Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for education believes the Welsh Langauage and Education Bill is too ‘weak’ as it is to ensure that children and young people leave the education system as confident Welsh speakers.

In 2024, only 22.5% of primary pupils were receiving Welsh language education – a slight increase of 0.6% from 2014 – while the percentage of secondary pupils receiving Welsh-medium education fell from 14.2% to 13.5%.

A recent YouGov poll revealed that 72% of the Welsh public say it is important for schoolchildren in Wales to learn the Welsh language and 67% support efforts to increase the use of the language.

According to Plaid Cymru's spokesperson for Education, and Senedd Member for Mid and West Wales Cefin Campbell, in their current form, the bill does not deliver a true increase in the minimum provision of Welsh language education within main English language schools and the definition of main Welsh language schools is also not strong enough.

Mr Campbell said: “Every child should have the right to speak Welsh. But the sad reality is that 80% of children and young people in Wales continue to be deprived of the opportunity to speak and use the language.

“While the Welsh Language and Education Bill tries to rectify this, it simply does not go far enough in its current form to achieve this.

“Plaid Cymru is clear that urgent action is needed in order to reverse the decades of decline in the Welsh-speaking population – by recognising the important role the education system plays as the most effective policy lever available to grow and develop language skills.

“Plaid Cymru will do everything in our power to strengthen this the Bill during the scrutiny process, in order to create a nation of confident Welsh speakers who pride themselves on the opportunity to speak the language.”