Ken Skates

Ken Skates was appointed interim Welsh Labour leader on 8 May 2026, within 24 hours of First Minister Eluned Morgan losing her Ceredigion Penfro constituency to Plaid Cymru, leaving Welsh Labour with just 9 Senedd seats — its smallest group since 1910. Skates holds the Clwyd South seat and previously served as Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport in the outgoing Welsh Government.

Skates entered the Senedd in 2016 and built a profile as a regional voice for north Wales, focusing on transport connectivity and economic development. Before devolution he stood in Westminster elections, and his Cabinet role gave him experience of cross-government coordination on infrastructure. He was not among the favourites to lead Welsh Labour before the election catastrophe changed the arithmetic entirely.

His interim appointment lands him at the head of a rump opposition in a Senedd now governed by a Plaid Cymru minority with Wales Green confidence and supply. Welsh Labour must rebuild from its lowest ebb in over a century, and Skates will be managing a permanent leadership contest alongside that reconstruction. How he positions the party relative to Plaid, Reform UK's 34 seats, and the Welsh Conservatives will define Welsh Labour's identity heading into the next Senedd cycle.

As of 14 May 2026, Skates remains interim leader with no formal candidates for a permanent succession having declared. He is the fourth Welsh Labour leader in just over two years, following Mark Drakeford, Vaughan Gething, and Eluned Morgan. The speed of the leadership carousel reflects the severity of the party's collapse: from 30 of 60 Senedd seats in 2021 to 9 of 96 seats in 2026, its worst result in any national or devolved election since 1906.