16/10/2016 BBC Wales Today

Dafydd Elis-Thomas has told BBC Wales he hopes Plaid Cymru

will consider its future as a political party,

after he decided to sit as an independent AM.

Lord Elis-Thomas accused the party of not reacting

well enough to changes in Wales since devolution.

It comes as former First Minister Rhodri Morgan says the party's power

will be much weaker now in the Assembly.

Here's our political correspondent, Arwyn Jones.

For over 40 years, he's represented Plaid Cymru

But he now finds himself as an independent AM.

And he has insisted he will not serve in Carwyn Jones' cabinet.

And won't be triggering a by-election.

I am stating, quite clearly, that I want to be able to serve

my constituency and serve the interests of Wales.

Do you carry out that role best then as an independent AM?

I carry out the role of representing my constituents

The question of membership of the Welsh government does not arise.

Lord Elis-Thomas had a few parting shots at his old party.

He said Plaid hadn't responded to the challenges of devolution

And it needed to think again about its future.

The party chose not to comment.

But his departure will also cause a headache

for Plaid in the Assembly. Why?

Well, with only 29 AMs, Labour depends on Kirsty Williams

It also needed help from Plaid to pass next week's Budget.

The two parties have been in talks for months over the content.

But today, a former First Minister told BBC Wales'

Sunday Politics Wales programme that Labour is

because Plaid have lost their leverage.

It is amazing how - in a small body like the Assembly,

with just 60 seats, and Labour having 30 of them -

just how much difference that one person can make.

Because Labour are one vote short of being to get a budget through.

Because, if the other 30... You know, they can block things.

Because level pegging, 30/30, is not enough.

Over the next two days, it'll become clear whether or not

Lord Elis-Thomas will lend his support to the government.

But, after such a long and high-profile career

in the party, Lord Elis-Thomas' departure was always

The author of a report for the Welsh Government

on free childcare says the policy could cost

considerably more than Labour has estimated.

During the election campaign, the party said 30 hours of

free childcare for working parents - for 48 weeks of the year -

would cost an extra ?84 million a year.

Gillian Paull told Sunday Politics Wales

it could actually cost as much as ?200 million.

And there are broader concerns about the viability of the plan.

There are several parameters that feed into that estimate.

All of which have large degrees of uncertainty around them.

First of all, we do need to know the hourly cost of delivery,

which can vary enormously across regions

We also need to know, most importantly, how parents

In particular, whether they will change their work behaviour

in response to the policy, which is hard to estimate.

We are starting from a very low base of childcare provision.

So, one of the big problems we have, in delivering this extra childcare,

is that there isn't much childcare to offer in the first place.

Well, the Welsh government acknowledges there are

And they say it's working with the sector.

It's also undertaking "complex modelling" of costs.

The oil company responsible for a pipeline which ruptured,

leaking 140,000 litres of Kerosene near Carmarthen,

has completed the work ahead of time.

Over the weekend, traffic along the A48 has been

Valero had expected the work to be completed tomorrow morning.

But police were able to reopen the route

Welsh councils who invested money in Icelandic banks before

they collapsed eight years ago, have now recovered

Powys Council says it's recouped all of the ?4 million it deposited.

It's one of eight councils, three universities,

and three former police authorities that had

It'll be windy tonight, with more showers.

And some heavy downpours in the north and west.

Tomorrow will be breezy, with plenty of sunshine.

There will be one or two heavy showers.

Even feeling quite warm in sheltered spots.

A reminder that, all week on Wales Today,

we'll be marking events, as Wales remembers Aberfan.

It's 50 years since a coal tip collapsed, submerging a school,

We'll have a number of special reports.

From all of us on the weekend team, goodnight.

Hello, I hope you have had a nice weekend, you probably saw some

sunshine and rain. This evening you probably saw a