Welsh First Minister Baroness Morgan appeared to take a veiled swipe at the Prime Minister after Labour’s by-election wipeout to Plaid Cymru.

The pair’s party slumped to just 3,713 votes in Caerphilly – a backslide of a staggering 34.9 per cent compared to the 2021 Senedd election.

In the early hours of today, the FM vented at “difficult headwinds nationally”, with Labour having lost 34 council by-elections as well as Thursday’s Senedd vote since the May 1 locals.

“This was a by-election in the toughest of circumstances,” Baroness Morgan said, referencing Welsh Labour MS Hefin David’s death in August.

“I want to thank our candidate, Richard Tunnicliffe – a good man who stood because of his desire to serve his community.”

And she congratulated Plaid’s Lindsay Whittle on his victory, hailing him for his decades of service to the Valleys town as a councillor.

Baroness Morgan continued: “Welsh Labour has heard the frustration on doorsteps in Caerphilly that the need to feel change in people’s lives has not been quick enough.

“We take our share of the responsibility for this result. We are listening, we are learning the lessons, and we will be come back stronger.”

Earlier this year, the First Minister had promised to “call out” Sir Keir’s Westminster Labour when it “gets it wrong for Wales”.

Denying a “split” in the party, Baroness Morgan vowed she would “not stay silent” if the PM took decisions “we think will harm Welsh communities”.

Labour has led the Welsh Parliament since the devolved administration was first established in 1999.

But in recent polling, Plaid Cymru and Reform UK were forecast to be the two biggest parties in Wales next year.

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The victory for Plaid Cymru comes in the run-up to a vote on the Welsh Government budget, which has been a source of anxiety for the Labour administration.

When passing its last budget in March, the Government needed the help of an opposition member to get it through by a tight margin.

While Labour is the largest party, it does not have a majority, and the next budget vote will be even more difficult after losing the Caerphilly seat.

Plaid Cymru took home 15,961 votes in the by-election, beating second-placed Reform UK’s 12,113.

Turnout came to 50.43 per cent, with a total of 33,736 ballot papers being included in the count – an increase on 2021’s 44.31 per cent.

Nigel Farage said the Senedd elections next year are a “two-horse race” between his party and Plaid Cymru.

“At the start of polling day, I thought that we would get 12,000 votes and we did,” Mr Farage wrote to X.

“I thought that number would be enough, but it wasn’t.

“The total collapse of the Labour vote to Plaid was to a party that people know well and to a popular local politician.

“The Senedd elections next year are a two-horse race between Reform UK and Plaid Cymru.”