Assembly gets back to business with tributes paid to late member

Tributes have been paid to former Welsh Labour minister Carl Sargeant as formal business resumed at the Welsh Assembly.

Mr Sargeant, 49, was found dead at his home four days after being removed from his role as cabinet secretary for communities and children.

The father-of-two, from Connah’s Quay, North Wales, was suspended from the Labour Party over allegations of “unwanted attention, inappropriate touching or groping”.

His family and friends attended the Senedd, where a minute’s silence was held in Mr Sargeant’s memory and tributes were paid from across political parties.

Formal business at the Assembly, which was suspended following Mr Sargeant’s death on November 7, resumed after the tributes.

Presiding officer Elin Jones told the chamber: “His death has shaken us to our core and his absence from our midst pains us today.”

Wales’ First Minister Carwyn Jones described how he first met Mr Sargeant in 2001 and had “never had a cross word” with him since. “That was the man that we called Sarge,” he said.

Carl Sargeant.