As if you didn’t already know, last week Labour and Plaid Cymru announced a co-operation agreement in up to 50 policy areas. The full agreement is available here (Cymraeg – pdf; English – pdf).
The agreement will last three years and guarantees the Welsh Government will be able to pass their budgets during that period.
It’s not a formal coalition and is similar to previous budget agreements. Plaid Cymru won’t have ministers and neither will they be expected to back Labour in every Senedd vote.
As Labour doesn’t have a majority in the Senedd, it’ll add a bit of stability and certainty to decision-making in those areas where both parties have agreed to co-operate.
If you’ve been on Twitter the last few days you could be forgiven for thinking this is the most important development in Welsh political history. It’s not, but it’s significant enough to take a closer look; and it needs a closer look because it’s perhaps not quite as transformational as the puff pieces suggest.
- Reform building safety.
- Commit to ending homelessness and enacting more parts of the Renting Homes Act to protect tenants.
- Agree that targets and an environmental body are necessary to protect biodiversity; encourage woodland creation on unproductive farmland; take action to improve water quality and reduce water pollution from farming; develop a community food strategy.
- Introduce a transition period for farm payments before moving to a new post-Brexit system.
- Support the work of the Constitutional Commission.
- Establish a second phase of the Arfor economic development project.
- Keep regional local government working under review.
- Develop a new not-for-profit and fair work model of delivery of supply teaching and looked-after children.
- Reform and modernise school term dates; expand the range of vocational qualifications; support the Tertiary Education & Research Bill.
- Support disability, LGBTQ+ and racial equality action plans.
- Improve access to third-sector managed mental health centres (“sanctuary model”) for young people.
These pad out the agreement and make it look more substantial than it is. For example, supporting the Tertiary Education & Research Bill is hardly earth-shattering, is it?
In nearly all cases they’re either: already happening or set to happen to one extent or another (perhaps with a few tweaks, like the farm payment transition period); were included in both party manifestos in 2021; are “quick wins” that are unlikely to prove particularly controversial or difficult to get through the Senedd.
Of all of the clauses in the agreement, these are the ones you would expect to be the most likely to happen.
