Morgan 'appalled' ex-Wales Reform leader took bribes

The first minister has said she is "appalled" that the former leader of Reform UK in Wales admitted taking bribes to make statements in favour of Russia while being a Member of the European Parliament.

Nathan Gill, who also used to be a politician in Cardiff Bay, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday to eight counts of bribery between 6 December 2018 and 18 July 2019.

Asked about it on Tuesday, Eluned Morgan said Reform posed "a real possibility of corruption and chaos".

Recent polling suggests Reform, along with Plaid Cymru, are well-placed to win next year's Senedd election.

Referring to Gill's guilty pleas during First Minister's Questions on Tuesday, the leader of the Senedd Conservative group Darren Millar asked Morgan if she agreed that "Reform is a clear and present danger to our national security here in Wales and across our United Kingdom".

The first minister responded: "I absolutely do."

"I must say that we knew that Reform is a threat in Wales, that there is a real possibility of corruption and chaos, and now we have evidence of that through someone who was the former leader of Reform in Wales.

"I think we have all been appalled by the act of the former leader of Reform in Wales, a person who was a member of this chamber," she added.

Gill was one of seven UKIP politicians elected to the Senedd in 2016 when the party was led by the current leader of Reform, Nigel Farage.

Millar also asked Morgan about the UK Labour government's plans to introduce digital ID cards across the UK.

"How on earth can you justify such wasteful spending on digital ID when there are so many people languishing on [NHS] waiting lists, so many young people coming out of our schools illiterate, and so many people in our communities fighting to save their libraries, leisure centres and public loos, it is a disgrace and don't you know it," he said.

Morgan, who has already said digital IDs for Welsh people should carry the Welsh flag, said: "We all are using our mobile phones in so many different ways in our daily lives.

"It just seems very strange to me that the state is not going to be a part of that, and I do think that there are opportunities here.

"Obviously, there needs to be a lot of work done to make sure that any information is secure and that personal details are secure, but this is something that is very common across many, many nations of the world."

The leader of Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwerth, called on Morgan to "reflect" on comments she made in her speech at the Labour conference on Sunday where she described Plaid Cymru and Reform as "different poison, same bottle".

"Of course, nobody thinks for a second that Plaid Cymru and Reform offer the same proposition.

"Yet in her speech the first minister used language quite frankly unbecoming of her office to describe her political opponents."

"Why does she really think that Plaid Cymru and reform are so similar? Where we promote unity, they sow division," he added.

Morgan responded that "Reform wants to divide our communities and Plaid wants to divide our nation" with its pro-independence stance.