LABOUR’S pledge to boost school support staff pay in Wales unravelled today after questions about why the change could not be implemented immediately.

Welsh Labour leader Eluned Morgan gave the manifesto commitment to ending term-time only contracts at a meeting of Unison Cymru activists on Saturday.

The commitment, conditional on Welsh Labour winning the Senedd election in May, would be brought about by a new school support staff negotiating body established in law.

But members of the public took to social media to ask why the First Minister’s government did not implement the measure immediately to ensure support staff were paid for school holidays, labelling the manifesto pledge meaningless.

Labour sits back in fourth place in a YouGov poll putting Ms Morgan’s party on just 10 per cent, lagging behind the Welsh Greens on 13 per cent.

The Star asked Welsh Labour why the Welsh government had not included the pay boost in its recent budget and had not implemented the reform while in office.

A spokesperson dodged the question about enacting the pay boost now. They said: “This is a manifesto pledge and so wouldn’t be included in this government’s budget.

“We have been working with unions and would establish a new negotiating body in law, which would not be possible in this government term.”

A Plaid Cymru spokesman said: “This announcement, without clarity on funding or delivery, raises understandable questions about its timing.

“After 27 years, Labour have presided over little more than managed decline in our schools. Why wasn’t this done before?”

The First Minister had also told Unison Cymru members that the Welsh nationalists had voted against the Employment Rights Bill in Wales to put both adult and children’s social care workers under the cover of fair-pay agreements.

A Plaid Cymru spokesman said: “At the time, Plaid Cymru expressed strong support for the overall principles and objectives of the Bill, including its commitments to improving pay and conditions for social care workers.” 

The spokesman explained that Plaid’s abstention was not a rejection of fair-pay agreements but rather based on serious concerns about the Bill’s powers, handing Westminster ministers the ability to override decisions made in Wales.