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Kicking off State of Wales’ coverage of the 2026 Senedd election, let’s try to answer one of the most important questions.
What pledges were included? Which were left out?
In order to judge Labour’s performance, 100 pledges from the party’s 2021 Senedd election manifesto (pdf) were selected after a weeding out process.
That process meant the following were discounted:
- The Co-operation Agreement between Labour and Plaid Cymru, and policies included as part of budget agreements.
- Pledges that lack a clear target or end goal.
- Continuation of existing (pre-2021) policies, except for capital spending (i.e. ongoing infrastructure projects), fees and taxes.
- Pledges that are administrative or technical in nature (i.e. establishing working groups or reviewing frameworks) or relate exclusively to Covid-19 or the post-pandemic recovery.
- Demands on the UK Government.
As a snapshot, some of the pledges which have been left out include establishing the post of Chief Social Care Officer, pressing the UK Government for federal reform of the UK, and maintaining the pandemic “Trace, Test, Protect” programme.
How this works
Each pledge deemed to have been delivered in full gets a score of 1. Partially delivered pledges get a score of 0.5. The total score will then be divided by the number of pledges in each policy area to get a percentage and award a grade:
- A – More than 80% delivered
- B – 65 – 80%
- C – 50 – 64%
- D – 35 – 49%
- F – Less than 35%
Health
| Policy | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Establish a new medical school in North Wales. | Delivered | Bangor University Medical School accepted its first students in September 2024. |
| Train 12,000 doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and psychologists. | Inconclusive | There was an increase of around 8,100 medical, nursing, technical and scientific staff between March 2021 and September 2025.1 |
| Continue to fund the NHS bursary. | Delivered | Bursaries have been maintained but are under review as of March 2026. |
| Keep free prescriptions. | Delivered | No change to the policy. |
| Prioritise investment in mental health services. | Partially Delivered | While overall spending on mental health has increased across the term, it’s hard to tell if this was prioritised. 2 |
| Review patient pathway planning. | Not Delivered | The Welsh Government has prioritised cutting waiting times, but there has been no significant cut in waiting times overall. |
| Review hospice funding. | Delivered | An end-of-life care review was published in 2022, with extra funding announced in subsequent years.3 |
| Deliver better access to GP, dental and optometry services. | Not Delivered | There has been no noticeable improvement in access to dental treatment or GP appointments, but there have been improvements in optometry.456 |
| Invest in integrated health and social care centres across Wales. | Delivered | The Health & Social Care Integration and Rebalancing Fund was introduced in 2022. |
| Develop an HIV action plan. | Delivered | The first three-year plan was published in March 2023.7 |
| Roll-out Child & Adolescent Mental Health (“In-Reach”) Services in schools. | Delivered | The “In-Reach” service was rolled out nationally following a pilot between 2018-2021. |
| Introduce an autism statutory code of practice. | Delivered | A “Code of Practice for the Delivery of Autism Services” came into force in September 2021.8 |
B
71.0% Delivered
Despite the good performance here, the things that matter most to people didn’t feature as manifesto pledges: corridor care in hospitals, the morning rush for appointments, and ensuring an ambulance turns up when you need one. So it’s a “B” on a technicality.
- https://stats.gov.wales/en-GB/1998488a-cd5a-4133-843a-4e894df47249/filtered/drguk8jn25nu?page_size=100
- https://stats.gov.wales/en-GB/2f4e637b-4622-4ad0-b2a3-15901c41147e/filtered/2bw1w8eyqrj9?page_size=100
- https://www.gov.wales/quality-statement-palliative-and-end-life-care-wales-html
- https://stats.gov.wales/en-GB/bcea14b4-f2e4-4208-8ffb-0f19be669bba/filtered/x5rh6ysetxjr?page_size=100
- https://www.gov.wales/eye-care-statistics-april-2024-march-2025-html
- https://www.gov.wales/nhs-dental-services-april-june-2025-html
- https://www.gov.wales/hiv-action-plan-wales-2023-2026
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2021/906/made
Social Care
| Policy | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ensure that care workers are paid the Real Living Wage (RLW). | Partially Delivered | A review found that most care workers are being paid RLW, but some gaps remain.1 |
| Build apprenticeships in care. | Inconclusive | Lack of information. |
| Recruit more Welsh speaking care workers. | Inconclusive | Lack of information. |
| Continue to cap non-residential social care fees for the Senedd term and maintain the capital limit at £50,000. | Delivered | The policy has been maintained, but proposals to raise care fees were dropped in 2024. |
| Fund a £3m short-break respite scheme. | Delivered | The Short Breaks scheme has been funded throughout the term.2 |
| Invest £40m into the integrated care of older people with complex needs and Extra Care homes. | Inconclusive | There has been investment in integrated care, but it’s unclear whether it meets the pledge as stated. |
| Roll out baby bundles for a greater number of new parents. | Delivered | Baby bundles started being delivered to families living in Flying Start areas in February 2026.3 |
| Fund childcare for more families where parents are in education and training. | Delivered | The expansion was announced to start in September 2022.4 |
| Continue to support Flying Start in more deprived areas. | Delivered | The programme has been maintained and expanded during the term.5 |
| Fund advocacy services for parents whose children are at risk of entering the care system. | Delivered | An £800,000 programme was announced in February 2026.6 |
| Invest £20m to provide additional support for children with complex needs who may be on the edge of care. | Not Delivered | As of 2025, only £5 million has been provided for this purpose according to Social Care Wales.7 |
| Eliminate private profit from the care of looked after children. | Delivered | The Health & Social Care Act 2025 will phase out for-profit care from April 2026. |
C
63.0% Delivered.
Labour’s performance here may have been better, having only been let down by the lack of information, or certain commitments being too vague (but not vague enough to be discounted).
- https://www.gov.wales/real-living-wage-social-care-workers-process-evaluation-summary-html
- https://www.gov.wales/1575m-welsh-government-funding-support-unpaid-carers
- https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-baby-bundle-programme-first-baby-bundles-delivered
- https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-expansion-childcare-offer-wales
- https://www.gov.wales/flying-start-april-2024-march-2025-html
- https://herald.wales/welsh-government/welsh-government-support-to-help-keep-families-together/
- https://socialcare.wales/resources-guidance/improving-care-and-support/social-care-for-children-and-families/safely-reducing-the-need-for-children-to-enter-care
Jobs, Skills & Economy
| Policy | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Develop a new Young Persons Guarantee. | Delivered | It was introduced at the end of 2021. |
| Create 125,000 all-age apprenticeships during the next Senedd term. | Not Delivered | The total stands at 100,000 (disputed) at the start of 2026 after the Welsh Government set a lower target, citing the loss of EU funding.1 |
| Expand Personal Learning Accounts. | Partially Delivered | Personal Learning Accounts remain in place, but it’s hard to tell if they’ve been “expanded” or not. |
| Enshrine social partnership with employers and trade unions into law. | Delivered | The Social Partnership & Public Procurement Act 2023 was passed by the Senedd in March 2023. |
| Establish a Community Bank with 30 branches within a decade. | Not Delivered | The “Banc” project ended when Monmouthshire Building Society pulled out in 2023, citing the weakness of the UK economy.2 |
| Establish a “Backing Local Firms Fund”. | Partially Delivered | The fund has been introduced, but has been backed by a pathetic amount of money (£1 million in the first year).3 |
| Support businesses to improve their digital offer and local deliveries. | Inconclusive | Lack of information. |
| Introduce a register of empty buildings. | Partially Delivered | There’s improved guidance around empty buildings, but there doesn’t seem to be a formal register. |
| Set a target for 30% of work to be done remotely by 2026. | Delivered | Up to 42% of workers in Wales work remotely at least some of the time, but the number of hours worked remotely has fallen since 2022-23.4 |
| Upgrade digital and communications infrastructure. | Delivered | The programme of work to improve access to high speed broadband has continued throughout the term.5 |
C
55.0% Delivered.
Not great. The Welsh Government lacks many of the tools here, admittedly. Regardless, the downgrading of the apprenticeship target and failure to get a community bank off the ground stand out as missed opportunities.
- https://record.senedd.wales/WrittenQuestion/93430
- https://www.monbs.com/about-us/community-bankbanc-cymunedol/
- https://www.gov.wales/new-1-million-fund-back-local-businesses-communities-across-wales
- https://www.gov.wales/remote-working-national-survey-wales-april-2024-march-2025-html
- https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-extending-high-speed-broadband-project
Transport
| Policy | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Complete the A465 Heads of the Valleys dualling project. | Delivered | The project was completed in May 2025. |
| New law re-regulating bus services and enabling councils to run bus services. | Delivered | The Bus Services Act came into force in February 2026. |
| New law modernising taxis and private vehicle hire. | Not Delivered | Although a white paper was published, plans for a law were dropped as “there wasn’t enough time”.1 |
| Grant Transport for Wales new powers over integrated transport. | Inconclusive | TFW are definitely involved, but it’s not clear if these are new powers or powers they already had. |
| Take forward the Burns Commission proposals for public transport improvements in and around Newport. | Partially Delivered | Funding has been announced, but work is still in an early planning stage. |
| Ensure 95% of journeys are on new trains by 2024. | Not Delivered | The figure as of 2025 was around 60%.2 |
| Develop a Global Centre for Rail Excellence in the Dulais Valley. | Not Delivered | The project has yet to go beyond the planning phase. |
| Invest in bus services and bus infrastructure projects, including new rapid transit routes. | Partially Delivered | Extra funding was granted to bus companies, particularly following Covid, but there are only a few key investments in bus infrastructure. No serious plans have been forthcoming for bus rapid transit yet. 3 |
| Expand on-demand bus services (“Fflecsi”) across Wales. | Delivered | The service is still running and has been expanded in a few areas, such as rural Pembrokeshire.4 |
| Extend MyTravelPass discounted bus travel for young people. | Delivered | The programme was expanded to include younger children in September 2025.5 |
| Make 20mph the default speed limit in residential areas. | Delivered | The new default speed limit came into force in September 2023. |
| Ban pavement parking. | Not Delivered | Plans were announced in 2023 but delayed indefinitely.6 |
| Build a sustainable future for key ports and Cardiff Airport. | Inconclusive | It’s hard to define what a “sustainable future” means. |
D
46.0% Delivered.
A surprise, perhaps? A “D” feels harsh, but it underlines the number of ambitions which have had to be dropped, delayed or scaled back one way or another. Was a pavement parking ban a victim of the 20 mph backlash? Who knows.
- https://instituteoflicensing.org/network-news/welsh-government-remains-committed-to-taxi-private-hire-reform/
- https://www.gov.wales/more-50-brand-new-trains-are-running-part-800m-investment
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-65682260
- https://tfw.wales/fflecsi/locations
- https://tfw.wales/ways-to-travel/bus/young-persons-1-bus-fare
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62l18lnd47o
Environment & Energy
| Policy | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Develop a Tidal Lagoon Challenge and support Wales becoming a world centre for tidal technology. | Partially Delivered | The lagoon challenge was launched in 2023, but no signifcant projects of note have been forthcoming. |
| Ban the most commonly-used single-use plastics. | Delivered | The Environmental Protection (Single Use Plastics) Act 2023 was passed by the Senedd in March 2023. |
| Create a National Forest. | Partially Delivered | This is more a rebranding/regrouping of existing forests rather than a completely new project.1 |
| Introduce a new farm support system to balance food production with environmental protection. | Delivered | After a long dispute with farmers, the Sustainable Farming Scheme came into force in January 2026.2 |
| Introduce a new law to deal with coal tip safety. | Delivered | The Disused Mine & Quarry Tips Act 2025 was passed by the Senedd in July 2025. |
| Fund flood protection for 45,000 homes. | Delivered | The Welsh Government claim that 52,000 properties have been protected this term.3 |
| Introduce a Clean Air Act. | Delivered | The Environment (Air Quality & Soundscapes) Act 2024 was passed by the Senedd in November 2023. |
| Establish a new National Park covering the Clwydian Range. | Delivered | Subject to final approvals, Glyndŵr National Park should be established sometime during 2026. |
| Strengthen water quality so inland water matches beach standards. | Not Delivered | A green paper on water regulation was published in February 2026, but any work on this would happen during the next term.4 |
| Support 80 “resuse and repair hubs” in town centres. | Delivered | According to an independent review, up to 163 sites have been supported.5 |
| Expand renewable energy generation by public bodies and community groups by over 100MW. | Not Delivered | As of 2025, only around 34MW of renewable capacity was community-owned.6 |
| Introduce new animal welfare regulations, including registration of pet breeders, shooting breeders and exhibitions. | Partially Delivered | The measures are supposedly being gradually phased in, with no clear progress.7 |
| Require CCTV in slaughterhouses. | Delivered | Regulations came into force in June 2024.8 |
| Ban the use of snares. | Delivered | The use of snares was banned in Wales as of October 2023. |
| Restrict the use of cages for farm animals. | Not Delivered | The UK Government has taken the lead on this and it wouldn’t come into effect before 2027 at the earliest.9 |
B
70.0% Delivered.
Not bad. Some of these were “quick wins”, but it’s not as if the Welsh Government can do much here, particularly in terms of energy generation.
- https://www.gov.wales/national-forest
- https://www.gov.wales/sustainable-farming-scheme-2026-scheme-description-html
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpw05w2wd8ro
- https://www.gov.wales/cleaner-rivers-stronger-regulation-better-accountability-wales-charts-new-course-water-governance
- https://www.gov.wales/repair-and-reuse-activities-evaluation-summary-html
- https://communityenergy.wales/content/publications/SOTS-2025-English.pdf
- https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-welsh-government-response-consultation-licensing-animal-welfare-establishments
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2024/682/made
- https://www.gov.wales/laying-hen-welfare-proposal-ban-keeping-laying-hens-pullets-and-breeder-layers-cages
Education
| Policy | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1,800 additional tutoring staff in schools. | Not Delivered | It’s not known what is meant by “tutoring staff”, but the number of teachers has been on a downward trend since 2022.1 |
| £1.5 billion towards new build schools and colleges. | Delivered | £2.3 billion is set to be spend as part of the Sustainable Communities for Learning programme.2 |
| Introduce a new law for college, university and research funding. | Delivered | The Tertiary Education & Research Act 2022 was passed by the Senedd in June 2022. |
| Improve counselling services in schools. | Partially Delivered | School counselling has been maintained, but there’s no evidence one way or another that services have “improved”.3 |
| Introduce measures from the Additional Learning Needs Act. | Delivered | The Additional Learning Needs Act came fully into force in September 2021. |
| Expand teaching of foreign languages in schools. | Partially Delivered | The situation was reviewed, but the number of pupils studying foreign language GCSEs and A-Levels continues to fall year-on-year.4 |
| Maintain Pupil Development Grants and Education Maintenance Allowances. | Delivered | Both have been maintained. |
| Expand School Holiday Enrichment Programmes. | Delivered | The “Food and Fun” programme was running in all local authorities as of 2025.5,/sup> |
| Consider reform of the school day and school year. | Partially Delivered | Reforms of the school year were considered (and paused). There’s been no review of the school day.6 |
| Consider a new model to deliver supply teaching. | Delivered | A new supply agency framework was introduced in 2023.7 |
B
75.0% Delivered.
One of the strongest-performing areas (on paper). 21st Century Schools/Places of Learning is one of Labour’s post-devolution success stories, but the struggle to maintain school teaching staff numbers should be a serious concern.
- https://stats.gov.wales/en-GB/27bab2ef-fc68-4282-986e-33b5545a39ab/filtered/amunnjsf15dh?page_size=100
- https://www.gov.wales/sustainable-communities-learning-rolling-programme-html
- https://www.gov.wales/counselling-children-and-young-people-september-2023-august-2024
- https://www.gov.wales/global-futures-plan-improve-and-promote-international-languages-wales-2022-2025-html
- https://www.gov.wales/ten-year-milestone-food-and-fun-summer-holiday-scheme
- https://www.gov.wales/mixed-response-school-year-consultation
- https://hwb.gov.wales/professional-learning/supply-teachers/#new-supply-agency-framework
Culture
| Policy | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Establish a National Music Service. | Delivered | The National Music Service was launched in 2022 and is set to be funded through to 2028.1 |
| Introduce a tourism levy. | Delivered | The Visitor Accommodation (Register & Levy) Act 2025 was passed by the Senedd in July 2025. |
| Work to protect Welsh place names. | Partially Delivered | A new system to record Welsh place names launched in September 2025, but there have been no legal moves to protect place names.2 |
| Introduce a Welsh Language Education Bill to increase availability of Welsh-medium education. | Delivered | The Welsh Language & Education Act 2025 passed by the Senedd in May 2025. |
| Expand availability of Welsh-medium nursery groups. | Delivered | At least an additional 80 Welsh medium nurseries have opened across the term.3 |
| Pilot Welsh-speaking university students to help teach Welsh in schools during the final weeks of a school term. | Inconclusive | This hasn’t happened as far as I’m aware, though there have been initiatives to boost the number of Welsh-speaking teachers. |
| Free access to the 2022 Urdd Eisteddfod to celebrate its centenary. | Delivered | The 2022 was free entry with Welsh Government financial support.4 |
| Invest in a new Theatr Clwyd, National Contemporary Art Gallery and National Football Museum. | Partially Delivered | Theatr Clwyd reopened in July 2025. The contemporary gallery has become a network of galleries. The football museum is in development. |
| Ensure people of colour are properly reflected throughout the cultural and heritage sector. | Partially Delivered | Several measures were included in the Welsh Governments Anti-Racist Action Plan, but whether it made a different on the ground is another matter.5 |
| Apply for UNESCO World Heritage Status for the slate landscape of North West Wales. | Delivered | The North Wales Slate of Northwest Wales was awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 2021.6 |
B
75.0% Delivered.
The closest Labour came to delivering all of their pledges (whether wholly or in part), but were they stretching themselves? Some of these are low-hanging fruit (free access to the Urdd, for example). Policy padding?
- https://www.musicservice.wales/site/new-funding-for-national-music-service-wales/
- https://www.gov.wales/new-priorities-help-protect-welsh-place-names
- https://www.gov.wales/early-years-minister-hails-vital-expansion-welsh-medium-childcare-benefitting-22000-children-week
- https://www.urdd.cymru/en/about-us/news-press/mynediad-am-ddim-i-eisteddfod-yr-urdd-sir-ddinbych-2022/
- https://www.gov.wales/anti-racist-wales-action-plan-section-b-html
- https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1633
Communities, Housing & Local Government
| Policy | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Recruit an additional 100 PCSOs by 2026. | Partially Delivered | Funding for 100 PCSOs was announced in 2021, but as of 2025-26 some police forces have started cutting PCSO numbers.1 |
| Build 20,000 new, low carbon social homes. | Not Delivered | Up to 18,000 units in total have been delivered or planned for as of 2025-26.2 |
| Develop local rates for Land Transaction Tax (formerly known as stamp duty). | Not Delivered | No plans for anything like this have been put forward. |
| Improve building safety. | Delivered | The Building Safety Act 2026 was passed by the Senedd in March 2026. |
| Introduce a fire safety fund. | Delivered | The Welsh Building Safety fund covers fire safety works.3 |
| Restrict rent to local housing allowance levels for households priced out of the private rents or who are at risk of homelessness. | Not Delivered | The Welsh Government consulted on it, but never brought forward and serious proposals.4 |
| Increase community recycling facilities in town centres. | Delivered | New workplace recycling regulations which came into force in April 2024 resulted in an increase in public recycling bins. |
| Create more community green spaces in town centres. | Delivered | The Local Places for Nature scheme supported the creation of extra urban green spaces.5 |
| Repurpose public spaces for outdoor events, pop-up shops and street vendors. | Partially Delivered | The Community Facilities Programme supports some, but not all, of this manifesto commitment.6 |
C
56.0% Delivered.
You could argue the social home target was overambitious, given the struggles facing the construction industry in terms of inflation and personnel. It was delivered in spirit. One of the important bits (building safety) has at least been addressed, albeit very late in the day.
- https://www.gov.wales/100-new-pcsos-funded-by-the-welsh-government
- https://stats.gov.wales/en-GB/2273a92d-3d15-43ef-abc7-dde155b5cdef/filtered/r7nlrjyr1juy?page_size=100
- https://www.gov.wales/welsh-building-safety-fund-fire-safety-remediation-guidance
- https://www.gov.wales/white-paper-securing-path-towards-adequate-housing-including-fair-rents-and-affordability
- https://media.service.gov.wales/news/nine-ways-in-which-gbp-150m-has-been-used-to-restore-nature-this-senedd-term
- https://www.gov.wales/community-facilities-programme-frequently-asked-questions
"Our Nation"
| Policy | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Launch an independent Commission on the constitutional future of Wales. | Delivered | The McAllister-Williams Commission published its report in January 2024. |
| No increase in the Welsh rates of income tax. | Delivered | There have been no changes during this Senedd term. |
| Reform council tax. | Partially Delivered | There will be a revaluation and changes to bands, but this won’t happen until 2028.1 |
| “Pursue” devolution of policing and criminal justice. | Not Delivered | There have been no serious formal attempts to secure devolution of criminal justice. |
| Establish a Peace Academy. | Inconclusive | The Welsh Centre for International Affairs has a peace academy, but it appears to have been done independently of the Welsh Government. |
| Campaign for the Health & Safety Executive to be devolved. | Not Delivered | There have been no campaigns for HSE to be devolved. |
| Introduce a foreign exchange programme for students to study abroad. | Delivered | The “Taith” programme was launched in 2022.2 |
| Codify Welsh law. | Partially Delivered | The process has started with planning laws, but this is going to take a long time to see through. |
| “Make the case” for further tax devoution to Wales. | Partially Delivered | An independent commission was tasked with exploring options for further income tax devolution in September 2025.3 |
C
50.0% Delivered.
A mixed bag. Labour’s income tax promise was kept, and we got yet another report on devolution. The lack of any serious push for the devolution of criminal justice has been a letdown.
Overall
Manifesto Pledges Delivered
C
62.5% Delivered.
Labour can claim with some confidence to have delivered most of what was promised in 2021, even if it’s not a spectacular performance overall. Add the “debatable” and inconclusive ones, and it probably rises to a “B”.
Of course, you can’t judge a government’s performance on the delivery of its manifesto alone. Delivery on the ground rarely features in party manifestos because all sorts of things can go wrong. The closest thing they can do to it is set targets.
What also matters, and what you should base your vote on as much as what the party’s promise, is your personal experience of service delivery in Wales.
Senedd 2026
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