Drakeford rejects Plaid claims Welsh government budget is worse than thought

Former Labour finance secretary Mark Drakeford has rejected Plaid Cymru claims about financial pressures facing the new Welsh government.

Over the weekend his successor Elin Jones said the finances were "more challenging" than she had expected.

She warned of "extremely difficult" decisions to fund manifesto commitments, which include a flagship expansion of childcare.

Drakeford said that Plaid had had access to "all the information available" and suggested ministers would struggle to deliver their manifesto pledges.

Plaid representatives said in the 2026 election campaign that to pay for childcare it would reprioritise some of the £7bn the last Labour government spent on tackling child poverty.

Jones denied the party was "dismantling the legacy" of Labour but said "changing gear on where we are in delivering public services is what I want to see".

Drakeford was finance minister in the previous Senedd when he struck a deal with Plaid to pass the 2026-27 budget, which included more money for councils, health and infrastructure.

It included £120m of unallocated funding for long-term projects.

Labour lost power in an historic Senedd election in May, after 27 years of running the government in Cardiff Bay.

Drakeford said: "Plaid Cymru should not be surprised because every penny the Welsh government has to spend is publicly identified and publicly scrutinised and every penny of the Welsh government's spending plans are set out in its budget.

"Plaid Cymru was involved in setting the 2026-27 budget after an agreement was reached between them and Welsh Labour, and in the process they had access to all the information that was available to Welsh government.

"I am not surprised they find being in government more complicated than talking about it. Given their manifesto, Plaid Cymru were always going to find keeping their promises harder than making them.

"What cannot be a surprise on this occasion are the financial facts which were well and publicly known to them."

Elin Jones will present the new Welsh government's supplementary budget on 23 June, outlining changes to spending plans already announced at the budget in January.

Speaking in general terms about the financial pressures facing the Welsh government, she told the BBC Politics Wales that the outlook was "challenging" this year, adding "probably more challenging than I expected it to be".

The government will need to reach agreement with another party for its supplementary budget to pass a Senedd vote, as it is six seats short of a majority.

Sources at Labour and the Welsh Conservatives told the BBC that they had received no approaches to discuss a potential deal.

Plaid has ruled out working with Reform UK, the Senedd's biggest opposition party.

Reform wants money directed to frontline services such as the NHS and schools.

It said: "Plaid Cymru claimed they had secured a fantastic budget deal earlier this year. Now we are being warned that extremely difficult decisions will have to be made.

"The same budget they supported is now being described as 'challenging'. The public deserves honesty, not spin."

The financial outlook for Welsh ministers is expected to get tighter.

In its spending review, the Treasury projected that funding for day-to-day spending for the Welsh government would continue to increase until the end of the decade, albeit at a slower rate and that funding for infrastructure spending would decrease.

The figures were reflected in the Welsh government's own final budget report for 2026-27.