Plaid promises free childcare if it wins Senedd election

October 10, 2025

Plaid promises free childcare if it wins Senedd election

Families who have children aged nine months to four years old will get free childcare if Plaid Cymru wins the next Welsh Parliament election, its leader has said.

Rhun ap Iorwerth made the pledge as he told conference delegates he was ready to lead the country "right now", replacing Labour as the party of government.

Labour has led Wales since the start of devolution in 1999, and has dominated Welsh politics for a century. The next Senedd election takes place in May.

He said the "transformative" policy, offering at least 20 hours for 48 weeks a year by 2031, would be a "helping hand with the things that matter the most".

He told the conference in Swansea that "Labour's time is up" and that Reform wanted to treat the Senedd as a "plaything" to gain an "electoral foothold".

Ap Iorwerth called on voters who wanted to stop Reform to back his party, accusing Nigel Farage of spurring a summer of "simmering hatred".

On Friday he said the 2026 vote will not be an independence election - but said it would "kick-start" the debate about whether Wales should go it alone.

Currently help with childcare costs is only available to families whose parents are in work, education or training, or to very young children who live in a Flying Start area.