A closer look at the Plaid Cymru Senedd election manifesto

If you believe opinion polls, Plaid Cymru could be on the cusp of forming its first ever Welsh government.

Even if it comes second behind Reform, there could be potentially enough of a left-wing block in the Senedd to support Rhun ap Iorwerth becoming first minister.

It means Plaid's manifesto its important.

There are no big changes promised to the infrastructure of the Welsh state. Independence, while its there, is off in the distance to be looked at by a commission with a tiny budget.

Instead the party is hoping voters will be attracted to their promises on childcare, to cut waiting times and to reduce child poverty with a pilot of a £10 payment.

What do our team of BBC specialists think?

Plaid has previously spoken about free school meals for all secondary pupils – it stops short of promising that in this Senedd term, but says free meals would be expanded to year seven to 11 students in households claiming Universal Credit, with no income limit.

Also on schools, the party's promising to boost incentives to attract new teachers.

But the even bigger challenge of making sure enough can speak Welsh, could be the main barrier to realising ambitions to expand Welsh-medium provision right across the childcare and education sectors.

A review of the Curriculum for Wales and the promise of clearer guidance for teachers is an attempt to acknowledge concerns about how this major reform is working.

Those who might be wondering whether any party will promise whole-scale reorganisation of how the Welsh NHS is run can be sure that, so far, it hasn't been on the table at this election.

However, Plaid Cymru says it will look at "all options" for reforming Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in north Wales.

That does not appear to rule out reorganising Wales' biggest health board, which the party has talked about it in the past, although it doesn't rule it in either.

The manifesto promises to cut waiting times but in the text does not state a clear target.

Speaking to BBC Wales though, party leader Rhun ap Iorwerth promises that no one will be waiting two years for treatment within the first year of a Plaid government.

He promises to get other waits down to pre-pandemic levels by the end of a Senedd term.

Plaid Cymru says a review of higher education and how it's funded would be a priority, with the sector currently facing huge funding pressures.

It says a key issue would be making sure more of the money spent by the Welsh government on higher education stays in Wales.

But there's no specific mention here of a plan previously discussed to cut the £1,000 living costs grant for students studying outside Wales.

It has long-opposed the aims of the Seren programme which it views as supporting the most able young people to go to leading universities across the border in England - taking precious funding with them.

It says the programme would be refocused on applications to Welsh universities and on boosting the numbers of students from more disadvantaged areas.

But critics have accused their plan of limiting aspirations.

Plaid is promising to "review the effectiveness" of the rules on second homes and tourism lets.

One of the most controversial has been that a self-catering holiday let must be rented for at least 182 days a year or be classified as a second home and subject to council tax, in some cases at a premium rate.

This rule was part of a series of measures designed to address the shortage of affordable homes for local people in tourist hotspots.

But it is intensely unpopular with tourism operators who say it is driving many of them out of business.

Cyngor Gwynedd, one of the councils most affected by the housing crisis, has also called for the 182 threshold to be reduced.

It was not a surprise, but Rhun ap Iorwerth did not mention independence at all in his speech in Wrexham on Thursday.

Plaid is trying to appeal to people beyond its base - to voters that might think Wales is better off in the United Kingdom.

But the manifesto ap Iorwerth launched today does talk about independence.

The party says it would not try to hold a referendum in a first term of a Plaid government, but it would set up a "national commission for Wales".

This would, as well as looking at powers over policing and other items, would lay "the foundations for a future White Paper on Welsh independence".

A white paper is a government document that sets out a policy to do something - it could be a plan for how Wales would work as an independent country.

When Plaid discussed a white paper in the past party sources made clear it would not be published in the first term of a Plaid government.

Meanwhile BBC Wales was told Plaid would spend £500,000 on this commission - a small sum, although for some of their unionist rivals it will be £500,000 too much.

Plaid wants to explore the possibility of a "Welsh child payment" of £10 a week for children under six years old in families receiving Universal Credit to try to address the persistent problem of child poverty.

It's similar to a payment provided by the Scottish government, but Scotland has greater powers over the benefits system than the Welsh government does here - so there are question marks over the feasibility of a such a plan in Wales.

Plaid is proposing a pilot scheme to explore the workability of the plan.

But it might require support from the UK government in order to be delivered effectively, and such support is not guaranteed.

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