Eluned Morgan’s thirty-seventh session as first minister comes to a close.

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Labour's Jenny Rathbone asks "what discussions has the first minister had with the UK government about regulating unhealthy food?"

Eluned Morgan replies "the Welsh government is taking action to tackle obesity and protect the next generation. We will, of course, work with the United Kingdom government, but we won't wait for them. We're acting to make healthier choices easier, banning junk food promotions in shops and pushing reformulation in the food industry, and we'll be publishing a new 'Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales' delivery plan very soon."

Jenny Rathbone calls on the Welsh government to work on "cleaning up public procurement of food, so that we support Welsh companies to feed our children, rather than importing chicken from Thailand and processed food laden with palm oil, which comes mainly from Egypt".

Eluned Morgan acknowledges, "there's a lot of work that needs to be done in this space, and thank you for your enthusiasm to drive forward change, because it is a critical issue, I think, in terms of how we make sure we have a healthy nation in the future."

In March 2025 new rules about how and where foods high in fat, salt and sugar can be promoted and displayed in larger shops and online were passed by the Senedd.

The Food (Promotion and Presentation) (Wales) Regulations 2025, which largely mirror rules already in place in England, will:

• restrict promotions that can encourage over-consumption, such as multi-buy offers and free refills of sugary drinks
• restrict the presentation of foods high in fat, sugar and salt products at prime selling locations such as store entrances, checkouts and website homepages
• apply to medium and large businesses with 50 or more employees.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Senedd Cymru

There is laughter as Peter Fox describes himself as "one Conservative who will not be going to Reform".

"That's generated a lot of speculation about others" says the Llywydd, Elin Jones.

Laura Anne Jones defected from the Conservatives to Reform in July, becoming the party's first Member of the Senedd.

Image source, Getty Images

Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds asks "what plans does the Welsh government have to increase the number of beds in care homes?"

Eluned Morgan replies "I'm proud that Wales allows people who need to move into a care home to keep more of their own money than in any other part of the United Kingdom. We're also very proud of the fact that our workforce is properly valued and we provide funding to make sure that every care worker in Wales is paid at least the real living wage. And, on top of that, we've invested £18 million to deliver new care home beds across Wales for both children and adults."

Speaking at the party's conference in Bournemouth on Saturday, Ms Dodds said she wanted the next Welsh government to fund 5,000 extra social care beds to ease pressure on the NHS.

She now tells the Senedd, "beds in care homes are only part of the answer in this particular situation. Right now, around one-in-seven hospital beds is occupied by somebody who is ready to go home, but stuck because they can't get the support that they need. In Powys hospitals, as of 2 September, 52 per cent of patients were ready for discharge, yet remained in hospital waiting for care assessments or agreed support. As we all know, every day that they stay, they lose strength, independence and confidence."

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth says it's a year since the Labour Welsh government announced that patients from Wales could receive NHS treatment in England, and vice-versa, under the UK and Welsh governments' joint plan to bring down waiting lists.

"How many more patients from Wales have been treated in England over the past 12 months?" he asks.

Eluned Morgan replies, "I can tell you that the ministerial advisory group, which was brought in to make sure that we could learn from the rest of the United Kingdom what they were doing well, what perhaps we could teach them, reported and made sure that it gave us ideas of how we could see improvements in the NHS in Wales. So, that was an important step. I can give you numbers as to the number of people who are treated in England from Wales—this is not something new, this has always, always happened—if you want me to find those numbers for you. But, I think it's probably worth pointing out as well that the number of people from England who choose to have their GPs in Wales is significantly higher than the other way around."

"That was even vaguer than I expected" says Rhun ap Iorwerth.

He adds, "we have learned, since then, of bureaucratic problems in making cross-border referrals. That's what the BMA [British Medical Association] have said. Also, the Powys health board, of course, asked to slow down how many patients are sent for treatment because of financial constraints, which seems completely at odds with what the first minister said a year ago."

Eluned Morgan replies, "there are too many people waiting for too long on waiting lists in Wales, and it's right that we give every opportunity to try and clear those, and if that means sending some people to England, so be it. That's particularly true in Powys, which is on the border. I don't make any apologies for that. I think it's really important that we take advantage of that. And the fact is that the longest waiting times have fallen by 85 per cent from its peak in March."

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Darren Millar, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, asks "why does your Welsh Labour government continue to waste taxpayers' money on issues for which it has absolutely no responsibility? You are spending millions on mini embassies in exotic locations around the world, solar-powered boats for the Wampis tribe in Peru, gender-equal tree planting in Uganda, whatever that means. How on earth can you bleat on about being underfunded from Westminster and not getting enough funding from Westminster when you are wasting millions overseas that could and should be spent on people in Wales?"

Eluned Morgan replies, "I think it is probably worth noting that under the years of austerity under the Tories we faced a situation where we had to make up for the lack of funding, the lack of action, coming from the UK government for areas for which they had responsibility. Let me give you an example: broadband. Broadband, the roll-out of broadband - not the Welsh government's responsibility, but we had to make up for the fact that the UK Tory government was not doing its job. If it had been left to the Tories, there would be thousands, hundreds of thousands of homes in Wales today not linked to broadband. So, don't tell us not to step in at times when the government in the United Kingdom are not doing their job properly. It was your government that didn't do that, and we have to make up for the losses and the fact that you weren't doing the job properly."

Darren Millar calls for the "nation of sanctuary" policy to be scrapped.

He says the policy is "funding support and services including for illegal immigrants. That's tens of millions of pounds that could and should be spent on people in Wales and our public services."

Eluned Morgan replies, "this dog-whistle politics of trying to compete with Reform is not going to get you anywhere, Darren, and you know it. You know it. And let me tell you: you were in the front line of people telling us that we had to hold out our hand and help the people of Ukraine. You were the first person there. That's where the nation of sanctuary money is going. The vast, vast majority of it was spent on supporting people from Ukraine for years and years."

The refugee and asylum seeker plan (nation of sanctuary) was first published on 1 January 2019, external.

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Conservative Natasha Asghar raises concerns about fly-tipping, which she says is a "major issue in Newport".

Eluned Morgan replies "fly-tipping is a crime. That's why this Welsh Labour government has put another £400,000 into tackling it, funding cameras, stop-checks with the police, and expert legal support for councils. And it's working. Prosecutions have nearly doubled".

Natasha Asghar says Newport is "Wales's fly-tipping capital".

She adds, "more than 7,000 incidents were reported in 2024-25. Whilst that number has dropped from the 8,139 logged the previous year, it still remains unacceptably high. Fly-tipping is an issue more and more constituents are contacting me about, and I'm currently dealing with a long-standing saga in the George Street area of the city. Occupants in one property are dumping obscene amounts of rubbish in a nearby lane on nearly a daily basis, and surrounding neighbours have simply had enough."

Eluned Morgan adds, "household waste bags being left next to litter bins is an increasing problem. So, that is fly-tipping. People need to understand that is not acceptable. Putting a bag next door to a litter bin is fly-tipping. So, we need all to understand what it means and what our responsibility is as citizens in our communities."

The Welsh government provides grant funding to partners such as Keep Wales Tidy and Fly-tipping Action Wales who work with organisations and communities to help educate and encourage positive behavioural change.

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Llywydd Elin Jones conducts a ballot to determine the names of members who may table questions to the first minister.

Labour MS Carolyn Thomas asks "how is the Welsh government planning to cover inflationary pressures in its budget for 2026-27?"

First Minister Eluned Morgan replies that on 14 October her government will publish a one-year budget for 2026/27 that will rise in line with inflation.

She says that will give "people who work in the NHS, schools and our councils the stability that they need. Fourteen years of Tory austerity hollowed out our public services, and this Welsh Labour government is still rebuilding the damage. Now, other parties will say that it's not ambitious enough, but, if they want to back a budget that uses every pound we've got, my door is open."

MSs will vote on a final budget in January.

Mark Drakeford, the Welsh government's finance secretary, had previously indicated that because of the Senedd election in 2026, the budget would be "business as usual" and rise only in line with inflation.

Figures last week showed that the overall pace of inflation stayed at 3.8% in the year to August.

Image source, Getty Images

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Eluned Morgan’s thirty-seventh session of First Minister's Questions.

The Siambr (Senedd chamber) has closed for renovations until March 2026, as work is underway on altering it to accommodate the 96 Members who will be chosen in the next Senedd election in May 2026.

So the 60 MSs are meeting in Siambr Hywel, the original debating chamber that housed the then National Assembly for Wales from 1999 to 2006.

The meeting is held in a hybrid format, with some members in Siambr Hywel and others joining by video-conference.

You can click on the play button above to watch the proceedings from 1.30pm.