Plaid Cymru leader says he hopes to be made first minister as early as Tuesday

The leader of Plaid Cymru is hoping to become Welsh first minister as early as Tuesday after his party won a historic victory in the Senedd elections, soundly beating Labour and holding off Reform UK. Plaid fell short of winning a majority in the Welsh parliament but Rhun ap Iorwerth said on Sunday he hoped other parties would work with him and told UK Labour not to punish Wales over the result. Asked on BBC Radio Wales when he hoped he would be elected as first minister, ap Iorwerth said: “We’re ready to go as quickly as we can. We hope for it to be Tuesday. If there’s a delay it won’t be much. We want to get going. ” Ap Iorwerth said Plaid had put a clear programme for government on the table that he hoped would get backing from across the Senedd. “We want actively to get support of people in other parties. I will be explicitly cooperative,” he said. The Plaid leader said he had spoken to all the party leaders except Nigel Farage who, he said, “didn’t feel he wanted to speak with me”. Labour was left with just nine seats in the Senedd, ending 100 years of dominance in Wales. Ap Iorwerth said: “Labour can go in one of two ways now on a UK level. They can decide to punish Wales because Wales turned its back on Labour and say: ‘Right you’re getting nothing now.’ “In which case it’s difficult to see Labour planning any way back. …