Welsh Labour seems to give up on being taken seriously

On Tuesday 23 October, the good people of Caerphilly, Wales are voting in a by-election. Given that Welsh Labour’s polling is in the toilet, you’d think they’d be trying to reassure voters that they’re still a serious political party.

Instead:

pls vote welsh labour today x pic.twitter.com/UsNruEqo20

— Welsh Labour (@WelshLabour) October 23, 2025

Tragic

Before we get to the tweet itself, let’s provide some context. Firstly, this is what polling for the Senedd (Welsh parliament) looks like:

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 SENEDD | Reform lead by 7pts

➡️ REF – 30% (+5)
🔴 LAB – 23% (-4)
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 PLAID – 22% (+1)
🔵 CON – 11% (-2)
🟢 GRN – 9% (+3)
🟠 LD – 4% (-)

Via @BeaufortLtd, 22 Sep-12 Oct (+/- vs 3 Jul) pic.twitter.com/YUBScErCZ1

— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️‍⚧️ (@LeftieStats) October 21, 2025

And this is polling for the by-election:

🚨 Final estimate for Caerphilly by-election:

➡️ REF – 41% (+39)
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 PLAID – 37% (+9)
🔴 LAB – 13% (-33)

+/- vs 2021 Senedd election pic.twitter.com/ZVRWQShKb6

— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️‍⚧️ (@LeftieStats) October 22, 2025

As reported by the Guardian, Labour has run the Welsh parliament since it was first devolved in 1999. With the next Senedd election taking place in May, now is not the time to be playing games.

And yet:

Seriously, what is going on with Welsh Labour?

This really feels like a party basically embracing wipeout in some places. pic.twitter.com/uXZPQJQ71Z

— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) October 23, 2025

Welsh journalist Will Hayward helpfully confirmed that this is indeed the official account of Welsh Labour:

Welsh Labour have just posted this on their official social media. pic.twitter.com/UIcipXhks9

— Will Hayward (@WillHayCardiff) October 23, 2025

This is the sort of humour you get on the side of a smoothie carton. As such, it’s no wonder people think it’s a weird attempt to seem relatable:

“this will make us seem more authentic” https://t.co/wRSjb5KBad

— cez (@cezthesocialist) October 23, 2025

We assume the tweet must be a stab at humour, because usually you prepare your promotional materials in advance. If it isn’t a joke, then things are even worse than they look.

Humiliation ritual

We’re yet to see what Keir ‘Sensible’ Starmer thinks about Welsh Labour seemingly throwing in the towel. At the end of the day, though, the failures of his government are almost certainly more at fault than any graphic designer.

Featured image via Welsh Labour