Image source, PA Media

Plaid Cymru's 43 new Senedd members have been celebrating their historic election results with supporters outside Wales' parliament today.

Leader Rhun ap Iorwerth is poised to be the first non-Labour Welsh first minister, as he looks ahead to his plans to form a minority government in the coming week.

Today also saw:

• Ap Iorwerth tell the supporters the result was "history made by the people of Wales" as he promised his party will represent everyone
• He chose to take his oath at the Senedd in private, as did the Conservatives' Darren Miller - while the cameras were allowed to capture Reform's Dan Thomas taking his. He later said his party would be professional and disciplined in the Senedd
• Congratulations came pouring in for Plaid - including from Northern Ireland's first minister Michelle O'Neill, of Sinn Féin, and Scotland's SNP first minister John Swinney

• Meanwhile, Labour met to reflect on their catastrophic loss of seats and plan for the future following the resignation of leader Eluned Morgan
• This led to Ken Skates being announced as the party's interim leader
• Former Welsh Labour leader Vaughan Gething said he would have "done things differently" to avoid disaster for the party - but Lord Kinnock said Morgan was not to blame for the result

We are bringing our live coverage to an end, but you can read more about how today unfolded here.

David Deans
Wales political reporter

I got some time to speak to some of Plaid's new MSs on the steps of the institution that they'll now call home about their plans - and how they're feeling.

Zaynub Akbar, 28, a newly elected Plaid MS for Caerdydd Fynnon Taf, said she was "overwhelmed, it's definitely slowly sinking in".

Akbar, who has worked in journalism and for Sport Wales, she competed a gymnast for Wales and Team GB.

A profile by Walesonline, external detailed how she spent some of her earliest childhood memories homeless. Born and bred in Cardiff, her grandfather was one of the city's first taxi drivers.

"I want to be a voice for people who haven't had a voice in politics," she said.

Forget the Sugababes, there's a new female trio in town...

In the Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr constituency, Plaid Cymru's Heledd Fychan, Lis McLean and Sara Crowley were all elected.

Thursday's election also nudged up the gender balance in the Senedd, with women making up 46% of the 2026 intake, compared to 43% previously.

At Aberdare’s Sobell Centre, Fychan said "all those thousands of steps were worth it", adding she hoped Plaid's success would help provide "a chance to turn the page, where no community is left behind".

McLean said she had "never felt so proud to be a Merthyr woman", while Crowley joked she gave "even my voice" to the campaign, and hopes more disabled and LGBTQ+ people feel represented.

Image source, Plaid Cymru

David Deans
Wales political reporter

BBC Wales understands that Labour is likely to abstain in the vote to confirm Rhun ap Iorwerth as first minister.

The move is not a surprise but makes it clear that the Plaid Cymru leader faces little obstacle to take the helm of the Welsh government.

It is thought Plaid wants the vote to take place on Tuesday - the Senedd must give 24 hours notice if a meeting can take place.

There is still the unresolved matter of who will be the presiding officer.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has thanked Ken Skates for "stepping up" to provide leadership for Labour in Wales.

In a post on X, Sir Keir says the party will begin a period of "necessary reflection and rebuilding".

Skates was announced as the interim leader of Welsh Labour earlier today.

"I know he will do a fantastic job bringing Welsh Labour together and holding the new Welsh government to account for working people," Sir Keir adds.

Image source, PA Media

Shavanah Taj, who was newly elected to represent Labour in Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf, says she "wasn't expecting to see so little" of her party in the Senedd.

Speaking to BBC Walescast, the former general secretary for education union TUC says: "The post mortem at the moment is that we need to regroup as the group of nine of us that are there."

Conversations on the doorstep signalled it was a "two-horse race" between Plaid and Reform, she says, adding there was an attitude that Wales need a change, and it may serve Labour well to have a "time out".

"There were people really angry at the UK government and the issues there," she said, adding that some people genuinely believed Keir Starmer was running Welsh Labour.

"We need to be very clear, when it comes to Wales, Welsh Labour and UK Labour are two separate entities."

Stephen Fairclough
BBC Wales

Gareth Davies says he's pleased Reform isn't the largest party in Wales.

"I would have voted Labour probably [but] the polls were showing that Labour would have no chance forming the next government, so I thought the next best thing was to vote Plaid Cymru."

Tony Duncan, 75, says his "wishes came true" yesterday.

"I'm very happy with that result, I never thought it would happen actually, it's always been Labour Labour Labour, I've been screaming for a change for years now."

Nerys Davies adds a Plaid win has "been a long time in the making".

She says she was concerned how Reform would treat the Welsh language, which is a priority for her.

Meanwhile Maureen Duncan, 72, says she voted for Labour, as she has usually done in the past, because she thinks "they're doing their best".

"But, at the same time, I’m not upset that it’s fresh blood,” she adds.

Maureen says she hopes to see some improvement in the economy for "normal people".

But Barbara Castle says she is feeling "resigned but appalled" by the results.

"I'm not totally unsympathetic to Plaid at all, as long as they don't go too nationalistic on us," she says.

Scottish first minister John Swinney says he is "very much looking forward to working with a Plaid Cymru first minister".

Speaking to Newyddion S4C, the SNP leader also paid tribute to Eluned Morgan by saying he always had a "positive and fruitful relationship" with her.

At a press conference in Edinburgh, he says his party and Plaid "share aspirations on constitutional change and we have different approaches and priorities".

Swinney also says that UK government was yet to wake up to the significance of there being potentially a nationalist leader in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

He adds the UK government must understand it is now "not business as usual".

Image source, Getty Images

Welsh Labour announced earlier today that Ken Skates would become interim Welsh Labour leader after Eluned Morgan's resignation.

Skates was first elected in 2011 and has held several Welsh government roles including transport secretary and economy and infrastructure secretary. He was re-elected to the Senedd for Fflint Wrecsam yesterday.

Born in Wrexham, he was educated at Mold Alun School and went on to study social and political science at Cambridge University, then starting his career as a journalist before becoming a personal assistant to the Labour MP Mark Tami.

Speaking following his appointment, Skates said the party will try to "understand what we got wrong", but said it has "so much more to give".

He will serve as leader until a timetable is set for a full leadership election, in line with Welsh Labour rules.

David Deans
Wales political reporter

More from Reform's Dan Thomas, who appears to confirm his party will lead the opposition in the Senedd, once Rhun ap Iorwerth is confirmed as first minister.

The comment is significant, because there had been some suggestions from Reform that it would attempt to rally other unionist parties behind Thomas and make him first minister instead.

However, the anti-Reform stance of the Senedd's left wing parties means it would be mathematically impossible for that to happen - and even if the Tories backed Thomas, they still would not have the numbers.

Asked what the party would offer in opposition, he says: "We can do an awful lot of good as the official opposition. We can hold the government to account.

"And absolutely we will - we will be holding Plaid Cymru not just to the promises in the campaign, but to also turn around the public sector services in Wales.

"I've got a suspicion that Plaid want to focus on other issues - maybe independence."

Image source, Getty Images

Vaughan Gething is asked on ITV News if he would have done anything differently if he'd led Welsh Labour into the Senedd election.

The former first minister, whose resignation led to Eluned Morgan taking over, says: "Well, of course. But I think if I'd had the chance we would have been more able to be more positive about what we can do, and to be able to look at people and say 'this is what we've done'."

Gething claims his leadership could have avoided "the convulsions" of the past two years and focused more on highlighting achievements.

"We struggled with that cause we had to manage so much stuff within the group, and that was part of Eluned's challenge I think," he says.

He adds his party needs "to take a long hard look at ourselves, understand what we have done in Wales, to help this result come to pass, as well as having the conversation about the position of the UK Labour".

Gething resigned as first minister after four months in the job in 2024, following controversy over a £200,000 campaign donation from a businessman convicted of environmental offences.

Mark Palmer
BBC Wales

Image source, PA Media

Reform's Welsh leader Dan Thomas says his party ran a "very disciplined" election campaign, adding that's how his MSs will operate in the Senedd.

Reform finished second with 34 seats, nine behind Plaid Cymru.

Outside the Senedd, Thomas tells BBC Wales he's “disappointed” his party didn’t come out on top.

"We're a new, professional, disciplined, well-run party.

"We've got people from all walks of life, serious walks of life, people who've been nurses, doctors, teachers, police officers, and they bring professionalism, but also an element of the real world with them as well."

Over in Cardiff Bay, Dan Thomas has officially been sworn in at the Senedd.

Making his oath inside the chamber, the new MS for Casnewydd Islwyn swore his allegiance to the monarchy, which is a legal obligation for all politicians before they take their seats.

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth and Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar have also been sworn in today, but chose to do so privately.

Mark Palmer
BBC Wales

Image source, Getty Images

The former UK Labour leader Lord Kinnock describes Eluned Morgan as "magnificent" in a tribute to the first minister.

Morgan resigned as Welsh Labour leader yesterday, after she lost her seat in the Senedd as part of a crushing defeat for her party.

"Her friends and comrades recognise that she became the leader of Wales at a conjunction of history and of events largely beyond influence in Wales but that she would inevitably be held accountable for anything done at either end of the M4 whether it was devolved or not," Lord Kinnock says.

Morgan "bears no guilt", he adds, and though she will never be satisfied with the outcome of the election, she "can begin the next part of her life knowing that no-one could have given better, more committed, service to Wales and to Labour".

"She has earned the right to be proud."

Plaid Cymru landed three seats in the seat of Gwyr Abertawe - and the first two of them are a married couple.

Gwyn Williams, 46, and Safa Elhassan, 41, are both ophthalmologists at Swansea's Singleton eye hospital.

Williams says the pair will be doing half a day a week at the hospital "to keep us grounded in clinical work".

"The one thing that's been lacking is clinical voices in high level in government," he said.

Elhassan said: "We all wanted some change for Wales - to make things better, to get Wales heard in an international way as well."

They'll be joined by Plaid's third member elected to the seat, John Davies.

Image source, Getty Images

First minister of Northern Ireland and deputy leader of Sinn Féin, Michelle O'Neill has contacted Rhun ap Iorwerth to congratulate him on the election.

"For the first time ever, there could be three pro-independence first ministers across these islands.

"More and more people are looking towards a future beyond the constraints of the Union," she says on X.

She adds that she is looking forward to "building friendship" and "working closely" with ap Iorwerth. She also congratulated SNP leader John Swinney.

Deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly, of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), said while the results may indicate a desire for change it is not on the "constitutional question".

Colette Hume
BBC Wales

Joshua Kim won the sixth seat at Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni for Reform - but missed the count because he was doing a shift as a supply teacher.

Kim told me last night he was "shellshocked" and "did not think for one minute" he would be elected.

The supply teacher said he hadn’t told his pupils about his candidacy and wasn’t at the count because it would have meant losing a day’s pay.

The returning officer spent a few minutes trying to find him and couldn't quite believe he wasn't in the hall. He turned up about 45 minutes after just as the area was being reset for a football match.

So let's summarise what has happened so far:

• Speaking outside the Senedd in Cardiff Bay, Rhun ap Iorwerth confirmed Plaid Cymru will seek to rule with a minority government after a historic win in Wales
• Reform came second and its 34 Members of the Senedd are being sworn in today
• Labour has lost dramatically, from being in power for 27 years to having just nine MSs
• Ken Skates, MS for Fflint Wrecsam, has been announced as interim leader of Welsh Labour after former First Minister Eluned Morgan became the first serving leader of a Government to lose her seat in British electoral history

David Deans
Wales political reporter

It was pretty clear, chatting on the sidelines of the reception party for the Plaid group of 43, that the party wants Rhun ap Iorwerth to be made first minister on Tuesday.

As we reported earlier, there would need to be a formal vote to make that happen.

That might not be totally straightforward, because first the Senedd would need to hold a secret ballot to replace Elin Jones as presiding officer and it is not clear who will do that.

Currently we don't have a firm list of contenders, although Huw Irranca-Davies from Labour and Paul Davies from the Conservatives are among those who have been discussed.