Tory leader absent for Senedd budget vote

Local TV

A draft budget from the Labour Welsh Government passed Senedd voting last night as two senior Tories, including the party leader Darren Millar, were not present as they were on a visit to the states to see a speech from Donald Trump. Many have seen it as a chance missed for the opposition.

Transcript

00:00It's not every day you get a chance to beat a government in an important vote, and opposition

00:06parties at the Senedd had that chance on Tuesday night, but were not able to take it as two

00:10senior Tories were absent from voting.

00:14Party leader Darren Miller as well as Russell George have both opted to visit the United

00:18States for a prayer meeting featuring Donald Trump, meaning the Welsh government, who only

00:22have half the seats in the Senedd, were able to win the vote outright.

00:26Earlier on during First Minister's Questions, Plaid Cymru called out the Conservative leader

00:30for missing the debate, saying that the party had clearly given up on being in opposition,

00:35while Reform accused the Tories of not caring about Wales and are opposition only in name.

00:40Considering the sole Liberal Democrat in the Senedd, Jane Dodds, abstained from the vote,

00:44the Tory leader's surprise absence did not affect the outcome and would have passed anyway,

00:49and this is largely a symbolic before the official budget debate in March.

00:53For a leader who's only been in the role since December, he'll have plenty of questions

00:56to answer to on his return.

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