Plaid Cymru\u2019s leader has promised \u201cno more bending to Westminster\u2019s will\u201d as the nationalist party stands on the brink of taking office for the first time in next month\u2019s Senedd elections.<\/p>\n
Speaking at Plaid Cymru\u2019s manifesto launch in Wrexham on Thursday \u2013 chosen because of its football team, which has showcased Wales\u2019s potential to the world<\/a> \u2013 Rhun ap Iorwerth told a packed room of supporters there would be \u201cno more toeing the London party line, no more defending the status quo and no more saying no to Wales\u201d.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cTogether, and for the first time, we can give our nation the leadership it deserves, leadership that takes its cue from the people of Wales<\/a> and nobody else.\u201d<\/p>\n Labour has led Wales since devolution in 1999 but it appears destined for opposition<\/a>. Polls consistently suggest the May contest is a two-horse race between Plaid Cymru and Reform UK, with Labour a distant third or even fourth after the Green party.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaid Cymru offers a different path. Our pledge is to govern with hope, to govern with humility, to govern with a kind of urgency and impatience which gets things done,\u201d ap Iorwerth said.<\/p>\n Many of the party\u2019s key manifesto pledges had been heavily trailed or previously announced. Priorities include cutting NHS waiting lists, which are longer in Wales than in the other UK nations, a flagship promise of universal childcare, eradicating Wales\u2019s high levels of child poverty with a new weekly child payment, and creating a business-led national development agency for Wales.<\/p>\n Demands on Westminster include more tax powers, addressing Wales\u2019s historical underfunding<\/a>, and devolving control of justice and policing and the crown estate.<\/p>\n Plaid Cymru has repeatedly ruled out holding an independence referendum in a first term, but its manifesto says it will progress plans for a national school of governance, create a diaspora taskforce and develop a \u201cnew and comprehensive bilateral cooperation framework\u201d with Ireland.<\/p>\n The programme had been costed by the leading Welsh economist Prof Gerry Holtham, who called it \u201cachievable\u201d, ap Iorwerth said.<\/p>\n He said he was unconcerned about the electoral threat posed by Reform, as recent polls suggested Plaid Cymru was pulling ahead. Reform is likely to benefit from Wales\u2019s new proportional voting system, going from two MSs \u2013 both Tory defections \u2013 to potentially the biggest party in the Senedd. However, since Plaid Cymru and Labour have said they will not go into coalition with Nigel Farage\u2019s outfit, it is only the Welsh nationalist party that has a shot at forming a government.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important to keep them out of power, and the people of Wales are making it very clear they share my determination on that. Two-thirds of people in one poll<\/a> said their biggest nightmare would be a Reform government,\u201d ap Iorwerth said.<\/p>\n