Popeth ddywedodd Rhun ap Iorwerth yn ei araith i'r gynhadledd flynyddol

Ein harweinydd, Rhun ap Iorwerth yn amlinellu ei weledigaeth o Lywodraeth Plaid Cymru yn ei araith i'r gynhadledd flynyddol.

Gyfeillion, diolch yn fawr i chi am y croeso. 

Pan ddaethon ni at ein gilydd yn y gynhadledd wanwyn yng Nghaernarfon mi oedd llawer ohonom ni yn dyfalu y bydden ni heddiw ym merw ymgyrch etholiad cyffredinol – yn meddwl tybed fydda ‘na gynhadledd flynyddol o gwbl. 

Ond dyma ni!  

Yn y dilyw yn Downing Street, mi wnath gwleidyddiaeth eto brofi ei allu i daflu ambell i syrpreis mawr atan ni, ond ar ôl y glaw trwm y diwrnod hwnnw, mi gododd enfys etholiadol dros Gymru.  

Dim glas ar ei chyfyl hi ac ie, y coch yn amlwg yno, wrth i Keir Starmer hawlio’r goriad i rif 10 Downing Street, ond a lliwiau Plaid Cymru yn disgleirio’n llachar. 

Mi oedd o’n ganlyniad hanesyddol i Blaid Cymru ac mae’r diolch am hynny i bob un sydd yma heddiw, pob un weithiodd yn ddiflino ym mhob cwr o’r wlad, a phawb fynnodd drwy’r blwch pleidleisio bod yna Gymru decach a mwy uchelgeisiol i’w hennill. >>> 

Friends, today we come together more hopeful, more united, more determined and resolute than perhaps ever before. 

This year – the forces at Westminster were intent on silencing Wales’s voice, with the number of MPs slashed by a fifth. 

They threw tropes and tired arguments our way. A vote for Plaid is a vote to let the Tories in, they said. On election eve, Keir Starmer stepped off the big red bus in Caerfyrddin – a Labour juggernaut sent in to stop us in our tracks. 

But the people of Wales won’t be fooled by tired lines and token visits. 

Treat Llinos Medi and Ann Davies as political pushovers at your peril – two formidable women, two outstanding new Members of Parliament, and two communities in Caerfyrddin and Ynys Môn who are lucky to have them as their representatives, fighting their corner, just as Ceredigion Preseli and Dwyfor Meirionydd ar lucky to have Ben and Liz and showed their appreciation for their hard work and Plaid’s vision, through mighty majorities. 

As much as it’s important to recognise those four victories, there lies a deeper truth to our best ever General Election result. There were victories >>> and there were hearts and minds won, and increased votes, in all parts of Wales.  

Remember that those fortunate enough to represent Wales on the hallowed turf of this stadium do so not alone but together, as a team. 

They understand that collective spirit, common purpose and team work are foundations of success. Eyes on that line. We cross it together. Every team player with their part to play as we move forward. 

The new First Minister, incidentally, told us, didn’t she,  that her team had a new anchor, in her last but one predecessor, back now in Welsh Government’s B team. It’s hard to think of sporting analogies with anchors involved. Perhaps tug of war. But remember… they end up going backwards! 

To all of you, who fought for Wales in the name of our party – for the future of all of our nation - my heartfelt thank you. Diolch o waelod calon. 

But as the saying goes, you’re only as good as your last game - and we come together at this conference confident in our message but certainly not complacent about the task ahead. We know there’s much more work to do. And there’s too much at stake to take our eyes off the ball now. 

Today, in a spirit of hope, and with our strength enhanced, I’ll set out who I think we are as a party and how we will move Wales forward.  

Not in the self-indulgent mode of the Tories or the self-serving nature of Labour – but through the lens of what’s right for Wales. 

More than ever, poverty of ambition and paucity of ideas are holding Wales back. 

We can continue as we are, or we can change course - and in 2026 the question facing the people of Wales is this: accept second best and give Labour a second chance - or take that first step towards becoming the nation we know we can be by electing Plaid Cymru into government to lead Wales. 

Mae pwy ydan ni yn bwysig i fi. Dan ni’n blaid sy’n cael ein gyrru bob amser gan y dyhead i gael y gorau i Gymru. Ond  nid mater o edrych mewn ar ein hunain ydi hynny – ‘dan ni’n rhyngwladol ein gweledigaeth hefyd. Mae ‘na ddioddefaint enbyd ym mhob cwr o’r byd - ac mae’n hanes balch ni fel plaid sy'n arddel heddwch, yn golygu ein bod ni’n parhau i sefyll ochr yn ochr efo dinasyddion Wcrain a phob un sy'n dioddef trais yn y Dwyrain Canol.  

Flwyddyn yn ôl i'r wythnos yma yn dilyn ymosodiadau erchyll Hamas ar Israel, mi alwon ni’n syth am ryddhau'r gwystlon a chyflwyno cadoediad ar unwaith.  

Mae'n destun torcalon bod gwystlon yn dal i gael eu cadw’n gaeth a poen eu hanwyliaid yn tyfu fesul dydd. Ond mae wedi bod ac yn dal i fod yn destun gwarth hefyd sut y mae pobl ddiniwed wedi bod yn destun y dial, ac wedi cael eu lladd yn eu degau o filoedd yn ymosodiadau byddin Israel ar Gaza, yn dinistrio cartrefi, ysbytai ac ysgolion. 

Roedd ein neges ni’n glir bryd hynny, mae wedi bod dros flwyddyn gyfan, ac mae hi'r un mor glir heddiw wrth i’r trais ymledu i Libanus. 

We have stood firm on the side of peace. Condemning the terrible violence waged on Israeli citizens a year ago, and the twelve months of sheer horror in Gaza, now spread to Lebanon.  

So we say yes to making all efforts to forge a lasting peace, to not selling arms to be used on civilians. We say yes to the immediate release of the surviving hostages. 

Yes to a permanent and immediate ceasefire. 

Yes to freedom and stathood for the people of Palestine within a two state solution.

And no to violence and suffering and the destabilising of our entire world.  

Ydi, mae'r byd yn lle mor ansicr – nid yn unig y rhyfeloedd yna, ond y cynnydd mewn anoddefgarwch, y trais gwleidyddol yn America, newyn Sudan, yr argyfwng hinsawdd yn mynd yn fwy argyfyngus o hyd – o danau gwyllt Portiwgal i lifogydd angeuol Dwyrain Ewrop. 

Ond mae rhywun yn gorfod canfod gobaith yng nghanol yr holl anobaith – a dwi’n llawn gobaith am ddyfodol Cymru. Drychwch ar yr heriau enfawr mae pobl YN eu wynebu dros y byd a enghreifftiau o sut mae pobl yn gwrthod cael eu trechu – brwydro’n ol yn erbyn HIV yn Affrica, arloesi i drechu afiechydon, y merched sy’n benderfynol o wrthsefyll gorthrwm y Taliban.  

As the old saying goes, where there's life, there is hope. Defiant. Daring. Undeterred. Everywhere we look, at home or further afield, we see stories that give us hope – something that’s been a dwindling commodity in our recent politics. 

So conference, as our centenary approaches as a party and with the 2026 Election on the horizon, I want our small nation to embrace the hope of what we can be, to face the challenges, >>>> 

to harness big ideas and to let the compassion, dedication and aspiration of others – wherever they may be – guide us towards a better Wales which can take its place among the nations of the world.  

‘Dan ni’n blaid eangfrydig – un sydd â’i chenedlaetholdeb sifig wedi’i wreiddio mewn goddefgarwch.  

Un sydd am weld ei gwlad yn etifeddu’r normalrwydd o annibyniaeth sydd wedi bod yn daith di-droi-nôl i gymaint o genhedloedd dros y degawdau diwethaf. 

Plaid sy’n estyn llaw nid cau y drws. 

Plaid sy’n codi pontydd nid codi bwganod. 

A phlaid fydd yn gweithio bob dydd i wrthsefyll y grymoedd hynny sy’n bygwth undod cymdeithas hefo’u celwydd a’u casineb. 

Friends, the tide of Welsh politics is turning. And more and more people are turning towards our ideas, our vision. In fact having given up on their own policies, we’re quite used to seeing other parties turn to ours. 

The Tories want to electrify the north Wales railway now. Where on earth have they been? 

They’ve just had 14 years in power to do something! In fact railways were first electrified in the UK in the late 19th century – Labour and the Conservatives had a century in power between them, without electrifying a single mile of Welsh track!

The Tories also now want HS2 consequentials to come to Wales, despite saying ‘absolutely not’ when they were holding the levers of power and could actually do something about it. 

Some in Labour want to devolve the Crown Estate. It’s great to have their support now, but of course the Starmer/Stevens axis just won’t allow it. The same for devolving the justice system. 

In 2017, Carwyn Jones promised to consign the Barnett Formula to the history books – it couldn’t be defended he said, as Plaid Cymru had LONG argued. Yet in a recent letter to me the current First Minister said it’s all good – happy as we are - she’ll just push for “a fair approach to the application of the Barnett formula” – a fair way of implementing something that’s fundamentally unfair! You can’t do it! 

It’s quite convenient for them to keep Barnett now... in fact, it’s very convenient to face two different ways when in opposition and in government. 

But let’s see through that and see the Governing Labour party for what they are. 

It’s quite clearly party first, country second.  

At no point has this been more evident than over the past 6 months a  Labour in Wales, displaying all the dysfunction of the Truss and Johnson  years, tried to lecture the public on political probity – but the people  weren’t buying it. 

They said that somehow a £200k donation from a convicted polluter to the campaign of the man who’d ultimately lead our government was defendable. That it wasn’t a story of interest beyond the ‘bubble’. That somehow an internal Labour review about donations was enough to make the issue go away. Where is that review by the way? 

There was no ‘listening exercise’ with the public then, was there? No contrition, no apology, no sense of regret that Labour infighting was paralysing the work of government. 

They could lecture everyone else about right and wrong but couldn’t seem to see the difference themselves. Whether they were unable or unwilling to do so is a matter of opinion, but what’s not in doubt is that this was the very definition of a party in a comfort zone, >>>> 

feeling almost an inevitability that they are the party of Government. A sense of doing what you want, when you want, no matter the consequences. But Labour ISN’T inevitable. 

For a large part, Labour in Wales have been a pretty open book –  underwhelming but at least understood, electorally resolute if not radical. But by now it’s a closed shop. Strong arming dissenting voices, defined by stagnation and self-insulating from the ideas of others. 

They’ve come to display the traits of a rugby player or footballer returning to pre-season training at the tail end of their careers. Not really wanting to be there but unable to let it go. Not sure what their contribution is but wanting influence in the dressing room. Knowing the game is up but not quite able to admit it. 

But the truth is this - Wales can’t afford another 25 years of Labour. 

Labour’s letting down its own traditional supporters, so many of whom are already embracing Plaid Cymru’s vision. Labour’s failing them, failing Wales and failing to understand what it takes to turn things around.  

We can win by demonstrating we are better than this, we’re bolder and not the bystanders this government have become. 

Be in no doubt, we can win at the ballot box and that must be our goal. And this isn’t about wining for US – it’s about winning for Wales! 

The tide may be turning, as I say, but the currents of ongoing austerity are leading us to ever more perilous political waters – ever diminishing the reservoirs of finances and our tolerance to the impact of cuts.  

“Change” they proclaimed – loudly and proudly – on letter and leaflet, door knock and debate. 

After 14 years we were asked to imagine a new beginning, a future not of more for the few but of valuing community and the pursuit of equality. 

We could move forward as the page turned on the Tories’ torrid term of office. 

But how soon the mask slipped. 

It’s been less about turning the page and more about turning the screw.>>>> 

Pensioners, deprived of their winter fuel payments and all the while Keir Starmer was being lavished by a Lord. It brings a whole new meaning to cutting your cloth accordingly. 

And in the Senedd, we were told not to question the new First Minister about Sir Keir – we should write to our MPs, she said, if we wanted to raise the winter fuel payment or anything else with her superior.  

A Labour government, a Labour government defending the indefensible. No red faces and certainly no clear red water.  

And today, as we come together here, the Council of the Nations and Regions is meeting in Edinburgh with one noticeable absentee. 

Liz Truss may have been outlasted by a lettuce, but even she pales in comparison to Sue Gray who appears to have quit her job before even starting it properly!  

And what is an Envoy to the Nations and Regions anyway? Not-So-Clear Starmer! Handing out a P45 before even writing the job description.  

But friend, let me promise you this - there is NO gray area when it comes to where we stand on doing what’s best for Wales. 

If others won’t pursue radical action, we will - as we always have. The possibility to reimagine Wales, to rejuvenate people’s faith in politics and reaffirm our values is the great prize awaiting us. 

At the dawn of devolution, our hearts beat faster. In 1999 we were riding a wave of optimism and a shared conviction that the Assembly as it was then would act as a cradle of democracy, bringing better decisions and superior outcomes. 

And it did give Wales a voice. At long last. We began to see the potential in ourselves, and decisions have been taken that have genuinely improved people’s lives in Wales. But in 2026 we have to do even more to set hearts racing. Inspired by a fit for purpose Senedd and that real opportunity for change – a GEAR-change after 25 years of Labour-led Governments, this is the time to think afresh about how we make Wales work.  

Make it work for the Steelworker, losing a living and longing for hope.>>>>> 

Make it work for the patient in pain, the carer doing it for free, and the child who should NEVER have to pay the price of poverty. 

Fairness and ambition – as you know, that’s the language of my politics.  

And it’s a politics with a real sense of purpose. That’s a hallmark of Plaid Cymru. 

A sense of purpose in that we know we exist to serve ALL of Wales, to fight for that fairness every day and to persuade others of the potential our nation holds.  

Energy, drive and determination are words that seem to have gone missing from Labour’s lexicon in Wales. But we’re restless and impatient to see a better Wales realised.  

Whilst this Government lurches from one sticking-plaster solution to the next, we look at the big picture and that need to change for the long term, working across all of Government to achieve it.  

We know that deprivation is hugely consequential for health – so our anger at Labour dropping child poverty targets when the NHS needs all the help it can get, is no surprise. 

We know the link between inadequate housing and poor educational attainment.>>>> 

 So no, Labour missing its affordable homes target is simply not good enough.  

We know that small businesses are critical in creating wealth and employment in our communities, so it’s little wonder that we’re frustrated when business see their support being sidelined rather than having a Government on their side. 

Plaid Cymru in governemnt will break the cycle of short term thinking which shortchanges Wales. 

Unlike Eluned Morgan, I will acknowledge that some things are broken but more importantly I’ll be determined that nothing is beyond repair. 

And our Plaid government won’t consider issues in isolation. Silo working helps no one when one decision so often affects another. 

One of the bedrocks of a healthy economy is a well Wales – its people active in body and mind.  

Similarly, as the Lancet put it recently, education is a neglected social determinant of health. 

To end the scourge of poverty we must reconsider its very roots and ask ourselves why do we want the economy to grow, and for whom, and why should fiscal rules cost so much to those who can least afford it. 

The right – whatever their latest incarnation – have such simple answers don’t they. 

For Andrew RT Davies, it’s encouraging his followers to give up on Wales entirely.   

For whoever the next UK Leader of the Opposition may be, it will be a convenient amnesia about the last 14 years of chaos and cuts.  

For Nigel Farage, it’s cosying up to the common man whilst raking in a fortune from peddling his prejudice on GB News.  

And conference, Reform are no friends of Wales. Given half a chance they’d set our country back decades. They dismiss others as ‘snowflakes’ but it’s them who melt under the slightest heat of scrutiny.  

They claim to be on the side of working people whilst their tax and spend plans would make Liz Truss blush. In fact Nigel Farage said he admired Liz Truss – admired the woman who cost YOU so dearly in higher mortgages or higher rent.  

And for a man so seemingly desperate to become an MP that he stood no fewer than eight times, he seems more interested is spending time at Palm Beach than Clacton beach.  

But whoever they are, reactionary politicians, plying their trade with false narratives and false hope risk breaking the already fragile bond of community, prioritising self-interest over mutual aid, unleashing the worst excesses of intolerance, and of fear. 

I say it again, they are no friends of Wales. And they have no plan for Wales. I understand people wanting to protest against the revolving doors of Conservative and Labour UK leadership – it frustrates me every single day. And after 25 years of Labour leadership here I know why people feel left behind. But through Plaid Cymru you can channel that frustration into ushering in actual change. A new leadership. A new kind of Government.  

I’m under no illusion about the size of the task ahead. 

Labour’s legacy is one I’d rather we didn’t have to inherit. After 25 years, Wales’s economy is misfiring, its children deprived of the best schools, patients waiting longer for treatment and public services run to the ground.

We can’t promise to address all these issues overnight but we can make a start and critically we can be a better government than the one which came before us.  

Eluned Morgan embarked on a listening exercise, admitting that her predecessors hadn’t been listening. It’s been 25 years!! I try to listen every single day. But more importantly, as well as listening we’ll deliver too – making up for lost time as the current incumbents lost their way. 

We can and will put a programme for Government in place that can have both an immediate impact and bring in real change for the long term. 

The pressure on the NHS under Labour continues to increase. More and more people are going in through the front door of primary and secondary care and too few are going out through the back door quickly enough. This Government’s still not grasping the need to resolve the issue of social care as we’ve long called for. 

But this year, as those waiting lists grew  – Labour for some inexplicable reason cut the amount it spends on preventative health policies. 

Friends, this is short term thinking with long term pain guaranteed.

 It feeds the problem as opposed to solving it, putting further pressure on front line staff, filling our hospitals with ever sicker patients.  

Plaid Cymru will reverse the thinking, it’s something I’m determined to do, ensuring the NHS is fit for its centenary celebrations and beyond. 

As the NHS Confederation have rightly said, “shifting the focus from public health initiatives delivered through the NHS and local authorities to addressing the wider determinants of health would reduce demand on the health system, creating capacity.”  

For too long, Labour’s priority has been managing people’s pain but I want to keep people healthy and I can announce that in the first 100 days of a Plaid Cymru government we will bring forward a new budget – based on the principles of a healthier, wealthier Wales – with a promise that spending on preventative health measures will increase every year. 

No more sticking plaster, no more blaming the individual, no more passing the buck.  

This is grown-up government – taking responsibility, empowering people and protecting the NHS. 

And we have an enormous task ahead of us. On improving the NHS estate, we’ll go further than the last 8 Labour Health Ministers, clearing the emergency maintenance backlogs over the duration of the next Senedd term. Only this week, a critical incident was declared at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend because of serious damage to its roof. We have to have an NHS estate fit for purpose! 

We’ll introduce a target focused cancer contract for every patient and reform the governance of the NHS, bringing standards back where they should be and waiting lists down. 

And with a new Minister for Public Health, we’ll put the ‘N’ back in the NHS – ensuring a truly national mission of creating healthier lives which in turn deliver substantial savings. 

Our treasured National Health Service – born on Labour’s watch, given a rebirth by the Plaid Cymru government I will lead. 

A nid dim ond ym maes iechyd y mae’r llywodraeth Lafur yn gwneud tro gwael efo pobl Cymru.  

Unwaith eto’r llynedd, mi oeddan ni ar waelod pob tabl Prydeinig o ran safonnau addysg - mewn mathemateg, mewn darllen a gwyddoniaeth. 

Am lawer rhy hir, mae Gweinidogion Addysg Llafur - un ar ol y llall – wedi bodloni ar berfformiadau addysg di-fflach. Canlyniadau sy’n rhoi Cymru yn y penawdau am resymau cwbl anghywir ac yn gwneud anghyfiawnder á’n rhieni, athrawon ac yn bennaf ein pobl ifanc.  

Fis Tachwedd y llynedd mi gafodd ymchwil ei gyhoeddi gan undeb athrawon yr NASUWT oedd yn ddigon i godi ofn ar unrhyw un sy’ a ots ganddyn nhw am ddyfodol ein hysgolion ni.  

Mi nododd bron i dri-chwarter - ie, tri o bob pedwar athro wnaeth ymateb i’r arolwg - eu bod nhw’n ystyried o ddifri gadael y proffesiwn o fewn y 12 mis nesaf. 

Mae hyn yn deud cymaint nid yn unig am forál heddiw ond hefyd am fethiant y Llywodraeth dros y chwarter canrif diwethaf i sicrhau fod y byd addysg yn teimlo’n faes deniadol i weithio ynddo fo. 

Ac nid yn unig hynny - yn faes sydd á’r adnoddau a’r arweinyddiaeth sydd ei angen i alluogi addysgwyr i ganolbwyntio ar feithrin rhagoriaeth a chefnogi disgyblion i gyrraedd eu llawn botensial. 

Y realiti ydi hyn:

Adeiladau sydd heb fod yn addas i bwrpas ers degawdau. 

Anghydfod hir dros gyflogau. 

Arolygon yn dangos anhapusrwydd staff. 

A diffyg atebolrwydd difrifol gan y Llywodraeth Lafur sy’n mynnu beio’r Ceidwadwyr a Covid am eu methianau nhw.  

Fel mab i ddau riant fu’n athrawon a thad i dri o blant, mae hyn yn fy nghythruddo i a dwi’n gwybod ei fod o’n eich cythruddo chi hefyd.  

Prun ai’n rieni, yn nain a taid, mamgu a thadcu, modryb ac ewythr, dan ni gyd eisiau’r gorau ar gyfer y genhedlaeth nesaf.  

Conference, we need to go back to basics in education.  

In Northern Ireland, they saw this was needed to allow every pupil to reach their potential. 

As far back as 13 years ago, the Northern Ireland government’s Count:Read:Succeed strategy had a clear focus, underpinned by a number of key pillars. 

Raising school standards for all. Closing the performance gap. Increasing access and equity. Developing the education workforce.>>> 

 Improving the learning environment and transforming education management. 

Its stated mission was to ensure that personal characteristics or background of a pupil didn’t adversely impact on her or his achievement. 

Embedded within the strategy were targets and milestones – imagine that! An alien concept when it comes to current Welsh government thinking. 

And what came of this plan, you ask? 

Pupils in Northern Ireland were ranked 5th in the world for reading in the latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. 

Taking inspiration from their approach, we will ensure that children are taught to read in a way that works, using best practise in a way Welsh Government seems intent on ignoring. 

And by looking at the bigger picture, by tackling poverty and improving public health, we’ll be determined to deal with the chronic inequalities holding pupils and schools back from reaching their potential. 

‘Dan ni fel plaid yn gwbod pa mor ffurfiannol ydi’r blynyddoedd cynnar o ran datblygiad plentyn.>>>> 

Dyna pam y gwnaethon ni hi’n flaenoriaeth i argyhoeddi’r Llywodraeth Lafur y dylai pob plentyn ym mhob ysgol gynradd yng Nghymru dderbyn cinio am ddim - a nhwythau tan hynny wedi gwrthwynebu’n polisi ni, dro ar ol tro.  

Mae 20 miliwn o brydau wedi cael eu gweini ers dechrau’r cynllun ddwy flynedd yn ól. Dim mwy o blant yn methu canolbwyntio yn y dosbarth am fod eu boliau’n wag. Dyna werth Plaid Cymru mewn gwrthblaid - dychmygwch be fedrwn ni ei gyflawni mewn llywodraeth.  

Ac wrth gwrs mae eisiau dechrau cenfnogi plant a’u teuluoedd o’r blynyddoedd fenga. 

Mae’r National Childbirth Trust yn amcangyfri bod rhieni rwan yn talu ar gyfartaledd dros £7000 y flwyddyn am lefydd mewn meithrinfa, a hynny’n rhan amser. Mae hynny’n gyfran enfawr o gyllideb teulu. 

Dyna pam ein bod ni mor benderfynol bod y gwaith da ddechreuon ni drwy’r Cytundeb Cydweithio, efo’r bwriad o gyflwyno cynnig gofal plant gwirioneddol drawsnewidiol, DDIM yn mynd heb ei gwblhau.  

Whatever the priority area, again Plaid Cymru pledges not to view them in isolation. >>>> 

Poor housing, ill health, malnutrition, obesity, child poverty – they’re all interlinked determinants of future wealth, wellbeing and happiness, and all issues which I’m impatient to tackle head on.  

So on housing, a Plaid Cymru Government would enshrine in law a right to an adequate home.  

Tens of thousands of people are trapped on housing waiting lists whilst thousands more are forced to face the dangers of unsafe cladding, damp, mould or poor insulation.  

And with nearly a thousand under 16s currently living in hotels or B&Bs as temporary accomodation – remember that just ONE is too many.  

We’ll launch an ambitious retrofitting programme so that energy efficiency is at the heart of our housing policy, and embed a new approach to building affordable homes that makes economic and environmental sense.  

All these issues - housing, education, health - form part of the delicate fabric of society - so much of it unravelled by years of Tory austerity and now being unpicked again by Labour. 

From their stubborn refusal to scrap the two child benefit cap to cutting that winter fuel allowance,>>> 

 it’s already clear that young and old are being ill-served by Starmer’s new administration.  

That’s why one of the first acts of a Plaid Cymru Government would be to reinstate meaningful targets for reducing child poverty which remains a stubborn scourge on Welsh society.  

During a Senedd Committee meeting a few weeks ago the former First Minister Mark Drakeford - the man now in charge of Wales’s finances - shared the harrowing story of a young woman in his Cardiff West constituency. 

She told him she hadn’t eaten for three days after paying her council tax bill because of the burden it placed on her budget.  

But just like they dropped poverty targets, dropped a law to ensure gender parity in the next Senedd, the Labour Welsh Government have delayed the revaluation of the current unfair and regressive council tax regime until 2028.  

There was a time when we knew what Labour were for, what they wanted to do. All we know now is what they don’t want to do. >>>> 

Our vision will be clear. You’ll see it in our ambitions for the economy - backing enterprise, supporting small businesses, creating a new prosperity, protecting workers' rights and building the green economy of the future.  

If there is one area where the confluence of Welsh Labour policy and Westminster Tory policy have damaged our nation in recent years, it is the economy.  

From the failure to give Wales its fair share of HS2 consequentials to the snail-paced response to the TATA Steel crisis. 

From the continued injustice of the Barnett Formula to the prevailing wage gap between Welsh workers and their UK counterparts.  

With our economic weather remaining at the mercy of Westminster winds, one thing has always been missing: whilst we were busy building the world, we forgot to build Wales. Our extractive economy, now exhausted and depleted, has left a chasm - not only of opportunity but of optimism too.  

But I DO remain optimistic. I have no doubt we can rebuild.

Missed opportunities to continue primary steel-making in Wales angers us today. Deeply. Communities have been let down by government inaction. But that anger now must fuel us as we forge a different path - one that may not be able to repeat but most definitely has to rhyme with the golden age of Welsh industry and age of high-skilled, well-paid jobs and where professions nurtured pride. 

So I hope you’ll join me in this hall tomorrow to hear Plaid Cymru plans to ignite the engine of the Welsh economy.  

To give just a flavour, when I was Economy spokesperson I championed reviving a development agency, a new WDA fit for the 21st century, and it’s an idea I still stand by today. Helping create a new dynamism in economic development, working with business, boosting exports, generating investment and linking Wales to the world.  

We have REAL ambition for the prosperous country we CAN be.  

We are the only party that absolutely rejects the notion that Wales is somehow inferior and incapable of taking its place among the independent economies of the world. We can and we will.

Friends, we know that there are better days ahead – that our spirits will not be dampened nor our ambitions deterred by the Tory and Labour naysayers. 

We know that real change will only come with a change of Welsh government and a change of priorities that puts allegiance to Wales before allegiance to party bosses at Westminster.  

We know our principles.  

We know our purpose. 

And we know the prize - a healthier, wealthier Wales that works for everyone who calls our nation home.  

The NHS under new leadership. 

Schools given a new direction. 

A government which understands rural and urban challenges alike. 

New vigour in creating jobs and economic opportunity. 

A greener Wales  

New homes being built. 

New targets to bring down poverty. 

A New Wales with a new team at the helm.

 

Let’s go and win it together.  

Diolch yn fawr.