INDEPENDENCE is not a 'preferable' choice for Wales.

That was the view of Vaughan Gething at Tuesday's Welsh Government briefing from Cardiff.

The economy minister says he and the current Welsh Government are opposed to Wales becoming an independent country.

"We don't think independence is a preferable choice," he says.

There will be more risks and no guarantees Wales will be more prosperous, he added.

An independence commission is currently being set up to look at the nation's political future.

In the same briefing, Mr Gething said he wanted Wales to have "more constructive" ties to UK Government.

Mr Gething says he is disappointed by Tuesday's announcement from Westminster that a heat pump scheme will be rolled out across Wales and England.

The UK Government announced the grants as it confirmed a target for all new heating system installations to be low carbon by 2035, but insisted families are not going to be forced to remove their existing fossil fuel boilers.

Switching to low carbon heating in the coming years will cut emissions, and reduce the UK’s dependency on fossil fuels and exposure to global price spikes in gas, ministers said.

But Mr Gething said he was given no advance warning of the scheme.

He said there are areas where the two governments "could and should" work more closely together.

Wales wants to see a "more constructive" relationship with the UK Government, he added.