Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru approve co-operation deal

Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru have approved a co-operation deal between the parties in the Welsh parliament.

The deal will now need to be approved by the party membership of Plaid Cymru.

Following the announcement, a source told BBC Wales, that the deal includes a commitment to “explore the creation of a shadow Broadcasting and Communications Authority for Wales, to address our concerns about the current fragility in the media and attacks on its independence”.

Talks between Plaid Cymru and Welsh Labour were first announced in September. In mid-October, Mr Drakeford said the “discussions need to come to a conclusion” and they could not “continue forever”.

The deal will not see the two parties enter a coalition government, and Plaid Cymru members of the Senedd will hence not be entering government.

Darren Williams, a member of Labour’s executive committee, said the agreement included: free childcare for all two-year-olds, creation of a national care service, limits on second home ownership, the creation of a publicly-owned construction company and an energy company, and changes in the Senedd’s size.

Speaking when the talks were first announced, Conservative Senedd leader, Andrew RT Davies, said: “You only need look at Welsh Labour’s policy programme to see how out of ideas it is.

“But turning to nationalists with no mandate is an act of desperation and lunacy”.