PUBLIC-SECTOR workers in Wales have welcomed a “historic” co-operation agreement between Welsh Labour and nationalist Plaid Cymru — and called for urgent legislation to solve the country’s social care crisis.

The agreement ends the deadlock in which Labour holds only 30 of the 60 seats in the Welsh Assembly, the Senedd.

Plaid Cymru has 13 seats, and together the two can easily push through legislation opposed by the Assembly’s 16 Tory members and a solitary Lib Dem.

The agreement will last for three years.

Wales’s First Minister Mark Drakeford said: “The Welsh government and Plaid Cymru will work to jointly develop and deliver the policies set out in this co-operation agreement.

“It captures how Welsh politics works — by finding common ground and sharing good ideas.”

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said the “wide-ranging, radical policies included in the co-operation agreement – from free school meals for all primary pupils to extending free childcare to all two-year-olds – will change the lives of thousands of families in Wales for the better.

“I’m proud to sign this agreement with the First Minister.”

The parties are expected to co-operate on key policy areas including the creation of a national care service.

Public-service union Unison Cymru Wales, which represents 100,000 public-sector workers in the country, urged the partnership to act quickly on the creation of a national care service.

The union said this would put the sector back into public hands, under the control of the Welsh government and operated by local authorities — as was the case before the sector was placed into the hands of profit-driven private companies by the Tory government in Westminster.

Unison Cymru Wales’s lead officer for social care Mark Turner said that poor pay is a major factor for the industry’s ongoing crisis.

“Unison looks forward to helping shape a national care service which places those requiring care and their dedicated care workers at its heart,” he continued. 

Wales TUC general secretary Shavanah Taj said the deal offers stability in the Welsh government and “real and substantial policy wins for workers in Wales.

“Better childcare provision, free school meals, rent controls — these are all things that will make a meaningful difference to people’s lives.”