A MONMOUTH MS is co-operating with a Senedd investigation into an alleged coronavirus breach.

Reports in other media had suggested Nick Ramsay, MS for Monmouth, was involved in a gathering of Senedd politicians on December 8.

Alun Davies, MS for Blaenau Gwent, allegedly consumed alcohol with Welsh Conservatives leader Paul Davies, chief whip Darren Millar and the party’s chief of staff Paul Smith in a Senedd tea room.

The incident happened four days after a ban on the sale, supply and consumption of alcohol on licensed premises came into force, although off-licences were allowed to sell alcohol until 10pm.

However, Mr Ramsay has now said he was not part of the gathering, though he is co-operating with the investigation.

A representative for Mr Ramsay said: "Mr Ramsay did attend the Tea Room on his own at the Senedd, without invitation after work.

"He was hungry as he wanted to get something to eat. He was working on an article for the South Wales Argus.

"He sat on his own and was socially distanced. He attended the Tea Room at approximately 6pm. He had a chicken curry.

"He left at about 8pm. Others came in whilst he was there but it was not a 'gathering' Mr. Ramsay was part of.”

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All four men involved in the alleged gathering deny breaking coroanvirus rules and say they observed social distancing while meeting to discuss working together on a proposed bill, and consumed alcohol not bought from parliament premises.

Mr Davies said: “I am very sorry if my actions have given the impression that I am in any way not committed to upholding the regulations which I have consistently supported throughout the last year.

“For context, the purpose of this meeting from my perspective was to seek to persuade the Welsh Conservatives to support my proposal for a 'Welsh Hearts Bill' which the Senedd endorsed on 21 October and to make a commitment to enact this life-saving legislation in their manifesto for May’s election.

"This is part of my work across political parties on this issue.

“The Senedd Commission has already confirmed to me that I did not breach the Coronavirus regulations on the consumption of either food or alcohol that were in force at that time.

"I have also confirmed to the Commission that the regulations on the number of people present and on social distancing were not breached either.

"I look forward to the Commission’s final conclusions on this matter.”

A Welsh Conservatives source told the PA news agency that the group believed they had not broken Covid-19 rules because the alcohol was not bought from the Senedd site nor was it served by catering staff.

A statement on behalf of Paul Davies, Darren Millar, and Paul Smith said: “We are profoundly sorry for our actions. While we did not break the rules, we recognise that what was part of a day’s work would not be seen to be following the spirit of them, especially given the tough time the country has been going through.”