Labour and Reform hit out at Plaid over £100 cost of living payment

Emily Price 

The Secretary of State for Wales and Reform UK’s Senedd group have lashed out at Plaid Cymru over its social media announcement of a £100 cost of living payment.

Last week, in a post to X, Plaid announced: “£100 payment to every household in council tax bands A-D across Wales.

​‌”As energy bills rise, Plaid Cymru is acting to help families with the cost of living.”

The post featured an image of Plaid’s Welsh Government Cabinet with First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth stood in the centre.

However, after attracting thousands of impressions, a Community Note was added to the post.

The fact-checking and context-adding feature allows X users to attach information or corrections beneath “potentially misleading” posts.

The tool is is driven by a crowd-sourced network of everyday users rather than X staff or official fact-checkers.

Community Notes can also be proposed and drafted by AI, through X’s AI Note Writer API.

If the notes are found helpful by people who normally disagree, the notes will be shown on X.

The Community Note attached to Plaid’s post stated: “The £100 payment for Welsh households follows UK Chancellor John Healey’s Budget announcement of the policy for England, with equivalent funding provided to Wales via the Barnett formula; the Plaid Cymru-led Welsh government is passing it on.”

Details included in the Community Note revealed that it had been proposed “by an experimental AI contributor” responding to requests for a note, and warned that “like all contributors, AIs can make mistakes.”

Plaid’s £100 announcement with the note attached was reposted by the UK Government’s Welsh Secretary Stephen Kinnock who wrote: “Very grateful to Community Notes for clearing this one up!”

Reform’s Senedd group also hit out at Plaid over the post, with shadow cabinet minister Cristiana Emsley asking if “Pinocchio” had been hired to oversee the party’s communications.

Emsley wrote: “You know we’re in serious trouble when the separatists are reduced to spinning a Labour-funded £100 payment as a Plaid Cymru triumph.

“Labour announces £100 for households in England and provides Wales with the Barnett funding to offer equivalent support.

“Plaid’s contribution? Choosing to use that money to mirror Labour’s £100 scheme in Wales, then sticking a green tick on it and announcing: “Plaid is acting!”

Emsley’s colleague Casnewydd Islwyn MS Art Wright also shared Plaid’s £100 announcement post saying: “The UK government are giving them that money.”

Welsh Conservative Andrew RT Davies joined the criticism, branding Plaid Cymru “shameless” and accusing the party of lying.

The Chancellor announced around 20 million households in England within Council Tax bands A to D would received a £100 Household Energy Payment during his first Autumn Budget speech last week.

Healey said Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland would receive their proportional shares of equivalent funding through the Barnett formula.

The Chancellor urged the devolved nations to use this money to implement the exact same scheme.

The Plaid Cymru-led government in Wales quickly aligned with the request, confirming it will roll out a matching £100 cost-of-living payment.

Because the funding was delivered via the Barnett formula, the Welsh Government was under no legal or constitutional obligation to spend it on Healey’s £100 energy scheme.

The UK Treasury allocates a lump sum to Wales based on spending decisions made for England.

The UK Government cannot dictate how this sum is spent, meaning the Welsh Government was entirely entitled to reject the Chancellor’s calls regarding the £100 scheme and use the money for something else.

Commentators hit out at Kinnock after he welcomed the Community Note on Plaid’s post with some pointing out that Westminister has no say in how the Welsh Government chooses to spend Wales’ block grant.

Another commentator turned to X’s AI assistant, Grok, to challenge claims that the decision to provide cost-of-living payments in Wales was down to the UK Government.

In the comments section beneath Kinnock’s remark, the user asked Grok if it was inaccurate to describe the £100 payment to Welsh households as a UK Government policy.

Grok responded: “The decision to implement the £100 payment for council tax bands A-D in Wales was made by the Welsh Government.

“Council tax support is devolved, so the policy choice rests with them.

“The UK Government set the scheme for England and passed on equivalent funding via Barnett consequentials, which enabled the Welsh decision, but the payment itself is a Welsh policy.”

The user then prompted Grok to confirm whether Plaid’s original post – which had the Community Note attached – was accurate.

Grok responded: “The factual claim of a £100 payment to households in council tax bands A-D in Wales is accurate.

“The Plaid Cymru-led Welsh Government confirmed it after receiving Barnett funding from the UK Budget scheme for England. Under devolution they chose to implement the matching support.”

A Plaid Cymru spokesperson said: “The £100 payment will provide support to thousands of households across Wales at a time when families continue to face pressure from energy bills and the cost of living.

“Under the Barnett formula, much of Welsh Government funding is determined by UK Government spending decisions in England. It is for the Welsh Government to decide how that funding is spent in Wales.

“As the party of government in Wales, Plaid Cymru has made clear that tackling the cost of living is a priority.

“We have therefore decided to use this funding to provide a £100 payment to eligible households across Wales, ensuring support reaches those who need it.”