The big things the brand new Welsh Government will (and does not) be doing within the next five years

After a brief election campaign, the wheels of Government are grinding back into action in Wales.

Labour won 30 seats within the election on May 6 and the party is described as planning to govern without the formal assistance of every other Members of the Senedd.

On Wednesday, there will be a prefer Wales' First Serve be confirmed – Mark Drakeford will probably be reappointed after which move onto potentially reshuffling his cabinet or at least appointing a brand new education minister after Kirsty Williams did not seek re-election.

Mr Drakeford has said he expects the very first period of the brand new Senedd term to become dealing with the fallout and recovery of coronavirus rather than new legislation.

Their manifesto was cautious rather than filled with big pledges, but all things in it's something the party will be expected to deliver on.

But, we can already take a look at a few of the stuff that will, or won't be, on his to-do list.

No M4 relief road

As the Conservatives pledged to build a relief road, it wasn't reflected in vote support within the key Newport West constituency and any pressure on the Welsh Government to change its approach is lifted.

Labour's candidate Jayne Bryant saw her vote share go up by 4.37% and the Conservative candidate, Michael Enea went up 6%. But Ms Bryant was comfortably re-elected with 48.1% and 14,259 votes.

There is really a caveat here, which is that Boris Johnson has repeatedly said the united kingdom Government will "unblock" the tunnels. It resulted in a huge row as to whether the UK Government was attempting to undermine devolution, by promising to interfere into a thing that is a devolved matter.

Writing in October 2021, Cardiff University Professor Daniel Wincott explained that Boris Johnson has suggested the interior Market Bill's new powers will give the UK Government additional scope for spending public money directly in Wales.

He wrote: "Whether or not the proposed new powers become law, they would not allow Johnson to build the bypass. Any directly allocated UK funding would still require agreement from and collaboration with the Welsh Government over, for instance, planning permission for the new motorway. Unless Johnson made a decision to up the stakes even more and employ Westminster's 'sovereign' powers to legislate it into being from London."

More Members of the Senedd

There happen to be many years of discussion about if the quantity of Members of the Senedd ought to be increased by 20 or 30 members.

An expert review said that enhancing the number of politicians would be unpopular but was required to "deliver meaningful improvement in the ability of many Members to specialise, with consequent benefits for scrutiny and representation."

However, in 2021, the plans were shelved until following the 2021 election.

In 2021, Labour said hello would want a manifesto commitment to back the change.

In the manifesto that resulted in their election in 2021, the party promised to "build on the job of the Senedd Committee on electoral reform, chaired by Welsh Labour's Dawn Bowden, and develop proposals to enhance the representation of those of Wales in their Parliament".

Plaid Cymru and also the Lib Dems also backed expanded how big the Senedd, suggesting if there were a vote, it would pass comprehensively despite opposition from the Conservatives who are opposed to it.

Professor Laura McAllister led the expert review in to the reform and said the brand new make-up of the Senedd means it isn't a "closed door" to increasing numbers.

The First Minister makes it clear that the first years of this term is going to be coping with Covid recovery, but Prof McAllister asserted increasing the Senedd's size could be a project for the second part of the project, or perhaps a legacy project for Mark Drakeford, who has said he won't serve a complete term as First Minister.

Jess Blair, director of Electoral Reform Society Cymru, said the dimensions question will " remain a problem until it's properly addressed".

"We urge the Welsh Government to work with more events to ensure this occurs and also to deliver the stronger Senedd Wales needs.”

A new electoral system

However, Prof McAllister warns that you simply can't increase the quantity of MSs without exploring the voting system.

In Wales right now a method called Additional Member Product is used, a mixture of First Beyond the Post (the individual most abundant in votes, wins) and party lists.

Prof McAllister asserted system continues to be "completely discredited".

Only Labour, Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and also the Lib Dems were able to get seats in the Senedd – leaving saving money Party, Abolish the Assembly, Reform, Gwlad and Propel from the mix.

The Green Party and Abolish stood the greatest chance of winning a regional seat as well as in the South Wales East region but both fell lacking securing a seat by just over 5,000 votes.

A third of the votes cast within the three South Wales regions were for Labour, but the party got no seats because of its success in the constituencies. For example, over 100,000 individuals South Wales Central region effectively left the choice to others by voting Labour once the party had no possibility of winning a listing seat.

However, Labour would without doubt consider whether a change in either (or both) voting system or the quantity of MSs would benefit – or at least not damage – them electorally.

The proposal of the expert panel was single transferable vote, which may mean constituencies don't simply have one MS, but multiple members.

That option alone – without looking at the different choices or even a boundary review – would not necessarily harm Labour. But a more fully proportional system will make it tougher for Labour to form a government without the help of a coalition partner. We've checked out this here.

Plus, the issue isn't disappearing and Labour is within power for an additional five years now which is a question that requires answering.

More powers

Labour said in the manifesto that devolution is under "serious threat" in the Conservative UK Government and said hello would fight for "radical constitutional change".

In its manifesto, the party said hello would "challenge the UK Internal Market Act and its attack on devolution and champion the rights from the Senedd to legislate without interference in areas devolved to Wales.

We will strive to avoid the UK Conservative Government while using Internal Market Act to fund interventions not based on the folks of Wales.

We will insist that Wales gets its great amount from the Shared Prosperity Fund and the so-called Levelling Up Fund from Whitehall which the funding we receive is put in accordance with this Framework for Regional Investment.

The manifesto also says it'll "pursue the case" for devolution of policing and justice.

The party also pledged to find the devolution from the Health and Safety Executive.

However, the UK Government isn't making positive noises about any more devolution of powers – actually, the opposite.

It would mean that the Welsh Senedd would be restricted to constitutional changes it's its own control over. That means the size of the Senedd, voting franchise, the electoral system and quotas.

No independence referendum

Independence was among the big topics from the election campaign. Plaid Cymru made it a big part of their election campaign but support wasn't reflected in their votes.

Mark Drakeford was vocal during the campaign that independence wasn't the right thing for Wales.

While Adam Price had pledged there would be a referendum in 2026, his party didn't secure the votes to form a Government and ended the election in third place.