Labour victory in additional learning needs vote as Plaid lose in Senedd again

The Plaid Cymru Welsh government has lost another vote in the Senedd after a majority backed calls for more funding for schools.

The motion called for Plaid ministers to use their first mid-year budget to provide more cash for pupils with additional learning needs (ALN).

Labour, which was in charge in Wales until May's election, says money that has arrived in Wales as a consequence of UK government spending on special education needs (SEN) should be allocated to help schools struggling with debt.

Plaid's Finance Minister Elin Jones argued a more long-term solution was needed, and accused Reform, Labour and the Tories of forming a "grand alliance" of the "right-left-right".

The vote has no legal effect on the government, but comes after Plaid Cymru lost a vote the week before on hospital closures, and demonstrates the government's vulnerability as a minority administration.

With less than half the politicians in the Senedd, Plaid needs help from another political party to win votes.

It will need help for its supplementary budget vote on 14 July. It has been in discussions with Labour - currently the only party that might be able to help. A source said earlier this week that the two sides were "far apart".

Plaid Cymru's supplementary budget includes £100m for waiting times in the NHS and £40m for repairs to schools, and is on top of the last Labour budget passed with Plaid help last January.

The government is also holding back £246m as unallocated cash, to manage other costs that might come up during the year.

Plaid is spending extra cash that mostly comes as a consequence of money being spent by the UK government to pay off debts of English councils built up through supporting young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

It is not clear whether the budget will have to be changed in response to the UK government's defence plans, which the Welsh government estimates will mean estimated cuts of up to £30m.

At the debate, former education minister and now Labour's education spokesperson on Lynne Neagle, said: "Much has been made by the government of the fact that the system is different in Wales, that local authorities haven't run up huge debts, that we didn't use a statutory override in Wales.

"But the pressures faced by local authorities are massive. Nearly a third of schools are in budget deficit."

Her Labour colleague Huw Thomas argued that the £246m left unallocated was "not typical" and speculated that it was actually being held back to pay for Plaid's manifesto promises.

Reform's Cai Parry-Jones backed the motion. "Learners with additional learning needs are some of the most vulnerable people in our society," he said.

"The decision to divert all of the cash that could have been used to improve their lives will haunt the new Plaid Cymru government for a long time.

"Starmer's Labour attacked the elderly, Rhun [ap Iorwerth's] Plaid has one-upped them by going after disabled children."

The Conservatives' Sam Rowlands said: "If we're serious about improving outcomes for learners with ALN, we cannot continue a situation where schools are effectively subsidising the system through budget deficit."

Elin Jones, Finance Minister, told the debate that Neagle knew "better than most... of the pressures within our schools".

"We agree that the solution needs to start this financial year, but it does not necessarily need a supplementary budget to start this work; it is already underway."

She claimed the £246m of unallocated money was needed because she discovered £300m in "unfunded in-year" financial costs when she became minister, at the same time that she learned of £300m extra from the UK government because of special educational needs.

"It seems today that we may well see the birth of a new grand alliance in this Senedd's seventh term: an alliance of right-left-right, a broader church alliance than ever seen before," she said.

She called it "an alliance forged from political opportunity... rather than shared values".

After the end of Wednesday's debate, Reform and the Conservatives backed the Labour motion, 46 votes for, versus 41 from Plaid voting against.

The Greens' Anthony Slaughter and Paul Rock, together with the Liberal Democrat MS Jane Dodds, all abstained.

The result came on the same day left-wing parties teamed up to defeat Reform on their calls to scrap the Nation of Sanctuary.