Plaid Cymru

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Coverage of Plaid Cymru on the day centred on the party's conference and its leader's speech. Sky News reported that the conference was getting underway that day and was the first since Plaid Cymru won the Senedd elections in May, which it said ended 100 years of Labour dominance in Wales. Sky News also reported that its latest MRP poll put Plaid Cymru with the largest number of seats in Wales and Labour on two seats, and it named the party leader as Rudyard Beworth, who was due to give his first conference speech since taking office. BBC ONE WestHD carried the leader's speech, in which he described financial pressures on the Welsh government, including real terms reductions in UK funding, and said the autumn UK budget was a chance to reverse planned real terms cuts to Wales and avoid the worst settlement since George Osborne. He also said Wales received only 1 per cent of rail investment and called for HS2 funding owed to Wales to be brought forward. He set out a formal request to the Prime Minister for a new deal for Wales, including equal footing with Scotland and powers over policing and justice, rail infrastructure, the Crown Estate, fiscal fairness and welfare. Both channels reported that the leader had written to the Prime Minister about more powers or a new deal for Wales. Sky News reported that this followed his hosting of the nationalist First Ministers of Scotland and Northern Ireland in Cardiff last month, where they jointly declared Westminster's time was coming to an end. BBC ONE WestHD reported that he had welcomed SNP and Sinn Féin figures to Cardiff a few weeks earlier to sign a memorandum of understanding between the parties. The BBC coverage also included the leader's criticism of UK devolution plans focused on England, his account of a first meeting with Andy Burnham, and his statement that he would hold the Prime Minister to a promise not to undermine Wales or bypass the Senedd.

Key Claims by Channel

Claim
Widely reported · 6 or more of 7 channels
Plaid Cymru's leader wrote to the Prime Minister to argue for transferring more powers to Wales.				Not reported by BBC Two
Reported by a few · 2–5 channels
Plaid Cymru's conference was due to start the following day in Llandudno.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News		Reported by BBC Two		Not reported by ITV
The Welsh government faced real-terms reductions in UK funding, higher inflation, economic uncertainty and significant spending pressures, making the budget tough with difficult decisions.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV
Wales received only 1% of rail investment, the UK government owed Wales billions from HS2, and the Plaid Cymru leader demanded the funding be brought forward from the 2030s.		Not reported by BBC News	Reported by BBC One		Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
The Plaid Cymru leader hosted nationalist First Ministers from Scotland and Northern Ireland in Cardiff, where they signed a memorandum of understanding and declared Westminster's time was coming to an end.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Reported by Sky News
The Senedd supported the principle that people of the nations decide their own future, but the UK Prime Minister rejected it.	Not reported by Channel 5		Reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
Plaid's opponents said more people have been on an NHS waiting list for two years than at the time of the election.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
Only on one channel
Heledd Fychan said Plaid Cymru would not hold an independence referendum in its first term and wants the ability to call one when Welsh voters are ready.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One	Reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
Plaid Cymru won the most seats in the Senedd election and ended Labour's century-long rule in Wales.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One	Reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
The latest MRP poll projected Plaid Cymru with the most seats in Wales and Labour with two seats.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV
Plaid Cymru leader Rudyard Beworth was among the speakers at the party conference, ahead of his first conference speech since taking office.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV
The UK funding settlement was still mainly set by Westminster, and the autumn UK budget was a chance to reverse planned real-terms cuts to Wales and avoid the worst settlement since George Osborne.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
The Plaid Cymru leader said the Prime Minister's devolution plans focused on England, with promises for English mayors and regions while Wales waited, and had nothing to do with empowering Wales.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
The Plaid Cymru leader described his first meeting with Andy Burnham as positive and called him an experienced devolutionist, but said the Prime Minister's wave of new powers risked being stopped at Offa's Dyke.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
The Plaid Cymru leader said he told the Prime Minister not to undermine Wales as a nation or bypass the Senedd, and the Prime Minister promised he would not.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
The Plaid Cymru leader said that if the Prime Minister failed, Wales would know its best interests would never be served by Westminster.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
The Plaid Cymru leader said voters trusted the party to beat Reform in May, and that it did.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
Andy Burnham said he was open to discussing the ideas and potentially devolving police and justice.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News		Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
The Welsh First Minister called for fair funding, fiscal flexibilities and more borrowing powers for Wales.		Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
The Welsh First Minister said Andy Burnham had more policing powers in Manchester than he had as First Minister of Wales.		Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
The Welsh First Minister said Welsh independence could occur in his lifetime but that the decision rested with the Welsh people.		Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
Heledd Fychan said independence has been in every Plaid Cymru manifesto.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One	Reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
Rhun ap Iorwerth said fuel costs are making life very difficult and rural parts of Wales need assistance on fuel prices.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One	Reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
Rhun ap Iorwerth said he wants a redesign of the union.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One		Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
Rhun ap Iorwerth said he does not care what Moscow thinks about Wales's future.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One		Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
There is still no published child poverty strategy or target.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4		Not reported by Sky News
Rhun ap Iorwerth accused Andy Burnham of focusing on devolution in England.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV
No single party has ever had an overall majority in Welsh devolution.		Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
The UK government was reported to be sceptical about devolving the requested powers to Wales.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
Plaid Cymru runs a minority government in the Senedd and has always campaigned for an independent Wales.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Not reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
Wales has the longest NHS waiting lists in the UK, with north Wales waiting longest.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News
Critics argued the Plaid government should first focus on managing its existing devolved powers.	Not reported by Channel 5	Not reported by BBC News	Not reported by BBC One	Not reported by BBC Two	Not reported by Channel 4	Reported by ITV	Not reported by Sky News

This is a cross-channel consensus summary, not an objective account. Consensus can be uniformly wrong, or omit what only one channel covered.