Demand for probe into 'cow' row council leader's 'sinister' comments

Rob Jones declined to offer any further comment to BBC Wales

Plaid Cymru has raised concerns about the "potential misuse of public funds" in light of "sinister" comments made by the leader of Neath Port Talbot council in a secret recording.

Party leader Adam Price has called on a public spending watchdog to investigate the comments by Councillor Rob Jones.

He was suspended from Welsh Labour and stepped aside as leader when the recording came to light at the weekend.

Mr Jones declined a BBC Wales request for further comment.

He said the "matter is under investigation".

Mr Price said the comments alluded "to favouring projects supported by Labour councillors for public funding."

First Minister Mark Drakeford said he was sure Mr Jones had "done the right thing" in stepping aside pending investigations.

The recording is understood to have been made in 2019 at a private meeting of the Labour members in the Pontardawe area.

An edited version of the two-hour meeting was uploaded on Friday to a Facebook page dedicated to opposing the council's plans to potentially close four primary schools and create a super-school in the area.

In a statement released on Saturday, Mr Jones said the audio recording was made without his knowledge and consent.

The councillor for Margam added: "The final recording has clearly been edited to produce a damning commentary on me.

"The contents of the recording do not reflect the values I hold as an individual or those of the Labour Party, nor do they meet the standards of accountability required of a public representative."

Adam Price called on a public spending watchdog to investigate

Mr Jones said he had apologised for calling Plaid Cymru Senedd member Bethan Sayed a "cow" during the meeting and stepped aside from his role as council leader having asked the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales to investigate the matter.

In the recording, Mr Jones can also be heard apparently inferring that he would look favourably towards spending public money on projects backed by fellow Labour councillors over those promoted by political opponents.

He said: "I wouldn't do it overtly but clandestinely, if two Plaid councillors came to me and actually said, you know, 'we want to find money for this and we want to find money for that' and then there was a contradictory project that potential Labour councillors wanted, which one am I going to [inaudible: ply or plough] money into?"

'Starve them of oxygen'

In September 2019, the Welsh Government announced £1.8m to renovate the Cefn Coed Colliery Museum that had been threatened with closure.

In the recording, Mr Jones can be heard saying the local independent councillor for the Seven Sisters ward had "been banging on the drum about Cefn Coed for years and years and years".

He went on to say: "That's why I cut Steven Hunt completely out of the Cefn Coed."

"At the launch, there isn't one independent actually anywhere near it," he said.

"And, whilst he tweets about his achievements, there was nothing left for him to tweet and it was a fortnight before he even mentioned Cefn Coed because he couldn't say anything about the development.

"And that's what you've gotta do, you've got to starve them of oxygen," he added.

Mark Drakeford said he had not been able to find the result of Plaid's own inquiry into misogyny

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price raised the recording in the Senedd on Tuesday, saying it "reveals the sinister way of going about politics" as Mr Jones "alludes to favouring projects supported by Labour councillors for public funding".

He said he had written to the auditor general Adrian Crompton requesting he investigates the remarks and "ensures robust checks and balances are in place to safeguard against the potential misuse of public funds for party political purposes in Welsh public authorities".

He asked Mr Drakeford if he was confident the case was "not just the tip of the iceberg and that Wales doesn't have its own problem of cash for colleagues on Labour's watch".

'A generalised smear'

Mr Drakeford said: "Trying to deduce a generalised smear from one incident to what happens right across Wales, does not seem to me to be a sensible or a proportionate way of responding to that."

He added: "I was concerned to read what Councillor Jones had said and I'm sure he has done the right thing in stepping aside form the leadership of Neath Port Talbot council while those remarks are properly investigated by the monitoring officer and by the Ombudsman here in Wales.

"It's why he has been suspended from his membership of the Labour Party while those inquiries can be completed.

"I think it would be sensible for anyone to await the outcome of those inquiries before drawing conclusions about what should happen next."

Mr Drakeford also outlined the Welsh Government's record of investing in schools in council areas across the country as an example of how "there is no possible implication that could be drawn for the way in which funds are used by this Welsh Government on party political lines".

Mr Price also asked the first minister on several occasions to "place on record your condemnation" of Mr Jones' "appalling misogyny" in his remarks towards Bethan Sayed, MS for South Wales West.

Mr Drakeford said: "There's no place for misogyny in any part of Welsh life or in any political party.

"I remember that Mr Price himself launched an inquiry into misogyny in Plaid Cymru in June or July of 2019.

"I've looked to see if I can find the result of that inquiry but I've not been able to locate it myself," he said.

"But just as he was right, I'm sure, to have that inquiry carried out in his party so it is right that the allegations that have been made against Councillor Jones should be investigated and certainly the results of those inquiries will be made public," he added.

In a statement on Twitter following the exchanges, Bethan Sayed said: "Pretty upset the first minister can't just say the comment against ME was misogynistic by former Leader of NPT [Neath Port Talbot] Council today in the Senedd. A day after International Women's Day."

What does Neath Port Talbot council say?

The authority's chief executive Karen Jones said she had "initiated an external, independent review of the current systems and processes that support capital investment decision making and the protocol that governs the relationship between councillors and officers".

"The independent review will commence immediately and a written report will be presented to the council's Governance and Audit Committee, which is chaired by councillor Del Morgan, Plaid Cymru group, detailing the findings of the review and any recommendations that the reviewers consider are appropriate," she said.

Ms Jones the review was "additional to the work that the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales will carry out".

She added: "It will be led by Rod Alcott, a former senior manager with the Wales Audit Office. He will be assisted by Jack Straw, former chief executive of the City and County of Swansea."