Plaid Cymru (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈplaɪd ˈkəmrɨ], English: The Party of Wales; often referred to simply as Plaid) is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state.^[3]

Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966. Plaid Cymru by 2012 had 1 of 4 Welsh seats in the European Parliament, 3 of 40 Welsh seats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, 11 of 60 seats in the National Assembly for Wales, and 206 of 1,264 principal local authority councillors.^[2]

Platform[link]

Plaid Cymru's goals as set out in its constitution are:

1. To promote the constitutional advancement of Wales with a view to attaining independence within the European Union;
2. To ensure economic prosperity, social justice and the health of the natural environment, based on decentralist socialism;
3. To build a national community based on equal citizenship, respect for different traditions and cultures and the equal worth of all individuals, whatever their race, nationality, gender, colour, creed, sexuality, age, ability or social background;
4. To create a bilingual society by promoting the revival of the Welsh language;
5. To promote Wales's contribution to the global community and to attain membership of the United Nations.

In September 2008, a senior Plaid Cymru assembly member spelled out her party's continuing support for an independent Wales. The Welsh Minister for Rural Affairs, Elin Jones, kicked off Plaid's annual conference by pledging to uphold the goal of making Wales a European Union member state. She told the delegates in Aberystwyth that the party would continue its commitment to independence under the coalition with Labour.^[4]

History[link]

Beginnings[link]

Plaid Cymru Founding Plaque - geograph.org.uk - 644944

While both the Labour and Liberal parties of the early 20th century had accommodated demands for Welsh home rule, no political party existed for the purpose of establishing a Welsh government. Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru (English: National Party of Wales) was formed on 5 August 1925, by Moses Gruffydd, Fred Jones and Lewis Valentine, members of Byddin Ymreolwyr Cymru (Home Rule Army of Wales; literally, Self-Rulers' Army of Wales); and H. R. Jones, Saunders Lewis and David John Williams of Y Mudiad Cymreig (The Welsh Movement).^[5] Initially, home rule for Wales was not an explicit aim of the new movement; keeping Wales Welsh-speaking took primacy, with the aim of making Welsh the only official language of Wales.^[6]

In the general election of 1929 the party contested its first parliamentary constituency, Caernarvonshire, polling 609 votes, or 1.6% of the vote for that seat. The party contested few such elections in its early years, partly due to its ambivalence towards Westminster politics. Indeed the candidate Lewis Valentine, the party’s first president, offered himself in Caernarvonshire on a platform of demonstrating Welsh people's rejection of English dominion.^[7]

1930s[link]

By 1932 the aims of self-government and Welsh representation at the League of Nations had been added to that of preserving Welsh language and culture. However this move, and the party's early attempts to develop an economic critique, did not broaden its appeal beyond that of an intellectual and socially conservative Welsh language pressure group.^[8] The alleged sympathy the party's leading members (including President Saunders Lewis) towards Europe's totalitarian regimes compromised its early appeal further.^[9]

In 1936 Lewis, David John Williams and Lewis Valentine attacked and set fire to the newly constructed RAF Penyberth air base on the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd in protest at its siting in the Welsh-speaking heartland. The leaders' treatment, including the trial judge's dismissal of the use of Welsh and their subsequent imprisonment in Wormwood Scrubs, led to "The Three" becoming a cause célèbre. This heightened the profile of the party dramatically and its membership had doubled to nearly 2,000 by 1939.^[6][10]

1940s[link]

Penyberth, and Plaid Cymru’s neutral stance during the Second World War, prompted concerns within the UK Government that it might be used by Germany to insert spies or carry out other covert operations.^[11] In fact, the party adopted a neutral standpoint and urged (with only limited success) conscientious objection to war service.^[12]

In 1943 Saunders Lewis contested the University of Wales parliamentary seat at a by-election, gaining 1,330 votes, or 22%. In the 1945 general election, with party membership at around 2,500, Plaid Cymru contested 7 seats, as many as it had in the preceding 20 years, including constituencies in south Wales for the first time. At this time Gwynfor Evans was elected president.

1950s[link]

1959 election in Merioneth

Gwynfor Evans' presidency coincided with the maturation of Plaid Cymru (as it now began to refer to itself) into a more recognisable political party. Its share of the vote increased from 0.7% in the 1951 general election to 3.1% in 1955 and 5.2% in 1959. In the 1959 election, the party contested a majority of Welsh seats for the first time. Proposals to drown the village of Capel Celyn in the Tryweryn valley in Gwynedd in 1957 to supply the city of Liverpool with water played a part in Plaid Cymru's growth. The fact that the parliamentary bill authorising the drowning went through without support from any Welsh MPs showed that the MPs' votes in Westminster were not enough to prevent such bills from passing.^[13]

1960s[link]

Support for the party declined slightly in the early 1960s, particularly as support for the Liberal Party began to stabilise from its long-term decline. In 1962 Saunders Lewis gave a radio talk entitled Tynged yr Iaith (The fate of the language) in which he predicted the extinction of the Welsh language unless action was taken. This led to the formation of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) the same year.^[14]

Labour's return to power in 1964 and the creation of the post of Secretary of State for Wales appeared to represent a continuation of the incremental evolution of a distinctive Welsh polity, following the Conservative government's appointment of a Minister of Welsh Affairs in the mid-1950s and the establishment of Cardiff as Wales's capital in 1955.

However in 1966, less than four months after coming third in the constituency of Carmarthen, Gwynfor Evans sensationally captured the seat from Labour at a by-election. This was followed by two further by-elections in Rhondda West in 1967 and Caerphilly in 1968 in which the party achieved massive swings of 30% and 40% respectively, coming within a whisker of victory. The results were caused partly by an anti-Labour backlash. Expectations in coal mining communities that the Wilson government would halt the long-term decline in their industry had been dashed by a significant downward revision of coal production estimates.^[15] However — in Carmarthen particularly — Plaid Cymru also successfully depicted Labour's policies as a threat to the viability of small Welsh communities.^[16]

1970s[link]

In the 1970 general election Plaid Cymru contested every seat in Wales for the first time and its vote share surged from 4.5% in 1966 to 11.5%. Gwynfor Evans lost Carmarthen to Labour, but regained the seat in October 1974, by which time the party had gained a further two MPs, representing the constituencies of Caernarfon and Merionethshire.

Plaid Cymru's emergence (along with the Scottish National Party) prompted the Wilson government to establish the Kilbrandon Commission on the constitution. The subsequent proposals for a Welsh Assembly were, however, heavily defeated in a referendum in 1979. Despite Plaid Cymru's ambivalence toward home rule (as opposed to outright independence) the referendum result led many in the party to question its direction.^[7]

At the 1979 general election the party's vote share declined from 10.8% to 8.1% and Carmarthen was again lost to Labour.

1980s[link]

Caernarfon MP Dafydd Wigley succeeded Gwynfor Evans as president in 1981, inheriting a party whose morale was at an all-time low. In 1981 the party adopted "community socialism" as a constitutional aim. While the party embarked on a wide-ranging review of its priorities and goals, Gwynfor Evans fought a successful campaign (including the threat of a hunger strike) to oblige the Conservative government to fulfill its promise to establish S4C, a Welsh-language television station.^[17] In 1984 Dafydd Elis-Thomas was elected president, defeating Dafydd Iwan, a move that saw the party shift to the left. Ieuan Wyn Jones (later Plaid Cymru leader) captured Ynys Môn from the Conservatives in 1987. In 1989 Dafydd Wigley once again assumed the presidency of the party.

1990s[link]

In the 1992 general election the party added a fourth MP, Cynog Dafis, when he gained Ceredigion and Pembroke North from the Liberal Democrats. Dafis was endorsed by the local branch of the Green Party. The party's vote share recovered to 9.9% by the 1997 general election.

In 1997, following the election of a Labour government committed to devolution for Wales, a further referendum was narrowly won, establishing the National Assembly for Wales. Plaid Cymru became the main opposition to the ruling Labour Party, with 17 seats to Labour's 28. In doing so, it appeared to have broken out of its rural Welsh-speaking heartland, and captured traditionally strong Labour areas in industrial south Wales.

Plaid Cymru in the Assembly era[link]

First Welsh Assembly, 1999–2003[link]

In the 1999 election Plaid Cymru gained seats in traditional Labour areas such as Rhondda, Islwyn and Llanelli, achieving by far its highest share of the vote in any Wales-wide election. While Plaid Cymru regarded itself as the natural beneficiary of devolution, others attributed its performance in large part to the travails of the Labour Party^[who?], whose nomination for Assembly First Secretary, Ron Davies, was forced to stand down in an alleged sex scandal. The ensuing leadership battle, won by Alun Michael, did much to damage Labour, and thus aided Plaid Cymru, whose leader was the more popular and higher profile Dafydd Wigley. The Labour Party's UK national leadership was seen to interfere in the contest and deny the popular Rhodri Morgan victory.^[18] Less than two months later, in elections to the European parliament, Labour support slumped further, and Plaid Cymru came within 2.5% of achieving the largest share of the vote in Wales. Under the new system of proportional representation, the party also gained two MEPs.

Plaid Cymru then developed political problems of its own. Dafydd Wigley resigned, citing health problems but amid rumours of a plot against him.^[19] His successor, Ieuan Wyn Jones, struggled to impose his authority, particularly over controversial remarks made by a senior councillor, Seimon Glyn.^[20] At the same time, Labour leader and First Minister Alun Michael was replaced by Rhodri Morgan.

In the 2001 general election, Plaid Cymru lost Wyn Jones's former seat of Ynys Môn to Albert Owen, but gained Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, where Adam Price was elected. Notwithstanding these mixed results, the party recorded its highest-ever vote share in a general election, 14.3%.

Second Welsh Assembly, 2003–07[link]

The Assembly elections of May 2003 saw the party's representation drop from 17 to 12, with the gains of the 1999 election falling again to Labour and the party's share of the vote declining to 21%. Plaid Cymru narrowly remained the second-largest party in the National Assembly ahead of the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Forward Wales.

On 15 September 2003 folk-singer and county councillor Dafydd Iwan was elected as Plaid Cymru's president. Ieuan Wyn Jones, who had resigned from his dual role as president and Assembly group leader following the losses in the 2003 Assembly election, was re-elected in the latter role. Elfyn Llwyd remained the Plaid Cymru leader in the Westminster Parliament. Under Iwan's presidency the party formally adopted a policy of independence for Wales in Europe.

The 2004 local election saw the party lose control of the two south Wales councils it gained in 1999, Rhondda Cynon Taff and Caerphilly, while retaining its stronghold of Gwynedd in the north-west. However, the results led the party to claim a greater number of ethnic minority councillors than all the other political parties in Wales combined,^[21] along with gains in authorities such as Cardiff and Swansea, where Plaid Cymru representation had been minimal. In the European Parliament elections of the same year, the party's vote share fell to 17.4%, and the reduction in the number of Welsh MEPs saw its representation reduced to one.

Old logo (above) and new logo (below)

In the general election of 5 May 2005, Plaid Cymru lost the Ceredigion seat to the Liberal Democrats, the result was a disappointment to Plaid, who had hoped to gain Ynys Môn. Overall therefore, the party's Parliamentary representation fell to three seats, the lowest level for Plaid Cymru since 1992. The party's share of the vote fell to 12.6%.^[22]

In 2006, the party voted constitutional changes to formally designate the party's leader in the assembly as its overall leader, with Ieuan Wyn Jones being restored to the full leadership and Dafydd Iwan becoming head of the voluntary wing of the party. 2006 also saw the party unveil a radical change of image, opting to use "Plaid" as the party's name, although "Plaid Cymru — The Party of Wales" would remain the official title. The party's colours were changed to yellow from the traditional green and red, while the party logo was changed from the 'triban' (three peaks) used since 1933 to a yellow Welsh poppy (Meconopsis cambrica).

Third Welsh Assembly, 2007–11[link]

In the Welsh Assembly election of 3 May 2007, Plaid Cymru increased its number of seats from 12 to 15, regaining Llanelli, gaining one additional list seat and winning the newly created constituency of Aberconwy. The 2007 election also saw Plaid Cymru's Mohammad Asghar become the first ethnic minority candidate elected to the Welsh Assembly.^[23] The party's share of the vote increased to 22.4%.

After weeks of negotiations involving all four parties in the Assembly, Plaid Cymru and Labour agreed to form a coalition government. Their agreed "One Wales" programme included a commitment for both parties to campaign for a 'Yes' vote in a referendum on full law-making powers for the Assembly, to be held at a time of the Welsh Assembly Government's choosing.^[24] Ieuan Wyn Jones was subsequently confirmed as Deputy First Minister of Wales^[25] and Minister for the Economy and Transport. Rhodri Glyn Thomas was appointed Heritage Minister. He later stood down, and Alun Ffred Jones took over. Ceredigion AM Elin Jones appointed to the Rural Affairs brief in the new 10-member cabinet. Jocelyn Davies became Deputy Minister for Housing, and later, Regeneration.

In the 2010 general election, Plaid returned three MPs to Westminster. They took part in the Yes for Wales cross-party campaign for the March 2011 referendum.

Fourth Assembly, 2011–[link]

In the 2011 Assembly election Plaid slipped from 2nd place to third, being overtaken by the Conservative Party and losing its deputy leader Helen Mary Jones. The party has since begun an inquiry into the reasons for the failure to capitalise on its time in government.^[26] In May 2011, Ieuan Wyn Jones announced that he will stand down as leader within the first half of the Assembly term.^[27] A new leader was to be elected on 15 March 2012, a week before the party's spring conference.^[28]

Following the election, an internal investigation suggested a solution to the party's reduced performance might be found in changing its official name to the English-language "Welsh National Party"^{[29] [30]}. In 2012, Plaid Cymru elected Leanne Wood as the new leader. She is the first female, and the first non-fluent Welsh speaker.^[31][32]

Party leadership[link]

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	Name and Portrait	Party Office	Constituency (if any)	Notes
1	Leanne Wood Leanne Wood	Party Leader since 2012 and Welsh Assembly Group Leader	South Wales Central
2	Dafydd Wigley	Honorary Party President From 2001		Former Party President
3	Jill Evans	President From 2010	MEP for Wales	Member of the European Parliament
4	90px Elfyn Llwyd	UK Parliament Group Leader	MP Dwyfor Meirionnydd
5	90px Rhuanedd Richards	Chief Executive		Appointed June 2011 [33]

Elected representatives[link]

UK Parliament[link]

• Jonathan Edwards, MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
• Elfyn Llwyd, MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd
• Hywel Williams, MP for Arfon

European Parliament[link]

• Jillian Evans, MEP for Wales

Welsh Assembly[link]

• Jocelyn Davies, AM for South Wales East electoral region
• Dafydd Elis-Thomas, AM for Dwyfor Meirionnydd
• Llyr Huws Gruffydd, AM for North Wales electoral region
• Bethan Jenkins, AM for South Wales West electoral region
• Alun Ffred Jones, AM for Arfon
• Elin Jones, AM for Ceredigion
• Ieuan Wyn Jones, AM for Ynys Môn
• Rhodri Glyn Thomas, AM for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
• Simon Thomas, AM for Mid and West Wales electoral region
• Lindsay Whittle, AM for South Wales East electoral region
• Leanne Wood, AM for South Wales Central electoral region

Local councillors[link]

• 206 councillors in local government elected in 2008. They form the Plaid Cymru Councillors Association.

Electoral performance[link]

European Parliament elections[link]

UK general elections[link]

• Six seats contested on a joint Plaid Cymru/Green Party ticket

Welsh Assembly elections[link]

European Free Alliance[link]

Name and Portrait	Party Office	Constituency (if any)	Notes
	EU Parliament Group Leader	Wales in the EU

Plaid retains close links with the Scottish National Party, with both parties' MPs co-operating closely with one another. They work as a single group within Westminster, and were involved in joint campaigning during the 2005 general election campaign. Both Plaid and the SNP are part of the European Free Alliance party in the European Parliament, a nationalist and regionalist bloc of parties. The EFA works with the European Green Party in order to form a joint group in the European Parliament: the The Greens–European Free Alliance.

See also[link]

• History of Plaid Cymru
• Politics of Wales
• Lists of Plaid Cymru politicians

References[link]

External links[link]

Listen to this article (info/dl)

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v t e Plaid Cymru   Leadership Leader Ieuan Wyn Jones (2006–2012) · Leanne Wood (2012-present) Assembly Group Leader (party leader since 2006) Dafydd Wigley (1999–2000) · Ieuan Wyn Jones (2000–2012) · Leanne Wood (2012-present) Presidents (Party leader pre-2003) Lewis Valentine (1925–1926) · Saunders Lewis (1926–1939) · John Edward Daniel (1939–1943) · Abi Williams (1943–1945) · Gwynfor Evans (1945–1981) · Dafydd Wigley (1981–1984) · Dafydd Elis-Thomas (1984–1991) · Dafydd Wigley (1991–2000) · Ieuan Wyn Jones (2000–2003) · Dafydd Iwan (2003–2010) · Jillian Evans (2010–present) Chair (chief executive) Phil Williams (1970–1976) · Ieuan Wyn Jones (1980–1982) Dafydd Iwan (1982–1984) · Syd Morgan (1984–1990) · Ieuan Wyn Jones (1990–1992) · John Dixon (1992–1994) · Jillian Evans (1994–1996) · Marc Phillips (1996–2000) · Elin Jones (2000–2002) · John Dixon (2002–2010) · Gwenllian Lansdown (2010–2011) · Rhuanedd Richards (2011–2012) · Helen Mary Jones (2012-present) Honorary President Dafydd Wigley (2001–present)   Parliamentarians Members of the Welsh Assembly Davies · Elis-Thomas · Evans · Franks · Jenkins · A. F. Jones · E Jones · G Jones · H. M. Jones · I. W. Jones · Lloyd · Ryder · Thomas · Wood Members of the European Parliament Eurig Wyn (1999–2004) · Former Eurig Wyn (1999–2004) Current Jillian Evans (1999-)   History of Plaid Cymru Founders Byddin Ymreolwyr Cymru (The Welsh Home Rule Army) Moses Gruffydd · Fred Jones · Lewis Valentine Y Mudiad Cymreig (The Welsh Movement) H.R. Jones · Saunders Lewis · David John Williams Other co-founders David James Davies (formerly Labour) · Ambrose Bebb Related organisations Cymru X Category · Website

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Leanne Wood AM (born 13 December 1971), is a Welsh politician and the leader of Plaid Cymru. She was born in the Rhondda, Wales, and has represented the South Wales Central region for Plaid Cymru as a Member of the National Assembly for Wales since 2003, and was elected leader of Plaid Cymru on 15 March 2012. Wood, a Welsh language learner, is known as a republican and socialist.

Early years[link]

Leanne Wood was born in Llwynypia on 13 December 1971.^[1][2] She grew up in the nearby Rhondda village of Penygraig, where she attended Tonypandy Comprehensive School (now Tonypandy Community College).^[3][4]

From 1997 to 2000, Wood worked with the Mid Glamorgan Probation Service as a probation officer. From 1998 to 2000 she was co-Chair of the National Association of Probation Officers.^[2] Wood worked as a support worker for Cwm Cynon Women's Aid from 2001 to 2002, where she has been Chair since 2001.^[2][5] Wood lectured in social work at Cardiff University from 2000, until her election to the National Assembly for Wales in 2003.^[2][6]

Political career[link]

Wood was a councillor on Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council from 1995 to 1999.^[2] After leaving the probation service in 2000, she was Jill Evans MEP's political researcher until 2001.^[2] Wood was Chair of Cardiff Stop the War Coalition from 2003 to 2004.^[2]

Wood has been a Member of the National Assembly for Wales (AM) since the election of 1 May 2003, representing the South Wales Central region for Plaid Cymru.^[1] She was the party's Shadow Social Justice Minister between 2003 and 2007.^[1]

In December 2004 she was the first assembly member to be ordered out of the chamber for referring to the Queen as "Mrs Windsor" during a debate. Lord Elis-Thomas asked Wood to withdraw the remark on the grounds of discourtesy. When she refused, she was ordered to leave.^[7] She later said: "I don't think I was treated fairly, I don't think it was necessary.", "I don't recognise the Queen, I called her that because that's her name."^[8] Wood was arrested on 8 January 2007 for protesting against the UK's Trident nuclear missile programme at Faslane naval base in Scotland.^[9][10]

Wood became Plaid Cymru's sustainability spokesperson from the formation of the One Wales government, a coalition between Labour and Plaid Cymru in July 2007, remaining in the role until the end of Assembly's term in 2011.^[1] While in the role, Wood campaigned on 'green' issues, including calling for more land to be made available for growing food.^[11]

During the 2011 referendum on extending the National Assembly for Wales' law-making powers, Wood was Plaid Cymru's representative on the all-party Yes for Wales steering group, which campaigned successfully for a 'Yes' vote.^[12][13] She is Chair of the PCS Cross-Party Group in the Welsh Assembly.^[5] According to the BBC, Wood's particular areas of interest are: poverty; women's issues; social services; criminal justice; social exclusion; mental health; anti-privatisation; and anti-war.^[1] Her Plaid Cymru profile includes her commitment to working "for Wales to become a self-governing decentralist socialist republic." ^[14]

On 23 January 2006 Wood was the first Welsh politician to start weekly podcasts from her website^{[citation needed]}.

Scrutiny[link]

Between 2009 and 2011, Wood led the exposure of excesses at the Wales Audit Office, while under the control of Jeremy Colman, Auditor General for Wales.^[15] Through the Freedom of Information Act, she uncovered a severance package of £750,000, personally authorised by Colman, to the former chief operating officer Anthony Snow.^[16] Further scrutiny uncovered more self-authorised expenses, including training costs for Colman and Snow and the £464 cost of hiring a chauffeur-driven Mercedes for Snow to attend a meeting on how to save public money.^[17][18] Colman resigned in February 2010 following an internal investigation, subsequently pleading guilty to possession of child pornography.^[19][20]

Figures obtained by Wood under the Freedom of information Act revealed the level of pay among university vice-chancellors in Wales. Over 270 people were paid over £100,000 per annum by Welsh universities in 2009. It was noted that all Welsh university vice-chancellors received more pay than the £134,723 salary of Carwyn Jones, Wales' First Minister, and some were paid more than the £197,000 entitlement of David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister.^[21]

Information obtained by Wood showed thousands of workers in Wales to have been paid below the Minimum Wage since 2002-03. The underpayments involved over 1000 employers in Wales. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills subsequently asked HM Revenue and Customs to "press for prosecution where there is clear evidence that the employer has committed an offence.", in 2010. No prosecutions had begun by June 2011.^[22]

Policy development[link]

Wood has produced two major policy documents. In 2008, she published Making Our Communities Safer. Drawing on her four years’ previous experience as Plaid Cymru’s Social Justice and Regeneration spokesperson and committee member, as well as her previous work as a Probation Officer, it argued for the criminal justice system in Wales to be devolved.^[23]

A Greenprint for the Valleys was published in 2011, in which Wood argued for a job creation programme aimed at regenerating the former coalfield areas of the valleys. It contains initiatives including: a Green Construction Skills College; implementing an integrated transport plan for the valleys; creating a land bank for renewable energy and food production; and a programme to renovate heritage buildings. It also suggests providing financial support for home energy efficiency measures and for setting up of green co-operatives.^[24]

Leader of Plaid Cymru[link]

Wood was elected leader of Plaid Cymru on 15 March 2012, defeating Elin Jones and Dafydd Elis Thomas. ^[25] Her leadership platform included a call for "real independence — genuinely working to end war, inequality and discrimination", emphasising economic and environmental concerns alongside constitutional reform.^[26] Supporters of Wood's leadership campaign included former Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price, former Plaid Cymru president Dafydd Iwan and former Cymdeithas yr Iaith chair Menna Machreth.^[27][28] However Elin Jones accused her of "Fisher Price" politics.^[29]

Elections contested[link]

UK Parliament elections

Welsh Assembly elections

References[link]