Plaid Cymru election win in Wales would be a relief, says Zack Polanski
PA MediaA Plaid Cymru win in the Senedd election would be "a relief", Green Party leader Zack Polanski has said.
Polanski said he wanted to "see the back of the Labour administration" which has led the Welsh government since 1999 "as much as anybody else in Wales".
Polls suggest the Greens could win seats in an expanded Senedd for the first time in the election on 7 May.
Polanski also defended the Greens' spending plans for the election, which includes expanding free childcare and free bus travel for under-22s, by saying inaction was "costing people" and their plans were an "investment" in the Welsh economy.
The Greens have said they could be "kingmakers" after the election, implying they could have a crucial role in deciding who gets to be first minister.
Polls suggest Plaid Cymru and Reform UK are currently vying to win the most seats in the Welsh Parliament, and the Greens have ruled out working with Reform.
Speaking to the BBC, Polanski said: "I think Plaid Cymru will do really well in this election and despite being the leader of the Green Party, that's a relief."
But he claimed that because of the new voting system - where each constituency will elect six members based on the proportion of votes cast - that "the fifth and sixth seats inside each constituency become really competitive between the Reform party and the Green party".
"So the question everyone in Wales should be asking themselves, especially in Cardiff, is do you want to see a Reform member of the Senedd or a Green member of the Senedd," he said.
The Welsh Greens want to generously expand the childcare offer the Welsh government currently have and allow those under-22 to travel on buses for free.
Polanski said of the pledges: "I think all of these things are actually investments because you're putting money into the communities in Wales that desperately need it - that's money into the economy which is also purchasing power in people's pockets that benefits small and local businesses.
"Which means money in Wales and wealth in Wales stays in Wales.
"The cost of inaction is costing people with a toxic combination of low wages and high bills.
"Things like childcare where people are not able to continue working in the economy because they're understandably looking after children."
Polanski made the case for a "wider conversation" about how Wales is funded and said Wales had not been treated as "adults at the table" when it came to the Barnett formula, HS2 and the Crown Estate.
"Decades of a Labour administration, and now tied in with a Westminster Labour government, has have screwed over Wales over and over again," he said.
"Wales is really suffering and doesn't just feel left behind, it actually is left behind.
"Every single Green vote could mean Greens hold the balance of power."
Challenged on whether he would stop Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth becoming the first minister, with "red lines" in a negotiation over power-sharing, Polanski said that they preferred to talk of "green objectives" rather than "red lines".
He said one of those green objectives would be rent controls - a key component of the Greens' manifesto pledges.
