Hiraeth - Welsh Politics

The long-running boundary review for UK Parliament constituencies has reached another milestone as the Boundary Commission for Wales has published its proposals for its final round of consultation. Famously, this will see the number of UK Parliament MPs elected from Wales reduced to 32 from the current 40, based on the rules set by the UK Government. This means that there are no easy decisions (ex...

Recorded on Halloween and haunted by the spectres of UK Governments past, we review the events of October 2022 from a Welsh perspective with long time friend of the pod, Plaid Cymru councillor and project lead for Banc Cambria, Mark Hooper. We also look forward to the upcoming events in November and what they have in store for Wales and Welsh Politics. You can hear more from Mark on his Twitter fe...

Few members of the Senedd are near-universally respected by those of all political persuasions (and none) in the way that Kirsty Williams is. From being an enthusiastic campaigner for devolution in the 1990s, Kirsty became a much-admired constituency AM/MS for 22 years representing Brecon and Radnor including a spell leading the Welsh Liberal Democrats and finishing her Senedd career with a term a...

While Westminster continues to swirl in chaos and the UK Government flails in search of stability and policy, politics in Wales carries on its largely stable path, stable in no small part to the Cooperation Agreement between the Welsh Labour Government and Plaid Cymru that has paved the way for key policy developments such as free school meals for an increasing number of children in Wales. We spea...

This week, we take a look at the reasons behind the limited use and limited nature of the tax powers that the Welsh Government has, why this affects delivery of policies supported by the electorate and what - if anything - can be done about it. We are joined by representatives of two of Wales's leading think tanks to discuss: Dr Victoria Winckler is Director of the Bevan Foundation: https://twitte...

The British union is under a lot of strain thanks to the tension between growing independence movements in Wales and Scotland and the post-2016 UK Government's brand of muscular unionism which offers a rigid and inflexible vision of centralised authority in the UK. Adding to these pressures are the implications of Brexit, specifically with regards Northern Ireland and its relationship with both Ir...

All across the UK and much of the wider world, health services are struggling to address a backlog of medical referrals and treatments that built up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these services were themselves not operating optimally before the pandemic, which has compounded existing problems. Wales is no exception. The NHS here is under considerable strain and despite the efforts of the W...

When Liz Truss became Prime Minister, her 'first 100 days' grid probably didn't look like this. It has been an extraordinary time in the United Kingdom over the week and our planned schedule for season three of Hiraeth has been thrown off course, of course! So before we resume our normal schedule of bringing you the best weekly pods on politics and policy in Wales, the Hiraeth team take a look at...

With Liz Truss now confirmed as UK Prime Minister replacing Boris Johnson, and her cabinet and government taking shape, what should we expect with regards to impact on Wales and Welsh politics? This podcast features a number of our guests speaking at our live Twitter Space as the announcements of UK Government appointments were incoming. We hear their initial thoughts and answer a handful of audie...

As Cardiff, Wales welcomes World Wrestling Entertainment's 'Clash at the Castle' live event to the city this weekend, we speak to Dr David (Dai) Moon, Senior Lecture at the University of Bath, about Welsh Government's involvement in the event and his longstanding interest in professional wrestling and how it crosses over into the world of politics and political theory. You can follow Dai on Twitte...

Following his previous book ‘Lockdown Wales’, Will Hayward (Welsh Affairs Editor, WalesOnline) has taken on the challenge of writing about one of the most contested and salient topics that came to the fore just before and during the Covid pandemic - Welsh independence. Long considered a minority interest commanding only 10-15% support, with even only ⅔ of Plaid Cymru supporters showing support for...

Under a blazing sun and record temperatures, the Royal Welsh Show reasserted its status as the premier event in the annual agricultural calendar this year, holding its first full in-person show since the Covid-19 pandemic. With evident impact of climate change creating new conditions for farming across the country and the national and UK governments pursuing different post-Brexit agendas for agric...

In this show we speak to renowned economist Prof. Danny Blanchflower. Danny's links to Wales go back a long way, including school days at Cardiff's Cantonian High School, a postdoctorate from the University of Wales and even a time teaching at University of Wales College, Cardiff. We cover a range of topics in this discussion including a look at the current UK economy, Brexit, guessonomics, the st...

As the Senedd heads towards recess, we sit down with Luke Fletcher, Plaid Cymru MS for South Wales West, to discuss his party's proposal for Wales to rejoin the the EU single market and customs union. We also discuss the Welsh Government/Plaid Cymru cooperation agreement, responses to the cost of living crisis and free school meals. You can follow Luke on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/Fletcher...

With change in the air in the Senedd as the Welsh Labour green light is given for expansion and introduction of proportional list systems, we speak here with Hefin David MS (Caerphilly) on matters of electoral reform in Wales and on Britain more widely. As one of the long-term champions of proportional representation and a confederal future for Britain, Hefin discusses the evolution of the Senedd,...

It's been an eventful week in the world of politics on Britain. While the UK Government has spent the week self-immolating, work in the Senedd has been carrying on as normal and the work of legislating for creating a larger parliament with more members has begun. This, of course, follows a decision at Labour conference that was hard won by the First Minister in the face of opposition from some MPs...

We've heard much recently about the Welsh Government's 'social partnership approach' that avoided strike action in Wales while rail disputes between the UK Government, operating companies, and unions brought many services to a standstill. But what does is mean to work in 'social partnership' and what is included in the Welsh Government's Social Partnership and Public Procurement Bill? Our guests f...

In our wrap up of the last month of political events affecting Wales, we explore the impact of the latest Westminster by-election results, Labour's public disagreements about Senedd reform, the recent industrial action by the RMT & barristers and finally look at Brexit and a few other Welsh Government announcements. Please listen to a message at the end from friend of the pod Shaun Bendle of 'That...

How can rail services in Wales be so powerfully impacted by the RMT's recent industrial action when, as we have been reminded by a succession of MPs on broadcast rounds, "there are no strikes in Wales"? In this pod we take a deep dive into the state of rail in Wales, explore how and why parts of the network now fall completely under the control of the Welsh Gov & Parliament, what the plans and opp...

With the plans now given the Senedd's stamp of approval, we speak with an expert in the form of Jess Blair, Director of the Electoral Reform Society Cymru, in detail about the Labour/Plaid Cymru agreement on Senedd reform and expansion. Is this a genuine step forward for Welsh democracy and are the accusations of the larger parties working in their own interests fair? We address these questions an...

This week we are turning our gaze towards the Welsh Conservatives to discuss their recent conference, the identity of the party in modern Wales and inevitably (& with apologies) Partygate. Joining us is former Parliamentary and PCC Welsh Conservative candidate, and community councillor Hannah Jarvis. We also pick up the discussion about Senedd reform and the implications of the new proposal for an...

Across Britain, the discussion of imperialism and colonialism has become increasingly salient as recent royal trips to distant commonwealth lands have seemed jarring in the modern world, historical revisionism underpinned much of pre- and post-Brexit campaigning and new attitudes to public statues have become a central pillar (or should that be 'plinth') of the UK Government's culture war. We are...

In this episode we are joined by Bronwen Weatherby, who has recently been appointed as Wales Correspondent for global news agency The Press Association. We ask Bronwen what it is like to report on events in Wales for audiences elsewhere on Britain and beyond, what impression Mark Drakeford has made beyond our borders and we look back at the results of the local elections now that the dust has begu...

In the week that a commemorative bust of Jim Griffiths MP goes on display in the Senedd, we speak to biographer D. Ben Rees and political commentator Theo Davies-Lewis about his life and the battles he fought within and without the Labour Party to create the role of Secretary of State for Wales inside the UK Government cabinet. We also look to the future of the role to debate whether it could or s...

As the Senedd returns from recess and Westminster returns to being Pestminster, we discuss the latest news from the local government campaign trail, the Northern Ireland election and other updates on legislation from both ends of the M4 during April 2022. Joining us to discuss these topics and more is Shaun Bendle from That's Devolved. You can find Shaun here: https://twitter.com/smbendle And That...