Voters in Wales face Senedd election amid confusion over who holds power over what
Ahead of May’s Senedd (Welsh parliament) election, many people in Wales remain unclear about who is responsible for important political decisions.
Our new report suggests confusion is widespread. Our analysis included a survey of people in Wales and found that 69% did not know that policing is controlled by the UK government.
At the same time, a significant minority did not realise that health, education and transport have been devolved to Wales, despite more than 25 years of devolution. The report also found that more people rely on UK-wide news for political information than news produced in Wales.
Working with YouGov between January and February 2026, we surveyed 1,544 people across Wales. We also carried out focus groups and analysed more than 3,000 social media posts, online articles and TV news reports from major UK broadcasters.
Taken together, the findings suggest that UK‑wide news media are not doing enough to raise public knowledge and understanding of devolved politics ahead of the election.
Reporting lacks constitutional clarity
Our analysis of network news – including the BBC, ITV, Sky News, Channel 4 and Channel 5 – found that devolved politics makes up only a small part of UK-wide coverage. Stories rarely compare how policies differ across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. And when devolved issues are covered, they often lack basic clarity about which government is responsible.
This problem is especially clear on social media. On X (formerly Twitter), 73% of posts about devolved issues did not say whether a story applied only to England, or to England and Wales in the case of legal matters. Just 13.2% mentioned England explicitly. Only 13.8% named Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland to make clear that responsibility lay with devolved governments.
But there was also a lack of clarity in TV news, with 57.4% not stating if they were relevant to one or more of the four nations. Online news performed slightly better, but still fell short because 35.3% gave no indication of which part of the UK they referred to.
While some articles did refer to England (33.6%), our audience research suggests this is not enough. Many readers still struggled to understand how political decisions apply to Wales.
This lack of clarity has real consequences. Our survey found that many people misinterpret news stories that do not clearly explain where policies apply. When shown a BBC report about junior doctors’ strikes in December 2025, 48% believed the strikes were taking place across the UK. In reality, they applied to England only. A further 11% said they did not know either way.
A deeper lack of knowledge was revealed when stories failed to mention any government at all. When shown posts on X about housing and fracking, a majority of respondents assumed these were controlled solely by Westminster. In fact, responsibility is shared between the UK and Welsh governments.
More broadly, vague references to “the government” or to health and education secretaries often left people unsure which nation was being discussed.
There are wider gaps in political knowledge too. For example, only 47% could identify Rhun ap Iorwerth as the leader of Plaid Cymru, the most likely next first minister of Wales. Meanwhile, 58% did not know how the Senedd’s new voting system works.
Given the limited visibility of Welsh politics in UK-wide news, and the lack of clear explanations when it is covered, this confusion is perhaps not surprising. But it raises concerns about how voters will interpret political debates in the weeks ahead.
Why UK-wide news matters
For many people in Wales, UK-wide news remains the main source of political information. That makes how it reports devolved issues especially important. In our focus groups, participants consistently said they wanted simple, clear references to where a story applies. Explicit references to Wales would increase their interest and engagement.
Many participants said they lacked confidence in understanding the differences between political parties. They wanted clearer explanations of which issues are controlled in Wales, and what each party is proposing to do about them.
They also expressed frustration with the way politics is often reported. Too much attention, they felt, is given to personalities and campaign moments, and not enough to policy. Issues such as healthcare, in particular, were seen as deserving greater scrutiny.
The coming weeks will be a test not just for political parties, but for network news media. Our report highlights the need for clearer, more consistent reporting of how power is shared across the UK. Without it, voters may struggle to hold the right institutions to account.
Read more: Wales is overhauling its democracy – here’s what’s changing
If coverage of the election is to inform rather than confuse, it must do more than report the campaign. It must also explain it. That means clearly stating which government is responsible for which policies, and showing how decisions in Wales differ from those made in Westminster or elsewhere in the UK.
After more than a quarter century of devolution, the structures of governance are well established. But public understanding has not kept pace. As voters prepare to go to the polls, closing that gap has never been more important.
Stephen Cushion has received funding from the BBC Trust, Ofcom, AHRC, BA, ESRC and Welsh Government.
Llion Carbis receives funding from the ESRC.