FM criticises UK minister for saying she backs cuts
First Minister Eluned Morgan has criticised a UK cabinet minister and Welsh Labour colleague for saying she backed the chancellor's benefits cuts.
Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens told BBC Wales last week that the first minister had "welcomed" the reforms.
In a fiery session in the Senedd dominated by rows over changes to disability and sickness payments, Morgan said: "I had somebody else last week trying to speak for me. I speak for myself."
A source close to the first minister confirmed to the BBC that the comment referred to Stevens. The UK government has said it is not commenting on the matter.
In her strongest comments on the issue so far, Morgan said she lamented the reforms and that people were "suffering" and "worried".
But the first minister repeatedly declined to condemn the cuts outright as she came under sustained criticism from the opposition in first minister's questions (FMQs).
She had written to Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall asking for an assessment of the cuts' impact on Wales on 11 March.
A response was received at the weekend - over a fortnight later.
Facing criticism in the Senedd that she had declined to publish the response herself, Morgan said she hoped the UK government would release it on Tuesday afternoon.
At a committee meeting on Friday Morgan refused to support the welfare cuts until she knew what the impact would be.
She responded with silence when Stevens' claim of support for the changes was put to her.
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Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Darren Millar accused Morgan of a lack of transparency for not releasing the letter.
In her Spring Statement, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a number of benefit changes, including tightening qualification rules for Personal Independence Payments (Pips) - the main disability benefit - claimed by more than 250,000 working aged people in Wales.
In the Senedd Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth reminded the first minister of Stevens' comments, as he accused her of being fearful of upsetting the UK government.
In response Morgan said: "I've got a lot of people trying to put words into my mouth these days, haven't I?
"You summarized my position? I had somebody else last week trying to speak for me. I speak for myself. I speak for the Welsh government.
"The UK government can speak up for itself, and they can defend their positions. I will defend the position of the Welsh Labour government here in Wales."
Morgan came under pressure from a number of Plaid Cymru MSs, who called for her to condemn the reforms.
"What contempt Westminster shows us, leaving us in Wales to second-guess the effect that these benefit cuts will have because Westminster refuses to tell us," said Delyth Jewell, Plaid MS for South Wales East.
Morgan replied that she was "exercised about the proposal".
She said: "When we talk about changes, we have to understand that people are suffering here, and that we need to stand with them and listen to them and ensure that we speak for them.
"All over Wales today there are tens of thousands of people who are really worried about the impact that proposed reforms could have, but they don't know to what extent it will happen, they don't know when it will happen.
"I am determined to make sure that Welsh voices are heard when it comes to welfare reform," she added, promising to present concerns "plainly and unambiguously in the evidence that we will present in response to welfare reform".
While she argued there were some things in the plans that were positive, Morgan said: "One of the things that I lament is the fact that really, ideally, it should have been about putting people and the benefits system and the need to reform it first and then to worry about how that is organised afterwards."
The Welsh Conservatives' Darren Millar said in a statement: "The first minister promised accountability, but is delivering evasive answers and a complete lack of transparency.
"On a multitude of issues, Labour is hiding from scrutiny instead of giving the people of Wales the answers they deserve. On top of this, they're failing to stand up for Wales against Keir Starmer's wave of new taxes, hitting Welsh farmers and businesses."
By Gareth Lewis, BBC Wales political editor
Welfare reform is getting messier for Labour.
After some of the party's MPs and MSs spoke out against the plans, we now have the FM more explicitly taking issue with her Labour colleague at Westminster Jo Stevens.
Morgan's response last week to the claim that she welcomed the reforms was a silent, stony stare.
Some Labour MSs have been looking for the FM to assert herself on welfare, a tricky balance when the plans are being introduced by your own party.
Although she declined another opportunity to condemn the cuts, the language – "exercised", "lament" – is carefully chosen to go about as far as she feels comfortable without actually condemning them.
The problem for Morgan is that she is caught in a bind and risks pleasing no one.
One of her own MSs has already warned that his constituents are "terrified". Opposition parties are on the attack.
The Conservatives argue she is not being transparent enough about her dealings with the UK government; Plaid Cymru and the Lib Dems that she is not fighting hard enough to stand up for Wales.
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