THE Assembly Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd says he felt “betrayed” by his party after it helped block a partial e-cigarette ban after a row with Labour.

Plaid Cymru voted against the Labour Party’s Public Health Bill on Wednesday, 16 March, after Health Minister Leighton Andrews called a previous deal with the party a “cheap date”.

As well as banning e-cigarettes from public places where there are children, it also aimed to create a compulsory licensing system for tattooists, ban intimate piercing of children under 16 and required councils to produce a local toilets strategy.

Plaid Cymru originally planned a free vote and some of its AMs were expected to support the bill on Wednesday.

However, the party’s last minute decision to vote against it meant the assembly was tied 26-26 and the legislation failed.

Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, who supported the bill, had made arr­angements to cancel his assembly vote so that he could be in the House of Lords to vote against the Trade Union Bill and was not told about Plaid’s decision to make a U-turn on their vote and said he felt “betrayed”.

He was reported as saying: “I did not imagine that by not being present I would have helped to lose a piece of important Welsh legislation.

“I’ve experienced many low points in this fourth assembly in my relationship with the party, but this is the lowest.”

Lord Elis-Thomas said he and party leader Leanne Wood, who was against the ban, agreed not to attend the vote – known as pairing – meaning their absences would cancel each other out from the tally.