Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth confirmed as Wales’ First Minister
Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth was backed by the Senedd as Wales’ next First Minister on Tuesday, ending 27 years of Labour-led Welsh governments and making him the first Plaid politician nominated to the role.
The vote was 44 to 34 to 7 against Reform UK leader Dan Thomas and Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar. Labour’s nine members abstained.
Plaid Cymru won 43 of the 96 seats in last week’s election, and Mr ap Iorwerth has confirmed he will form a minority government.
His appointment is not yet final. Under the rules governing the role, the Llywydd must write to the King recommending Mr ap Iorwerth for appointment, and the King must then issue a Royal Warrant before he can take the statutory Official Oath before a Presiding Judge and formally become First Minister.
By custom, a new First Minister of Wales also becomes a member of the Privy Council and is likely to be invited to a private audience with the King.
In his inaugural speech to the Senedd, Mr ap Iorwerth said: “Llywydd, something has stirred in the soul of Wales—a new confidence, a new hope, a new broader horizon, never to be narrowed again by the naysayers with other priorities in other places.”He named NHS waiting lists, child poverty, the cost of living, education and the economy as his government’s priorities.
“The challenges we face are too many in number and too grave in nature for us to lose sight of what is at stake: the need to take decisive action to bring down waiting lists and to put health and care and our treasured NHS on a more sustainable footing for the future,” he said.He pledged to govern for the whole country.
“The Plaid Cymru Government will be here to serve everyone in every community, urban and rural, old and young, whether they speak Welsh or do not, those who have always been here and those who are new amongst us, south, east, west and north.
“Welsh Labour’s interim leader Ken Skates congratulated the new First Minister and pledged “effective opposition” from a group reduced to nine seats. Reform UK’s Mr Thomas, leading the second-largest group on 34 seats, promised “robust opposition” and said Reform would oppose taxpayer funding for any independence commission.
Mr Millar (Clwyd West) congratulated Mr ap Iorwerth but accused Plaid and Labour of a “backroom deal” over the Llywydd’s chair, which went to Labour’s Huw Irranca-Davies.Closing his speech,
Mr ap Iorwerth said: “When compassion is backed by the courage to act, and when recognition of our potential today meets a collective aspiration to secure a better tomorrow, that is when our nation’s voice will sing the loudest… That work starts now.”
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