The Welsh nationalist party’s 2026 Senedd election platform outlines five central objectives: healthcare, childcare provision, economic development, education, and reducing child poverty.

On health services, Plaid Cymru presents a proposal it describes as financially calculated and precise. The party commits to reducing NHS waiting times as what it calls an essential foundation for broader health service reform.

The party intends to establish ten additional surgical centres to accelerate treatment for procedures including joint replacements and eye surgery.

According to Plaid Cymru, bringing down waiting lists represents the most pressing challenge facing the Welsh health service. Once waiting times improve, resources can be directed toward creating a joined-up health and social care system offering improved access to dental services and family doctors, more stable social care provision, and better public health outcomes across Wales.

Regarding childcare, Plaid Cymru acknowledges the substantial expense of childcare throughout Wales and has made affordable, quality provision for all families a cornerstone of its platform.

The party stresses that affordable childcare enables parents, particularly women, to re-enter employment or pursue education and training.

Plaid Cymru states it will deliver a transformative and universal childcare programme for youngsters between nine months and four years old.

Should the party win power and fully implement its childcare plans, every child aged nine months to four years would qualify for 20 hours of complimentary childcare weekly across 48 weeks annually.

For working parents or those in education and training with three and four-year-old children, Plaid Cymru will maintain the current provision of 30 hours of funded childcare weekly.

The party identifies substantial untapped opportunities in Wales’s economic landscape and proposes an economic strategy designed to strengthen Welsh enterprises, generate quality employment, and revitalise town centres.

Plaid Cymru’s vision includes establishing a new business-focused national development agency aimed at facilitating investment, expanding trade opportunities, and fostering innovation within Welsh companies. The party also commits to modernising business rates to create more equitable conditions for high street retailers and address the current disadvantage compared to out-of-town retail developments. Additionally, the party aims to safeguard and reinstate personal banking facilities on high streets, potentially including a new community banking option.

On education, Plaid Cymru promises comprehensive support to ensure all young people achieve strong literacy and numeracy skills upon leaving school. The party’s approach involves developing a comprehensive literacy and numeracy strategy with national performance standards, promoting excellent teaching practices, and offering focused assistance with clear monitoring of each pupil’s advancement.

The party also intends to introduce complimentary school meals in secondary schools, enabling all pupils from Year 7 through Year 11 from Universal Credit households to access free meals without any income restrictions.

Plaid Cymru views its new childcare proposal as a fresh, targeted approach to increasing family income and supporting families experiencing hardship. The party argues that disrupting the poverty cycle represents both a moral imperative and a practical necessity.

One significant commitment involves establishing Cynnal, a Welsh child payment scheme. If Plaid Cymru forms the next Welsh administration, it plans to trial a weekly ten-pound payment supporting up to 15,000 children under six in lower-income households. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has raised concerns about the party’s capacity to deliver this within existing Senedd constraints, given that social security remains a Westminster responsibility.

The party acknowledges this limitation and intends to advocate for transferring necessary powers to implement the full scheme across Wales.

Welsh Labour’s platform centres on building upon past achievements while introducing new commitments for the upcoming Senedd term, with five core priorities: addressing the cost-of-living crisis, generating future employment, improving the Welsh NHS, safeguarding the environment, and establishing greater equality.

The party plans to reduce living costs through reduced public transport fares, more affordable energy, and expanded childcare services. Following the introduction of one-pound bus tickets for younger passengers in late 2025, Welsh Labour commits to implementing a two-pound ceiling for adult fares if re-elected. The party also emphasises adherence to principles that minimise household energy expenses, generate employment in the energy sector, and ensure communities benefit from renewable energy initiatives.

Welsh Labour additionally intends to gradually extend funded childcare to infants from nine months old while improving accessibility to existing childcare provision. Since April 2019, Wales has offered eligible working parents of three and four-year-olds up to 30 hours of combined funded early education and childcare weekly across 48 weeks annually. The platform includes establishing 20,000 additional funded childcare places.

The party’s second major commitment centres on employment, specifically through achieving energy self-sufficiency. Welsh Labour defines an energy-independent Wales as one powered by clean, domestically produced energy sources that shield the nation from volatile global markets. The party plans to support the Wylfa nuclear project, anticipated to generate over 3,000 employment opportunities.

For the NHS, Welsh Labour proposes allocating four billion pounds toward constructing new hospital facilities, including replacements for Wrexham Maelor and Cardiff’s University Hospital Wales. The platform emphasises enhancing mental health services through readily available, same-day support mechanisms.

Regarding environmental commitments, Welsh Labour aims to reduce carbon output in line with existing climate targets, maintain restrictions on fracking and fossil fuel extraction, and transition the public sector to net zero emissions by 2030. The party also intends to designate 30 percent of Welsh territory and waters for environmental preservation by the same year, with enforceable obligations for ecological restoration efforts.

On its broader vision for Wales, Welsh Labour seeks to eliminate homelessness entirely by 2034, with an intermediate goal of housing all children outside temporary accommodation by 2030. To address housing needs, the party proposes constructing 100,000 new residences over the subsequent decade, encompassing at least 40,000 sustainable social housing units, alongside establishing a national housing body to accelerate development and modernise construction approaches.