Labour-Plaid deal changes thousands of lives, says Adam Price

Plaid Cymru's co-operation agreement with Labour in the Senedd will change the lives of thousands of people across Wales, Plaid's leader will promise.

The pre-recorded address will be played at a virtual conference on Friday.

Party members will vote on whether to endorse the three-year co-operation agreement on Saturday.

Mr Price will call it a "nation-building programme for government which will change the lives of thousands of people the length and breadth of our country for the better".

Some of the other main elements of the deal, already backed by both parties' executive committees, include introducing local tourism taxes, publishing proposals on rent controls to make properties affordable for locals and reforming housing law to end homelessness.

Creating an NHS style free-at-point-of-need National Care Service, plans to change council tax and changes to the number of Senedd members are also contained in what Plaid Cymru and Labour are both calling a "very wide-ranging" agreement.

Making the case for the deal, Mr Price will say talks with Labour began six months ago "in the face of the pandemic" and what he calls a "hostile Conservative government in Westminster".

"We believed it would be in the nation's interests for the two parties to work together for Wales," he will say.

"We will help shape a new and reformed Senedd - one that will be bigger and more diverse.

"It will be a Senedd which is gender balanced in law - enshrining the right to equal representation for women for the first time ever."

Mr Price will argue that the Welsh Parliament must be strengthened, with new powers over welfare, communications, broadcasting, policing and justice.

He will also predict that what he calls Wales' "curiosity" about independence "will give birth - sooner than many think - to an independent Wales".

The cross-party Independent Constitutional Commission, announced last month to examine Wales' relationship with the rest of the UK, "will take our national constitutional journey to the next stage", he will say.

It follows a disappointing Senedd election in May, in which Plaid Cymru gained an extra seat, taking its tally to 13, but fell to third place behind the Conservatives.

Labour won 30 of the 60 seats in Cardiff Bay and the Welsh government has no overall majority to deal with what First Minister Mark Drakeford has called "challenging and ambitious issues".

The deal would not amount to a coalition between the parties, and Plaid Cymru members of the Senedd will not be entering government.

But BBC Wales had been told Plaid would be able to appoint special advisers to work on the deal in government.

The deal negotiated with Labour gives Adam Price something positive to take to conference after what was a disappointing set of election results in May.

He says the deal gives Plaid influence on Welsh government policy, contrasts with a "sterile" Westminster approach, and is an exercise in "nation building".

That's a hat trick for many Plaid members - manifesto policies achieved, difference from Westminster, and arguably further steps in the direction of independence.

It'll be a big shock if members don't give this the thumbs up when they vote on the deal on Saturday.