CULTURE wars hit the Senedd today as Reform UK and the Welsh Conservatives battled to out do each other in the outrage stakes.

Reform’s Francesca O’Brien was incensed that the previous Welsh Labour government had introduced incentive payments to student teachers from ethnic minority backgrounds.

She wanted to know if the Plaid government will “continue paying public money to recruit teachers on the basis of race rather than merit.”

First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth said: “We need more teachers.

“We also need to make sure that our teaching workforce reflects the population of Wales, where I think, on this particular issue, 2 per cent of the existing teaching workforce identify as being from an ethnic minority compared with 12 per cent of learners.”

Welsh Labour’s Huw Thomas said the under-representation of ethnic minorities in teaching leads to poor outcomes.

He said: “I’m very proud of the steps that the last Labour government took to try and address that and I’m grateful to the FM for carrying on that funding.”

Welsh Conservative Natasha Asghar wanted to know what action the Welsh government was taking in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of biological sex.

Mr ap Iorwerth said his government was taking forward lawful, consistent and workable actions in Wales, while upholding the dignity and respect of all people.

Ms Asghar said she was contacted by health staff who attended a workplace event on celebrating transgender awareness week and how to be an ally.

“I’m all in favour of diversity, but I would much rather NHS staff focus on patients and delivering care, than them being distracted by training sessions that do not improve patient care and front-line services,” she said.

The FM said: “I would appeal to the member’s sense of political leadership. All of us have to be aware of that in trying to cool down the temperature on what has become a heated debate but also a very painful debate for many individuals.”

Tory leader Darren Millar was concerned about the impact of the carbon tax on Welsh jobs and industry.

“You might have noticed that it was a bit warm last week, and there is good reason why we need to be relentless in our pursuit of measures that we can take to protect the environment, whilst also looking after industry in Wales,” Mr ap Iorwerth said.