Question Time 16th April 2026
The Panel:
Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour)
Darren Millar (Conservative)
Jane Dodds (LibDem)
Dan Thomas (Reform UK)
Anthony Slaughter (Greens)
Venue: Cardiff
Question One: What’s happening at Question Time? Trailed as an election special, this week’s QT comes from Cardiff. The election in question being among those to be held on Thursday, 8th May. In Wales, this means the 96 members to be returned to the Welsh assembly – the Senedd. Polls suggest a Labour wipeout in Wales, with English taxpayers’ money in future being burnt by a Plaid Cymru administration. We shall see.
Next week’s QT repeats the process in Scotland with a programme coming from Aberdeen. The subsequent (April 30th) edition is pencilled as ‘to be announced ‘, which presumably means somewhere in Northern Ireland – leaving no time for an election special from England, surprise, surprise. Is it this English who pay for all this devolution malarky? I think it might be.
The election day 8th May show is moved to Friday 9th, with a London-based programme presumably excoriating Mr Starmer. Fear not, we shall, presumably, have our QT review on the Saturday evening with Saturday evening’s unread article not being read on Friday morning instead.
Given its election special nature, tonight’s QT features an unprecedented six political parties, with four panellists being nonentities who’ve never been on before (and two, nonentities who have).
One of the old hands is the ludicrous Rhun ap Iorwerth, a Corporation type who joined BBC Wales in 1994 and rose to become the channel’s Chief Political Correspondent. The 53-year-old entered the Welsh Senedd in 2013 as the Plaid Cymru representative for Anglesey (Ynys Mon) and is the current leader of the party. Not his real name, Rhun Jones is a practitioner of the cringingly embarrassing bad habit of hating the English so much that traditional names are turned into foreign ones.
Au contraire, Huw Irranca-Davies achieved the same result through a different process. Not his real name, Ifor Huw Davies, is the deputy first minister of Wales and the Senedd member for Ogmore. Rather than celtisise his name, Huw made himself appear ridiculous by marrying an Italian and hyphenating himself. Ouch. A graduate of Crewe and Alsager College of Higher Education, the 63-year-old worked as a lecturer in higher education before entering politics.
Daniel Thomas represents Reform UK. A former Conservative, the 45-year-old’s Welsh credentials include being a councillor on Barnet London Borough Council for 19 years. Darren Millar is the other experienced QT panellist. Mr Millar has previously been a councillor on Conwy County Borough Council and on Towyn and Kinmel Bay Town Council, and is presently Senedd Candidate for Clwyd, and Welsh Conservative Leader.
Jane Dodds is a graduate in social care from Cardiff University. Her Welsh credentials include being a councillor on Richmond on Thames London Borough Council. Although she describes herself as a former long-standing self-employed child protective social worker, further investigation reveals she was employed by the Salvation Army, a number of local authorities and at one time led the Children’s Section of the Refugee Council.
Perhaps she is trying to hide something?
Further further investigation reveals that a report published in 2021 found that Dodds made “a grave error of judgement” by failing to follow up on a meeting about a specific sexual abuse case involving a former bishop, Hubert Victor Whitsey, who abused at least 18 victims over a 15-year period during the time Dodds worked for the Church of England. This came to light in November 2024, after Justin Welby resigned over his failure to report another prolific child abuser, John Smyth.
A member of the Labour Party until 2003, Jane is presently Leader of the LibDems in the Senedd, not a difficult appointment as she is the only member of her party in it.
Anthony Slaughter’s Welsh credentials include being born in Hull and growing up in Australia and South Africa, before returning to Britain and living in Hackney. The 63-year-old does not hold any elected public office but enjoys being leader of the Welsh Green Party all the same. He is a garden designer and landscaper.
***
La Bruce began with a flavour of the audience’s views, which included cost of living poverty, fractured Welsh politics and an impoverished junior doctor bleating about being burnt out.
The real Question One concerned UK growth and the connection between taxation and spending. What’s that got to do with Welsh politicians, one wonders, as they just put a match to English taxpayers’ money.
Rhun referenced a £22 billion black hole to be plugged by taking control of the Crown Estates and being compensated for HS2, which, to much consternation in the valleys, doesn’t go from London to Birmingham via Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
Darren Millar, on behalf of Reform UK, was going to abolish net zero, kill off hundreds of quangos and lose layers of management.
Girl war. In brief, La Bruce was dressed as Robin Hood. Jane Dodds was in a leopard skin. Match abandoned – eyeball failure.
Huw is going to save money by well-costed and well-funded extra spending. Welfare exceeds income tax receipts, noted an audience member, if you don’t get a grip of that the country will go to hell in a hand cart. All your Income Tax goes on welfare. La Bruce – in a swerve on behalf of the scrounging classes that the real Robin Hood might have admired, told him to forget about it as such matters aren’t devolved powers.
A lady doubted the £22 billion black hole meme.
Tory Darren was going to save money by not expanding the number of members of the Senedd and rolling back the size of the Welsh civil service – including the mini embassies in exotic locations that ministers love to visit. Why didn’t the Tories do any of that when they were in power?
The Greens haven’t provided any costing for their policies, pointed out La Bruce. We have priorities instead, replied Anthony, sensibly. Things can be done, and other things could be done; endless throwing about of numbers compromises trust in politics, he continued sensibly. On the not-so-sensible end of the scale, he was in favour of a wealth tax and a land tax. Despite talk of billionaires – that means you.
The conversation moved on to ‘the settlement’. As if the male version of Girl War, panellists boasted about who could manage the biggest ‘settlement.’ The settlement being the amount of taxpayers’ money dumped on Welsh politicians. That means you as well – especially if you’re English.
© Always Worth Saying 2026
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