Should the Welsh first minister get an official home?

Following his election victory, First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth reportedly spent the night in a Premier Inn after forgetting the keys to his personal flat in Cardiff.

While the episode prompted amusement on social media, it also reignited discussion about whether the leader of the Welsh government should have an official home in the capital.

Most countries provide a residences for their leaders - Scotland spends about £100,000 a year to run Bute House in Edinburgh for the first minister at Holyrood.

Ap Iorwerth has called for an official residence in the past, but said he is now uncomfortable with the issue because it affects him personally as first minister.

"It's crazy there isn't an official residence for the first minister of Wales," Prof Richard Wyn Jones told the BBC Radio Cymru political podcast Gwleidydda.

"The system has been based on the idea that every first minister can simply live at home, that only people from the south-east can become first minister.

"Therefore, I do feel very, very, very strongly that there should be an official home for the first minister in Wales."

Ap Iorwerth lives in north Wales, the first time a first minister has been from that part of the country.

All members of the Senedd who live a significant distance from Cardiff are able to claim accommodation expenses while carrying out official duties in the city.

This includes allowances for overnight stays and hotel costs.

Former First Minister Lord Carwyn Jones said the issue is politically difficult.

"If someone wished to gift a house for free, that would be different.

"I think it would be difficult to justify to the public having a house for the first minister.

Lord Jones said when he was first minister he lived a half an hour away with his then young family and did not want to be in Cardiff.

"There’s no official house for Northern Ireland," he said, adding how he was not "keen" on Bute House.

"It was very old and gloomy.

"I wouldn’t have wanted to live in a house like that, so I was very happy to return to Bridgend to live.”

Des Clifford, the former head of the Office of the First Minister in Cardiff, said the case for an official residence was about more than simply providing accommodation for Wales’ leader.

Before devolution, it is understood there was accommodation available for the Secretary of State for Wales at Cathays Park.

"The reason to have a building like this is not as the convenience of the first minister, but as a place to work to invite guests and visitors from abroad, and to meet investors who come to Wales," he added.

"It's a very common thing around the world, and Wales does stick out in a way, but the politics around it are problematic.

"In an ideal world, I would like to see whether there was someone wealthy who had an interest in raising the standards and status of the Welsh government and how Wales is represented.

"If someone had the money to buy or leave such a property.

"There are not many Welsh people with big money. It's a matter of finding someone who thinks this is a priority."

The discussion has continued online, with social media users proposing potential locations including Mansion House in Cardiff and the former derelict Marine Hotel in Penarth.

The debate raised its head last in 2021 during the lockdown period, with concerns over the safety of the then first minister, Mark Drakeford, after protesters gathered outside his home.

Ap Iorwerth himself has previously expressed support for the concept while serving as a member of the Senedd.

He told BBC Radio Cymru Dros Ginio there was "additional pressure, logistical pressure when trying to run a government from one end of the country when living in the other end of the country".

"I have spoken in the past that it's the normal thing in a country that there is [an official residence]," he said.

"But I think it important, in a way, that I keep out of those discussions... because people would think it's a personal opinion because of how it would affect me."

As for his government's position on the idea he said: "In terms of my list of priorities, that’s not even on the list."