Welsh Assembly: Labour and Plaid Cymru to hold formal talks in bid to break deadlock and appoint new First Minister

Labour has been accused of ‘arrogance’ in seeking to return its leader Carwyn Jones to the post without securing majority backing in the Senedd

Residents of the town of Treorchy congratulate Leanne Wood after she seized the Rhondda seat from Labour in the Welsh Assembly (Rex)

Labour and Plaid Cymru are to hold formal talks on Friday to try and break the deadlock which has seen the Welsh Assembly fail to appoint a new First Minister.

Carwyn Jones, the Welsh Labour leader, was denied reselection on Wednesday, with the Senedd tied 29-29, as the Conservatives and Ukip backed Plaid’s leader Leanne Wood for the top job.

Ms Wood has written to Mr Jones to call for both parties to find a way forward. It is likely that Plaid will seek Labour backing for some of the party’s key election pledges.

However, Labour, which holds 29 seats in the 60 seat Assembly, also received an informal offer of support from Ukip, in return for the devolved administration’s backing for the party’s policy of abolishing tolls on the Severn Bridge.

It is understood the talks between Labour and Plaid will be between senior figures, but not the leaders themselves.

Labour, which lost one seat in last week’s Welsh elections, has been accused by opponents of “arrogance” in seeking to return Mr Jones to the post of First Minister without securing majority backing in the Senedd. Labour Assembly member (AM) Vaughan Gething told BBC Wales: “We recognise we've got responsibilities to the people of Wales. We think we have a mandate to form a government in Welsh Labour… It's pretty extraordinary to say there is an arrogance to say the leader of the largest party should be the First Minister of Wales.”

Plaid is the second party in the Welsh Assembly with 12 seats, the Conservatives are on 11, Ukip on seven and the Lib Dems on one.

Ukip AM Nathan Gill told the BBC Wales he could support the Labour leader if the party could turn some of its manifesto into law. “We said all along that we would work with any party. We did not rule anybody out....The first thing we would want to see is the tolls on the Severn Bridges removed,“ he said.

Such a decision would currently require UK Government approval, but there have been calls for the issue to be devolved to the Welsh administration.