Senedd Elections: What happened and what can you do now?
Here's how to hold new MSs to account
A historic Senedd has been elected, with 96 members for the first time. The election campaign is done, and now it’s time for delivery.
Last month, Surfers Against Sewage travelled across Wales speaking to communities who are sick of sewage pollution, plastic waste and political excuses. From wild swimmers and surfers to parents, campaigners and local residents, one message came through loud and clear: people want clean, safe waterways – and they want politicians to treat this crisis with the urgency it deserves.
At our election hustings events, candidates were given the opportunity to answer directly to the communities affected by pollution.
What were the results of the elections in Wales?
The results of the 2026 Senedd election have reshaped Wales’s political landscape. A new voting system, more Members of the Senedd than ever, and the first ever Plaid Cymru Government. Change is certainly here in Wales, and transformational change is what we want to see of the water system.
Plaid Cymru – led by Rhun ap Iorwerth – is the largest party, and forms a minority Government with 43 of the 96 Senedd seats. The results were historic for basically every party. Reform UK are the second largest party (34 seats), with Welsh Labour and Welsh Conservatives at historic lows of 9 and 7 seats respectively. The Greens won their first two Senedd seats, and Jane Dodds remains the only Liberal Democrat.
Wales is at a genuinely pivotal moment. The previous Welsh Government committed to a Water Bill for Wales, and we’re awaiting confirmation of how this new Government will implement it — particularly as the UK Water Bill progresses through Westminster, bringing with it a real opportunity for more devolved powers and transformational change for the Welsh water system
Topics high up on the agenda in this election campaign included public health, cost of living, poverty, education and the environment. This election also saw growing public concern around the cost of living, public services, climate and environmental protection – including sewage pollution and the health of Welsh rivers and coastlines.
People in Wales are also rightly angry about the state of their waterways, with 813,466 hours of sewage discharged into Wales in 2025 being funded by customers paying an average water bill of £639, and 41% of Dŵr Cymru’s revenue goes toward paying off debt…
During the campaign, we travelled across Wales speaking directly to communities and hosting election events where candidates were asked to answer tough questions on sewage and plastic pollution. Our hustings, and election campaigns of your local MS are the not the end of our work, but the beginning.
Llanberis – Sean Jones
What are we calling for in Wales?
The system is broken, but this Welsh Government has an unprecedented opportunity to make change. We’re calling on the next Welsh Government to:
- Protect public health
- Transform the Welsh water system, and
- Cut plastic production and create a circular economy
As the UK Government’s Clean Water Bill progresses, we’re also calling on the Welsh Government to work with them, pushing for the powers that Wales needs to create a truly tough and independent regulators. You can read about these asks and more, in our manifesto in English and Welsh.
Wales has historically shown environmental and policy leadership, on work such as the DRS Scheme, and Wellbeing of Future Generations Act. We want the new Welsh Government to show that same ambition and leadership in tackling water quality to end the environmental crisis in our rivers ends, and so that our blue spaces can bring the mental and physical health benefits for everyone who would like to access these spaces!
Now let’s hold them accountable
Every party standing in this election made some commitment to tackling sewage pollution – a sign that public pressure (something that you, by engaging with this have contributed towards!) is working.
Plaid Cymru, now in government, committed to establishing a new Welsh water regulator with powers over water company finances, strengthening monitoring of harmful chemicals, and formally requesting full devolution of water powers.
Reform UK promised a Rivers Act, Labour promised a Clean Water Bill and a dedicated enforcement fund, the Liberal Democrats called for an outright ban on raw sewage dumping, and the Conservatives pledged an independent regulator. But across the board, the detail and ambition fell short of what Welsh waters need.
We will be calling on MSs from all parties to work towards their promises regarding water quality! The moment really is now. Manifestos are promises — and promises need to be kept. Your newly elected MSs work for you, and now is exactly the time to remind them of that.
How to influence your new MSs
We want to help you to hold your newly elected representatives to account. We’ve created an action guide which available in English and Welsh to help you do so. It’ll guide you through how to find your representatives, how to approach them, and how to have a conversation that counts.
Under Wales’s new electoral system, you have six MSs representing your constituency, so, you have options. You might contact them all, or you might do a quick search and find a Member who’s spoken about water quality before. Maybe you want to engage with the party in government and push them to deliver, or maybe you want to fire up the opposition to hold them to account. However you approach it, your voice matters – and they need to hear it.
We’ll be digging into all of this at our upcoming online workshop, where we’ll be analysing what the election results mean for water quality — and brainstorming together about what comes next. Sign-up here.
Sign up for the online workshop