Reform could win next Welsh election: Plaid MP

Plaid Cymru's leader in Westminster has warned party colleagues that Nigel Farage's Reform UK could win the next Senedd election if her party does not take them seriously.

Liz Saville Roberts said the "threat" must "galvanise" Plaid Cymru members and said it would be a "disaster" for Wales if Reform won.

Plaid Cymru topped an opinion poll at the end of 2024, with Labour and Reform close behind.

The next Welsh Parliament elections are due to take place in May 2026.

Speaking at the end of her party's Spring conference in Llandudno, the MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd said: "If we - Plaid Cymru - do not provide solutions to Labour's failings, there is something worse waiting in the wings to take their place."

Earlier, the party promised to cut business rates for smaller retailers, pubs and restaurants, and require larger companies to pay more in return.

Saville Roberts spoke after a conference where party leader Rhun ap Iorwerth pitched himself as the next first minister of Wales.

The most recent opinion poll from late 2024 put Plaid Cymru in the lead with 24%, with Labour and Reform close behind on 23% each, and the Conservatives on 19%.

In the final speech of the two day event, Saville Roberts said Reform "say they want change, but their change means privatising the NHS, stripping away workers rights, and taking power away from Wales.

"They thrive on division. They will attack our language. They will undermine our identity and they will turn neighbour against neighbour, because that is what political hatred does for them.

"If we do not take this threat seriously, they could become the biggest party in the Senedd - our national parliament.

"If that happens, it would be a disaster for Wales", adding: "This must galvanise us."

Ms Saville Roberts also took aim at Labour, saying the chancellor's Spring Statement, where Rachel Reeves is expected to announce further cuts, would be a "gloomy affair".

She said she would "oppose this new wave of Labour austerity".

On Saturday, the party's economy spokesman Luke Fletcher set out Plaid Cymru's plans for discounted business rates for small retail and hospitality firms.

The party plans to cut rates for "domestic small businesses", offsetting the cost by increasing rates for large multinationals.

Labour cut Covid-era discounts on business rates for retailers, pubs and restaurants last year, leading to claims it left some businesses "on the edge".

Fletcher said: "Our high streets provide a lens on the challenges facing Welsh businesses - challenges that Labour in Wales has failed to address or actively made worse over a quarter of a century in power.

"Take Aberystwyth, where business rates in the town centre are – as one local business owner so perfectly put it – just silly.

"An independent store owner on the high street pays nearly 10 times more than a major chain on the town's outskirts, and significantly more than would be an equivalent business in England would."

Business rates are paid by small and larger companies to contribute to local services. The funds are pooled into a central pot before they are given to councils.

Under the Plaid Cymru plans smaller businesses in retail and hospitality would be subject to a "preferential multiplier" - a specific amount by which rates are worked out from the rateable value of a property.

A briefing from the party suggested this multiplier could be half of the value of what is currently paid.

The party said this would be offset by increasing the multiplier for large multinationals.

BBC Wales understands the party also wants to make a distinction for franchises which may be small or medium size businesses, but buy and sell services from larger multinationals.

Plaid gave a case study of a coffee store in Bridgend, which it said could see their rates cut from £1,537 to £768.50.

The economy spokesman said he will launch Plaid's economic plan "in the coming weeks".

He told conference: "Our plan will see capital built, retained and recycling in our communities, instead of it leaking - and in some cases flooding - out of Wales.

"It will grow and sustain Welsh-owned businesses, delivering good jobs, reviving our town centres, and boosting living standards."

Meanwhile, former party leader Adam Price said the Welsh criminal justice system was "actively sabotaging its own purpose".

He said short prison sentences "destroy employment and family connections while offering no meaningful rehabilitation", and called prisons "pressure cookers of human despair".

Plaid Cymru wants to see the justice system devolved. Price called for reforms to the youth justice system, a rehabilitation-focused probation service, and a National Crime Prevention Agency.