First Minister predicts long Senedd term after Reform kick off FMQs with vote share clash

Emily Price 

Rhun ap Iorwerth has predicted a long Senedd term after Reform’s Welsh leader opened First Minister’s Questions (FMQs) by repeatedly comparing his party’s vote share to Plaid Cymru’s.

Laughter broke out in the Chamber on Tuesday (June 2) as Dan Thomas sparred with Wales’ new First Minister during the first regular Plenary session under the new Plaid Cymru administration.

Mr Thomas urged the First Minister to apologise to Welsh voters, claiming he had misled them during the election campaign about his plans to reduce Wales’ two-year hospital waiting lists.

Mr ap Iorwerth said work had already begun on the necessary changes needed to tackle the longest waits.

Mr Thomas argued that Reform had secured the backing of 30 per cent of Welsh voters because they trusted the party to deliver improvements to the NHS in Wales.

His comments prompted laughter from some Senedd Members and the First Minister.

Reform’s leader pressed on, criticising Mr ap Iorwerth’s stance on international relations.

He questioned why the new Plaid Cymru-led Welsh Government would not reverse Labour’s policy of “spending large sums of money abroad”, arguing that the funds could instead be redirected to the NHS.

The First Minister said he wanted to be serious about the challenges facing Wales rather than the “small change referred to by the leader of the opposition”.

Heckling broke out in the Chamber as Mr ap Iorwerth pointed out that Reform’s UK leader Nigel Farage, “does not believe in an NHS funded through general taxation”.

Mr Thomas pointed again to the vote share at the recent Welsh election saying Plaid had only won 6 per cent more votes than Reform.

He warned that the gap could narrow further unless the First Minister demonstrated a clear commitment to “putting the people of Wales first”.

Raising the matter of an Audit Wales investigation that found Aneurin Bevan University Health Board had failed to carry out due diligence checks before awarding GP contracts, Mr Thomas said the health service should be the First Minister’s top priority.

Mr ap Iorwerth said: “It’s going to be a very long Senedd term if it starts in this way – but we got a certain percentage more than you in the election.

He added: “Listen, we have a programme for government that we have laid in front of the people of Wales that absolutely gets to grips with issues such as that which was referred to in Aneurin Bevan.

“We want to make sure that we cut out decisions such as the one that he referred to so that we can focus spending on where it makes a difference – to the patients that we all are here to serve.”

Reform’s Welsh leader and several of his newly elected backbenchers appeared heavily reliant on scripts during the Plenary session with some needing to be prompted by the Senedd’s presiding officer on when to speak.

Giggling broke out in the Chamber again when Sir Fynwy Torfaen MS Stephen Senior asked if the First Minister would commit to offering separate physics, chemistry and biology GCSEs, and “reverse the previous administration’s plans to offer only combined science”.

Mr ap Iorwerth answered flatly: “Qualifications Wales announced in September 2025 that separate GCSEs in physics, chemistry and biology would continue to be available.”

Former Welsh Conservative James Evans emerged as the strongest of Reform’s challengers, delivering his question to the FM without relying on a laptop or prepared script.

The farmer called on Mr ap Iorwerth to outline the new Welsh Government’s priorities for agriculture, warning that the Welsh suckler herd had fallen by over 40 per cent, putting “huge pressure” on livestock numbers.

The First Minister said: “This Government has supported environmental policies, but the farmers that I know, and those that I speak to, want to be seen as being environmentally responsible.

“And all the actions that we want to pursue as this Government are to help agriculture be more sustainable, more profitable and more environmentally sustainable.”

Later during FMQ’s, Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar called on the new Plaid administration to commit to a third Menai crossing.

The First Minister said the new Welsh Government would act with greater urgency and focus, adding that he had committed to “developing solutions” to improve the resilience of transport links across the Menai strait.

Interim Welsh Labour leader Ken Skates raised the issue of rising energy costs across.

He asked Mr ap Iorwerth if he agreed that the building of eight small modular reactors at Wylfa offered “enormous opportunity” to provide energy security, lower bills and new jobs in the First Minister’s Bangor Conwy Môn constituency.

Mr ap Iorwerth replied: “My position on Wylfa is very, very clear. This is a reserved matter, and the manifesto coming into this election said that there were matters that were reserved, which absolutely includes Wylfa.”