Featuring a trip to the pub with Neil Kinnock and more than one manifesto launch. Could 100 years of Labour hegemony in Wales be about to be brought to a close? @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

“Welsh Labour has been in power in the Senedd for 27 years. Yet in 2026, the air of quiet confidence that once defined Cardiff Bay has become stagnant” My report from Wales - Port Talbot, Cardiff, Swansea, Cwmbran, and Wrexham (among other places) - ahead of a historic Senedd election.

My piece on today's session of PMQs featuring two calls for the PM to resign, some sidestepping about whether Matthew Doyle was ever in line for an ambassadorial post and Labour MPs losing patience.

Interesting insights from @keiranpedley.bsky.social in this great @meganekenyon.bsky.social piece - “The Greens have got great potential, but there is a bit of a ceiling… they’ve got a way to go with older voters, part of that is a values thing.”

Excl: Half of Londoners are considering voting for Zack Polanski's Green Party in the upcoming local elections according to new polling by @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social, shared with the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

The government will unveil plans later today to de-link gas and electricity prices. I wrote about what that actually means and why it’s politically important for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/mil...

Over the weekend, I wrote about the mood among Labour MPs over the Mandelson affair. Things aren't much better this morning. One MP texts: "It's over. Even supporters want Keir to go." Read all about it in my piece for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social here: www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

I wrote about the resignation en masse of Your Party’s Interim Scottish Executive Committee and what this could reveal about the party’s future for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Excl: Around 200 Green councillors and candidates have signed a pledge promising to “oppose austerity” in local government ahead of 7 May.

New @newstatesman1913.bsky.social pod! @meganekenyon.bsky.social and I unpick how green the Green Party actually is:

New: Tensions have been brewing between Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Green Party in recent days after the latter described the former as "not a left-wing party". But if the polls are to be believed the two could be working together in the Senedd after 7 May. @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

"a pro-PR campaign is building within the Parliamentary Labour Party. Each MP involved is convinced that it won’t be long until something has to give." ✍️ @meganekenyon.bsky.social @newstatesman1913.bsky.social #Labour4PR #ElectoralReform #Democracy #Westminster www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Will Labour embrace electoral reform? The party has an uneasy relationship with the idea of changing voting systems. But looking at the path set by staying with FPTP, a growing section of the PLP is beginning to agitate for change. My start of the week report for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

Yes I think! Maybe self-serving as an example think tanker, but Westminster think tanks are much smaller and lower capacity than I expect many people imagine. And the Greens especially poorly served relative to their potential influence.

Does Westminster need another new think tank? Verdant - a new Green Party adjacent think tank set up by James Meadway and Deborah Doane - will launch later today. Read my preview of what we might expect from this new Green policy factory for the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social to find out.

from Fraser Nelson:

A piece to start the week on what the Labour left is up to: from hosting receptions in the basement of Whitehall Pubs to forming alliances ahead of September's NEC elections and anxiety over possible trigger ballots.... @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

What happens next for Your Party? With the party’s first electoral test coming up on 7 May, I interviewed Jeremy Corbyn and Your Party chair, Jenifer Forbes to find out For @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

For this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social, I took a look at the British right using the pretext of falling birth rates to suddenly get very interested in what goes on in people's bedrooms, and why we should be wary www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Is Unite’s relationship with Labour coming to an end? One Labour MP told me the news that Unite had cut its affiliation budget by 40 per cent was "very bad". @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Labour MPs weigh up rebellion over jury trials Frustration with the government could encourage the backbenches to oppose the reforms @meganekenyon.bsky.social

This was an interesting one to dig into - my report looking at how Zack Polanski and the Green Party are thinking about their position on defence and, in particular, on Nato.

Super interesting reporting from @meganekenyon.bsky.social on Zack Polanski's Nato position, and whether the issue could yet split the Green party www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Another cracking interview by @siennarodgers.bsky.social: bsky.app/profile/poli...

It felt odd to write about the bad qualities of the founders of the magazine I work for, but they *really* didn’t like Ramsay MacDonald

I reviewed a new biography of Ramsay MacDonald, Labour’s first prime minister or - as some might have it - the party’s original sinner. For @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

"The scars of the Covid pandemic run deep, a rupture in the relationship hundreds of thousands of citizens have with the state that has never fully healed." Reflections on the final week of the Covid Inquiry - on what we have learned, and what we try to forget www.newstatesman.com/politics/hea...

Inside the Greens "seismic" Gorton and Denton win @meganekenyon.bsky.social

New: Green Party takes Gorton & Denton pushing Labour to third - @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

🚨NEW: Jeremy Corbyn will become the parliamentary leader of Your Party, after his slate - The Many - won the party's Central Executive Committee elections. Full coverage for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social below: www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

"One house had both a tall Green Party stake in the garden and a Labour Party poster wedged between two upstairs windows" Fascinating dispatch from Gorton and Denton by @meganekenyon.bsky.social:

My Sunday @newstatesman1913.bsky.social piece on how Labour MPs are responding to renewed focus on student loans, and why they’re worried that if their party leaves it too long they could be outflanked on the left and on the right.

“According to one MP in the room, the only time Mandelson was mentioned was when [Harriet] Harman pointed out that he had been the last Labour MP to hold the position of First Secretary of State.” Good line from today’s meeting of the women’s PLP.

New: The First Minister of Wales - Eluned Morgan - has backed Keir Starmer. There was speculation yesterday that Morgan might follow Anas Sarwar in calling for Starmer to go, but instead she said in a statement: “I support the Prime Minister in the job he was elected to do.”

New: A second Scottish Labour MP has called on the PM to resign this morning, falling in behind Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar yesterday. The @newstatesman1913.bsky.social is tracking Labour MPs statements for and against Keir Starmer. Follow along below⬇️ www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Isabella Linton is the best character in Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights"??? Oh dear god.

Decision day nears for Your Party's leader selection. The day after the Gordon and Denton by-election, Your Party will chose its leader. @meganekenyon.bsky.social

On McSweeney’s resignation one soft-left source texts: “It’s right that he’s gone but Morgan is just the tip of the spear…We now have a short window of opportunity to bring ourselves back from the brink but it will require brutal honesty about the people and the politics who have driven us to ruin.”

There are two elections talking place on 26 February: one to choose a new MP for Gorton and Denton, and the other to choose the leadership of Your Party. I wrote about where things are at with Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s new party. @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

As seen in yesterday's @politico.eu London Playbook, the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social politics team are tracking MPs who have been publicly critical of the government over the Mandelson affair. Follow along on the NS website here: www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

On the latest episode of the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social podcast, @meganekenyon.bsky.social and I discuss how Labour MPs are feeling about the Mandelson affair, Angela Rayner's role re the release of documents, and what this could mean for the party:

New w/ @ethangcroft.bsky.social Discontent is growing among Labour backbenchers, even those who have been sympathetic to Starmer’s government are disappointed by today’s events. One told the NS: “PMQs made things so much worse.”

New w/ @ethangcroft.bsky.social Discontent is growing among Labour backbenchers, even those who have been sympathetic to Starmer’s government are disappointed by today’s events. One told the NS: “PMQs made things so much worse.”

Exclusive: Jeremy Corbyn is set to be elected the parliamentary leader of Your Party, should his slate - The Many - win the CEC election on 26 Feb. A source close to Corbyn warned “The Many simply has to win for the party to survive.” @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

Must-read column by @pronouncedalva.bsky.social in this week's issue of @newstatesman1913.bsky.social on the events of this weekend. My favourite part is this par about the soft-left failing to 'manifest' a Burnham return... Read Ailbhe's column to find out who the soft-left could back now...

NEW: The Green Party will decide its candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election at an online hustings for local members this Thursday, 29 January. Read my piece for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

New: Labour MPs gathered for the first meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party this evening since Andy Burnham was blocked from standing in Gorton & Denton. @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Excl: Zack Polanski will not stand as the Green Party candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election. A Green Party source told @newstatesman1913.bsky.social that whoever is chosen as the party’s candidate will be selected by the local party.

Excl: Several members of the wider NEC have told the @NewStatesman that they were not informed of the timetable for applications for the upcoming Gorton & Denton by-election set by the NEC officers group and had to find out via media reports.

Excl: Several members of the wider NEC have told the @NewStatesman that they were not informed of the timetable for applications for the upcoming Gorton & Denton by-election set by the NEC officers group and had to find out via media reports.