Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth insisted his party has the chance to change Wales at next May’s election as he tries to break a century of Labour rule.
Giving his keynote speech at the party’s conference in Swansea, he said: “Plaid Cymru is ready to lead.
“To the people of Wales, I say ‘come with us’.”
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The former BBC journalist admitted it “won’t be an easy task”, but said voting for his Welsh nationalist party to replace Labour in the Senedd (Welsh parliament) next year would unleash Wales “from its shackles”.
Labour has been the largest party in Wales for more than 100 years, giving it the longest-winning streak of any democratically elected political party in the world.
But as its popularity flounders, partly due to the Westminster government, Mr ap Iorwerth said Plaid Cymru, which means “party of Wales”, is the only real option.
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“Labour’s time is up,” he said as he accused Wales’ Labour first minister, Eluned Morgan, of failing to put the country first.
Mr ap Iorwerth promised a vote for Plaid would mean “no diktats from London or orders to obey”, in a dig at the Welsh Labour government.
His party is currently polling at 30%, Reform at 29%, and Labour at 14% in Wales.
Despite Plaid Cymru being built on wanting independence for Wales, Mr ap Iorwerth did not mention independence once. He earlier told Sky News this election is not the time, but that will come.
The Plaid leader accused Labour of neglecting Wales and failing the Welsh people on issues such as steel, the NHS and child poverty.
He portrayed Reform as a threat to Welsh devolution and public services, and accused Nigel Farage’s party of promoting divisive, far-right politics and advocating for abolishing the Senedd.
Reform are the new Conservatives, he added.
“Farage will feverishly pedal the feedback loop of fear and paranoia, but we can put a stop to that,” he said.
“And together, we can usher in an age of new leadership that will set Wales on a different path.”
Trying to appeal to all Welsh voters, he said: “If you’ve never voted for Plaid Cymru before, the time is now.
“The time is now to stop Reform and elect a government more radical, more ambitious, more impatient to bring about positive change than any which has gone before it. A government of progress and of progressive values.”
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He promised to take “decisive action” to change the NHS, and said his party will “unleash our promised revolution in preventative health to create long-term wellbeing” and “reform our neglected social care sector”.
And he said Plaid would “bring not only the impetus of new leadership but a promise to make a difference to your life, wherever you live”.
The Plaid Cymru leader made a key pledge to extend funded childcare hours to all parents with nursery-aged children.
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Currently in Wales, only parents who work (and neither earn more than £100,000) get 30 funded hours for children aged three and four over 48 weeks of the year. Some two-year-olds in disadvantaged areas also receive it.
But Mr ap Iorwerth wants to give 20 hours of funded childcare to all parents, working or not, of children aged nine months to four years old.
Plaid would keep the current 30-hour offering for working parents of three and four-year-olds.
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He said economic research found this would mean a 13% return on investment in early years education and claimed it would be the “most generous government-funded childcare programme in the UK”.
He told the conference: “A helping hand with the things that matter the most.
“That’s what a Plaid Cymru government will mean for you and your family.”
Since last month, working parents of nine-month-olds to four-year-olds in England have been eligible for 30 hours of funded childcare over 48 weeks of the year.
Labour implemented it but it was the Conservative government that introduced the extension.
