Will Hayward

Will Hayward is a Guardian columnist. He publishes a regular newsletter on Welsh politics

• Rhun ap Iorwerth speaks to Plaid Cymru supporters on the steps of the Senedd, Cardiff, 9 May 2026.

  Wales has been hit by a political earthquake – and the UK government is in a very tricky position

  Will Hayward

  If Starmer’s Labour refuses to concede more powers to Plaid Cymru, the triumphant independence party, it will only accelerate its own decline, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

• The leader of Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwerth, at his party’s manifesto launch on in Wrexham on 9 April.

  Reform or Plaid? Whichever way Welsh voters go, the country will be utterly transformed

  Will Hayward

  Each party has its own version of nationalism to offer voters in May’s Senedd election: closer ties to England or more independence for Wales, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

• The Greens’ leader, Zack Polanski, in Stockport, 30 January 2026, as the party gears up for the nearby Gorton and Denton byelection.

  Labour made four big errors in its Caerphilly byelection defeat. Here’s how to avoid them in Gorton and Denton

  Will Hayward

  In Wales, Plaid Cymru sailed through as the anti-Reform party, at Labour’s expense. Unless lessons are learned, the Greens could do the same, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

• A march in favour of Welsh independence, Cardiff, 1 October 2022.

  Wake up, Westminster: after May, the Scottish and Welsh parliaments will likely be for independence

  Will Hayward

  With Plaid Cymru and the SNP leading polls in their respective nations, can the United Kingdom continue in this – or any – form, asks Guardian columnist Will Hayward

• Nigel Farage at a Reform UK rally at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, 24 November 2025.

  I don’t care if Reform calls me a bad word on WhatsApp. But the story behind its gaffe is far more worrying

  Will Hayward

  The leaked exchange shows how much the party dislikes scrutiny – which reveals a lot about its approach to governing, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

• Reform UK's Llŷr Powell looks on as Plaid Cymru's Lindsay Whittle speaks after winning the Caerphilly Senedd byelection, 24 October 2025

  Reform swaggered into Caerphilly, ready for a coronation. An unpleasant surprise lay in store

  Will Hayward

  Predictions of a Reform win were wide of the mark. But Labour’s crushing byelection defeat offers important lessons too, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

• Nigel Farage and Laura Anne Jones, who is ‘not ruling out’ abolishing the Senedd.

  So politicians want rid of the Senedd: would they abolish any other country’s democracy?

  Will Hayward

  The Welsh parliament has its faults – but talk of axing it is for charlatans, not leaders who are serious about the nation’s future, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

• Kemi Badenoch at a Policy Exchange event in London, 23 June 2025.

  The Tories are on the brink of annihilation in Wales – and it holds a lesson for Westminster politicians

  Will Hayward

  Here, the party has preferred Nigel Farage cosplay to genuine – and much-needed – opposition. Look where it’s got them, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

• Farage sits at desk in front of microphone with two hands up

  Here is the single thing Labour can do to see off Reform and make British politics work

  Will Hayward
• Jo Stevens, then shadow Welsh secretary, visiting the steelworks at Port Talbot, 22 March 2024

  Here’s how the government can save a few quid: abolish this pointless cabinet position

  Will Hayward

• Beddgelert a picturesque village in Snowdonia eryri National Park North Wales, UK<br>2RDMA7H Beddgelert a picturesque village in Snowdonia eryri National Park North Wales, UK

  Owners of second homes in Wales are having to sell up. That’s no disaster: it’s a godsend

  Will Hayward

  Council tax hikes on holiday homes aren’t ‘anti-English’ or detrimental to tourism. This is about preserving embattled communities, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

• Keir Starmer launching Labour’s ‘six steps for change in Wales’ in Abergavenny, 30 May 2024

  Starmer promised to create a ‘partnership in power’ with Welsh Labour. He hasn’t – and trouble is brewing

  Will Hayward

  A growing divide over benefits and funding could see the party lose out in Wales for the first time in a century, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

• Nigel Farage in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, in June 2024.

  Reform UK would be a disaster for Wales – but its rivals have left the door wide open

  Will Hayward

  Labour mismanagement of Welsh public services and an unambitious Conservative party are a gift to Nigel Farage, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

• Politics Weekly UK podcast on the road South Wales<br>Politics Weekly UK podcast on the road South Wales

  Politics Weekly UK

  On the road in south Wales: why is Reform UK on the rise? – Politics Weekly UK

• The Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff

  Wales is the land of song. Now it’s being silenced by cuts that threaten our culture

  Will Hayward

• Keir Starmer and first minister Eluned Morgan at Brechfa Forest West wind farm in Pencader, Wales, 20 August 2024.

  Want to know the future of British politics? Look to Wales for a grim warning

  Will Hayward

  With a struggling Labour government, the Tories fading and Reform on the rise, next year’s Senedd elections may show what’s coming for the wider UK, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

• Composite by Guardian Design/SWNS/Alamy

  What home means to me

  A brimming biscuit tin and a warm welcome – this is how an Englishman found his home in Wales

  Will Hayward

  I’d moved around many places but never found the place that spoke to my heart. In Wales, I felt I’d met a friend, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward

• A girl holds a union flag and a Welsh flag in a crowd

  The most infuriating thing isn’t that Wales is treated as a non-country – it’s that we accept it

  Will Hayward
• St Bride's Major, where Wales’s 20mph speed limit was trialled, 7 September 2023

  Wales’s 20mph speed limit saves lives and money. So why has it become a culture-war battlefield?

  Will Hayward

• Two-carriage train passes in front of 13th-century castle with estuary in background and hills beyond

  Call it the Great Welsh Train Robbery – a 4ドルbn HS2 scandal happening in plain sight

  Will Hayward

  Thanks to a ministerial sleight of hand, the cost to Wales, already plagued by poor rail services, has been huge, says Guardian columnist Will Hayward