Neath Port Talbot 'cow' row council leader cleared of misconduct

Rob Jones made the comments during a meeting in 2019

A former Welsh council leader who was recorded calling a Senedd member a "cow" and discussing school reorganisation has been cleared of misconduct.

Neath Port Talbot's Rob Jones made the comment about Plaid Cymru's Bethan Sayed in 2019.

He was suspended by Welsh Labour and referred himself to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.

The watchdog found no breaches of the council's code of conduct.

Mr Jones, who was suspended from the council in March, made comments about Ms Sayed and school reorganisation during a private Labour Party meeting in 2019.

They were secretly recorded and shared on social media in March, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

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At the time of his suspension from Welsh Labour, Mr Jones claimed the recordings of the meeting, which he said discussed issues including election candidates, political tactics and opposition party members, had been "edited to produce a damning commentary on me".

He issued a statement apologising for the comments made about Ms Sayed, who stepped down at this year's Senedd election, adding the recording did not reflect his values.

Ms Sayed, who stood down at the Senedd election, said the comments were despicable

Plaid Cymru and Ms Sayed had called the comments "despicable" and urged First Minister Mark Drakeford - as leader of Welsh Labour - to act.

The party claimed the recording suggested there was political bias in the way decisions on publicly funded projects were taken in Neath Port Talbot.

Following an investigation, an ombudsman spokesperson said the comments about school reorganisation appeared to "have been made in the context of a report that identified that the school was at risk of being affected by a landslide".

"The comments were based on independent professional advice and were therefore not likely to amount to a breach of the code," the spokesperson added.

The former leader could also be heard suggesting he would refuse funds for a proposal that came from another political party in order to support a Labour proposal, and mentioned his involvement in repairing a cemetery road.

The Ombudsman said that while Mr Jones was "copied into correspondence, he was not involved in the decision to fund the work".

Mr Jones also mentioned "cutting out" another councillor when moving ahead with plans for a regeneration programme which the same councillor had been campaigning about for years.

The ombudsman said there was "no evidence" he deliberately tried to exclude the member from the project.

A spokesperson for the council said the ombudsman's findings "have no bearing on the decision taken by full council" to elect Edward Latham as the new leader in March.