There's a lot of back and forth between Reform's Llyr Powell and Teleri Glyn Jones around the party and toxicity, and that people voted for Plaid Cymru to stop Reform.

Powell says: “There was a lot of misinformation out there during the campaign. What people will see from us here going forward is the strongest arm of the party with the most elected representatives is here in Wales.

"You’re going to see a lot more of the Welsh identity of the party showing through.

“I was disappointed in Plaid Cymru in running a campaign on stop Reform.”

She interrupts and challenges Powell, and says it was “effective”.

Jones says: “You’ve got this toxic brand I would say. Yes 30% of the Welsh people voted for you but many people voted against too. If you’re serious in governing next time or governing in Westminster, don’t you have to deal with that?

He says: “Time will do that on it’s own. The reason Plaid focused so much was that they could tell on the doors how strong Reform was. There’s a lot more votes out there for us. Right now we’ve got to build from here.”

She then takes him on controversial posts made by other Reform members on social media. “There’s a branding issue here,” she says.

He responds that "people were telling us we weren't going to have any candidates" but that the party had more than 30 elected, that they "had no policies", but "we provided a detailed manifesto for people to judge us on".

Teleri Glyn Jones asks ap Iorwerth about putting together a cabinet. The Plaid leader says it will "all come clear in the days to come".

"I offered new leadership for Wales, and that never meant leadership from me, it meant leadership from us and I have a brilliant team of colleagues within Plaid Cymru," he says.

Plaid leader Rhun ap Iorwerth has had a busy morning speaking to political programmes.

Joining Teleri Glyn Jones on Politics Wales, he says he published the party's 100 days plan, external because it was important for the public to see "these are the things we want to do".

"Hold us to account, make sure that we do them," he says.

Image source, Getty Images

Reform UK’s newly elected MS Llyr Powell is on Politics Wales, talking to Teleri Glyn Jones.

She asks if he is disappointed the party did not win more seats after 34 Members of the Senedd were elected from the party - 15 short of a majority - and became the Senedd’s second largest party.

Powell says: “We went into it to win it. I’ve played rugby all my life, I don’t like coming second in anything.

“But this is the result Wales has given us.

“We’ve gone from 1% all the way up to 29%, almost 30%, in a short period of time.

“What we’ve done here is shown our trajectory, our momentum, and we’re only going to build from here.”

Image source, PA Media

Kuenssberg asks ap Iorweth about his attempts to speak to the media yesterday but being drowned out by his party's supporters singing the national anthem.

He said: “I respected the role of the media there and I was giving them all my attention, but I couldn’t help but hear the increase in the volume of the anthem.

“Yesterday was a really moving day. It was a day of real humility for me, it was wonderful for me to be there with my family.

“But all of us had our eyes on what this election, this historic moment means for the future of our nation. I’ll do everything I can to give leadership in this exciting time in our nation’s story.”

Kuenssberg asks: "In the Caerphilly by election that you won, you said very openly that you won because people came together to stop Reform. Do you think that's why you won this time?"

Ap Iorwerth says: "What I said after Caerphilly was that when you get nearly half the vote, that is not just a protest or a tactical vote.

"There is a massive positive vote towards Plaid Cymru, and of course, there's a wider context too, of people you know, fed up with Labour and wanting to keep reform out of power. The same is true here.

"Plaid Cymru has won a larger popular vote in this election than any other party in the history of devolution. That cannot all be put down to what is happening around the other political parties.

"It is about what we say in our determination to stand up for Wales in our programme. But of course, yes, people were turning to us to stop the populist right from getting a foothold and to be that voice for Wales that Labour showed they weren't able to be."

Kuenssberg asks Rhun ap Iorwerth how he is planning to work with the devolved governments of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

He says: "There's a number of different ways we can work together. There are ways of looking at policies we have in common.

"The way we use the natural resources off our coast for example.

"There's a deeper sense of that too, of being able to stand together to call for less inequality within these islands.

"We're a union that's not a union of equals and the stronger we can stand together to make the case for UK government for a new approach to dealing with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

"We'll do that separately. As First Minister of Wales, my loyalty will always be to the people of Wales but together there's strength too."

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Getty Images

Laura Kuenssberg asks whether Plaid Cymru will give up its "hope of spending half a million pounds of taxpayers money to have a commission to look at independence".

Ap Iorwerth says that the commission is a tool they have at their disposal now.

"The infrastructure investment that would flow from HS2, we need to have that detailed look together at how we take Wales forward.

"I would expect that other parties wouldn't want to choose stagnation over progress, and that will be the proposal we are putting on the table as a Plaid Cymru government."

Next, Laura Kuenssberg asks Rhun Ap Iorwerth what he is willing to sacrifice in his own party's manifesto while negotiations continue to form a minority government.

"We've a very clear and focused programme for government," he replies.

"Build that mature, co-operative sense within the Welsh Parliament that can let us move forward. We're a parliament where there has never been an overall majority, but that means there's a need for people to come together. I will do everything I can to adhere to that spirit which I've spoken widely about of co-operate politics and putting that into action.

"This all has to be about the people of Wales, and we have to come together to make that work."

Image source, Getty Images

Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, Rhun ap Iorwerth says: "We are the largest party by some way in the Senedd... our expectation is in the next few days we will be able to go through that very, very important act of affirming my role as first minister so we can crack on with doing what we have said we want to do which is to take Wales forward to the next step in its history.

"And history has been made in this election, we know."

Welsh politicians are working through the media circuit this morning. So far we have heard from Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth and interim Labour leader Ken Skates.

• Ap Iorwerth said he will start mapping out how they put more resources towards primary care to “create sustainability”. It was one of the party’s key manifesto pledges.
• He also said he will try to "guide" Sir Keir Starmer to start looking at Wales in a different way in negotiations. And he said he has not spoken to Welsh Reform’s leader Dan Thomas despite speaking to all the other leaders.
• Skates said Labour needs to avoid the “blame game” and unite, admitting it was hit with a “catastrophic defeat”. He said the idea of teaming up with Reform to help form a government would be “deeply unpleasant”.

Adrian Browne
BBC Wales political reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Dan Thomas was chosen by Nigel Farage as Reform UK's Welsh leader earlier this year.

In his first appearance as leader at a Reform rally in Newport with Farage, Thomas said he was originally from Blackwood - "born and raised in the Welsh valleys, where my family lived for generations".

Both his grandfather and great grandfather were miners, he said, and he had "fond memories" of growing up in Wales - but left when he became an adult because "good opportunities" there were "few and far between".

He worked in financial services in London and became a councillor, and later Conservative leader, at Barnet council.

In June 2025 Thomas defected from the Conservatives to Reform and at the end of the year resigned from the council. Local media quoted him saying he moved away from Barnet so that he and his wife could raise their young sons in the countryside and live closer to their families in south Wales.

Asked how in touch he was with events in Wales, Thomas said he had "kept abreast of Welsh politics", had family and friends in Wales and was "very informed" about the country's political scene.

Image source, Getty Images

To answer this question, we need to look at devolution, which refers to the transfer of powers from one level of decision-making to a level which is closer to the voter.

In 1997 people in Wales voted narrowly in favour of moving certain responsibilities from Westminster to Cardiff Bay, previously known as the National Assembly for Wales.

Initially, the assembly's powers were fairly limited, however over the years further responsibilities have made their way down the M4 including full law-making powers in a number of areas such as health, education, transport, rural affairs, and the environment.

The ability to raise and vary certain taxes has also now been transferred to Cardiff, and the national assembly has been renamed as the Welsh Parliament or Senedd Cymru.

Other areas such as defence, benefits, foreign affairs and major rail infrastructure remain in Westminster.

Plaid Cymru have 43 seats and are the largest party in Wales - so what happens now?

Rhun ap Iorwerth will have to be confirmed as first minister in a vote in the Welsh Parliament. Plaid want this to happen as soon as possible.

Members will need to confirm their choice in a roll call - the winner is the candidate who gets more than any other choice combined.

Then he needs to form his team.

Ap Iorwerth will then have the job of picking who from his team will get to be a minister. The number of ministers he can have, other than himself, is increasing from 12 to 17. We're not sure yet who he's going to pick but we should expect this during the coming days and weeks.

Plaid spelled out a plan for its first 100 days at their conference back in February. It was dismissed by some at the time for being a document full of plans and reviews.

For example, under the title "tackling waiting lists", Plaid said it would commission an independent review of how the NHS is performing.

But money is tight - Labour criticised Plaid Cymru during the campaign for making spending pledges that it couldn't afford, such as on expanding free childcare. Plaid insisted its plans were costed.

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth says he hopes he can attract support from the Senedd.

Ap Iorwerth says he's spoken to the leaders of the other parties - except Reform's Dan Thomas because "he didn't feel like he wanted to speak with me as leader of Plaid Cymru".

Image source, Getty Images

Welsh Labour announced on Saturday that Ken Skates would become interim Welsh Labour leader after Eluned Morgan's resignation.

Skates was first elected in 2011 and has held several Welsh government roles including transport secretary, and economy and infrastructure secretary.

He's been re-elected to the Senedd for Fflint Wrecsam. Born in Wrexham, he was educated at Mold Alun School and went on to study social and political science at Cambridge University, then starting his career as a journalist before becoming a personal assistant to the Labour MP Mark Tami.

He will serve as leader until a timetable is set for a full leadership election, in line with Welsh Labour rules.

Ken Skates says Welsh Labour will meet tomorrow to make a decision on how they plan to vote on Rhun ap Iorwerth being appointed as first minister.

"We're going to meet tomorrow to make a final decision on this but the idea of teaming up with Reform is deeply unpleasant for all of the members of my group," he says.

It was reported Labour's vastly diminished group of nine is expected to abstain.

Ken Skates, interim leader of Welsh Labour, tells Vaughan Roderick it's an honour to take on the new role,

"This was a catastrophic defeat, no doubt about it," he says.

He says Eluned Morgan has been a "phenomenal leader" in "difficult times".

Interim Labour leader Ken Skates, who replaced Eluned Morgan who stepped down after losing her seat, is now speaking on Sunday Supplement. He says the party need to avoid the "blame game" and unite.

"We need to look at the reasons for our defeat in the most objective manner possibly," he says.

Skates adds he wants it to be like a "forensic study".

Asked how Plaid Cymru will tackle the ongoing struggles within the NHS, Rhun ap Iorwerth tells Sunday Supplement in the first 100 days they will begin to map out how they transfer more resources towards primary care to "create sustainability".

In their manifesto, Plaid promised to cut waiting lists, recruit 100 new GPs and invest in more digital health services.