Awkward moment Eluned Morgan was asked to rate Keir Starmer
'Oh My God. That's a big question isn't it. It's tough'
Eluned Morgan and Keir Starmer on stage at Welsh Labour conference
(Image: Getty Images )
Wales' First Minister was asked to rank the performance of the UK Government. She was being interviewed by Sky News' political editor Beth Rigby as part of the Electoral Dysfunction podcast. In a videoed clip, the journalist asked her to score the UK Labour government's performance in its first year out of ten.
The news channel had asked a Welsh focus group to rank the performance of Keir Starmer's administration out of ten. Before Beth Rigby told her the answer, she asked the First Minister what she would rank them, but she declined to answer.
"Oh My God. That's a big question isn't it. It's tough. Oh My God. It's a difficult question and I'm not going to answer it because I'll get into all sorts of trouble if I do that," she said.
She went on to say that Wales has benefitted from having a UK Labour Government. "That's really good news, I think there's lots of areas for them to improve on. We can all improve on what we do," she said.
When she declined to score, she was asked what Welsh voters had scored the administration. The answer was 5.5. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
"I think they think there's a lot of room for improvement, particularly on welfare reform and winter fuel. I am utterly relieved that they have changed their minds on those two things," said Eluned Morgan.
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She admitted she was "absolutely cringing" at being asked the questions in the podcast.
Labour is trailing in the polls ahead of the Senedd election in May 2026.
Three consecutive polls have now shown Labour would come behind Reform UK and Plaid Cymru next year.
Polling for Sky News released this week showed a better figure for Labour - at 23% - but still way behind Plaid Cymru and Reform UK.
The poll, by More in Common for Sky News is the second to project Reform would be the biggest party in the Senedd.
In terms of Senedd voting intention, the poll shows Reform in the lead with 28% of the vote, followed closely by Plaid Cymru, on 26%. Labour is third with 23%. The Conservatives would go from being the official opposition in the Senedd to having 10% of the vote.
The polling, of 883 people carried out between June 18 and July 3, shows less than half (48%) of Labour's 2024 voters would back the party in a Senedd election if it were held today.
Their largest losses for Labour are to Plaid Cymru (15%), followed by Reform(11%). However, a significant proportion of Labour's 2024 voters (13%) are undecided about how they would vote in a Senedd election.
A YouGov/ITV Cymru Wales poll in May put Labour in third and Plaid top. A different poll, by Find Out Now, put Reform UK top.
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