Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth hopes to be first minister on Tuesday

Rhun ap Iorwerth says he hopes to become the first Plaid Cymru first minister on Tuesday, after its Senedd election victory.

Leading the largest Cardiff Bay group, with 43 seats, ap Iorwerth needs to win a vote of Senedd members to be appointed, but Labour's interim Welsh leader, Ken Skates, has indicated it is unlikely to oppose him.

Ap Iowerth told BBC Wales "certainly Tuesday is what we would prefer" but any delay "won't be much" and Plaid was keen to "hit the ground running".

Skates said the idea of "teaming up with Reform" members to block ap Iorwerth was "deeply unpleasant" for Labour Senedd members but they will make a "final decision" on Monday.

Both politicians were speaking on BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement.

Reform has 34 MSs, Labour just 9, the Conservatives 7, the Green Party 2 and one Liberal Democrat, in an expanded 96-member Welsh Parliament.

Outgoing Labour First Minister Eluned Morgan lost her seat in the election, and announced she was resigning as Welsh Labour leader.

Ap Iorwerth wants Plaid Cymru to govern on its own, rather than seeking to bring another party or parties into his administration.

He told BBC Radio Wales he was seeking cross-party cooperation and wanted support from across the Senedd.

He said he had spoken to all the other party leaders apart from Reform's Dan Thomas who "didn't feel like he wanted to speak with me as leader of Plaid Cymru".

The Plaid leader's suggestion was immediately denied by Reform.

"We provided a number for the purpose of Rhun contacting Dan," a spokesperson said.

"We made a clear communication channel if they wanted to reach him, he hasn't.

"Rhun said Dan didn't want to speak to him. That's not true."

Skates, Senedd member for Fflint Wrecsam, revealed Labour Senedd members will hold a meeting on Monday to decide how to vote on Rhun ap Iorwerth's nomination for first minister.

"We're going to meet tomorrow to make a final decision on this, but the idea of teaming up with Reform is deeply unpleasant for all of the members of my group," he said.

The Labour group is expected to abstain in the vote.

Skates described Labour's emphatic rejection by voters as "a catastrophic defeat, no doubt about it", calling Morgan a "phenomenal leader" in "difficult times".

He warned Welsh Labour to avoid the "blame game" and unite.

"We need to look at the reasons for our defeat in the most objective manner possibly," he said, saying he wanted the investigation to be like a "forensic study".

Later he announced he wanted to become the permanent Welsh Labour leader, telling BBC Politics Wales "I'd love the job, longer term".

"I'd love the job for as long as it takes to build us back and to renew us and to return us to power, and it's my intention to do that in as short a period as possible."

Skates has held cabinet roles that have included the transport and economy portfolios.

On Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, ap Iorwerth confirmed he had spoken to the SNP and Sinn Fein first ministers, in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and believed they could all "work and stand together" to get a better deal for their populations.

"There are a number of different ways that we can work together," he said.

"The way that we use the natural resources off our coasts, for example.

"But there's a deeper sense than that, too, of being able to make a stand together to call for less inequality within these islands.

"We are a union that is not a union of equals, and the stronger we can stand together to make the case to the UK government for a new approach to dealing with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland [the better].

"We'll do that separately, I'll do it as first minister of Wales.

"My loyalty will always be to the people of Wales, but together there is strength too."

Ap Iowerth denied that his party's election triumph was simply down to Labour's unpopularity and many voters' desire to block Reform, arguing last Thursday also saw a "massive positive" for Plaid.

"Plaid Cymru has won a larger popular vote in this election than any other party in the history of devolution, that cannot all be put down to what is happening around the other political parties.

"It is about what we say in our determination to stand up for Wales in our programme.

"But of course, yes, people were turning to us to stop the populist right from getting a foothold and to be that voice for Wales that Labour showed they weren't able to [provide]."

Additional reporting by David Deans