Plaid and Labour coalition ‘very unlikely’ after Senedd election says BBC editor

A coalition between Plaid Cymru and Labour is “very unlikely” after the Senedd election, a BBC Editor has suggested.

Vaughan Roderick, BBC Wales’ Welsh Affairs Editor, said that with Labour out of power at Westminster they would not have enough to offer to secure the support of Adam Price’s party.

Writing on the BBC Cymru Fyw website he said that “reading between the lines” of the parties’ manifestos suggested that the next Senedd would be based around a minority Labour government bargaining with other parties to get legislation through.

“Take the Labor manifesto published this morning for example,” he wrote. “It contains a lot of promises but very few of those would need legislation to make it happen.

“To me, that strongly suggests that Labour does not expect to rule with a majority in Parliament.

“It is also interesting that there is that legislation that covers topics where Plaid. Support might be expected, such as Welsh-medium education and restricting the use of plastics.”

‘Ransom’

He added that Plaid Cymru’s lengthy manifesto could also “be seen as some sort of shopping list for a hung parliament”.

“That is, it gives a strong indication of the areas where the party would be willing to work together to bring about legislative changes.

“In case anyone misunderstands me, I think that a coalition between Labour and Plaid Cymru is very unlikely in the next Senedd.

“With Labour out of power in Westminster, they cannot pay the ransom that Plaid Cymru would need to secure their support.

“The next parliament will be one based on bargaining, and comparing the Labor and Plaid Cymru manifestos with each other gives us a fairly good picture of the type of legislation that will be discussed.”