Council deputy leader survives no confidence vote

Paul Miller will remain as the deputy leader of the council

A deputy leader in a council has survived a vote of no confidence after a row about Welsh medium education in the county.

Paul Miller, deputy leader of Pembrokeshire council, previously said that parents "couldn't give a toss" if their children went to a Welsh-language school in a town in south-west Wales.

Sixteen councillors supported the motion by Independent group leader, Huw Murphy, with 28 voting against and 11 abstentions.

Council leader Jon Harvey accused Cllr Murphy of "political opportunism at its worse."

Former council leader Jamie Adams said Miller gave the impression that he "knew better than everybody else" and called on him to apologise for the language used during the cabinet discussion.

In response, Miller said it was "sensible to collect data" about the school choices made by parents, adding that Murphy was creating division.

He also said Pembrokeshire had delivered the largest percentage growth in Welsh medium education of all the counties.

Conservative group leader Di Clements criticised the decision to hold the meeting in the first place.

She said the councillors would have been better off "finding ways of dealing with the huge financial black hole" rather than seeing who "has the biggest ego in the chamber."

Labour and Plaid Cymru previously announced a bill aimed at boosting the number of pupils studying Welsh

It comes after the Welsh government passed a major new bill to boost the number of pupils studying in Welsh.

The Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill aims to close the gap in Welsh speaking ability among pupils from different schools.

Welsh Language Secretary Mark Drakeford described the bill as "historic" adding that schools do not currently get enough from the investment made to teach Welsh in English-medium schools.

The bill aims to make progress towards the 2050 target of a million Welsh speakers by strengthening the role of the language in education.