Labour first to release costings for Senedd election policies
Matthew Horwood/Getty ImagesWelsh Labour has become the first party to publish how much some of their manifesto policies would cost, after Reform challenged rivals to spell them out.
Labour said its plans, including free school meals in secondary schools and expanding childcare, would cost £347m by 2030, partly paid for by increases to Welsh government funding from UK government.
But it has not priced up everything in its manifesto. Despite this, Welsh Labour leader Eluned Morgan also called for Plaid Cymru to release its costings, accusing the party of risking a public sector pay freeze.
Plaid called the move a "political gimmick" and not a full document, while Reform also said Labour hadn't published a full list.
At an event in Barry Island where she launched the costings, Morgan accidentally called for people to vote for Plaid Cymru while speaking Welsh to the crowd.
Labour said it had published "full costings", but some key items have been left out.
It did not include a £4bn plan for new hospitals including rebuilding the University of Wales Hospital in Cardiff, or extra money needed to boost pay for school support staff.
Labour said it was up to Welsh health boards to come up with their own plans for hospitals. The document says the £4bn plan is over 10 years and will be funded through a combination of Welsh government and private finance.
Its costings plan also says:
- Free school meals in secondary schools would cost £20m
- £2 bus fares would cost £40m
- Expanding childcare to all two year olds would cost £100m
Morgan told BBC Wales: "There are all kinds of promises being made and we know that those promises don't add up.
"We're showing our workings out and we're challenging other parties."
She said Plaid's offer to expand childcare to 20 hours a week from babies aged nine-months would cost £400m.
"You need around £360m to give an uplift to public sector pay workers, that is not accounted for in Plaid's money," she said, accusing Plaid of leaving no money for public sector pay-rises next year.
"The claims made by other parties are so ludicrous in terms of their ability to deliver on what they're saying. I think we've got to get people to understand the risk here."
Asked why she was not writing to Reform's Welsh leader Dan Thomas, she said: "Well, because Dan Thomas has said he will publish costings.
"I would expect all of the other parties now to follow suit."
Plaid has told BBC Wales it has no intention of freezing public sector pay, following Morgan's claim it would to pay for its own promises.
A Plaid spokesperson said Labour's document was "a political gimmick which smacks of panic and desperation".
"It includes nothing on tackling NHS waiting lists, nothing to address the most glaring legacy of Labour's failures in government," they said.
"We have already made the costs of our key commitments public - the only plans to have been independently assessed by an eminent economist."
Reform challenged other parties to publish their costings at a BBC leaders debate this week.
At the time Green leader Anthony Slaughter said some theirs had already been published.
Only Welsh Lib Dem leader Jane Dodds said she would not publish her spending plans, saying she knew she would not end up as first minister and she instead wanted to "influence government".
It has not been totally clear if Reform would publish the cost of their manifesto regardless, which it has been talking to the Institute of Fiscal Studies about.
Speaking to the BBC this week, Nigel Farage again suggested the party may publish them if Plaid releases them.
"We're challenging Plaid and saying right - if you release your figures, we will release our figures.
"At the moment, its a stalemate. Are we ready? Yes."
On Thursday after Labour published its figures, Reform's Llyr Powell said Labour had not done enough.
He said: "It's a step in the right direction what Labour has done today, but it is not the full costed detail that they're claiming it is to be. Where's the money coming from for the big project spends that they're claiming to have?
"We'd like to see Plaid Cymru in this, putting their cards on the table as well."
Conservative Senedd leader Darren Millar said he had "made it clear that I'd be very happy if other party leaders were prepared to publish their costings, I'll publish ours. I've got no problem with that.
"All of our manifesto costings are credible. We've we've done our sums as you would expect us to."
A Green spokesperson said: "Our manifesto sets out our priorities for the Welsh public. We've costed our key pledges like bus travel, and some measures like council tax reform don't cost anything.
"But we also have measures in our manifesto that will raise funds which will help offset those costs."
The Institute for Fiscal Studies' David Phillips said the specific figures "seem reasonable estimates of the cost of policies".
"These figures are lower than the amounts implied by the other parties plans over the current Senedd term – so there is less of an additional fiscal challenge implied by them," he said.
However he added the £4bn hospital construction programme, when the hospitals are completed, "would entail quite significant service charges" in the 2030s.
He warned that current budget plans imply cuts to NHS spending, and said that extra cash that has not yet been allocated from the UK's Spring Statement will have to be allocated to the NHS to avoid problems.
"Delivering this would still require cutting back some other areas – just not as much as delivering the bigger giveaways other parties propose," he said.
