Labour rejects Plaid Cymru additional learning needs offer in supplementary budget

Welsh Labour’s leader has said they will “be left with no choice” but to vote against the supplementary budget unless their demands are met.

As a minority government, Plaid Cymru must get the support of at least six Members of the Senedd (MSs) from other parties to pass the budget.

They had offered £80m over two years for children with Additional Learning Needs (ALN) in exchange for Labour support.

But Ken Skates, the interim leader of Welsh Labour, told BBC Politics Wales that the offer wold be a “bad deal for education”.

He said: “If we don’t get that fair deal for education, then I’m afraid it will leave us with no other option than to vote against the budget.”

Speaking on behalf of the Welsh government Deputy Minister for Public and Preventative Health, Nerys Evans, accused Labour of “playing politics” with extra money for the NHS, childcare and free school meals.

She urged them to return to the negotiating table before the vote on Tuesday.

This supplementary budget is the allocation of extra funding for the Welsh government. The final budget was set by the previous Labour government before the election that was held in May.

Extra spending by the UK Labour government on ALN, known as SEND in England, means Welsh government has received a windfall.

That money is not ring-fenced for that purpose by the Welsh government, who can choose to spend it however they want, but Welsh Labour and other parties want to see more of it spent on ALN.

Plaid Cymru has offered £40m per year for two years to the sector and have promised to improve sustainability in the long-term.

Speaking on Politics Wales, Skates who is currently the only candidate standing in their leadership contest, confirmed they had rejected the offer on the table.