PLAID Cymru leader Adam Price took apart claims from the Abolish the Welsh Assembly party chief during last night’s Senedd election debate.

Abolish leader Richard Suchorzewski was a controversial pick for the programme among viewers. The party, which gained two members of the Senedd through their defects from Ukip, has polled between 3-8% ahead of the May 6 Welsh election.

Their primary aim is to return the powers held at the Senedd to the UK Parliament.

READ MORE: Could May 6 elections be big news for the Welsh independence movement?

Surveys show the vast majority of the Welsh public want to keep the Senedd. More than three times as many Welsh voters want to retain it than see it abolished, research commissioned by Wales Online found.

Last night’s BBC debate included representatives from Labour, the Tories, Plaid, the LibDems and Abolish – with a follow-up 30-minute show featuring Reform UK, the Green Party and Ukip.

Price, who is campaigning to hold a referendum on Welsh independence if his party is successful at the upcoming vote, took on Suchorzewski during the debate – debunking his claims about Wales’s finances.

“Richard, we pay taxes in Wales too, you know,” he told the Abolish chief.

He replied: “Yes we do, but the net fiscal deficit, which is the amount of money we get from the UK Government over and above the taxes we pay –“

A calm but firm Price reacted: “All of the budget of the Welsh Government is covered by taxes paid in Wales.

“And actually, shouldn’t it be the people of Wales that decide how those taxes are spent on their basic public services – rather than a parliament next door which two-thirds of the time is run by a party that we’ve never ever voted for in our history as a nation? Where’s the democracy in that?”

It comes after Price won praise for his demolition of similar deficit claims during an episode of BBC Politics Live.

READ MORE: Plaid Cymru's Adam Price destroys Unionist claims on BBC Politics Live

Last month the highest ever level of support for Welsh independence was recorded, with nearly 40% of respondents to a Savanta ComRes survey in favour of breaking away from the UK.

Meanwhile, Amelia Womack, the deputy leader of the Green Party and their lead candidate in the South Wales East region, expressed disappointment that Abolish were included in the main debate while she was not.

She told The National: “We know that Greens are polling similarly to Abolish, and that on the regional ballot, the last seat will be between us and them, yet we were not given the parity we deserve,” she said.

“Welsh voters were also not given the opportunity to see all parties able to win seats debate each other and hold the current administration to account. The integrity of our policies stood alongside the main parties and should have been heard fairly.

“Additionally, I would like to highlight how disappointed I am that in my own debate, so much time was spent on Neil Hamilton’s climate change denial. It’s 2021 and the science is clear. There can be no space for such dangerous rhetoric in an election that must be the climate election.”

A spokesperson for BBC Cymru Wales said: “BBC Cymru Wales is providing a range of content and debating opportunities on television, radio and online in both English and Welsh during this election campaign. We were very clear about the format of the Leaders’ Debate which was shared with all the invited parties in a letter.

“In determining the format and composition of the panels appearing on the programme, we were required to make an editorial judgement with regard to what is an appropriate level of coverage. That careful judgement has taken account of past levels of electoral support, as well as any trends in current support and political circumstances. We are confident that our editorial processes have been fair and impartial in reflecting the reality of the Welsh political landscape.”