What Wales’s new political landscape means for cycling

Last week, Plaid Cymru broke through after a century of Labour dominance in Wales, becoming the largest party in the newly expanded 96-member Senedd.

With 43 seats, Plaid is comfortably the largest party in Cardiff Bay, ahead of a surging Reform UK on 34 seats, with Welsh Labour reduced to nine, the Conservatives winning seven, the Greens on two and a single seat for the Liberal Democrats.

Last week’s election delivered the predicted political earthquake. It is also the first real test of Wales’s larger, more proportional Senedd. No party has a majority, meaning Wales’s new First Minister, Rhun ap Iorwerth, is set to lead a minority government and will need to win support across the chamber to pass budgets, legislation and major reforms.

Key offices

The first task for the new Senedd was to agree its key offices and confirm Wales’s new First Minister. Rhun ap Iorwerth was elected First Minister with the support of Plaid Cymru’s 43 Members of the Senedd and the two newly elected Green MSs, while Welsh Labour and the Liberal Democrat MS abstained.

Plaid also supported Labour’s Huw Irranca-Davies to become Llywydd (Presiding Officer). That does not amount to a formal coalition, but it does show that some co-operation is already taking place in this new, more proportional Senedd.  

The new Cabinet has also been agreed. For cycling and active travel, two appointments are particularly relevant: Mark Hooper has been appointed Deputy Minister for Transport, while Nerys Evans has been appointed Deputy Minister for Public and Preventative Health.

The creation of a dedicated public and preventative health brief is notable, given the clear links between active travel, physical activity, air quality, safer streets and wider public health.

Plaid Cymru commitments

Plaid Cymru’s manifesto contained several welcome commitments on active travel. The party promised to put active travel “at the heart of Wales’s transport system”, with safe and accessible routes for people to walk, wheel and cycle.

It also pledged to measure success not simply by how much money is spent, but by behaviour change and the quality of networks; to provide clearer statutory guidance for local authorities; to embed active travel across bus, road and rail planning; and to support increased investment in bike-hire schemes in towns and cities across Wales.

Alongside these specific active travel pledges, Plaid also committed to improving accessibility and safety around bus stops, including better lighting, crossings and infrastructure upgrades, and to planning new housing and workplaces around access to buses, walking and cycling.

Our priorities

These commitments overlap with several of the priorities Cycling UK Cymru set out before the election.

We called for cycling, walking and wheeling to be treated as core parts of Wales’s transport system, backed by sustained investment, clearer delivery expectations, better reporting on outcomes, safer roads, and more integrated journeys linking active travel with public transport.

Wales already has world-leading active travel legislation in the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013, but progress on the ground has too often been slower than the ambition set out in law.

Too many communities still lack safe, joined-up routes to schools, workplaces, shops, public transport and local services. Too often, cycling is still treated as a leisure activity or an add-on to the transport system, rather than as a practical, everyday way of getting around.

What Cycling UK wants to see from the new government

The new Welsh Government now has an opportunity to change that. To do so, it will need to move from supportive language to delivery. That means long-term funding, stronger accountability, better support for local authorities, and a clearer national expectation that active travel is core transport infrastructure.

There is also scope for practical cooperation. Plaid’s commitment to clearer statutory guidance for local authorities could help address one of the biggest barriers to delivery: the gap between national ambition and what is being built across Wales.

Its focus on measuring behaviour change and the quality of networks is also key. Success should not simply mean counting miles of path or money spent, but whether more people feel able to make everyday journeys by bike.

What happens next?

Cycling UK Cymru will continue to make the case for the policies that we set out in our manifesto, Make Cycling the Easy Choice. These include sustained, ring-fenced, multi-year investment in active travel, including both capital funding for safe infrastructure and revenue funding for behaviour change, community support and access to cycling.

We will also continue to call for safer roads, national casualty reduction targets, a path towards Vision Zero, better access to green spaces and a more joined-up transport system.

We look forward to engaging constructively across the whole Senedd. We will work with the new Welsh Government, opposition parties, committees and individual MSs to make the case for cycling as a serious transport solution for Wales.

The task now is simple, but not easy: turn manifesto commitments into safer streets, better routes and more people able to choose cycling for everyday journeys. Wales has the legislation, the evidence, and now a new political landscape.

The question is whether this new Senedd will deliver the change communities across Wales need.