Welsh Labour faces existential crisis, says former minister

Welsh Labour faces existential crisis, says former minister8 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleNicholas BourneBBC WalesGetty ImagesFormer Labour minister Lee Waters, who masterminded Wales' controversial default 20mph limit in built-up areas, admitted it came at a cost to the partyWelsh Labour faces an existential crisis and should learn lessons from its poor performance in the Senedd election, according to a former minister.Lee Waters, who was a Labour transport minister in the last Welsh government, described it as a "painful and frustrating experience watching the slow-motion car crash" with the party being "saved from wipe out" with just nine seats.Labour came third behind Plaid Cymru (43 seats) and Reform (34 seats) after winning every Cardiff Bay election since 1999.A Welsh Labour spokesperson: "These were catastrophic results for us and we need to take the time to determine what went wrong."Waters said, while there was "no single reason why Labour collapsed... confronting the extent and the depth of the defeat is the first thing"."This is an existential crisis and I think Labour now needs to go back to first principles and rethink what it is for."We came within 4,000 votes of the Conservatives, that's how bad it was."And so I think a healthy discussion is necessary, but I don't think simply saying this one thing caused it," he told BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement.Waters, who masterminded the introduction of Wales' controversial law setting a default 20mph limit in built-up areas, said: "When you govern you make mistakes and they're [Labour] finding that themselves in Westminster."There are things like 20mph [law] that definitely... took up a lot of political capital and caused a lot of difficulty."We took a hit for that you know, I'm not denying that."It's achieved great things, but it's come at a price."He said Plai...