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Caerphilly’s Senedd Member has been found to have breached the Senedd’s code of conduct over a tweet made in March this year.

As a result, Hefin David has been ‘censured’ by the Senedd’s standards committee, following an investigation by the Senedd’s Standards Commissioner.

In his report, the Standards Commissioner said: “Members are rightly required to show leadership and to be exemplars of good behaviour. Abusive use of social media of the kind employed by Dr David reflects badly on him but also tends to bring the Senedd into disrepute.

“Dr David’s conduct fell very far below the required standards.”

It is the second time he has landed himself in trouble over Twitter posts, having also breached the code back in 2019.

Dr David, who represents Welsh Labour, did not dispute the breach and apologised to both the Senedd and the Twitter user his comments were directed at.

His apology was accepted by the person the tweet was aimed at, who did not make a complaint, while Dr David also deleted the tweet.

The standards committee report stated that members had “noted the representations made by Hefin David MS, in particular that which highlighted the further distress that the publication of the tweet may cause the subject.”

It said: “Taking this into account along with the committee’s own concerns…the Committee has redacted the specific wording of the tweet and any content that may lead to the identification of the subject.

“The committee has also decided not to include further details of the representations from Hefin David MS as the committee considered the information to be of a personal confidential nature that may cause distress if published, and thus not otherwise appropriate for publication under the procedure.”

The complaint to the Standards Commissioner came from Plaid Cymru Member and former Caerphilly town councillor Huw Jackson.

It was lodged on August 26 and came four days after Dr David tweeted about an anti-English Facebook post made by Plaid Cymru councillor Jon Scriven.

Mr Jackson, who lost his seat at the council elections earlier this year, said he complained because he was “appalled” by the language used by Dr David.

Mr Jackson described Dr David as a “wild keyboard warrior” and called for tougher action against the Senedd Member.

He said: “Last time he called someone an “utter knob” before later referring to him as a “coc oen” which means lamb’s cock in Welsh – remarks found to be abusive.”

In its report, the standards committee said it took Dr David’s previous breach into account, as well as the fact he had apologised and removed the tweet.

“Taking these factors together, the committee considers the actions of the Member merit censure.”

In essence, a censure is the Senedd expressing disapproval of Dr David’s actions. It does not prevent him from speaking in the Senedd or carrying out his job in any way.