Neil McEvoy awaits Plaid Cymru expulsion verdict

Neil McEvoy, the AM who was expelled from the Plaid Cymru Assembly group because of what the party described as an "irrevocable breakdown of trust", is waiting to find out if he'll be thrown out of the party as well. He currently sits as an independent AM in the Senedd but is still the leader of the Plaid Cymru group on Cardiff City Council.

Despite Mr McEvoy's reputation as a maverick unwilling to toe the party line and his poor relationship with Plaid's leader Leanne Wood, the exact allegations against him have never been made clear. He spent five hours attending a disciplinary hearing at Plaid Cymru headquarters last night, though when he arrived he was reluctant to even confirm why he was there.

Although Plaid Cymru could reach a decision today, the outcome might not be known until Monday. The party will want any fallout from Neil McEvoy's permanent expulsion, temporary suspension or even exoneration to be out of the way before Plaid's spring conference in Llangollen at the end of next week.

Last night's hearing was scheduled long before this week's Twitter storm over a picture tweeted by Neil McEvoy (or an aide looking after his tweets) showing him and Culture Minister Dafydd Elis Thomas wearing boxing gloves.

They had been publicising the Assembly's cross-party boxing group but in his tweet, Mr McEvoy said they were "ready for Leanne". He denied that he was mocking violence against women but deleted the tweet after Lord Elis Thomas asked him to take it down.

Unlike Lord Elis Thomas, who has left Plaid Cymru, Neil McEvoy wants to stay in the party. He is a list AM for South Wales Central but also fought Cardiff West in 2016, polling over 10,000 votes and cutting the majority of the Finance Minister, Mark Drakeford, to 1,176. It was Plaid's best ever result in the capital.