Independence and fly-tipping: What Rhun ap Iorwerth told Radio Wales' phone-in

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth is the latest of the Welsh party leaders to appear on The Phone-In on BBC Radio Wales, with the Senedd election now less than three months away.

He took questions on the assisted dying law, spoke about rooting round in other people's rubbish and, not surprisingly, talked about independence.

So what did we learn?

There was no commitment to include a plan in Plaid Cymru's Senedd election manifesto for an assisted dying service on the Welsh NHS.

Ap Iorwerth side-stepped a question from host Jason Mohammad saying that assisted dying was "never put in a party political box".

Senedd members had a free vote on Tuesday night – to vote with their conscience not along party lines – when they gave their consent to the assisted dying bill going through Westminster.

It means that Welsh ministers will have the power to set the rules on how and whether the Welsh NHS should provide an assisted dying service in the future, if the proposals pass at Westminster.

That will require a separate vote in the Senedd, after May's election, by which point ap Iorwerth would hope to be first minister.

The most evocative image conjured up during the phone-in was of the Plaid Cymru leader rooting through rubbish on Saturday mornings to find out who was dumping it near his home.

Responding to Mal in Merthyr he said fly-tipping was "something that really gets me."

He told the programme that fast food bags were regularly dumped near his house every Saturday morning.

"I don't know who it is. I wish I knew. I did go digging for receipts and that kind of thing to see if there was any address."

He did not make clear what he would have done had he found an address.

Despite his obvious anger, he did not explicitly spell out what Plaid Cymru would do about the wider problem across Wales, other than to see what more could be done to take it seriously.

Nothing new here: Rhun ap Iorwerth is in favour of Welsh independence, but accepts the time is not right.

His predecessor had promised a referendum within five years if Plaid Cymru had won the 2021 Senedd election.

Under ap Iorwerth Plaid is promising an independence plan, but not in its first term.

He also acknowledged that calling a referendum would be out of his hands, as the power rests with the UK government.

"It's not something I want to impose on Wales. I couldn't if I wanted to," he said.

Labour, Conservatives, Reform and Liberal Democrats have all pointed to what they believe are the risks of independence, especially to the Welsh economy.

Ap Iorwerth's softer approach to indy won't stop those attacks, but there is a risk for those parties that converts to Plaid have already weighed up the consideration.

When Plaid publishes its manifesto, it will be interesting to see how heavily independence features and what sort of preparatory work – if any – the party commits to.

Again nothing new as such, but the argument over which potential first minister would get the best "deal" for Wales is going to be a central theme of the election campaign.

Ap Iorwerth maintains that he would do better with Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer than Labour First Minister Eluned Morgan has managed.

The details of ap Iorwerth's approach are a little vague – a point made by one of the callers, Carol.

It seemed to revolve around not having to keep the peace with a party colleague.

Responding to a separate question, from Tony, he said: "I think we'd be in a better position than two Labour colleagues.

"You're trying to plaster over cracks, not have too much of a row, when I'd be very very transparent in pointing out to people in Wales where the blocks are to Wales getting a fairer deal."

He added that he would make it clear that "my loyalty is always to the people of Wales, not to my boss in London, because I ain't got one".

Plaid - along with some of the other Welsh parties – have long-standing complaints that Wales has been short-changed in relation to HS2 high speed rail.

It also wants to see control over the Crown Estate and policing and justice devolved to the Welsh government.

While we're on money, small business-owner Jules from Bridgend demanded to know how Plaid Cymru would get the Welsh economy going to pay for public services.

Plaid is promising to re-invent the Welsh Development Agency (WDA), which was abolished after 30 years in 2006.

Ap Iorwerth said that the new WDA would help Welsh businesses to grow, "create more employment and increase wage levels in Wales".

We have not yet seen a full remit for the new agency.

The Phone-In on BBC Radio Wales has invited each of the main Welsh party leaders or representatives on to the programme over six weeks.

In March, BBC Wales is holding a live debate in Wrexham with a panel of politicians ahead of the Senedd election. Click here to apply to be in the audience.