Welsh election 2021: Final week of the campaign - BBC News
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Carwyn Jones was first minister from 2009 to 2018 Image caption: Carwyn Jones was first minister from 2009 to 2018

Former first minister Carwyn Jones has suggested that any post-election coalition deal in Wales should take “a few weeks” to agree.

Mr Jones took over from Rhodri Morgan as first minister in 2009, when Labour was already running the Welsh government in coalition with Plaid Cymru.

Labour governed alone after making gains in the 2011 election, but after the 2016 poll Lib Dem Kirsty Williams and former Plaid Cymru leader Lord Elis-Thomas joined his administration.

There is speculation that a new coalition could be needed if Labour loses ground in Thursday’s election, although Plaid Cymru have ruled out a “simple re-run” of 2007-11 when they were the junior partner.

Mr Jones told BBC Radio Wales’ The Leaders’ Lounge: “Once everyone sees the numbers, everyone will be making calculations, then there will be a game of chicken – who rings who first? And then the advisers will speak to each other first and prepare the ground. All that can happen in a situation like this."

Asked how long talks might take, he said: “Expect a few weeks.

"If you have coalition negotiations, my view has always been you have to have as much detail as possible in a coalition agreement.

"In 2007, we had a very detailed coalition agreement with Plaid, which meant that really there wasn’t much argument within that coalition – there was the odd disagreement here and there but nothing public because everybody knew the detail of the agreement.

“In 2010, the Tory-Lib Dem coalition [UK government] – I remember saying at the time this is not a very detailed agreement, this is a recipe for people to interpret it in different ways, and a recipe for chaos, and that ‘s the way it turned out, to my eyes.

“If there is going to be a coalition - nobody knows that – best that it takes a few weeks to put together with a detailed agreement than signing a piece of paper that’s one side of A4.”

Mr Jones stood down as first minister in 2018, and was standing down as MS for Bridgend at this election.

You can hear more from him on The Leaders’ Lounge on BBC Radio Wales at 1830 BST on Tuesday, and on BBC Sounds.