PLAID CYMRU’S new Welsh Government is planning a pilot scheme which could see some of the poorest families in Wales receive an extra £10 a week for young children.

The proposed Cynnal payment, meaning “maintain” in Welsh, would initially support around 15,000 children aged under six in households already receiving Universal Credit.

Deputy First Minister Sioned Williams said ministers would spend the first 100 days drawing up the scheme before launching it “as soon as possible” afterwards.

The pilot is expected to cost around £10m and would be modelled on Scotland’s child payment, which began at £10 a week and has since risen to £26.70.

Ms Williams said the Welsh Government wanted to test the impact of the payment before making the case for wider powers from Westminster.

She said: “If we needed further powers in order to roll that out beyond a pilot, then we would take the evidence that we have, evidence that is already apparent from Scotland.

“We would be able to show the impact that it’s had and then we would say we need those powers to roll it out across Wales.”

However, Reform UK’s Welsh leader Dan Thomas questioned whether families would actually be better off if the UK Government deducted the money from existing benefits.

He said: “It’s completely unclear whether this move would make anybody better off.

“If Westminster deducts the amount from other benefits, this project would use up a substantial amount of Welsh Government resources with no benefit to working people.

“Benefits claimants are not guinea pigs and should not be used as pawns in Plaid’s funding battles with Westminster.”

The policy was outlined as First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth unveiled the first solely Plaid Cymru Welsh Government.

Plaid has also pledged to work towards a national care service, free at the point of use, although Mr ap Iorwerth said financial pressures meant that could not happen immediately.

The party also wants to expand childcare to every child aged nine months to four years, for 20 hours a week, but Mr ap Iorwerth said around 1,000 more childcare workers would be needed to deliver the plan.

NEARLY 40% of newly elected Senedd Members have backed a Palestine Solidarity Campaign pledge supporting Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel, according to new analysis by the campaign group.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign Cymru says 36 of the 96 Members of the Senedd signed its Senedd Pledge for Palestine before the election.

Those listed include 33 Plaid Cymru MSs, both Green MSs, and Labour MS Mike Hedges.

PSC says the pledge has also been signed by seven of the ten newly appointed members of the Welsh Government Cabinet, as well as two deputy ministers.

The pledge calls on MSs to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people, oppose what it describes as Israel’s “genocide and apartheid”, and ensure the Welsh Government is not complicit, including through support for BDS.

The BDS movement was launched in 2005 by Palestinian civil society organisations and calls for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Supporters compare it with the international campaign against apartheid South Africa, while critics argue it unfairly targets Israel and can fuel hostility towards Jewish communities.

PSC says the issue has direct relevance in Wales following controversy over a £500,000 Welsh Government grant to a company linked to the F-35 fighter jet supply chain. The campaign says parts used in those aircraft have been exported for use by Israel.

Bethan Sayed, Co-Chair of Palestine Solidarity Campaign Cymru, said the level of support represented a “watershed moment” for Welsh politics.

She said: “Almost 40% of our new Senedd Members have sent a clear message: the people of Wales will not sit idly by while the UK Government fuels the machinery of apartheid and genocide.

“This shows that Palestine was on the ballot paper, and the new Welsh Government must act decisively.”

She added: “We are calling on the Welsh Government to immediately audit all financial ties to companies complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation and ensure that no more Welsh taxpayers’ money, such as the £500,000 grant to the F-35 supply chain, is used to facilitate the obliteration of Gaza.

“The Welsh Government must use its unique voice to demand that the UK Government end its arms export licences to Israel.”

PSC said 141 Senedd candidates had signed the pledge before polling day, including 57 Plaid Cymru candidates, 49 Green candidates, nine Liberal Democrats, seven Labour candidates and seven independents.

WALES’ new First Minister had to book himself into a Premier Inn after forgetting the keys to his Cardiff flat on the night of Plaid Cymru’s historic election victory.

Rhun ap Iorwerth was travelling from an election count in north Wales to Cardiff last Friday when he realised the keys were still at his main home on Anglesey, around 200 miles from the capital.

Fresh from declaring a “new dawn” for Wales, the Plaid Cymru leader found himself unable to get into his Cardiff base late at night and instead checked into the budget hotel chain.

The mishap led to an unexpected family moment the following morning, after his father, Edward Morus Jones, brought the keys down from north Wales.

Mr Jones, a former teacher and Welsh language campaigner, was later pictured embracing his son on the steps of the Senedd as Plaid supporters gathered to celebrate the result.

Speaking to ITV after his son was elected First Minister on Tuesday, Mr Jones said he was “extremely proud and very glad to be alive” to witness the moment.

Last week’s election saw Plaid Cymru win 43 seats, with Reform UK second on 34 and Labour reduced to nine in the expanded 96-member Senedd.

Unlike the UK Prime Minister, who has Downing Street, or Scotland’s First Minister, who has Bute House in Edinburgh, there is no official residence for the First Minister of Wales.

Ap Iorwerth lives on Anglesey with his wife, Llinos, and their three grown-up children, but like many Senedd politicians also keeps accommodation in Cardiff for parliamentary work.