Carl Sargeant: Rejection of memorial call 'could be reviewed'

Carl Sargeant died in 2017, days after he was sacked from the Welsh Government

A decision to reject a Senedd memorial to late minister Carl Sargeant can be reviewed if a majority of AMs back the call, the presiding officer has said.

A cross-party group of assembly members had called for a plaque in the former communities secretary's memory.

But the body which runs the assembly said only requests for AMs who died at least 10 years ago can be considered.

Mr Sargeant took his own life in 2017 after being sacked amid claims of inappropriate behaviour towards women.

• Sacked ministers need support, coroner says

• 'Meaningful' investigation call by Sargeant family

• Timeline: The death of Carl Sargeant

Speaking in the Senedd on Wednesday, Presiding Officer Elin Jones said: "If political groups wish for this policy to be revised, then I would be happy to discuss representations and proposals made by the political groups and members to the commission with a view to revising our policy, if that is the wish of this assembly."

Conservative AM Andrew RT Davies had been leading calls for a Senedd memorial to the ex-Alyn and Deeside AM and he told assembly members he was "disappointed" by the decision not to allow one.

Mr Davies hoped the assembly authorities would be open to "reconsidering its position so that a fitting memorial at no expense to the taxpayer could be erected on the assembly estate so that remembrance could be shown to those members who have passed away in the time that they were assembly members".

Elin Jones chairs the Assembly Commission, in charge of the day-to-day running of the assembly

Labour's Jenny Rathbone also backed the calls for a memorial.

She said Mr Sargeant deserved recognition for being "a formidable backbencher as well as an outstanding minister".

Ms Jones said she did not "want to be in a position to discuss the merits of individual deceased colleagues" but she said AMs should "feel empowered to make those views known to your commissioners and to the commission, but I need to have the policy and the decisions expressed in the context of the majority feeling of this assembly".