A new chapter in the long history of Wales starts today. Our nation goes to the polls for an election that looks set to bring to an end an era of Labour dominance that has endured for more than a century.
Today will stand as a milestone in the social and cultural journey our society has been on for many years now as the dominant industries of the 20th Century and their social and political conventions have faded from our lives.
What is written in the next chapter of our nation’s story will start with the choice that the 2.3 million who are registered to vote in Wales make today.
We know from the many voters reporters have spoken to throughout this campaign that the issues in people’s minds vary from disillusionment at the state of our public services here in Wales to anger at the behaviour of political leaders who have nothing to do with devolved politics.
Yet the choice before our nation today will not have a bearing on the war in Iran or the numbers of migrants crossing the English channel in small boats. It is a choice about who governs Wales. It is a choice about who we in Wales want as our leaders and figureheads.
We know that many feel politics is failing them and that living standards are getting worse. We know many have no faith in our institutions and leaders. We know many will vote out of anger and alienation rather than loyalty and belief.
It is a sense of frustration born from a sense of endless economic crisis that has engulfed us from the crash of 2008 through the Brexit panic, the pandemic, the Ukraine war and now the Iran conflict.
The 96 Senedd Members who will be elected to represent us in Cardiff Bay have little chance of solving any of those underlying global challenges.
Their power, and that of the government that emerges from them, will be to make decisions about our health services, our schools, our roads, our trains, buses, social services and houses. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
Just as no-one ever expected Mark Drakeford to lead our nation through the pandemic, they will also have to work out how to respond to the challenges we cannot yet imagine.
Today, we all have a chance to choose which party (or parties) takes on those responsibilities. What’s important is that we play our role and make a decision on which people and parties we think will handle whatever the future throws at them best.
Our responsibility is to set aside our frustration and disillusionment and choose from the people who have put themselves forward to be our leaders.
Our decision will shape the future of Wales.
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