What could the Welsh national elections mean for universities and businesses?

On Thursday 7 May 2026, national elections will take place in Scotland and Wales, and local elections across England.

For Wales, the polling figures suggest that, for the first time since the Senedd was established in 2000, Labour will not be the largest party, though they may yet play a role in supporting a Plaid Cymru-led minority government, or as part of a coalition. Reform Wales are currently set to form the second-biggest party in the Senedd, taking up the role as official opposition for the first time across any of the UK’s national governments.

With that in mind, we have looked at the manifestos for the major parties in Wales to see what their plans are for universities and businesses over the coming parliamentary term.

An Industrial Strategy for Wales?

The main parties’ economic visions for Wales have consistent themes, including a focus on reforming business rates and increased procurement from Welsh firms. The manifestos also suggest that the next Welsh government, regardless of its political shape, could see a bespoke industrial strategy for Wales. Indeed, Welsh Labour have committed to publishing such a plan within their first year, focussed on six of the eight sectors seen in the UK Industrial Strategy. Reform Wales have said they will also launch a Welsh industrial strategy accountable to a new dedicated Minister for Industry within Welsh government.

Plaid Cymru do not make any explicit references to an ‘industrial strategy’, though they do want to develop an ‘understanding’ of the needs of the Welsh economy and Welsh businesses, with a focus on sectors “like renewables and green technology, digital and artificial intelligence, medical technologies, food systems and agri-tech, and the creative industries.” They also intend to develop a new ‘digital strategy’ for Wales, which encompasses plans to support start-ups to scale and the development of the South Wales semiconductor cluster. The digital strategy will also support greater collaboration between universities, technology developers, and businesses.

Of course, what delivery looks like in practice remains to be seen. The sectors outlined by each of Plaid Cymru, Labour and Reform are in line with the UK-wide Industrial Strategy, suggesting that existing policy and funding should be able to support these parties in their ambitions for a Wales-specific strategy. Nevertheless, with Welsh Labour unlikely to form the next government, collaboration will be necessary to ensure a Welsh and UK Industrial Strategy work together. It is, however, interesting to note that Reform Wales have included plans for an industrial strategy, which may well indicate support for the policy on a national level. This could be significant for the whole of the UK in the next Westminster general election.

Universities’ contribution recognised by major parties

The parties most likely to play a role in the next Welsh government have recognised a need to consider university funding in the next term. Plaid Cymru’s pledge to commission a cross-party review of Welsh university funding within their first 100 days in government provides an early opportunity for the sector to make its voice heard. The Welsh Greens have also committed to an independent review of university funding, although this sits alongside a line on “a pathway to sustainably lowering tuition fees” without detail on what that could look like in practice.

Perhaps even more stark is the recognition of HE’s contribution to growth by Reform Wales, with their manifesto explicitly positioning universities as “central” to Wales’s economic future. Reform Wales say they will “support” a sustainable funding model for Welsh universities that sees fees remaining aligned to England for the foreseeable future. There is an important recognition of a need to review universities’ capital funding needs too. That said, there is also a marked point about ensuring degrees represent “value for money”, in line with previous remarks from the Reform UK spokespeople on higher education. A Reform Wales government would “encourage” universities to align with significant economic initiatives, such as the AI Growth Zones.

Welsh Labour commit to taking forward the recommendations on their inquiry into Wales’s tertiary education system – you can find NCUB’s submission to this inquiry here. They would also seek to recruit more students into Welsh universities, and have committed not to introduce a levy on international student tuition fees.

It is worth noting that, particularly from Plaid, there is a strong emphasis on ensuring that Welsh government funding for students is geared more towards encouraging learners to stay in Wales. This includes the Seren programme, an initiative to support high-achieving students to move into future education opportunities. Plaid Cymru are also on their own in calling for Wales’s share of UK research funding to be devolved. While it represents only a single line in their manifesto, it would have significant implications for the Welsh higher education sector if it came to fruition.

Skills a big focus across the manifestos, but could more change be coming?

Identifying the current and future skills needs of Wales would appear to be on each of the main parties’ agendas in the upcoming Senedd elections. Plaid Cymru will launch a “skills audit”, and convene a summit of business, HE and FE to identify the future skills needs for Wales and create a strategy for Wales’s skills system. Their manifesto says they want a skills system that champions different educational and training pathways for Welsh learners, including apprenticeships, aligned to those future skills needs. Plaid also want to ‘better leverage’ funding streams, such as City and Regional Growth Deals, to provide support for apprenticeships, and vocational and work-based training.

Reform want to ‘expand’ technical education and apprenticeships, and say they will review funding models that would benefit technical education courses. This echoes the Welsh Greens, whose manifesto contains a commitment to launching an independent review of the Welsh FE sector.

Labour would create a National Jobs Council that would be responsible for driving job creation as part of their Welsh industrial strategy plans. They also want to create another 100,000 apprenticeships over the next Senedd term, and publish a ‘vocational education and training strategy’.

The offer to business

One of the more eye-catching announcements for companies is from Plaid Cymru, who would create a new business-led National Development Agency for Wales. The Agency would be an arms-length body that acts as a one-stop shop for business support, as part of a wider policy aim of supporting SMEs to scale in Wales. Reforms to the Development Bank of Wales would also be part of this endeavour. This is an encouraging commitment to see, and echoes the ‘Simplify’ recommendations of NCUB’s Business-led R&D Taskforce report from last year. The Agency will also be responsible for securing inward investment into Wales, and coordinating “regional business growth” within Wales.

Increased public procurement from Welsh businesses features strongly in the pitch to companies from Plaid Cymru and Reform, although it is a noticeable absence in Labour’s manifesto. Each of the parties have made commitments to reviewing the business rates system in Wales, labelling it as unfair on companies, particularly small firms. For their part, Labour will seek to use the Local Growth Fund to “boost productivity”, and commit to match-funding for university spinouts (although they do not share how that would be funded).

Given that the latest polling data suggests there will be no majority party post-7 May, some form of partnership between these parties, either through formal coalitions or a case-by-case support agreement, is likely to take place. Ultimately, however, the next chapter for Wales will depend not just on political agreements, but on how universities and businesses step forward together to co-create a more resilient and growth orientated economy.