Labour fell just short of a majority in the May 2011 elections to the National Assembly of Wales, winning 30 of the 60 seats. It increased its share of the vote by 10 percentage points and gained 4 seats (Table 1), a marked contrast with the party’s performance in the Scottish Parliament elections (see the article by James Mitchell on p.18 of this issue).
The decline of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland and in English local elections was, though, repeated in Wales. Voters punished the party for forming a coalition with the Conservatives at Westminster, and the Welsh Lib Dems must now try to distinguish themselves from the UK party. Their embarrassment deepened when two new Lib Dem Assembly members (AMs) were disqualified because they were members of public bodies to which AMs are not permitted to belong.
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