{"id":700913,"date":"2026-01-16T23:47:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T23:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/700913\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T23:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T23:47:16","slug":"plaid-would-take-minority-government-over-coalition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/700913\/","title":{"rendered":"Plaid would take minority government over coalition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cemlyn DaviesWales political correspondent<\/p>\n

\"PAPA Media<\/p>\n

Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorwerth is hoping to be Wales’ next first minister<\/p>\n

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth says he would prefer to form a minority government than enter a coalition with another party after the Senedd election.<\/p>\n

His comments came after an opinion poll published earlier this week<\/a> suggested Plaid was on course to win the Welsh election on 7 May.<\/p>\n

Previous polls have suggested Plaid and Reform UK are battling to come out on top – but with neither party winning enough seats to be able to pass laws and spending plans without the support of opposition politicians.<\/p>\n

Polling expert Dr Jac Larner from Cardiff University said the latest poll could see Plaid win 45 seats, which would leave it four seats short of a majority in the new 96-seat parliament.<\/p>\n

Recent polls have sparked ongoing speculation around how Plaid would govern if they won the election but failed to win more than half the seats.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Gwleidydda podcast<\/a> on BBC’s Radio Cymru, ap Iorwerth said it was his party’s “wish” to form a minority government made up of only Plaid ministers.<\/p>\n

He said 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”.<\/p>\n

He added that he was “determined that that minority government would make it clear from the start to whoever else is in that part of the [political] spectrum that we want to work together”.<\/p>\n

“We’ll look at who we can work with, issue by issue, policy by policy, budget by budget and so on,” he added.<\/p>\n

“I think it could be the beginning of a period of mature cooperation within government.”<\/p>\n

Ap Iorwerth’s interview with Gwleidydda was part of a series the podcast is doing with prominent figures from all the major parties.<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

No party has ever won a majority of the seats in Cardiff Bay<\/p>\n

Responding to ap Iorwerth’s comments, Prof Richard Wyn Jones from the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University told the podcast: “Of course it’s easier to say that when the opinion polls suggest at the moment they aren’t far from a majority.<\/p>\n

“If you’ve got a small minority, it much more difficult to run a government.”<\/p>\n

He also suggested the comments could be a way to “avoid questions and accusations” from the Conservatives and Reform UK that victory for Plaid Cymru at the election would still put Labour in a position of power.<\/p>\n

No party has ever won a majority in Cardiff Bay and the upcoming changes<\/a> to the voting system make it highly unlikely that will change this election.<\/p>\n

Labour has won the most seats at every previous election, but without a majority the party has always had to strike a deal of some kind with an opposition party.<\/p>\n

At times that has led to formal coalitions with members of an opposition party joining the first minister’s cabinet.<\/p>\n

What happens if there’s no majority?<\/p>\n

No party has ever won a majority in Cardiff Bay, and the upcoming changes to the voting system make it highly unlikely that will change at this election.<\/p>\n

Labour has won the most seats at every previous Senedd contest, but without a majority it has always had to strike a deal of some kind with an opposition party.<\/p>\n

At times that has led to formal coalitions. This is where at least one member of an opposition party joins the government’s ministerial team \u2013 giving their party a voice at the cabinet table in exchange for its continued support.<\/p>\n

Cardiff Bay has also seen agreements short of a full coalition, with the most recent example being the cooperation deal between Labour and Plaid Cymru between 2021 and 2024.<\/p>\n

This saw the Welsh Labour government commit to deliver some Plaid Cymru policies, in exchange for Plaid’s support when it came to passing the government’s annual budget.<\/p>\n

If his party wins the election, Rhun ap Iorwerth is hoping he can avoid both of the above options and run a minority government, where votes are agreed on a case by case basis.<\/p>\n

Ultimately what the next first minister decides to do will depend entirely on the makeup of the new Senedd.<\/p>\n

After all, as former US President Lyndon B. Johnson said: the first rule of politics is to learn how to count.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cemlyn DaviesWales political correspondent PA Media Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorwerth is hoping to be Wales’ next first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-700913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115907451102990158","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}