Plaid Cymru manifesto: key promises

Plaid Cymru has promised to deliver a National Care Service for Wales, introduce a Welsh Language Education Act, support the full transfer of justice powers to Wales and reform the planning system so that it is “consistent with local needs and aspiration", in its manifesto published Monday (17 June)..

Lottie Winson sums up the key policy pledges made in the Plaid Cymru manifesto 2024 affecting the sector.

On housing:

• Social housing – “Wales needs to ensure that the supply of housing meets community needs. This requires a significant expansion in the amount of social and municipal housing stock, a policy that would help to tackle private rental sector rent rises.”
• Housing Revenue Account – “Plaid Cymru campaigned to end the scandal of the Housing Revenue Account Subsidy Scheme which saw local authorities send council house tenant rental income to Westminster rather than re-invested within local housing. As a result, eleven local authorities now have the opportunity to build their own council housing once again, and they and housing associations should be supported to develop further housing as quickly as possible.”
• Supporting Welsh construction – “We will work with local authorities and housing associations to further develop Welsh local supply chains and skilled labour, so that the profits from the Welsh house-building industry can be kept within Wales, rather than exported by the large ‘volume’ housebuilders.”
• Homelessness – “Using the Housing First model and rapid rehousing, we will look to end homelessness, recognising that much of the challenge is not just those sleeping on the streets or in allocated temporary accommodation, but those people who are staying with friends and family.”

On planning:

• Reforming the planning system – “We will reform the planning system so that it is consistent with local needs and aspirations, rather than reflecting the interests of developers. This would be supported by funding packages to assist local government to robustly enforce planning decisions ensuring that developers stick to agreements.”
• Local Development Plans – “We will ensure that Local Development Plans are not imposed upon local planning authorities without their support.”

On devolution:

• The Sewel Convention – “The Sewel Convention – under which legislative consent from Wales is required for Westminster to act in devolved areas – should be placed upon a statutory footing, to prevent the UK legislating in areas of devolved competence.”

On transport and highways:

• Railways – “We believe that rail infrastructure should be devolved to Wales, as it is in Scotland and Northern Ireland, allowing rail infrastructure planning for Wales to be decided in Wales.”
• Road safety – “We will identify roads which have a higher than anticipated number of accidents and work with local government and Welsh Government, whichever is responsible, to make changes to make them safer and reduce accidents.”

On education:

• Universal free school meals – “We will continue to campaign for universal free schools meals to be extended to secondary school learners, in years 7 to 11.”
• Staff – “Develop a more attractive and formalised role for teaching assistants who currently do not have a clear career pathway” and “appoint more non-teaching staff to deal with pupil needs beyond education.”
• Curriculum – “Reviewing the implementation of the new Curriculum for Wales and the Additional Learning Needs Act is essential, to ensure consistency in terms of the education and support learners receive wherever they are in Wales.”
• Welsh Language Education Act – “There should be a Welsh Language Education Act, working towards universal Welsh medium education. Working closely with local authorities, we would ensure that if targets for Welsh medium education improvements are missed, the cause is established and action taken to rectify failings.”

On the NHS and social care:

• National Care Service – "Plaid Cymru has been working to deliver a National Care Service for Wales. We believe that social care, like health care, should be free at the point of use, and that the distinction between the two is artificial. Ending this distinction will also help with reducing Delayed Transfers of Care, the time that people remain in hospital rather than care settings."
• Mental Health – “We support reform of the Mental Health Act. Reform is well overdue, following an independent review of the Act in 2018 and a 2021 White Paper. We will press Welsh Government to make necessary amendments to the Code of Practice in Wales.”

Children’s Services:

• Profit in children’s services provision – “In line with the National Care Service, Plaid Cymru is committed to the consultation on the elimination of profit in children’s services provision. Our aim is to work towards the gradual expansion in capacity of direct provision, in both children’s services and adult services to achieve this."

On policing and justice:

• Transfer of justice powers – "Plaid Cymru support the full transfer of justice powers to Wales. This will allow us to develop a Welsh way of policing and criminal justice. […] Devolving the criminal justice system would ensure better collaboration between prisons and services which are already devolved, reducing homelessness upon release, improve health provision and address concerns about the privately-run Parc Prison.”
• Minister of Justice – “We would create a Minister of Justice in the Welsh Government, who would be responsible to the people of Wales, not Westminster.”
• Victims Commissioner – “Plaid Cymru would create a Victims Commissioner for Wales, who would be able to represent victims of crime and stand up for their rights so that they are not forgotten or ignored by decision makers.”
• Legal Aid – “We would provide additional help to prevent legal aid ‘deserts’ which means that individuals are prevented from accessing timely advice and support.”
• Courts – “Plaid Cymru would pilot a courts in the community scheme which visit areas of the country with an appropriate timetable to resolve local justice needs. This could also help reduce the backlog of court cases, which have become endemic within the system due to the under-funding by the Conservatives.”

On the environment:

• Water – “Control of water in Wales would allow the Senedd to set higher environmental targets on water quality and lower prices, where possible.”
• Section 48(1) of the Wales Act 2017 – “We would enact section 48(1) of the Wales Act 2017, which would fully align the Senedd’s legislative competence over water with the geographical boundary of Wales. We would also formally request powers from the UK over the licensing of sewage in Wales.”

On Independence and political reform:

• Green Paper on independence – “Plaid Cymru will prepare a Green Paper on the path to independence, and create a National Commission. […] We will make the case that independence is not just viable, but desirable, and we will engage with the people of Wales to persuade them of its merits.”
• Proportional representation – “At UK elections, we would support proportional representation so that a greater proportion of votes are used to elect representatives.”