Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
Rhun ap Iorwerth, leader of Plaid Cymru, has expressed a clear preference for leading a minority government rather than entering into a coalition with another party following the upcoming Senedd election. He made these remarks in light of a recent opinion poll indicating that Plaid Cymru appears likely to secure victory in the Welsh election scheduled for 7 May. Although past polls showed a close contest between Plaid Cymru and Reform UK, neither party is expected to win enough seats to govern outright without support from other members of the Senedd.
According to polling expert Dr Jac Larner from Cardiff University, the latest survey suggests Plaid could win around 45 seats in the 96-seat parliament. This figure would leave them four seats short of an overall majority, highlighting the challenge of forming a stable government. The possibility of a minority administration has fueled speculation concerning how Plaid Cymru might manage if they gain the most seats but cannot command a majority.
During an interview on the BBC Radio Cymru’s Gwleidydda podcast, ap Iorwerth emphasized that his party’s goal is to run a minority government composed exclusively of Plaid ministers. He shared, “The latest opinion poll confirms what I’ve felt for a while, which is that we can—if we fight an effective election and build trust with people—lead a minority government and do that successfully.” Furthermore, he expressed a willingness to collaborate on an issue-by-issue basis with other parties, stating, “We’ll look at who we can work with, issue by issue, policy by policy, budget by budget and so on.” He described this approach as potentially marking “the beginning of a period of mature cooperation within government.”
Reacting to ap Iorwerth’s comments, Professor Richard Wyn Jones of Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre noted on the same podcast that while it’s easier to consider minority government when polls show proximity to a majority, governing without it can prove much harder. He observed that these statements might be intended to deflect criticism from the Conservatives and Reform UK, who have suggested that a Plaid victory would still leave Labour influential. Historically, no party has ever secured a majority in Cardiff Bay, and upcoming changes to the voting system make such a result unlikely this time as well. In previous elections, Labour has led with the most seats but has had to form coalitions or cooperation agreements to govern, sometimes including members of opposition parties in cabinet roles or forging deals to ensure budget approval, as seen in the recent Labour-Plaid cooperation arrangement from 2021 to 2024.
If Plaid Cymru wins, ap Iorwerth hopes to avoid traditional coalition agreements, aiming instead for a minority government that negotiates support on an individual legislative basis. Ultimately, the path forward will depend on the distribution of seats following the election. As former US President Lyndon B. Johnson famously said, “the first rule of politics is to learn how to count,” underscoring the importance of numerical strength in forming and sustaining a government within the Senedd
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.