Summary

  • Politicians have been making their last-ditch bids to win over the voters ahead of polling day on Thursday

  • Chancellor Rishi Sunak joined the Conservative effort to repeat their general election gains in north Wales

  • Welsh Labour leader Mark Drakeford visited the Vale of Glamorgan to defend another Tory target seat

  • Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price campaigned in Carmarthenshire, hoping to capture Labour-held Llanelli

  • Welsh Lib Dem leader Jane Dodds turned her focus to defending the party's Brecon and Radnorshire seat

  1. Reform UK: Wales can do so much better than thispublished at 11:08 British Summer Time 5 May 2021

    Nathan GillImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Nathan Gill leads Reform UK in Wales, a rebrand of the Brexit Party

    Reform UK said its Welsh leader, Nathan Gill, was campaigning in Conwy on Wednesday.

    Mr Gill said: "We are fanning out across Wales in our campaign teams, getting the message out that Wales can do so much better than this.

    “We need to get out of lockdown now, our children need to allowed to be children, and our businesses need to do what they do best - serve their customers and get the Welsh economy rolling again."

  2. WATCH: Will younger voters have an impact on the election?published at 10:57 British Summer Time 5 May 2021

    Media caption,

    Wales election: Will younger voters affect the result?

    For the first time, 16 and 17-year-olds will be able to vote in the Senedd election, meaning 70,000 more people are eligible to cast their ballot on Thursday.

    BBC Politics Wales presenter James Williams asks whether this potential influx of younger voters will affect the outcome.

  3. Chancellor joins Tory effort in north Walespublished at 10:48 British Summer Time 5 May 2021

    Rishi Sunak
    Image caption,

    Rishi Sunak samples the chips at the Marine Holiday Park, Rhyl

    Chancellor Rishi Sunak is lending his support to the Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies in the final hours of the Senedd election campaign.

    Both men are visiting Rhyl, in north Wales, where the party is hoping to build on its successes in the 2019 general election.

    Mr Sunak sampled some of the chips at Marine Holiday Park and chatted to employees about how they adapted to the pandemic.

    Ahead of the visit, the chancellor said voting Conservative was "vital" to rebuilding the economy after the pandemic and "22 years of Labour" rule in Wales.

    He pointed to the economic support provided during the pandemic by the Conservative UK government.

    "I have said throughout this crisis that my number one priority is to protect and support as many jobs as possible," Mr Sunak said.

    “Our furlough and self-employed income support schemes have together protected over half a million jobs in Wales and the UK Government is spending over £400 billion to support our country through this pandemic.

    “And as our phenomenal vaccination programme continues its roll-out our economic recovery begins, and the Senedd election on Thursday is crucial to this recovery.

    “Once we are through this crisis, we need two governments working together to rebuild and level up Wales."

    Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies echoed this message, saying there was a need to "stick together and focus on protecting jobs and rebuilding the Welsh economy using the firm foundations of the United Kingdom".

    Rishi Sunak
    Image caption,

    Rishi Sunak asked holiday park staff in Rhyl how they had adapted to the pandemic

  4. Abolish: Don't waste vote on parties who have had their daypublished at 10:25 British Summer Time 5 May 2021

    Mark Reckless
    Image caption,

    Mark Reckless has previously been a member of the Tories, UKIP and the Brexit Party

    Abolish the Welsh Assembly’s Mark Reckless is asking people not to “waste their votes on parties which helped give us Brexit, but have had their day now”.

    “For over twenty years devolution has only ever gone one way, towards independence,” he said.

    “In this campaign Abolish has found so many people across Wales who instead want what we want - one NHS, not four, one education system and one UK government.

    “So long as people don’t waste their votes on parties which helped give us Brexit, but have had their day now, Abolish will start to roll back devolution and protect our great United Kingdom.”

  5. LISTEN: Walescast - The final countdownpublished at 10:15 British Summer Time 5 May 2021

    Walescast

    Felicity Evans and James Williams are back with another session of political chat in Walescast.

    In their last podcast before polling day they reflect on the Senedd election campaign so far with our Westminster correspondent Ione Wells and political reporter Teleri Glyn Jones.

    They're also joined by Betsan Powys, who shares the lowdown on Monday night’s Pawb a'i Farn debate on S4C.

    Click here to listen or download.

  6. Wales campaigning a wet affairpublished at 10:02 British Summer Time 5 May 2021

    It has been a wet final few days of campaigning for the Welsh Parliament candidates.

    Welsh Labour leader Mark Drakeford tweeted a photograph of himself on the trail yesterday, writing: "Wouldn't be Wales without a little rain."

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  7. Analysis: Pandemic turns election as well as lives upside downpublished at 09:43 British Summer Time 5 May 2021

    Felicity Evans
    BBC Wales political editor

    The Covid-19 pandemic has turned our lives upside down over the last year and a bit - and it has done the same for this Senedd election campaign.

    Pre-Covid, Welsh Labour had been in power for more than two decades and faced a defensive election trying to hold on to a number of marginal seats against opposition parties with the wind in their sails.

    Before the pandemic struck, few ordinary voters could have picked the Welsh Labour leader, Mark Drakeford, out of a line-up.

    Some of his own troops had misgivings about fighting an election under his understated, academic style of leadership, especially against the energetic and rhetorically-gifted Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price.

    Plaid's plan was to centre their campaign around Mr Price, confident that the contrast between the two men would get many centre-left voters leaning in their favour.

    The Welsh Conservatives were feeling bullish after dismantling Labour's red wall in the north east of Wales in the 2019 General Election, but their then leader, Paul Davies, was a quiet man struggling to make his mark.

    Fast forward to April 2021 and a very different political world.

    In this world, Mark Drakeford is a well-known figure. He has a better recognition than the UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer - an unprecedented event in a devolved election.

    Read more from Felicity here.

  8. Good morningpublished at 09:32 British Summer Time 5 May 2021

    Mark Drakeford, Andrew RT Davies, Adam Price and Jane Dodds
    Image caption,

    The Welsh party leaders: Mark Drakeford (Labour), Andrew RT Davies (Conservative), Adam Price (Plaid Cymru) and Jane Dodds (Lib Dem)

    Good morning. It's the last chance for Wales' political parties to get their message out to potential voters as we enter the final day of campaigning for the Senedd election.

    • The Conservatives have the support of Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who will be visiting north Wales, along with their Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies.
    • Labour leader Mark Drakeford is heading to the Vale of Glamorgan where he hopes to shore up support for the party to retain its seat - a target for the Conservatives, who hold the Westminster constituency.
    • Adam Price, Plaid Cymru leader, will be in Llanelli, which is held by Labour but had been Plaid Cymru's from 2007 to 2011. Plaid narrowly missed winning the seat in 2016 by 382 votes.
    • Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds is focusing her attention on the party's one remaining seat of Brecon and Radnorshire, where the outgoing education minister Kirsty Williams is standing down.

    Stay with us.