Voters in Wales will soon begin finding out the results of the nation’s 2026 parliamentary elections as the first tranche of results from local contests in England paint a dire picture for Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.
Counting is underway for all 96 of the Welsh Senedd’s seats, with polling suggesting there could be a major change in its political makeup come the end of Friday.
This election marked the first that Wales used the ‘closed proportional list system’ for voting. It was implemented with the aim of closer reflecting the number of seats a party or independent candidate wins with the percentage of votes they receive.
Here’s an overview of the results in Wales so far:
Pollsters have forecast that the results will see Labour lose the Senedd for the first time in 27 years, and mark its worst election result in the nation for over a century with just 12 seats.
YouGov’s modelling put Plaid Cymru as the most successful party, forecast to win around 43 seats. This would be below the 49 needed for a majority, meaning a potential deal could be struck with Labour.
Similar to the rest of the UK, the void left by the Labour’s collapsing support looks set to be filled primarily by Reform candidates. The Nigel Farage-led party is forecast to take 34 seats, which would make it the second largest party in Wales.
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In England, a difficult picture has already begun to emerge for Labour, losing hundreds of seats as Reform sees massive gain.
The prime minister insisted he would carry on in his post despite the losses, admitting it had been a “tough” night for Labour, but adding that “days like this don’t weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised”.
Reform UK made gains across the country as hundreds of Labour councillors were voted out, heaping pressure on the prime minister.
Mr Farage said the results showed a “truly historic shift in British politics” away from the old era of Labour and Conservative domination, vowing “the best is yet to come” for his party.
