Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth rules out Senedd deal with Tories
Speaking to BBC-produced NewyddionS4C, ap Iorwerth insisted such a deal was not on the cards again.Current polling suggests Plaid Cymru and Reform are vying to be the biggest party after May's vote, with Labour third and the Conservatives fourth.
Asked by NewyddionS4C presenter Bethan Rhys Roberts about the possibility of Plaid Cymru working with the Conservatives, ap Iorwerth said: "No, we're not going to be working with the Conservatives."We don't know if the Conservatives will be there in any numbers - they have their own serious problems at the moment."The Conservatives and Reform are more or less one party, with one trying to go further to the right than the other."UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and the party's Senedd leader Darren Millar recently declined to rule out deals with Plaid Cymru and Reform after next year's election.After the prospect of the rainbow coalition disappeared in 2007, Plaid Cymru's leader at the time Ieuan Wyn Jones struck a deal with Rhodri Morgan's Labour to form the One Wales Labour-led coalition with Plaid Cymru as the junior partner.Plaid has worked with a minority Labour government on further occasions since then, most recently through the Co-operation Agreement signed by the then Plaid leader Adam Price and the then Labour First Minister Mark Drakeford.Ap Iorwerth, having replaced Price, brought that agreement to an early end in May 2024 amid concerns over the leadership of Vaughan Gething, who by then had succeeded Mark Drakeford.Asked about the possibility of working with Labour again after May 2026, ap Iorwerth pointed out that the SNP had managed to govern alone as a minority government in Scotland in 2007.However, he added that having parties working together was "completely normal"."That can happen formally and informally," he added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
NGOs urge Nandy to halt sale of Telegraph over China links
A group of nine human rights and freedom of expression organisations have called on the culture secretary to halt RedBird Capital's proposed £500m takeover of the Telegraph and investigate the US private equity company's ties to China. The international non-governmental organisations, which include Index on Censorship, Reporters Without Borders and Article 19, have written to Lisa Nandy arguing that RedBird Capital's links with China 'threaten media pluralism, transparency and information integrity in the UK'. A consortium led by RedBird Capital agreed a deal in May to buy the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, ending two years of uncertainty over the future of the titles. The organisations said that RedBird Capital's chair, John Thornton, sits on the advisory council of the China Investment Corporation, the country's largest sovereign wealth fund. Thornton, a former chair of Goldman Sachs Asia, has also previously chaired the Silk Road Finance Corporation. 'Both [are] vehicles through which China has pursued financial influence,' the letter said. The signatories, who also include Hong Kong Watch, Human Rights in China and the Hong Kong Democracy Council, said Nandy should follow her predecessor, Lucy Frazer, who issued a public interest intervention notice (PIIN) in January last year. RedBird Capital, which contributed 25% of the funding to the RedBird IMI joint venture that controls the Telegraph, is in the process of buying out its partner, IMI. IMI, which may retain a stake of up to 15% in the Telegraph under RedBird Capital's plan, is controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, vice-president of the United Arab Emirates. The letter to Nandy states: 'We believe that there is reasonable grounds to suspect the Telegraph acquisition by RedBird Capital raises both public interest and potential foreign media influence concerns. We call on you to issue relevant notices to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Ofcom.' The signatories also said the culture department should ensure that the investigations carried out by the CMA and Ofcom, the communications regulator, involve independent consultation with 'experts in Chinese foreign information manipulation and influence operations, as well as experts in media pluralism, transparency, and freedom of expression'. Separately, the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith and the independent peer David Alton have written to Nandy asking her to investigate reports of a £5.3m editorial budget cut. The politicians claim that the cuts, revealed by the former Telegraph journalist Fraser Nelson, represent a change to the paper's structure that is not allowed during a takeover process. They argued that the government's 2024 public interest merger reference pending approval of a takeover prohibits changes to the editorial structure and staff of the Telegraph. A spokesperson for the newspaper group, said: 'Ongoing management and oversight of Telegraph Media Group and its operations require the board and chief executive to liaise with all relevant stakeholders, including RedBird Capital, in line with agreed governance protocols. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion 'The board and chief executive will continue to fulfil their fiduciary duties and facilitate an anticipated transaction, consistent with the requirements of relevant government legislation.' In June, a cross-party group of MPs and peers, including Duncan Smith and Lord Alton, called on ministers to investigate how RedBird Capital is funding its £500m takeover. A spokesperson for RedBird said: 'There is no Chinese involvement or influence in RedBird Capital's proposed acquisition of the Telegraph.' They added that the company had 'been clear on its position regarding press independence, which is a fundamental tenet of its investment thesis in owning and growing news businesses – whether it's CBS News in the US or the Telegraph in the UK'. The spokesperson said that, after more than two years in 'regulatory limbo', it was now time for the takeover to be completed and to 'finally position the Telegraph for growth'. 'The partnership with RedBird will enable the Telegraph's world-class group of editors and reporters to thrive in this transformative moment for news organisations globally.' Last month, the sale of the Telegraph came a step closer after government legislation to allow foreign states to own up to 15% in British newspapers survived a potentially fatal vote in the House of Lords. RedBird Capital – which is also potentially aiming to bring in investors including the parent company of the Daily Mail and Len Blavatnik, the owner of Warner Music – has also said it can fully fund a deal in its own right. The government declined to comment.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Peterborough community group says tax hike puts future in doubt
A community project has hit back at the local council for demanding it pay the full business rates on its city centre The Garden Bath, which is a community interest company (CIC), opened its shop Unity in Peterborough's Queensgate Shopping Centre in company sells products on behalf of other small independent firms and has received a 40% discount on business rates from the local Peterborough City Council said Unity was "predominantly retail in nature" and needed to pay the full amount. Up The Garden Bath has been best known for upcycling old bath tubs and using them as planters in Central Dave Poulton said the project was "more than just a shop" and called for the council to "acknowledge its contribution to regenerate the city centre".He said paying the full rate meant an extra £24,000 a year in costs, which he called "uneconomical" and "unaffordable", and said it put its future in doubt."We will have to rely on volunteers instead," said Mr Poulton."We have to bring the rates down to keep Unity alive."He said the project had generated £700,000 in sales for small businesses. CICs are limited companies which operate to benefit the community they rates are a tax on non-domestic properties including shops, pubs and offices. The fees are collected by local properties across Peterborough receive a complete rates relief, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Poulton said all the revenue generated at the Unity store - which he said supported 50 small independent businesses monthly - was put back into the community, such as through crafts and gardening workshops. 'Wrong call' The city's Labour MP Andrew Pakes and Conservative Paul Bristow, who is mayor for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, have both called for the decision to be said he was "shocked" to learn the shop was being charged a full commercial business rate, while Pakes said it was the "wrong call".Nicola Day, deputy leader of the Green Party on the council, said it was "good to see unified voices" for the Jamil, the Labour deputy leader and cabinet member for finance and corporate governance at the council, said the business did not meet the criteria for mandatory rate relief."This is because the business remains predominantly retail in nature and eligibility for charitable rate relief requires that the premises be used wholly or mainly for charitable purposes," said said officers were in touch with the business to see how they could support it through other means. Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
First solar farm panels installed on Hockliffe quarry site
The first solar panels have been installed on disused quarry land as part of a development that will eventually provide enough power for 600 are among 4,000 ground-mounted panels that will make up a new solar farm at Checkley Wood Farm, near Hockliffe in are being put in place next to two wind turbines by local renewable energy firm, AW Labour MP for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard, Alex Mayer, said: "I am really proud that alongside our two wind turbines we have now got another solar array being built to create clean power for local people." Work on the farm is due to be finished in October, creating three megawatts of electricity - enough to power 50,000 electric cars for a year. "We are in the middle of a climate emergency and people have seen energy bills soar, partly because President Putin decided to invade Ukraine," Mayer added."We cannot be at the mercy of dictators for our energy and we have renewable energy in Bedfordshire, so surely we want to harness that for ourselves."When the panels are in place, the site will then be landscaped with wildflower meadows to attract bees and butterflies, while sheep will graze around the said the project had come to fruition quickly thanks to government changes, announced in May, that meant red tape had been slashed for energy projects under five said this now meant people were not "stuck waiting in queues to connect up their solar panels and wind turbines". John Fairlie, managing director of Leighton Buzzard-based AW Energy, confirmed the power generated would be used for homes in called the project unique because it was "integrating the panels with onshore wind power from the large turbines on site"."On days when the wind drops and we have sunshine we will be generating as much power as we can get through our grid connection," he then - in the evenings - "when energy levels drop from the sun we pick that up with the wind", he said his firm had consent for another site to the south of Leighton Buzzard near the A505 which would have direct access for people charging their cars, but also be close to a large housing Fairlie told the BBC his company was working on "clean power communities where we have several hundred new houses powered by on-site wind and solar providing them with all their heat and electric vehicle needs".He said he saw this as "the future for renewable power", adding that they had applications for projects along those lines in Buckinghamshire and Central Bedfordshire. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
