REPRESENTATIVES from Plaid Cymru, the Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Wales Green Party held informal talks about forming a pact ahead of May’s Assembly election, it has been revealed.

The three groups reportedly discussed entering into an agreement in which each party would have agreed not to field candidates in certain areas in a bid to maximise the votes for the others in an effort to turf out the Labour majority in the Senedd, ITV Wales has reported.

But the talks, which were instigated by Plaid Cymru, reportedly broke down when the Lib Dems walked away from the table.

A Plaid Cymru spokeswoman said: “Informal, exploratory talks were held with the Liberal Democrats and Green Party in order to establish whether any cooperation was feasible between the parties.

“These discussions have since come to an end.”

A Lib Dem spokesman said: “We can confirm that we were approached informally on this matter but we decided it wasn’t the right approach.”

Wales Green Party leader Alice Hooker-Stroud the country’s electoral system needed “a good shake-up”.

“Representatives of the Wales Green Party were approached to explore whether we could form an alliance as an alternative to our tired, inert one party state,” she said.

“People want real change, and we were looking to from alliance with parties who share common ground with the Wales Green Party to see if we could offer them a chance to vote for it.

“The electoral math was there, but the political will wasn't.”

Labour currently holds a majority in the Assembly with 30 AMs, with their next closest competitor, the Conservatives, holding fewer than half as many at 14. Plaid Cymru hold 11 while the remaining five are held by the Liberal Democrats. The Wales Green Party and UKIP currently hold no seats, but both are fielding candidates in a number of seats in May.

A Welsh Labour spokesman accused the three parties of attempting to “stitch up” the electoral process.

“That shows a lack of confidence in their own campaigns – but also a complete lack of respect to Welsh voters,” he said.

Conservative AM for South Wales Wales Altaf Hussain called the revelation “hugely embarrassing for Plaid Cymru and their leader” and accused the party of “disrespecting voters and undermining democracy”.

“Not only does this demonstrate a huge lack of ambition or confidence in the party’s prospects, it makes a mockery of their claims to be the Party of Wales if they were willing to leave some constituencies uncontested,” he said.

ITV Wales has reported the leaders of the three parties were not involved in the discussions.