Powys County Council is set to be led by the Welsh Liberal Democrats for the first time since its creation as the party set to form an administration in partnership with Welsh Labour. The Administration will be the first-ever in Powys not led by independents. 

James Gibson-Watt, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Group Leader on Powys Council, is expected to be elected as Leader of the Council at the Council’s AGM on Thursday morning, becoming the first Welsh Liberal Democrat Council Leader since 2012.

The agreement between the Welsh Liberal Democrats and Welsh Labour will focus on a set of aims and objectives for the new Council designed to deliver a fresh and distinctive path to meet the serious challenges the county faces.

Powys Liberal Democrat Group Leader James Gibson-Watt.

Responding to the publication of the Sue Gray report, Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds said:

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have called on the Welsh Government to take action to tackle sky-high rates of ‘agflation’ (inflation linked to rising agricultural costs and prices) in Wales. The current rate of agflation is running at 28.8% per annum, around 20 percentage points above the UK Government’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation, which is itself at the highest recorded rate since 1981.

The Party has also called on the Minister for Rural Affairs Lesley Griffiths to attend a roundtable on the cost crisis in agriculture.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have accused the Welsh Government of being “seriously out of step” with the rest of the UK when it comes to addressing the building safety scandal. The accusation comes after the Scottish Government announced that some of the country’s largest housing developers have agreed to work with the Scottish Government towards the remediation of buildings affected by cladding and fire safety issues.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have hit out at the Conservatives after Prime Minister Boris Johnson used their Welsh Party conference to suggest that free markets will eventually sort out the cost-of-living crisis themselves.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have called on WJEC to provide urgent clarification on Thursday's WJEC AS level maths exam after numerous reports that the exam contained multiple questions that had not been in the course syllabus.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have reiterated their calls for a 24/7 mental health service to be put in place throughout Wales.  The Party first called for a complete overhaul of mental health services in Wales during the last Senedd elections, calling for mental health to be given equal status to physical health.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have stated today’s local election is the start of the revival for the party in Wales. The party has gained seats, the first time it has done so in an election since 2008.

• In Powys, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have emerged as the largest political group by a significant margin, leapfrogging both the Independents and Conservatives to first place.
• In Swansea, the party gained four councillors to become the official opposition.
• The party has also gained seats in Pembrokeshire and Neath Port Talbot.
• The Welsh Liberal Democrat gained more seats than the Greens, Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives.  

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have criticised Plaid Cymru and Welsh Labour for using Westminster-set constituency boundaries and continuing with a voting system that fails to ensure that votes match seats.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have called for local authority boundaries to be used to create new Senedd constituencies and for the Single Transferable Vote.

• Welsh Lib Dems call for rescue package for struggling families in rural areas
• Conservatives are accused of leaving rural communities “out in the cold” after refusing to cap the price of heating oil.
• 10/13 of the seats the Welsh Conservatives hold at a Westminster level are rural in nature alongside 7/8 of the constituency Senedd seats they hold.
• Ceredigion, Powys, Ynys Mon, Gwynedd, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Monmouthshire are most reliant on heating oil.