Welsh Assembly: ‘Arrogance’ accusations fly while parties try to form deals

Last Updated: May 12, 2016By
Strange comrades: Carwyn Jones (left) may yet become First Minister of Wales again - with help from UKIP's Nathan Gill (right).

Strange comrades: Carwyn Jones (left) may yet become First Minister of Wales again – with help from UKIP’s Nathan Gill (right).

It seems Leanne Wood has made a major miscalculation.

This Writer’s Twitter feed has been alive with accusations against Plaid Cymru – that the party had gone back on its word by seeking, and gaining, support from the Conservatives and UKIP.

Plaid had previously vowed not to work with either right-wing party.

Now, to make matters worse for the nationalists, it seems UKIP may break up what sole remaining Liberal Democrat AM Kirsty Williams called the “ragtag coalition”, offering to support Carwyn Jones’s bid to be First Minister if Labour agrees to end tolls on the Severn Bridge.

UKIP AM Nathan Gill is preparing to back Carwyn Jones’s re-election as first minister, BBC Wales understands.

There was deadlock in the Senedd as Mr Jones and Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood were tied 29-29, with Lib Dem Kirsty Williams siding with Labour.

The Conservatives and the seven UKIP AMs joined Plaid in backing Ms Wood.

Another UKIP AM, Mark Reckless, told BBC Wales all seven UKIP members could back Labour if it supported the scrapping of the Severn Bridge tolls.

Mr Gill, UKIP leader in Wales, lost a vote to lead the party’s assembly group to Neil Hamilton on Tuesday.

Mr Jones had been expected to be reinstated as first minister of a minority Labour government in the first Senedd session of the new assembly term on Wednesday.

But the meeting had to be adjourned to a later date after AMs voted 29-29.

Presiding officer Elin Jones of Plaid Cymru and her deputy – Labour’s Ann Jones – did not vote.

Source: Welsh First Minister: UKIP AM Nathan Gill to back Carwyn Jones – BBC News

Meanwhile, both sides – Labour and Plaid have been enjoying calling each other “arrogant”, according to The Guardian. Here’s one example:

Alun Davies, the Labour assembly member for Blaenau Gwent, said with 29 seats his party had the right and mandate to govern… He said: “Yesterday you saw Plaid Cymru put forward two members as presiding officer running the national assembly and then attempt to run the Welsh government as well. All that on 12 elected members. I think that smacks of an arrogance that the people of Wales simply will not tolerate.”

And here’s another:

The Plaid AM Simon Thomas said the party had acted as it did to “check” Labour. He said: “We did offer Labour the chance to delay this vote to allow for proper talks to take place. It was Labour’s arrogant decision to press ahead. They assumed they would march back into government and they have been checked.”

Source: Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru trade accusations in assembly standoff | Politics | The Guardian

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4 Comments

  1. jeffrey davies May 12, 2016 at 2:57 pm - Reply

    children hay costing over 500mill to run

  2. mohandeer May 12, 2016 at 6:47 pm - Reply

    I think I hear the death knell ringing for Plaid Cymru if they really have turned to Conservatives or UKIP.

  3. hayfords May 13, 2016 at 11:14 pm - Reply

    Unfortunately, Plaid Cymru will probably do a deal and keep Labour as First Minister. It will be a missed opportunity to rid Wales of Labour control. Labour lost 8% of their vote this time giving them only 16% of the voters, so there is a good chance of their losing control next time.

    • Mike Sivier May 14, 2016 at 2:54 am - Reply

      What utter rubbish.
      Assembly elections have a habitually low turnout. If everyone voted, it’s possible that the results might be different – but they don’t.
      Of those who did vote, Labour’s vote was more than 10 per cent higher than that of any other party.
      I note also that you are conflating Labour’s loss of eight per cent of its vote with the percentage of the total electorate that voted Labour this time. Those figures are from two completely different datasets. Labour lost something like four per cent of the total electorate, or less.

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