Payments for children and 100 new GPs in Plaid election manifesto

Plaid Cymru says it will deliver universal childcare from the age of nine months and surgical hubs to cut waiting lists if it wins the next Senedd election.

Party leader Rhun ap Iorwerth unveiled his party's election manifesto in Wrexham on Thursday, calling it a "radical and responsible" plan for government.

Plans include a £10 weekly payment for up to 15,000 children up to six years old in low income households, and up to 100 new GPs to provide out of hours care.

And a national commission would be established to lay the "foundations" for a future plans for Welsh independence.

The party has ruled out holding an independence referendum in a first term of a Plaid Cymru government.

Plaid said it will concentrate resources on its "key priorities" of cutting NHS waits, supporting families with the cost of living, creating jobs and raising education standards.

Prominent think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that Plaid had omitted to explain how it would afford its pledges.

Speaking at the launch of his manifesto at a restaurant in Wrexham, ap Iorwerth said: "The transformational programme set out in this manifesto is radical and responsible.

"Ambitious, yes, but rigorously costed and fully deliverable."

He said Gerry Holtham, an economist who previously led a review into Wales' funding by the UK Treasury, had judged that Plaid's plans were "detailed, careful and crucially achievable".

The party, in common with all others who have published their manifestos so far, has not published lists of how much individual policies will cost.

Ap Iorwerth accused rivals in Reform of having plans that were "unserious, uncosted and unkind" and accused Labour of "managerlialism and missed opportunities".

"Our pledge is to govern with hope - to govern with humility, to govern with a kind of urgency and impatience which gets things done," he said.

"No more bending to Westminster's will. No more toeing the London party line."

Ap Iorwerth told BBC Wales he would want no one waiting for more than two years for NHS treatment within the first year of a Plaid Cymru government.

He promised to bring waiting times "down to pre-pandemic levels" within a four year term, which he says would halve the number of treatments in lists currently.

"We've identified significant funding in that first year, both capital and resource, to make sure that we inject the necessary funds," he said.

Plaid suggested it would phase its childcare policy - BBC Wales was told this would be over the course of the next Senedd term which ends in 2030.

The party's manifesto said it would "build progressively to 20 hours a week for all children aged nine months to four years, for 48 weeks a year".

It said it would do so "while honouring the existing 30-hour offer for those children aged three and four whose parents are in work, education or training".

On housing, Plaid said it would end no-fault evictions and give renters "greater security of tenure".

It would also limit annual rent increases to wage growth or the consumer price index.

Ap Iorwerth did not mention independence in his speech on Thursday, but the manifesto itself stated Wales was "on a journey to independence".

Having ruled out holding a vote on independence in a first term, Plaid's manifesto states it would establish a "national commission for Wales" that would be "engaging citizens in an ongoing national conversation about the options for Wales' constitutional future".

It would lay "the foundations for a future White Paper " - meaning a government proposal - "on Welsh independence, addressing the challenges and setting out the opportunities and positive changes independence would bring for Wales".

Sources said the white paper would not be published within the first term of a Plaid Cymru government.

It would also bring forward and oversee the process of devolving the crown estate, rail services and infrastructure, and justice and policing from UK-level to Wales.

All those options would require co-operation from the Labour UK government.

Asked by the BBC how much that would cost, ap Iorwerth said: "You're talking a few hundred thousand, half a million pounds in the budget for the year after next."

Opinion polls have suggested Plaid is vying for first place with Reform UK for the 7 May Senedd election.

Plaid Cymru has never won a Welsh election but has supported Labour-led Welsh governments in the past.

The party is hoping to form a minority government with the support of other parties in the Senedd.

Ap Iorwerth said: "I've been explicit that a Plaid Cymru government would want to be co-operative and I hope you have throughout this manifesto that policies that general public and indeed other politicians might think are good ideas.

"The reality is where you have minority governments, as we've always had in the story of devolution, you need to find those elements of common ground."

David Phillips of the IFS said Plaid has been criticised for pledging a "myriad of reviews of health and education policy and performance".

He said this is a "strength" of the party's proposals, saying: "Welsh public service performance is poor and understanding why and how to address this is important."

But he added that the outlook for Welsh government funding implied that cuts to at least some services "will be needed to maintain let alone improve health and social care services".

"Spending £400 million a year more on childcare, with more to boot on a Welsh child payment, expanded free school meals and better primary healthcare would require either deeper cuts to unprotected services, a substantial slowdown in core health and social care spending, or as-yet unmentioned tax rises," he said.

"Plaid Cymru therefore does not appear to have faced up to the fiscal reality facing the next Welsh government. And if the party knows how it would afford its pledges, it has omitted to explain how in its manifesto."

Ap Iorwerth was also asked whether he had concerns about Plaid's candidate vetting process.

It followed the emergence of social media messages previously shared by one of Plaid's candidates in the Casnewydd Islwyn seat, Josh Rawcliffe, including one which suggested that former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should be "put down".

Another candidate, Neil Roberts, resigned over an offensive word he used to describe children in a social media post.

Ap Iorwerth said: "We have a brilliant set of candidates the length and breadth of Wales. I'm really proud to see those from right across Wales who came here to Wrexham today for the for this launch.

"And I know that what we have here is a team of people that's dedicated to changing Wales for the better."

Plaid has confirmed Rawcliffe will remain as a candidate and in a statement earlier this week said: "Joshua Rawcliffe has acknowledged that some of his social media activity prior to entering politics were in poor taste."

Some of Rawcliffe's social media messages had been shared with journalists by Reform UK.

Additional reporting: Gareth Lewis

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