Campaign’s Welsh wish list

Ahead of the Senedd Cymru Welsh Parliament election on 7 May, the Campaigns and Communications team takes a look at the manifestos of the main parties to see what they are offering consumers, pubs and breweries if they form the next Welsh government. 

CAMRA would like to see the next Welsh government and Senedd members speaking up and taking action to support, protect and promote pubs, social clubs, breweries, cider makers and consumers. 

The Campaign wants action on: 

Business rates

The next Welsh government should reform the business rates system to permanently fix the unfair overpayment by pubs. 

Planning

The next Welsh government should change permitted development rights so that planning permission is always required to change a pub into another use like a house, shop or takeaway. This would help stop valued pubs being lost against the wishes of local people. 

Any proposals to make it easier to turn business premises into housing should exclude pubs. 

Deposit Return Scheme

The next Welsh government should commit to making sure the Welsh Deposit Return Scheme is fully interoperable with the rest of the UK; is not overly costly or burdensome to small and independent producers; and doesn’t lead to a reduction in consumer choice if those producers decide to stop selling into the Welsh market. 

Community assets

The next Welsh government should improve rights and funding available to groups looking to take over their pub as a community-owned business. 

Community pubs

The next Welsh government should recognise and respect the role of pubs in combatting loneliness and social isolation and as a safe place to drink responsibly in a regulated setting.  

What are the parties offering? 

Let’s take a look at what the main parties are offering in their manifestos. 

 Green Party 

The Green’s manifesto commits the party to: 

• establish a Community Right to Buy, allowing local people to protect and acquire valued buildings such as music venues, pubs, chapels, libraries and heritage spaces 

• removing planning barriers that slow community projects. This will include action to avoid buildings becoming derelict and high streets looking homogenous. Instead, we will use planning to require a minimum provision of green spaces, easy access to local shops, and better protection of heritage buildings 

• business Rates will also be replaced with a land value-based system so that small businesses pay less while large corporations such as supermarkets contribute more. In the short term, we will reform business rates to create a fairer and more progressive structure. 

Plaid Cymru 

Plaid’s 2026 manifesto outlines policies to: 

• reform business rates to level the playing field for businesses on our high streets and redress the existing imbalance that advantages out-of-town shopping over hospitality, leisure and retail in our town centres. Reduced business taxes will provide support for high street businesses in leisure and hospitality, including pubs, restaurants and cafés

• make it easier to convert empty buildings on the high street and spaces above shops into residences 

• to better support communities to take ownership of their local economies, it will legislate for a community right to buy, allowing assets – including businesses like pubs, shops and cafés, as well as buildings and land – to be brought into community ownership when they come up for sale. 

 Reform UK Wales 

The Reform UK Wales manifesto states a Reform UK Welsh government would: 

• introduce a permanent lower multiplier for pubs, hotels and hospitality venues so that Welsh businesses are not taxed more heavily than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK  

• aim to abolish business rates for pubs

• ensure the Deposit Return Scheme is standard across all UK nations, stating that “a Wales-only scheme will impose unnecessary costs and complexity on hospitality businesses, particularly those operating near the English border”. 

 Welsh Conservatives 

The Welsh Conservatives manifesto contains commitments to: 

• scrap business rates for small firms, pubs and post offices

• introduce a Community Ownership Fund to save threatened assets such as libraries, pubs, leisure centres and green spaces, particularly those threatened with closure. 

Welsh Labour 

Welsh Labour’s manifesto promises to: 

• carry out a root and branch review of business rates to make them fairer

• make Wales the fastest UK nation to get planning permission 

• double the number of cooperatives and community owned businesses, keeping wealth within communities 

• invest in our high streets and transform empty units into businesses, leisure facilities and homes 

• create a Community Right to Buy in law to empower people to keep their special local places for community use. 

Welsh Liberal Democrats 

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have used their manifesto to spell out their plans to: 

• permanently extending business rate relief on the retail, leisure, and hospitality sectors, freezing the rates multiplier on struggling businesses, and exploring the introduction of an Online Sales Levy of two per cent on large online retailers

• regularly reviewing business rate relief thresholds across all sectors to reflect inflation, sectoral needs, and changing economic conditions, whilst developing a long-term reform plan for business taxation in Wales 

• creating a £400m town centres fund, which will be invested in making our streets cleaner, safer, and greener

• introducing faster change-of-use approvals for commercial premises  

• introducing a stronger Community Right to Buy based on the Scottish model.