How Wales Became the Target of a Right Wing Culture War

The houses are blind as moles … as Captain Cat there in the muffled middle by the pump and the town clock, the shops in mourning, the Welfare Hall in widows’ weeds. And all the people of the lulled and dumbfound town are sleeping now

Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood

Long ago, I ran a research unit at Cardiff University on law and policy affecting Gypsy and Traveller communities. My PhD thesis was about how they’re invisible and ignored until presented as a ‘problem’, when they’re stigmatised, discriminated against, and worse. This dreadful dynamic will be familiar to all marginalised communities. But I believe it can also apply to nations with a troubled history of occupation and exploitation.

Many in England forget Wales until they go there for weekends or holidays. It’s not uncommon to see “in the UK” in a headline, when the story only involves London, or the Midlands. Too few know which powers are devolved to the Senedd, or the extent to which Cymru has its own ancient culture and language.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch just called Senedd members (MSs) “MSPs”, while addressing the Welsh Conservative Conference in my hometown of Llangollen.

Without being martyrish about it, you can justifiably say Wales is generally overlooked by Westminster and status quo media — folded into ‘Britain’ or ‘England-and-Wales’. When you suddenly see Cymru all over the media and social media, you can be sure there’s a race for power in the offing. The next Senedd elections are under a year away. So guess what?

Britishness … is a political synonym for Englishness which extends English culture over the Scots, the Welsh, and the Irish

Gwynfor Evans, 1980

Wales, under Labour leadership in one form or another since 1999, was widely weaponised before the 2024 UK General Election. The most aggressive trope in the “you don’t want a UK Labour government, look what they’ve done to Wales” campaign was the default 20mph policy applied to some roads from September 2023. This got caught up in manufactured ‘culture wars’ over other roads policies, like London’s ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ).

A 20mph limit in built-up areas is common around England, and was originally a Welsh Conservative initiative with cross-party support in Wales, but such truths were conveniently forgotten. Fervent ‘Welsh’ anti-20mph Facebook groups were found to be run by English people with Conservative connections, backing 20mph in their own areas.

Now it’s being pushed again – often by social media accounts with numbers in their ‘names’ — despite data showing its first year saw around 100 fewer people seriously injured or killed, and other benefits.

Reform UK has jumped aboard, saying it would get rid of the limits if it won the Senedd. That this would result in more emissions, accidents, and fatalities, and higher costs for NHS Wales, insurers, and the insured is totally cool.

Welsh Conservatives were censured for repeatedly and dishonestly calling 20mph a “blanket policy”. Now ‘Reform UK Wales’ is doing the same, while denigrating said Conservatives.

Another culture war is over Wales aiming to be the world’s first Nation of Sanctuary. A Twitter account called Doge Wales has appeared, named for the unelected Elon Musk’s drive to reduce US government ‘waste’.

The Magafication of UK politics by Reform is amplified by English Conservative interests. It’s unclear whether there’s any Welsh involvement in ‘Welsh’ ‘waste-finding’; Doge UK is English.

As with all rancid American imports, Doge Wales output manufactures outrage and division. Claims the Nation of Sanctuary policy has cost £55 million draw comments about inability to find a dentist.

Then Reform UK Wales says the Welsh Government puts the interests of immigrants over those of Welsh people — though immigration isn’t devolved. Global, timeless, divide-and-rule tactics, with loadsamoney behind them.

Other confected conflict to watch for includes the increase in Senedd members from 60 to 96 next year, a ‘war on farmers’, Net Zero, ‘woke nonsense’, education for the Welsh language in … er, Wales, and calls to abolish the Welsh Government and return devolved powers to Westminster. (With the usual — English — suspects like Daniel Hannan and Arron Banks chipping in).

There’s already a party, Abolish, campaigning for the latter. It was registered in 2015, going quiet between elections. It has had two MSs, not via election wins but due to UKIP defections, so has similar DNA to others seeking to remove power from Wales.

Both Abolish seats were lost in 2021. However, the far-right message of ‘putting Welsh people first’ and reducing ‘waste’ will fall on fertile ground.

Welsh Labour used to be able to blame Westminster and underfunding for the nation’s ills. But it turns out that having red governments at both ends of the M4 doesn’t serve Welsh interests either.

A fair settlement on HS2? Nope. Welsh control of the green energy riches that flow out of Wales to Westminster and the royal family from Welsh natural resources, as is the case in Scotland? No chance that pot of gold will be relinquished. Changing the absurdly outdated and inequitable Barnett Formula? Protection of Port Talbot steel like that for Scunthorpe? Neither London nor Cardiff Bay could bestir themselves.

After a quarter-century of Labour governance, the Bevan Foundation reports that, “Child poverty in Wales is set to reach its highest rate in 30 years by the end of this decade, with more than 34% of children living in a low-income family.”

NHS Wales was in perpetual decline under Secretary for Health and Social Care Eluned Morgan. She’s nonetheless now First Minister, after scandals involving Vaughan Gething MS forced a second party leadership battle in a matter of months.

All that and more makes a Welsh Labour government an easy and justifiable target in the 2026 battle for the Senedd. And arguably for the very soul of Wales. All those shouting at Keir Starmer that he risks handing the UK to Reform if he continues to emulate them are, as ever, ignoring the canary-in-the-coalmine that is Cymru.

In 2015, Nigel Farage promised Brexit would make Britain great again. Now he says only Reform can fix broken Britain. None of the unspecified Brexit “opportunities” he said would flow to Wales have materialised. If they had, he’d be bragging about them.

Farage said over the past week that Wales is his party’s next priority, while also declaring he’ll scrap the target for a million Welsh speakers by 2050. He’s ruled out standing in Senedd elections himself — but then, he’s ineligible. He’d have to resign from the UK Parliament; you can’t ‘double job’ that, mate.

An EU MEP who abolished his own position. An MP so absent from his constituency, a joke runs that there’s a Reform-themed pub in Clacton called the Never Inn. His lack of interest in actually governing, reflected in his ‘party’ being a profit-making limited company, is patently clear.

Yet Welsh people, tired of being forgotten, deprioritised, seeing austerity-hammered public services wither and die, desperately need hope. Even, perhaps, if the hope offered is cynical, exploitative, unserious, and illusory.

I sometimes wonder whether my nation has Stockholm Syndrome, but somewhat understand. It’s been so ill-served. Who can be trusted to truly understand what Wales needs?

Woke? If only. Awake, Wales. Awake.