Plaid Cymru is ready to replace Welsh Labour at the next Senedd election, leader Rhun ap Iorwerth will say later.
At their annual conference the party leader will promise that he can deliver a “new government, with new energy and new ideas”.
Labour has led Wales since the start of devolution in 1999, and has dominated Welsh politics for a century. The next election takes place in May.
“Change now seems inevitable,” he will say, calling on voters to back his party if they want to stop Nigel Farage’s Reform UK from winning the election.
Plaid Cymru has played a key role during the life of devolution, being an occasional supporter of Labour governments.
It has been unable to beat Labour in an election – but recent opinion polling has suggested Plaid is vying with the party to win, as is Reform.
Rhun ap Iorwerth is now trying to position his party as a government-in-waiting.
Even if Plaid came first it is possible they would have to work with Labour or other parties in some form, with no party having ever won a majority in the Senedd.
The party leader will tell his conference: “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.
“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.
“We promise a new government, with new energy and new ideas to prove what every person who believes in Wales already knows – that things don’t have to be this way.”
With some exceptions, Plaid Cymru has traditionally had more support in the Welsh-speaking heartlands of north and west Wales.
Ap Iorwerth says his government will be on the side of “young and old, urban and rural, north and south, Welsh speaker [and] non-Welsh speaker”.
“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,” he will say.
Plaid Cymru is trying to position itself as the leading anti-Reform party for the next Senedd election – with Rhun ap Iorwerth as Wales’ next first minister.
It sees Nigel Farage’s party as its main competitor, rather than Labour, reflecting how they feel the UK political climate has changed since the last general election.
Despite being pro-independence, for them the 2026 vote will not be an independence election, and the issue is unlikely to be front and centre of its pitch as it tries to reach beyond its usual base.
So far it is not promising wholesale scrapping and rebuilding of how Wales works – something they think is risky in the current financial climate – although the party stresses it will still offer “radical” policies.
An example of that, the party would argue, is its promise of a payment to tackle child poverty.
Plaid faces a challenge in how they convince voters on the left to switch to them in an election fought with a new voting system designed to give people more choice.
The Greens and the Welsh Lib Dems will be among those hoping to motivate voters who want to put a roadblock in the way of Reform – as is Labour.
It will also be competing with a Reform party with lots of money and wide media coverage – two things Plaid has always struggled with.
