A national journalist has returned from Jerusalem to take on a new regional brief.

The Guardian has announced the appointment of Bethan McKernan as Wales correspondent, as part of the newspaper’s “ongoing commitment to deepen coverage outside London”.

The policy has seen new roles created by The Guardian in Scotland, Manchester, the North-East, the Midlands, the South-West.

Bethan, pictured, has anchored The Guardian’s reporting of the Middle East in recent times, having been based there for 10 years.

Former Wales Online Welsh affairs editor Will Hayward will continue as a Guardian columnist examining Welsh issues following Bethan’s appointment.

Bethan said: “I’m delighted to be coming home to Wales. I am returning after a decade working in the Middle East as a different person, and Wales is a different country to the one I left.

“We’re a year out from the Senedd elections and Wales’ political sphere is changing fast, which has implications for the rest of the UK too.

“The country’s traditionally rock-solid support for Labour has collapsed, while Plaid Cymru’s independence movement and the far-right Reform party are both surging.

“Wales is so often neglected in the national conversation and the ways its government, society and culture differ from the rest of the country often misunderstood.

“I’m looking forward to helping change that, building on The Guardian’s track record of rigorous public interest reporting.”

Editor-in-chief Katharine Viner added: “I’m delighted that The Guardian is to have our first Wales correspondent in many years, and that someone of Bethan’s calibre will be in the role.

“Expanding our coverage of Wales is part of our ongoing commitment to increasing on-the-ground reporting across the UK: we now cover Britain outside of London much more fully, with journalists based in Scotland, Manchester, the north-east, the Midlands, the south-west and now Wales.

“We believe we have a responsibility to understand local communities and report on the issues that impact them, which often differ significantly from those facing Londoners.

“Wales is a crucial part of the British story, as well as having a distinct identity, politics and culture of its own, and Bethan could not be better placed to report on it.”