Plaid Cymru is a centre-left to left-wing,Welsh nationalist political party in Wales,committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. It campaigns on a platform of social democracy and civic nationalism. The party is a strong supporter of the European Union and is a member of the European Free Alliance (EFA). The party holds 4 of 32 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament,12 of 60 seats in the Senedd,and 202 of 1,231 principal local authority councillors. Plaid was formed in 1925 under the name Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru and Gwynfor Evans won the first Westminster seat for the party at the 1966 Carmarthen by-election.
Adam Robert Price is a Welsh politician who served as Leader of Plaid Cymru from September 2018 to May 2023. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr since 2016,having previously been a Member of Parliament (MP) for the same Westminster constituency from 2001 to 2010.
Dafydd Wynne Wigley,Baron Wigley,is a Welsh politician who served as the leader of Plaid Cymru from 1981 to 1984 and again from 1991 to 2000. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Caernarfon from 1974 to 2001 and as the Member of the Welsh Assembly for Caernarfon from 1999 to 2003. In 2010,Wigley was granted life peerage,taking his seat in the House of Lords in 2011.
Gwynfor Richard Evans was a Welsh politician,lawyer and author. He was President of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru for thirty-six years and was the first member of Parliament to represent it at Westminster,which he did twice,from 1966 to 1970,and again from 1974 to 1979.
Welsh nationalism emphasises and celebrates the distinctiveness of Welsh culture and Wales as a nation or country. Welsh nationalism may also include calls for further autonomy or self-determination,which includes Welsh devolution,meaning increased powers for the Senedd,or full Welsh independence.
Politics in Wales forms a distinctive polity in the wider politics of the United Kingdom,with Wales as one of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (UK).
Welsh republicanism or republicanism in Wales is the political ideology that advocates for Wales to be governed by a republican system,as opposed to the monarchy of the United Kingdom.
Leanne Wood is a Welsh politician who served as the leader of Plaid Cymru from March 2012 to September 2018,and served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) from 2003 to 2021.
Welsh independence is the political movement advocating for Wales to become a sovereign state,independent from the United Kingdom.
Plaid Cymru originated in 1925 after a meeting held at that year's National Eisteddfod in Pwllheli,Caernarfonshire. Representatives from two Welsh nationalist groups founded the previous year,Byddin Ymreolwyr Cymru and Y Mudiad Cymreig,agreed to meet and discuss the need for a "Welsh party". The party was founded as Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru,the National Party of Wales,and attracted members from the left,right and centre of the political spectrum,including both monarchists and republicans. Its principal aims include the promotion of the Welsh language and the political independence of the Welsh nation.
Gwilym Prys Prys-Davies,Baron Prys-Davies was a Welsh Labour politician. He was a pioneer of the use of the Welsh language for official purposes,and in 1982 became the first member of the House of Lords to take the oath of allegiance in Welsh.
The modern history of Wales starts in 1800 and continues until the present day. In the 19th century,South Wales became heavily industrialised with ironworks;this,along with the spread of coal mining to the Cynon and Rhondda valleys from the 1840s,led to an increase in population. The social effects of industrialisation resulted in armed uprisings against the mainly English owners. Socialism developed in South Wales in the latter part of the century,accompanied by the increasing politicisation of religious Nonconformism. The first Labour Party MP,Keir Hardie,was elected as a junior member for the Welsh constituency of Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare in 1900.
The Commission on Devolution in Wales,also known as the Silk Commission,was an independent commission established by Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan on 11 October 2011. The commission was based at the Wales Office Cardiff headquarters,at Cardiff Bay and met for the first time on 4 November 2011 at the Millennium Stadium,Cardiff. The commission reviewed the case for the devolution of fiscal powers to the Welsh Assembly,now the Senedd,and considered the case for increasing the powers of the assembly. It published its findings in two parts.
Rhun ap Iorwerth is a Welsh journalist and politician who has served as the Leader of Plaid Cymru since June 2023. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Ynys Môn since 2013.
Edward Glynne Millward,also known as Tedi Millward,was a Welsh scholar and nationalist politician.
Unionism in Wales is the political view that supports a political union between Wales and the other countries of the United Kingdom. As well as the current state of the UK,unionism may also include support for Federalism in the United Kingdom and a United Kingdom Confederation.
Delyth Non Jewell is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician. She is a Member of the Senedd (MS) for South Wales East region. She is also the current Deputy Leader of Plaid Cymru.
The Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) is an independent charity and membership-based think-tank based Cardiff,Wales,which specialises in public policy and debate around the economy,education,environment and health sectors in Wales.
Welsh devolution is the transfer of legislative power for self-governance to Wales by the Government of the United Kingdom.
