Labour and Plaid Cymru end alliance in Welsh row

PLAID CYMRU has pulled out of its co-operation agreement with Welsh Labour, warning against the party’s “managerialism and centralist thinking”.

The deal, called the Compact To Move Wales Forward, was brokered after Labour failed to win a majority at the assembly elections in May 2016.

It followed a deadlock in the Senedd after Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood and Labour leader Carwyn Jones tied for votes for the First Minister post.

Mr Jones remained as First Minister after agreeing to establish three Labour and Plaid Cymru liaison committees on finance, legislation and the constitution.

On Sunday, the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru announced that they had agreed a two-year £210m budget.

But in a letter to Plaid Cymru members, Ms Wood said the party had now decided to end the “compact” deal.

“Labour’s managerialism and centralist thinking are crippling the Welsh economy and leaving our public services languishing at the bottom of almost every league table,” she wrote.

“They are failing to deal with the various crises in health, education, homelessness, the decline in Welsh speaker numbers with sufficient urgency, and our involvement in the Compact cannot impact on any of this.”

The ending of the “compact” will not bring down the Welsh Government, where Labour is two seats short of an overall majority.

Welsh Labour has 29 of the 60 seats in Cardiff Bay, but is supported by independent AM Dafydd Elis-Thomas and cabinet secretary Kirsty Williams, a Liberal Democrat AM.

Mr Jones said the decision to end the “compact” was taken by Plaid Cymru, with Ms Wood informing him of it on Friday morning.

“Our conversation was amicable and we agreed that it was important to keep open lines of communication,” he said.