Why Plaid Cymru decided to withdraw from the Co-operation Agreement with the Welsh Government

Rhun ap Iorwerth

When I became leader of Plaid Cymru in June of last year I was clear that I wanted my party to be a home for everyone who shares the ambition of creating a fairer, greener, more prosperous society.

I said that even in my formative years, I had come to understand that our nation wasn’t what it could be. That our voice was muffled, our ambitions held back, our aspirations ignored, and I came to see that Plaid Cymru was the beacon of hope in all of this – the embodiment to me of our determination to be a nation, to demand a distinct voice, to remove the shackles that stunted our potential and growth.

The past year has cemented those thoughts and galvanised a determination within me to set out a different vision for Wales.

Yesterday, I along with elected colleagues and the ruling Plaid Cymru executive came to a decision to end the Co-operation Agreement with the Labour Welsh Government.

Innovative

The Agreement was both an innovative and mature way of doing politics, which in the best traditions of Plaid Cymru put the interests of Wales first. It was an antidote to the UK Conservative government’s politics of division, and a constructive response to the chaos and uncertainty of Brexit and the Covid pandemic.

I’m proud of what we achieved and know that what Plaid Cymru has been able to put into action will stand the test of time. Knowing that children won’t be hungry in the school day, that measures to control the housing market will allow more of our young people to live in the communities where they were brought up, and that the climate crisis is being taken seriously by way of establishing a national energy company is what progressive politics should be about.

However, in recent weeks, in the areas of common ground which underpinned the Agreement – in terms of both policy and principle – there was a clear sense of a growing  divergence between Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Government.

Only this week, the decision by the Labour government to delay Council Tax reform which consequently means higher bills for poorer households for a longer period of time was a failure to use the innovative platform we had to make a difference. It told me there was a changing attitude in government and was a symptom of a changing political positioning of the new administration headed by Vaughan Gething.

I believe in pragmatism and finding common ground. After all, working with others has been the hallmark of devolution. But there is no contradiction between collaboration for the good of Wales and guarding the clear green water which makes Plaid Cymru distinct from others.

Glaring issue

There is of course, another glaring issue – one which is paralysing the work of government and which had become a genuine distraction to our work of delivering the Co-operation Agreement.

I believe that it was an error of judgement for the First Minister to accept a donation from a company that had been found guilty of environmental offences, and remain convinced that the only proper way to address this error would have been for him to repay the donation. Money left over now is in Labour party coffers.

I’m also worried by the circumstances around the First Minister’s decision to sack a Minister this week. Whether or not  Hannah Blythyn leaked iMessages is not the issue. The real question at play is why did Vaughan Gething not provide the information to the UK Covid Inquiry in the first place and why the determination  to try and find the whistle-blower rather than owning his own mistake? Finding  scapegoats for the purposes of self-preservation is never a good look.

Diminished

When those around the First Minister are dissenting not consenting, we know that his ability to govern is diminished.

Plaid Cymru will now move forward with a clear and continued commitment to scrutinising Labour’s record, putting forward bold ideas which match the people of Wales’s aspirations for our country.

In wanting to accelerate a timetable for lower Council Tax bills for the most disadvantaged, we stand for fairness.

By advocating for reforming the outdated Business Rates model, we are on the side of Welsh business and ambition.

Through standing side by side with nurses and doctors, steelworkers and postmasters, we fight for jobs, justice and a fair future.

And we never see Wales in isolation.

As the party which tabled a motion in the Senedd in November calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East, we strive for a peaceful world.

And as the Westminster parties turn a blind eye to Wales, as they’ve always done, Plaid Cymru will continue to build the case that we can do for ourselves what they will never do for us.