Gerwyn Price wrongly blames Plaid Cymru for issues managed by Labour council

Kyle Bright

Former darts world champion Gerwyn Price has blamed Plaid Cymru for school transport cuts in an online post, despite the council responsible having been run by Labour for over a decade.

His comments come during a broader wave of misinformation on social media ahead of the upcoming Senedd election this May.

In the Facebook post, Price says he “wonders how all the Caerphilly voters feel now with the newly locally elected Plaid”, blaming the party for cuts by the local council which will take away free transport for pupils within two miles of their secondary school.

He added: “Imagine a brand new year 7. 12 year old girl or boy especially girls having to do this in all weather conditions in the middle of winter, not only that but the state of the streets in the UK at this moment in time with young women and girls being very valuable [sic]…”

Except, Plaid Cymru were not recently elected to run Caerphilly County Borough Council. The council covering the area has been under the majority control of Labour since 2012.

The recent Caerphilly by-election saw Plaid Cymru candidate Lindsay Whittle elected to the Senedd, but local school transport provisions are not the responsibility of politicians in the Welsh Parliament. These tend to be managed by local councillors.

The post went on to accumulate thousands of interactions despite the erroneous claims put forward by the Welsh darts star, who hails from the town of Markham within the Caerphilly county borough.

Price came out ahead of the Caerphilly by-election last year to give his support to the Reform party. After Plaid Cymru came out on top in the result, he said that Reform UK “will be waiting in their shadows” ahead of the 2026 Senedd Election.

Gerwyn Price has been approached for comment.

Recent polling research by YouGov and Cardiff University revealed that over a third of respondents couldn’t identify who was responsible for transport policy, with over 80% of people unaware of who was responsible for certain issues.

With the public struggling to understand how devolved elections to the Senedd work, it creates the perfect opportunity for misinformation to thrive ahead of voters going to the polls on May 7, with other examples of misinformation spreading online.

Are ULEZ zones in Plaid’s 2026 Senedd manifesto?

Misleading posts have gained traction claiming that an extract from Plaid Cymru’s manifesto includes plans to introduce Ultra Low Emission Zones (ULEZ) to Welsh cities such as Swansea, Cardiff, Newport and Wrexham.

One social media post said that Plaid Cymru were hiding “a Welsh version of Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ” in their manifesto, while describing the party as “net zero dogmatists” who are “indifferent to the financial realities facing ordinary Welsh families”.

Except, the party is yet to even release its manifesto for the 2026 Senedd election.

The extract in question originated within a manifesto by the party five years ago, during which the party was led by its previous leader, Adam Price.

ULEZs are designated areas designed to improve air quality by applying charges to vehicles which do not meet certain exhaust emission standards.

It is expected that Plaid Cymru will launch their 2026 manifesto for the upcoming Senedd election in Mold on April 9, following the party’s campaign launch in Bedwas on March 30.

How much money is spent on tree planting in Uganda?

One claim that’s been put forward by opposition parties in the Senedd, as well as spread widely on social media, is that the Welsh Government are carelessly spending taxpayers’ money by allocating cash to plant trees in Uganda.

On the initiative, the Welsh Tories previously claimed that Welsh Labour were “squeezing communities” of taxes to fund “frivolous schemes and vanity projects”, while Reform have previously called the scheme “indefensible”.

A Freedom of Information request revealed last year that the scheme amounted to £4,070,864 over a decade.

In context though, the tree-planting initiative accounts for a relatively small share of the Senedd’s £26bn budget – equating to around £400,000 a year.

Reform cited the Welsh international aid budget as an area they would cut in their manifesto to introduce tax cuts. However, the overall aid budget, including other projects on top of the Ugandan tree planting scheme, amounts to less than 0.004% of the Welsh Government’s budget.

Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) claims that this, together with cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) roles and a reduction in the Welsh civil service, would still only make up “a small proportion of the cost of proposed tax cuts”.