// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Plaid warned not to cut help for poorer children if it wants Labour to back budget
Ken Skates makes early years programme Flying Start a red line in negotiations with Plaid Cymru's Welsh government
Welsh Labour has said it will not support the Welsh government's budget if cuts are made to a flagship early years programme.
The party's leader, Ken Skates, said the future of the Flying Start scheme "has to be a red line" in his party's ongoing budget talks with the government.
A Plaid Cymru government minister praised aspects of the scheme but did not say whether it would continue in its current form.
The Welsh government said support for "disadvantaged children will be enhanced" as it expands its free childcare policy.
Plaid Cymru is running the Welsh government without a majority of seats in the Senedd, meaning that it has to strike deals with other political parties in Cardiff Bay in order to pass budgets or new laws.
First launched in 2007, the Flying Start scheme was primarily designed to help children in the poorer areas of the country with their language, social and physical development before starting school.
It also includes 12.5 hours of free childcare for two-year-olds, and is being expanded Wales-wide as part of the Welsh government's ultimate policy aim of providing free childcare 20 hours a week to all children between nine months and four years.
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