It’s been a strange few weeks in the Senedd.

One of the weirdest experiences was seeing the Labour party and Reform UK line up together to block more funding for the services that we all rely on – services that desperately need the financial support of Government.

Not one Senedd election ever gave previous Labour governments an outright majority, so budget negotiations have always been necessary. Numerous times, Plaid Cymru negotiated with Labour to achieve things that made a real difference to lives here in Monmouthshire and across Wales. Things like free school meals for all primary school children. We always took a principled and constructive approach so that money made available to Wales was spent. The alternative was Wales losing out.

Parties in the Senedd used to understand this. But now, the tables have turned.

Plaid Cymru is now the party of government, and Labour are in opposition. Is that in part because Labour failed to stand up for Wales? If so, they have certainly not yet learned their lesson. It seems that Labour has no plan to be a constructive Senedd opposition party, and no intention to work constructively for Wales.

Over the last two weeks, Labour have voted twice with Reform UK. First, they voted against a very simple call for the UK Government to give Wales the fairer funding we need. Then they voted against a sensible budget that would have put £145m towards bringing down waiting lists in the NHS, and £55million to our childcare plans.

Labour say they want the money spent on Additional Learning Needs (ALN). But let’s look at this.

The last Labour Welsh Government budget allocated £9m to ALN for this year. The newly elected Plaid Cymru Welsh Government’s supplementary budget this week initially proposed an extra £40m to ALN. Labour said this wasn’t enough, so Plaid Cymru increased the offer to £80m. Labour then said they wanted £100m, so Plaid Cymru increased the offer to £120m – that’s right, £20m more than Labour were asking for.

And then, here’s the really insulting thing to the people of Wales: Labour still said no.

The budget did not pass. Labour and Reform played their political game; patients, parents, and children will pay the price.

Plaid Cymru will continue getting on with the job – investing in our NHS, supporting children and families, standing up for Wales. We can only hope that opposition parties change course and do the same.