Chris Mason

But then secondly, I think just because of the scale of it was the result in Wales, because Labour's pedigree of winning elections in Wales, as we've repeatedly said in the last couple of weeks, goes back a century.

And then they lost and they lost and lost big time.

And then into the mix, you have Plaid Cymru, who one day would like to see an independent Wales being the biggest party.

Reena Purath will be the new first minister of Wales, as we've discussed, because this outcome was certainly a possibility when you looked at the opinion polls in the last few weeks.

We are soon going to have First Ministers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who simultaneously are holding office and of the view that the long-term future of their nations should be outside of the UK.

Now, that doesn't mean, as we know with all of the conversations that surround

the constitutional question in Scotland, that that necessarily means there's an immediate and sharp question around the UK being a rather different entity from the one it is right now.

But I still think it's quite a moment.

It is quite a moment alongside that huge question that this defeat poses for Labour because they're sort of in their bones psychology of Wales being just so core to the whole

Labour kind of idea in history, really.

And right now, it doesn't look a bit like that.

Yeah, I think that is true.

And it's worth pointing out that in Northern Ireland, it is a power-sharing executive.

There are two offices of equal stature, but one is the First Minister and one is the Deputy First Minister.

Yeah, reflecting the nature of the devolved settlement in Northern Ireland.

And we should also say that Plaid Cymru's view, and it's why I describe them as aspiring for an independent Wales at some point, is that it is pointedly something they are not seeking to race towards.

But ultimately, you know, if you sort of examined them as a kind of political stick of rock, all three of those First Minister's

do think their nation, their communities would be better served outside the UK.

And, you know, that is quite the thing, I think.

Well, I'm just literally scanning it right now.