Plaid Cymru vs Reform is choice between culture or ignorance, says ap Iorwerth

Rhun ap Iorwerth has said the Welsh Parliament election is a fight between the "culture" of his party Plaid Cymru and the "ignorance" of Reform UK.

Plaid's leader told his party conference in Newport that a Welsh government led by Nigel Farage's Reform would set Wales back by "decades".

Speaking to a packed hall of party members in Newport's International Convention Centre he also said it was "over" for Welsh Labour, which he said had run out of ideas after running Wales for 27 years.

But ap Iorwerth struck a note of caution in his speech, saying that his party was "not looking to do the impossible" if he became the next Welsh first minister.

Opinion polls have suggested Plaid is vying for first place with Reform for the 7 May Senedd election.

Labour has been in power since the parliament's predecessor, the National Assembly for Wales, opened its doors in Cardiff Bay 27 years ago.

After the Green Party won the Gorton and Denton by-election, ap Iorwerth said he was not worried that voters may be torn between the winners in Greater Manchester and his own party.

Pro-independence Plaid has never won a Wales-wide election, but has supported Labour Welsh governments in the past.

Ap Iorwerth said in his speech on Friday: "The election in May will be a choice between two contrasting futures.

"Tolerance or division. Progress or decay. Defiance or deference. Culture or ignorance. Humanity or indifference. Plaid Cymru or Reform."

He said Reform "accept devolution, for now".

"But they'd turn against it on a whim. We all know they have zero loyalty to Wales and our nationhood," he said.

He also claimed Reform would use the Senedd as an "electoral springboard" with "no accountability, no seriousness" and "no policies".

Saying his party will "do politics differently", he told the conference: "We aim to be known as a team that runs a better government, or quite simply gets the basics right."

In an effort to show how serious Plaid was taking the challenge, ap Iorwerth said the "enormity" of the task ahead of them can "all feel daunting at times".

Plaid will unveil its plan for the first 100 days of government on Saturday morning.

Ap Iorwerth said the announcement was not a sign of "complacency" from the party ahead of the election, but showed it was making preparations to govern.

"We're not looking to do the impossible," he said.

"We'll focus our efforts on a clear set of priorities - on doing the basics better, so that we can really improve people's lives in ways that matter."

He promised a "health and care service that works", an education system "focused on equipping every pupil with essential life skills", and "childcare to ease the pressure on family budgets".

Ap Iorwerth also said a Plaid government "would be unequivocally and unapologetically pro-business and pro-prosperity".

And he promised a minister whose job it would be to "break down silos, ensure joined up working and deliver effectively on the promises we make".

On Friday morning ap Iorwerth was asked on BBC Radio Wales if his reference to "ignorance", which was trailed ahead of his speech, meant he was suggesting Reform voters were ignorant.

Ap Iorwerth said it was an "accusation" towards Nigel Farage.

"We've just had Nigel Farage not even letting his members in Wales choose who their leader will be in Wales," he said.

"I think people in Wales expect more than that."

Pushed on whether voters may be torn between Plaid and the Greens in Wales, ap Iorwerth said: "I don't think we should worry too much about that.

"We have a Welsh election coming up. I think people are very sophisticated in the way they approach elections now.

"It is only Plaid Cymru that is in a position where it can be that alternative to Labour and beat Reform."

Since becoming leader in 2023, ap Iorwerth has moved his party's focus away from independence as a central issue, and is pitching his party as a pragmatic government in waiting.

The Ynys Môn Member of the Senedd (MS) has said the Senedd election is not about Wales' place in the United Kingdom, and has ditched a 2021 pledge to hold a referendum.

Plaid is hoping it can win enough seats to form a minority government - meaning it would govern alone but would still need the help of other politicians to get votes through the Senedd.

No party has ever won more than half the seats in the Senedd, and the new system makes winning a majority theoretically more tricky with a new proportional voting system.

Politicians will be elected in large constituencies of six MSs each, with their numbers determined by a formula that tries to reflect how people voted. A total of 96 politicians will be elected, up from the 60 MSs that exist now.

The system intends to give voters more choice than the previous system, where 40 of the 60 seats were elected through the first past the post system.