Part of 2. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:50 pm on 24 May 2016.
No, I think those elections will take place. I can’t envisage a scenario where they wouldn’t. So, in answer to his question, yes, they will take place next year. In terms of the local government reorganisation, it’s clear to me that the map would not attract support in this Chamber, but I do know that, in this Chamber, there’s support for local government reorganisation. So, it’s a question of spending the next few months examining what common ground there may be between the parties so we can remove the situation where we have 22 local authorities, one of which collapsed entirely, and six of which were in special measures at one point in education. It’s not a sustainable model. There’s not a huge amount of disagreement over that, but, of course, it’s a question of whether an agreement can be reached on a cross-party basis on a future and more sustainable model for local government in Wales.