WELSH nationalist leader Rhun ap Iorwerth told his party conference today that Plaid Cymru is ready to “replace” Labour, promising “a new government, with new energy and new ideas.”

He said: “Today, with a historic nation-building opportunity before us, I’m going to set out the choice facing Wales — two very different futures but only one credible option.”

With a consistent lead in the polls, Mr ap Iorwerth said his party was ready to lead Wales and “together, we can choose a different path.

“Let’s be clear. We’re not here to act as Labour’s conscience. We are not here to repair Labour. We are here to replace them.

“So, if you’ve never voted for Plaid Cymru before, the time is now.

“The time is now to stop Reform and elect a government more radical, more ambitious, more impatient to bring about positive change than any which has gone before it,” appealing to the people of Wales to “come with us.”

The Plaid leader also unveiled a childcare offer worth £30,000 to families in the first four years of their offspring’s life.

“I am announcing that a Plaid Cymru government would introduce a transformative new universal free childcare programme, available for all children from the age of nine months to four years, building towards providing at least 20 hours a week for 48 weeks a year,” he said.

He castigated Welsh Labour over the closure of Port Talbot’s blast furnaces, saying: “Decades of loyalty at the ballot box repaid by 10 hours of parliamentary debate to save the steel industry in Scunthorpe.

“Labour’s betrayal of Port Talbot’s steelworkers will never be forgotten, nor will their failure to stand up for Wales.”

Mr ap Iorwerth also criticised the rise of the far right around the world and said Reform UK leader Nigel Farage depends on sowing and perpetuating tensions and divisions for his electoral fortune. 

The Plaid leader said the wealthiest 10 per cent of UK households hold 41 per cent of wealth.

“We don’t have to live in a society in which the asylum-seeker forced to get by on £10 a week is scorned more than the top 40 families in the UK who now own more wealth than 50 per cent of the population,” Mr ap Iorwerth insisted.

“We need a wealth tax and we need one now. Plaid Cymru believes deeply in our potential as a nation and we say yes, Wales can — and we want to show you how.”