THE Welsh Conservatives have ruled out a deal with Plaid Cymru ahead of May’s Senedd elections, calling the party “divisive separatists”.

Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies was setting out his stall ahead of the elections on Thursday, when he also called on Welsh Labour to refuse any coalitions.

Mr Davies claimed the fifth Senedd term had been “besieged” with changes and backroom deals, and ahead of May’s poll called for all parties to be clear with the Welsh public about where they stood on coalitions.

Mr Davies said: “When the people of Wales head to the polls on May 6 they need to be fully aware of what parties stand for and what their votes will achieve.

“This Senedd term has been besieged by party changes and backroom deals, and ahead of May I believe all parties should be up front and straight with the Welsh public.

“I will give a clear commitment to people across Wales that we will not work with the divisive separatists of Plaid Cymru. There will be no repeat of 2016 and we will not support the nomination of any other leader.

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“Labour need to be honest on how they see Wales' future; a strong economic bounce back recovery from the pandemic in a strong Union, or a dangerous dance with nationalism that risks division, and both economic and constitutional chaos."

A Plaid Cymru spokeswoman responded: “This is a rather embarrassing intervention from the leader of the Tories in Wales. It’s tantamount to sending an RSVP to a party to which you were never invited.

“Perhaps he was too busy plotting his leadership coup to notice that Plaid Cymru has already ruled out a coalition with the Tories in no uncertain terms.

“It is beyond comprehension why anyone would think that Plaid Cymru – a party which campaigns day in day out for fairness for Wales – would form any kind of an alliance with a party which is doing its utmost to undermine our nation and its national parliament.”

A Welsh Labour spokesman said: "This latest wheeze from the Tories in Wales is just another attempt to distract from the fact that they can't stand up to their bosses in London, and want to hand over powers to Whitehall.

"First minister Mark Drakeford set out Welsh Labour's position last weekend. We are the party of devolution.

"We are proudly patriotic, and believe Wales' future is best served in a reformed, fairer Union. Our priority is leading Wales through the pandemic, out of lockdown, and to keep moving Wales forward."