Uncertainty dominates business outlook ahead of 2026 Senedd Election
Uncertainty dominates business outlook ahead of 2026 Senedd Election
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Welsh businesses are increasingly concerned about the uncertainty hanging over the economy as the 2026 Senedd election approaches, according to Chambers Wales Chief Executive Gus Williams.
Speaking at a Chambers Wales event, hosted at The Ivy in Cardiff, on the political landscape, Williams said the looming election and reforms to the Senedd were creating significant unknowns for the business community.
He said: “Uncertainty is probably the biggest weight hanging over the economy at the moment, not just in Wales, but across the UK.
“At a national level, we’ve got certain things happening with the UK government. In Wales, it’s almost everything that’s happening politically is just completely uncertain now.
“We’ve got a new voting system coming in in 2026. We’ve got an increased size of Senedd coming in in 2026. You’ve practically the vast majority of the Senedd members in the Welsh government next year will be inexperienced and won’t have sat in the Senedd before,” he said.
Williams’ comments come as Wales prepares for sweeping changes to its politics in 2026, with an expanded Senedd, a new voting system, and a likely hung parliament all on the horizon.
For many business leaders, the lack of clarity makes long-term investment and planning more difficult at a time when stability is in high demand.
“That alone, regardless of which party they’re representing, represents challenges and uncertainties. If you layer on top of that the fact that there’s almost certainly not going to be a single majority party here in Wales.
“We just don’t know what the next Welsh Government is going to look like. We don’t know what their priorities are going to be.
“It’s important for us as businesses that we’ve got a seat at the table. It’s important that we are arguing for some level of consistency and certainty in policies that impact Welsh businesses.
“We want to know certainty of certain infrastructure funding. We want to know long-term plans so that businesses can come in and make decisions, not wondering whether or not some government policy is going to change the outcome of that investment decision.”
Williams argued that the best way for businesses to influence policy was to work together and speak with a collective voice.
“I believe collaboration is hugely important. I have a lot of conversations with business leaders, business owners, CEOs, and we tend to all have the same conversations. And regardless of our political leanings, surprisingly we all have very similar agenda, and there are a certain number of things that we really want to see and really want to get done across the ideological divide.
“And I think most of the people I talk to tend not to be that ideological, they just want to see things get done. I think by collaborating and delivering those same messages to whoever’s in the Welsh Government, I think it just increases the chances that some of those things might well get done.
“The collaboration point is very important. Let’s have those conversations together and let’s represent a united front for business.”
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