First Secretary Alun Michael has been told to "pray" if he wants to keep his job while he insists he "will survive".

Asked on BBC Wales's The Point if he thought Alun Michael would survive, Lord Elis-Thomas said: "If I were him I would go and pray."

But Mr Michael insisted he would not lose his job and accused Plaid Cymru of "playing games with the people of Wales".

Plaid Cymru is expected to table a motion of no confidence in Mr Michael on Tuesday.

It follows what they regard as the failure of the first secretary to secure Treasury match-funding for �1.2bn worth of European grants.

The debate would then be held on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Welsh Liberal Democrats are meeting to decide what action to take following the expected vote of no-confidence.

If Mr Michael loses, it is expected that his Labour leadership rival Rhodri Morgan will be asked to step in.

Plaid Cymru say that the no-confidence motion would be dropped if Mr Michael met their demands to provide guarantees that the Treasury will give the Assembly an extra �85m to match next year's expected level of Objective One aid.

The European funds - earmarked to help regenerate deprived areas - can only be accessed if pound-for-pound matching cash is made available.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Mike German said: "Liberal Democrats are committed to voting against Alun Michael if he fails to come up with the matched funding for Objective One money before next Tuesday.

"We are also committed to pressing for four-way power sharing after that vote."

The Liberal Democrats have been pressing for a power-sharing coalition since last year.

Former Welsh Secretary Ron Davies also caused controversy on this issue by accusing the current Labour adminstration in the Assembly of not being "sensitive" to the needs of the other parties.

Meanwhile Plaid Cymru has denied rumours of a bid for government through a pact with the Conservatives following the vote of no-confidence.