Immigration is not to blame for the social housing shortage in Wales, First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth has said.

The First Minister clashed once again with opposition leader Dan Thomas during First Minister’s Questions on 16 June, this time over the causes of the housing shortage.

Mr Thomas said: “It is a fact that a lack of house building and uncontrolled immigration has led to a housing shortage across the UK.”

He welcomed Plaid’s promise to deliver 20,000 new homes by 2030 but said: “To deliver at that scale, we're going to need radical reform of the planning system, we're going to need ministerial intervention when councils do not deliver the number of homes that their communities need, and we need government and local government to work in partnership with house builders to leverage the billions of pounds that are needed to deliver 20,000 new homes.”

Acknowledging the “very real” housing problems found across Wales, Mr ap Iorwerth insisted these shortages are not driven by immigration.

He accused Mr Thomas of attempting to “create division”, arguing the government must focus on “practical solutions to the practical problem that we face”.

Mr Thomas said nobody is “blaming immigrants” but instead are “blaming uncontrolled and unplanned immigration”, which he described as having a “ripple effect” across the UK.

The opposition leader also questioned the First Minister on houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) which he described as a “big problem” across Wales, suggesting this too was caused, in part, by “uncontrolled immigration”.

Describing Mr Thomas as “again seeking to blame”, the First Minister said: “The leader of the opposition says he's not blaming immigrants whilst then progressing to blame immigrants for the situation.

The First Minister said that a lack of social housing is a “very real problem,” Wales faces.