A Labour councillor in North Wales has defected to Plaid Cymru - citing the party’s stance on calls for a ceasefire in Gaza. Councillor Cathy Augustine, who represents the ward of Penmaenmawr on Conwy County Borough Council, has crossed the floor to Plaid.

She said she had huge respect for all the Labour county councillors in Conwy who she described as her “closest colleagues, friends”.

But she hit out at UK Labour leader Kier Starmer and Welsh Labour leader Mark Drakeford for failing to “call unequivocally for a ceasefire in Israel/Palestine”. Dozens of Labour councillors around the UK have left the party over the same issue.