly and a Moment of Political Attention

    Against this backdrop, the Caerphilly by-election took on significance beyond its local context.

    By-elections are often treated as isolated contests, shaped by circumstance rather than wider mood. But in 2025, Caerphilly was closely watched precisely because it disrupted a year otherwise defined by political continuity. It served as a reminder that voter loyalty cannot be assumed indefinitely — and that performance, not history, increasingly shapes engagement.

    The result did not herald immediate realignment, but it did underline a growing willingness among voters to scrutinise rather than defer.

    Labour, Power, and Uneasy Alignment

    The year also exposed subtle but persistent tensions within Labour, particularly between the UK leadership under Keir Starmer and the Welsh Government.

    Differences in tone, priorities, and political positioning became more visible over time. While not amounting to open conflict, the divergence highlighted an ongoing challenge for Welsh Labour: balancing devolved autonomy with alignment to a UK party focused on winning and governing at Westminster.

    For voters, this tension fed into broader questions about where power sits — and whose priorities ultimately shape decision-making in Wales.

    Devolution as a System, Not a Symbol

    As Wales moved further beyond the 25-year mark of devolution, debate increasingly shifted away from principle and towards performance.

    Devolution was no longer discussed as a fragile achievement in need of defence, but as a mature system open to scrutiny. Questions of accountability, transparency, and delivery surfaced repeatedly, driven less by constitutional theory than by everyday experience.

    With permanence comes expectation — and less tolerance for underperformance.

    A Change in Mood, If Not Direction

    What set 2025 apart was not dramatic change, but a shift in tone.

    Voters appeared less deferential, more sceptical, and increasingly willing to question continuity for its own sake. Community resilience remained strong, but so did frustration at being asked to absorb repeated shocks — economic, environmental, and institutional.

    It was not a year of political upheaval. But it was a year in which assumptions loosened.

    Conclusion: Taking Stock Before What Comes Next

    Wales did not reinvent itself in 2025. But it did pause — and take stock.

    Of public services under strain. Of communities tested by rising costs and extreme weather. Of a devolved system that has matured into permanence and must now answer harder questions about delivery and trust.

     

    If the years ahead bring sharper choices, 2025 may be remembered as the moment Wales stopped coasting — and started looking more closely at what it expects from those in power.

  • Politics

    Is Devolution Delivering? Wales, Power, and Public Trust​​.

    Is Devolution Delivering? Wales, Power, and Public Trust​​.

    By Kaiesha Page

    Twenty-five years on, voters are asking harder questions about power, accountability, and outcomes

    When Wales voted for devolution in 1997, it did so narrowly, cautiously, and with limited expectations. The creation of a devolved parliament was less a declaration of national ambition than a pragmatic step towards greater self-management. Power, it was hoped, would move closer to the people — and with it, better decision-making.

    More than two decades on, devolution is no longer new, experimental, or fragile. It is embedded in Welsh political life. Yet as pressures mount across public services and trust in institutions continues to erode, a more difficult question is emerging: not whether devolution should exist, but whether it is delivering what voters were promised.

    From Principle to Practice

    The case for devolution rested on a simple idea — that decisions made in Wales would better reflect Welsh needs. Over time, the Senedd has acquired significant powers, particularly in health, education, housing, and transport. With those powers has come greater visibility, but also greater responsibility.

    In practice, however, the relationship between power and outcomes has proved uneven. While devolved governance has allowed for policy divergence and cultural recognition, it has not always translated into clear improvements in everyday life. For many voters, the distinction between devolved and reserved responsibilities remains blurred, making accountability harder to pin down.

    Public Services as the Measure of Success

    Public services have become the primary lens through which devolution is judged. Health and education, in particular, carry symbolic weight — they are areas where Welsh control is clearest, and expectations are highest.

    Persistent waiting times, workforce shortages, and uneven educational outcomes have weakened confidence, even among those broadly supportive of devolution. While defenders argue that Wales faces structural disadvantages and long-term underinvestment, critics point to a lack of innovation and urgency.

    The result is a growing disconnect between the promise of local decision-making and the reality experienced by service users.

    Power Without Trust

    Perhaps the most significant challenge facing devolved governance is not constitutional, but relational. Trust — in politicians, in institutions, and in the political process itself — has been steadily declining.

    For some voters, devolution now feels distant rather than empowering. Decision-making appears centralised within Cardiff Bay, with limited transparency or meaningful engagement beyond election cycles. When scrutiny feels weak and outcomes disappoint, power can begin to look insulated rather than accountable.

    This erosion of trust matters. Without public confidence, even well-intentioned governance struggles to command legitimacy.

    The Problem of Political Comfort

    One of devolution’s unintended consequences may have been political comfort. Long-term dominance by a single party has created stability, but also reduced pressure for reform. When power feels secure, the incentive to take risks, challenge assumptions, or radically rethink policy diminishes.

    Opposition scrutiny exists, but rarely feels decisive. For voters, this can reinforce the sense that politics operates within a closed loop — responsive to itself, but not always to public frustration.

    What Delivering Devolution Might Actually Mean

    The question facing Wales is no longer whether devolution has symbolic value, but whether it has practical impact. Delivering devolution may require less focus on defending the institution itself, and more on confronting its limitations.

    That means clearer accountability, sharper scrutiny, and a willingness to acknowledge failure alongside success. It also means re-engaging the public not as passive recipients of policy, but as active participants in shaping it.

    A Settlement Under Scrutiny

    Devolution is not collapsing, nor is it universally rejected. But it is being tested.

    As trust frays and expectations rise, Wales faces a choice: treat devolution as a settled achievement, or as an evolving system in need of renewal. The future of devolved power will depend less on constitutional debates than on whether it can regain public confidence by delivering tangible, visible improvement.

    In that sense, the real challenge for Welsh politics is not defending devolution — but proving that it still earns its place.

  • Politics

    Immigration and the Welsh NHS

    Immigration and the Welsh NHS

    A hospital post

    Yes, another one.

    For those who know me or follow me on social media you will know that I have not been a stranger to the inner workings of the Welsh NHS and more specifically the Princess of Wales hospital in Penybont ar Ogwr (Bridgend to my English friends).

    For those of a squimish nature you may want to avoid the following two paragraphs.

    So here’s a quick recap. Admitted as an emergency, screaming like a baby, twisted bowel 10 inches of intestine removed, sewn up, recovered sent home. 12 months later hernia repair fails, booked in for hernia op. Have op, go home, happy days. Two days later wake in a pool of blood and a fever. Wound infected. Back in, massive op, home, recover. About a week later back in A&E with blood coming from the wound. Have around a litre of blood and massive blood clot removed. I now have a huge hole to the left of my belly button. Took almost a year of wound packing and vac pumps to close up, left with pinhole wound that leaked exudate for months. Over a year ago, another hernia failure. Surgeon repairs hernia and cuts out the pinhole. I am now without a bellybutton. Early October referred to hospital for scan by GP following pains and a fever. Have scan following day, four days later and I’m having my gallbladder out. Home, all is well….

    This takes us up to today. I came in on Monday with a fever and swollen abdomen, by the end of the day following a scan, a drain is placed into my abdomen to release the contents of an abdominal abscess. Four days later, today, I’m going home with my drain and bag of ooze to continue my recovery, back next week for a scan and hopefully have the drain removed.

    So six plus operations later and numerous short stays I can say with some confidence that I’m aware of the goings on in a hospital.

    Immigration 

    Something I have focused on in my previous writings is immigration within the health service. At a time where immigration is being continually framed as a problem my experiences this time round are particularly relevant.

    On all my previous visits to the Princess of Wales I have been on wards exclusively occupied by, mainly, older white Welsh gentlemen. Whilst the only immigrants I have encountered are the amazing medical staff recruited from across the globe who have treated and cared for me for the umpteenth time.

    During the past 12 months incidents of racial abuse towards hospital staff have increased by almost 50%. Ironically that’s around the same percentage of people who believe that the majority of immigrants coming to the UK are doing so by crossing the channel in not so small boats.

    It’s insane that in an age of constant access to news and information how ill informed we are as a society.

    The reality is the vast majority of immigrants, 90%+, come here to study or work, contributing in their own different ways to the UK economy. The higher estimate for people arriving by small boat to seek asylum is 5%, it’s more likely to be around 3%.

    I can say with quite a high level of confidence that the creaking health service and the “on the verge of collapse” social care sector would fail completely without those people we invited here to help us.

    This week, Wednesday at 4 in the morning to be precise, a new patient joined our ward, and guess what he wasn’t white.

    Following his gallbladder operation, virtually identical to mine, I finally got to chat to the gentleman, Dr Khan. Yes that’s right, I finally come across someone that isn’t white British and it turns out he’s a retired GP who served his local community of Abercynffig for 49 and a half years.

    His story is wonderful, studied medicine at university in Kolkata, then spent a few years working as a ship’s doctor, treating the Ill and delivering babies at sea. Popped of a ship in England to take up a position in a hospital, and decided he wanted to help a wider community and ended up outside Bridgend as a GP who also covered the small local hospitals of which only Maesteg still stands.

    His contribution to the community he served goes way beyond the hundreds if not thousands of patients he treated.

    What started as a brief chat comparing notes on gallbladder ops became an hour long discussion on community cohesion, racial abuse, social care and preventive health.

    Dr Khan is one of the many thousands from across the commonwealth who answered our post war call to help rebuild and build a new better Britain. He stayed, made his home here and raised a family of new Welsh citizens, but most of all he has left a lasting positive imprint on the fabric of South Wales.

    Diolch Dr Khan

    The framing of immigration as a “problem” has to stop, and it’s the duty of public interest news services like Talking Wales to look at immigration through an impartial lens and to inform the public of our findings. If you agree please become a member,

  • news, Politics

    Rail Funding for Wales Falls Short as Longstanding Inequity Persists, Critics Say

    The UK Chancellor’s Spending Review has allocated £445 million to Welsh railways over a ten-year period. However, politicians and analysts across Wales have quickly criticised this move, calling it inadequate and long overdue.

    Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s announcement was initially promoted as a significant boost for Welsh rail infrastructure, with claims that the package surpassed what Wales would have received under the Barnett formula if HS2 had been funded. However, a closer examination reveals that only £48 million will be allocated for enhancements on the devolved Core Valley Lines within the next four years. Critics argue that spreading the remaining funds over a decade significantly reduces their value in real terms.

    According to the Wales Governance Centre figures, labelling HS2 as an “England and Wales” project has deprived Wales of approximately £845 million in consequential funding between 2016 and 2030. This amount far exceeds the new rail investment and highlights a funding mechanism that continues disadvantaging Welsh infrastructure projects.

    While the Spending Review mentions the Borderlands Line and the Cardiff–Bristol route, it provides little detail regarding transparency and delivery timelines. Although the Treasury insists that most of the £445 million will be spent over ten years, scepticism remains high.

    Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Darren Millar called the investment “shameful” and “an insult to the people of Wales.” Meanwhile, Plaid Cymru’s Heledd Fychan accused the Welsh Labour government of settling for too little. “Public services, already on the brink in Wales under Labour, face further cuts because the First Minister asked for very little and received exactly that,” she said.

    The Spending Review does, however, increase the Welsh Government’s overall annual budget to an average of £22.4 billion over the next three years. This includes a real-terms increase in NHS spending, reflecting a 3% rise in day-to-day health budgets in England. However, with healthcare already consuming half of the Welsh budget, experts warn that other services may suffer.

    The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimates that while public service funding will grow by 1.2% above inflation, increased demands from the NHS could consume most of this rise. “That will likely require tough choices and real-term cuts for some services,” said David Phillips from the IFS.

    First Minister Eluned Morgan attempted to frame the settlement more positively, highlighting investments in coal tip safety and community benefits. “Wales will see significant extra investment in rail infrastructure and communities,” she said.

    Nevertheless, the consensus among critics is clear. Despite the headline-grabbing figure, the £445 million rail package falls far short of addressing systemic funding inequalities, especially considering the exclusion of Wales from HS2 funding. With growing calls for a fairer fiscal framework, today’s announcement may be remembered more for what it fails to deliver than for what it promises than what it promises.