Plaid was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in the UK Parliament in 1966. The party holds three of 40 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament, 13 of 60 seats in the Senedd,[26] and 202 of 1,231 principal local authority councillors.[27] It is a member of the European Free Alliance.
Plaid Cymru's goals as set out in its constitution are:
To promote the constitutional advancement of Wales with a view to attaining independence;
To ensure economic prosperity, social justice and the health of the natural environment, based on decentralist socialism;
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;
Plaque commemorating the founding of Plaid Cymru, Pwllheli
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: The National Party of Wales) was formed on 5 August 1925, by Moses Gruffydd, H. R. Jones and Lewis Valentine, members of Byddin Ymreolwyr Cymru ("The Home Rule Army of Wales"; literally, "The Self-Rulers' Army of Wales"); and Fred Jones, Saunders Lewis and DJ Williams (David John Williams) of Y Mudiad Cymreig ("The Welsh Movement").[29] 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.[30]
In the 1929 general election 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.[31]
1930s
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.[32] The alleged sympathy of the party's leading members (including President Saunders Lewis) towards Europe's totalitarian regimes compromised its early appeal further.[33]
Saunders Lewis, David John Williams and Lewis Valentine set fire to the newly constructed RAF Penyberth air base on the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd in 1936, 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.[30][34]
1940s
A Plaid Cymru rally in Machynlleth in 1949
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.[35] In fact, the party adopted a neutral standpoint and urged (with only limited success) conscientious objection to war service.[36]
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 seven 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
1959 election in Merioneth. Gwynfor Evans, standing, is talking at BryncrugBBC debate between Iorwerth Thomas (Rhondda MP - Labour) and Gwynfor Evans, Plaid Cymru's first MP
Gwynfor Evans's 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 flood 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 dam went through without support from any Welsh MPs showed that the MPs' votes in Westminster were not enough to prevent such bills from passing.[37]
1960s
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.[38]
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' capital in 1955.
However, in 1966, less than four months after coming in third in the constituency of Carmarthen, Gwynfor Evans 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.[39] However, particularly in Carmarthen, Plaid also successfully depicted Labour's policies as a threat to the viability of small Welsh communities.[40]
1970s
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 campaigned to leave the Common Market in the 1975 referendum.[41][42] Wales and the United Kingdom as a whole voted to remain.
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.[31]
In 1975, Plaid Cymru opposed remaining in the European Communities (EC), feeling that the EC’s regional aid policies would "reconcile places like Wales to their subordinate position".[43] Nevertheless, 65% of Welsh voters voted to remain in the EC during a 1975 referendum.[44] The EC were incorporated into the European Union (EU) in 1993.[45]
At the 1979 general election the party's vote share declined from 10.8% to 8.1% and Carmarthen was again lost to Labour, although Caernarfon and Merionethshire were held by the party.
1980s
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.[46] 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.
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 gained seats in traditionally strong Labour areas in industrial South Wales.
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.[47] 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.[48] His successor, Ieuan Wyn Jones, struggled to impose his authority, particularly over controversial remarks made by a councillor, Seimon Glyn.[49] At the same time, Labour leader and First Minister Alun Michael was replaced by Rhodri Morgan.
The Assembly elections of May 2003 saw the party's representation drop from 17 to 12, with the seats gained in 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 within 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. The results enabled the party to claim a greater number of ethnic minority councillors than all the other political parties in Wales combined,[50] 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; this result was a disappointment to Plaid, who had hoped to gain Ynys Môn. Overall therefore, Plaid Cymru's Parliamentary representation fell to three seats, the lowest number for the party since 1992. The party's share of the vote fell to 12.6%.[51]
Since Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru reformation to 'Plaid Cymru' in 1933, the logo representing the party was the green 'triban' (three peaks) which symbolically represented Plaid's three key goals; self-government, cultural prosperity and economic prosperity, 'anchored in the bedrock of Welsh identity and history that is the Welsh upland landscape',[52] the logo would change in the late stages of 20th century to include the red dragon of Wales, however this version was short-lived. 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.[53] 2006 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. Plaid would abandon the triban (apart from the merchandise) and adopt the yellow Welsh poppy (Meconopsis cambrica).[54]
Third National Assembly (2007–2011)
In the National 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.[55] The party's share of the vote increased to 22.4%.
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 National Assembly (2011–16)
In the 2011 National Assembly election Plaid slipped from second place to third, being overtaken by the Welsh Conservatives and losing its deputy leader Helen Mary Jones. The party held an inquiry into the election result.[58] The internal investigation led to the adoption of wide-ranging changes to its constitution, including a streamlining of the leadership structure.[59]
In May 2011, Ieuan Wyn Jones announced he would stand down as leader within the first half of the Assembly term.[60] A leadership election was held in which three candidates eventually stood: Elin Jones, Dafydd Elis-Thomas and Leanne Wood;[61]Simon Thomas withdrew his candidacy before ballots were cast.[62]
On 15 March 2012, Plaid Cymru elected Leanne Wood as its new leader. She received 55% of the vote, over second-placed Elin Jones with 41%.[63] Wood was the party's first female leader, and its first not to be a fluent Welsh speaker.[64][65] Soon after her election as leader she appointed former MP Adam Price to head an economic commission for the party "focussed on bringing together tailor-made policies in order to transform our economy".[66][67] On 1 May 2012, it was confirmed Leanne Wood would not be taking the £23,000 pay increase that every other party leader in the Assembly receives.[68]
On 12 November 2012, Wood announced she would aim to abandon her relatively safe list seat by winning a constituency at the 2016 National Assembly elections;[69] she later confirmed she would contest the Rhondda.[70] Adam Price was subsequently selected as the party's candidate for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr.[71] Lindsay Whittle confirmed he would stand solely in Caerphilly.[72]
On 20 June 2013, former party leader Ieuan Wyn Jones stood down from the Assembly as the member for Ynys Môn.[73] Plaid Cymru's candidate Rhun ap Iorwerth was elected as the new Assembly Member for the constituency, receiving 12,601 votes (a 58% share) with a majority of 9,166 over the Labour candidate.[74]
Fifth National Assembly/Senedd (2016–2021)
At the 2016 Welsh Assembly elections, Plaid Cymru gained one seat, became the Assembly's second-largest party and briefly became the official opposition to the Welsh Government with 12 seats.[75] By January 2018 Plaid Cymru had been reduced to ten Assembly Members, following the resignation of Dafydd Elis-Thomas in 2016[76][77] and the permanent expulsion of Neil McEvoy from Plaid's Assembly group in 2018.[78]
Despite campaigning to leave in 1975,[42] Plaid campaigned for a Remain vote in the 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the EU,[79] spending £27,495 on the campaign.[80] In the referendum Wales voted 52.5% in favour of Leave.[81] Immediately after the referendum, Leanne Wood stated that voters 'must be respected' and criticised calls for a second EU referendum.[82] Plaid Cymru later modified their policy to support a People's Vote.[83]
In the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election Plaid Cymru decided not to put up a candidate, but instead to support the Liberal Democrat candidate Jane Dodds in order to maximise the chance of an anti-Brexit candidate winning.[86]
In the run-up to the 2021 Senedd election, polling suggested that Welsh Labour would win the highest number of seats but fall short of an overall majority. Pollsters and commentators suggested that the most likely outcome would be another Labour–Plaid Cymru coalition,[89][90] an option First Minister Mark Drakeford said he would be open to.[91] Price insisted that his party would not be Labour's "junior partner",[92] nor would they work with the Conservatives under any circumstances.[93] He stated that Plaid would be willing to join forces with Labour, but only if the former were the largest party or if it were an equal partnership.[90] Price also said that he did not consider Welsh independence to be "a distraction or a constitutional abstraction", but rather "a practical necessity".[94]
At the election, Plaid increased their seat total to thirteen, up one from the twelve they won in 2016, but lost out in their target constituencies, and lost Rhondda where former leader Leanne Wood lost her seat to Labour.[95] Price said he would not resign, telling ITV Wales: "My job is to lead, its not to give up at a set back or disappointment. My job is to sustain the hope – all those young people who voted for Plaid because they were inspired by our message of the potential we believe is there in Wales to deliver a decent society for our people. I firmly believe that we have sown a lot of seed at this election. A lot of young people in particular who did come with us this time has laid the foundations for the future which I think will set us up for growth in the years to come."[96]
On 22 November 2021, despite Price's earlier comments about refusing to work with Labour,[97] the two parties announced a co-operation agreement consisting of almost 50 different policies, including providing free school meals for all primary school children, the establishment of a free-at-point-of-need national care system and building a railway between North and South Wales.[98] Price called the agreement "a down-payment on independence" and claimed that the results of the Senedd election "confirmed Wales's status as an indy-curious nation. A curiosity that will give birth – sooner than many think – to an independent Wales." He went on to say, "For Wales to be free, we must first be united. And, that is what this Co-operation Agreement sets out to achieve. It launches us on a pathway to a united Wales, one that, sooner than we perhaps think, will find it both comfortable and natural, indeed essential, to join the world community of normal, independent nations."[99]
The co-operation agreement was ratified by Plaid's conference, with 94% voting in favour. "This is a huge step forward for Wales and our democracy,” Price said. "The co-operation agreement will bring immediate, tangible and long-term benefit for the people of Wales. All primary school children will now receive free school meals; there will be free childcare for all two-year-olds; and radical action to tackle the housing crisis. There will be stability payments to support family farms; exploration of an accelerated pathway to net zero by 2035; the creation of Ynni Cymru – a company to expand community-owned renewable energy generation; and a new and reformed Senedd – bigger, more diverse, and gender balanced in law. From feeding our children to caring for our elderly, this is a nation-building Programme for Government which will change the lives of thousands of people the length and breadth of our country for the better. And none of it would be happening without Plaid Cymru."[100]
Independence Commission 2020
Before the 2019 general election, Price announced that he would set up a commission to look at the practicality of Welsh independence, and how a Plaid Government would hold an independence referendum.[101] The commission, led by former Dwyfor Meirionydd Plaid MP Elfyn Llwyd, released its report on 25 September 2020.[102][103] It recommends five key aims for Plaid Cymru:[104]
Says an independent Wales should seek membership of the European Union, with a possible intermediate step being membership of the European Free Trade Area.
Recommends that Wales explores a confederal relationship with England and Scotland.
Proposes improvements to the operation of the Welsh Government and civil service.
Points the way to drawing up a Welsh Constitution and sets out a framework for a Self-Determination Bill to take the independence process forward.
A statutory National Commission should provide the people of Wales with a clear understanding of the option for their political future – including through Citizens' Assemblies and an initial referendum to test a range of constitutional options.
It also recommends that there should be one multiple choice referendum to gauge views and to persuade a UK Westminster government to agree to a referendum on the preferred option.[103]
The report was met with criticism from the Welsh Liberal Democrats, describing the report as a mix of "fanatical politics" and "pie in the sky economics".[105]
In December 2020, Price stated that an independence referendum would be held in Plaid Cymru's first term in office, if the party won a majority at the 2021 Senedd election.[106]
*Six seats (Blaenau Gwent, Ceredigion & Pembroke North, Islwyn, Monmouth, Newport West and Torfaen) contested on a joint Plaid Cymru/Green Party ticket
*The 2012 figures exclude Anglesey, where the vote was delayed until 2013. The changes in seats and votes shown for 2012 are a direct comparison since the 2008 elections in the 21 councils up for election (i.e. excluding Anglesey).
In 2008 Plaid won 205 seats including six in Anglesey. For the purposes of this table the 205 figure has been reduced to 199 for the 2012 elections where the party lost 41 of the 199 seats it was defending on the night, leaving them with 158 seats.
In the 2013 elections in Anglesey the party won 12 seats, up from the 6 it won in 2008 (although there were significant boundary changes and a reduction in the total number of seats from 40 to 30).
The 2017 figures are based on changes from the 2012 and 2013 elections. (Hence the slight discrepancy in the percentage increase.)
Adam Robert Price is a Welsh politician serving as the Leader of Plaid Cymru since 2018. Since 2016, he has sat in the Senedd for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, having previously been a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Carmarthen East and Dinefwr constituency.
Simon George Thomas is a Welsh former politician who was a member of Plaid Cymru. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Ceredigion from 2000 to 2005, and an Assembly Member in the National Assembly for Wales representing Mid and West Wales between 2011 and 2018.
Ieuan Wyn Jones is a Welsh politician who was the Deputy First Minister in the Welsh Government from 2007 to 2011. He was the Member of the Senedd for the Ynys Môn constituency from 1999 to 2013, and he was also leader of Plaid Cymru from 2000 to 2012. Jones served as Member of Parliament for Ynys Môn constituency from 1987 to 2001, when he retired to focus on his work in the Welsh Assembly. In 2007, Jones was named Wales' "Politician of the Year" by the BBC Wales am.pm programme. He resigned from the Welsh Assembly on 20 June 2013. In 2017 he unsuccessfully sought to return to the House of Commons for his former constituency.
Helen Mary Jones is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician, who was a member of the Senedd from 1999 to 2011 and again from August 2018 until 29 April 2021.
The Welsh devolution referendum of 1997 was a pre-legislative referendum held in Wales on 18 September 1997 over whether there was support for the creation of a National Assembly for Wales, and therefore a degree of self-government. The referendum was a Labour manifesto commitment and was held in their first term after the 1997 election under the provisions of the Referendums Act 1997. This was the second referendum held in Wales over the question of devolution: the first referendum was held in 1979 and was defeated by a large majority.
The Wales Green Party is a semi-autonomous political party within the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW). It covers Wales, and is the only regional party with semi-autonomous status within the GPEW. The Wales Green Party puts up candidates for council, Senedd, and UK Parliament seats.
Carwyn Howell Jones is a Welsh politician who served as First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour from 2009 to 2018. He served as Counsel General for Wales from 2007 to 2009. Jones served as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Bridgend from 1999 to 2021.
Welsh Labour is the branch of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every UK general election since 1922, Senedd election since 1999, and European Parliament election in 1979–2004 and 2014. Welsh Labour holds 22 of the 40 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament, 30 of the 60 seats in the Welsh Senedd and 576 of the 1,264 councillors in principal local authorities, including overall control of 10 of the 22 principal local authorities.
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.
One Wales was the coalition agreement for the National Assembly for Wales between Labour and Plaid Cymru agreed to by Rhodri Morgan, First Minister of Wales and leader of Welsh Labour, and Ieuan Wyn Jones, leader of Plaid Cymru, on 27 June 2007. It was negotiated in the wake of the preceding National Assembly election which resulted in a large Labour plurality, but no majority. Labour and Plaid Cymru approved the document in separate votes on 6 and 7 July, respectively.
Plaid Cymru; The Party of Wales 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.
David Jonathan Edwards is a Welsh politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr since 2010. Elected as a Plaid Cymru MP, he had the whip withdrawn in May 2020 after he accepted a police caution for domestic violence against his wife. He sat as an Independent MP after the party's disciplinary panel suspended him. His membership of Plaid was restored in July 2022, but he continues to sit as an independent MP.
The 2007 National Assembly for Wales election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the National Assembly for Wales. It was the third general election. On the same day local elections in England and Scotland, as well as the Scottish Parliament election took place. This election was preceded by the previous Assembly election in 2003.
Rhun ap Iorwerth is a Welsh journalist and politician serving as the Deputy Leader of Plaid Cymru since 2018. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Ynys Môn since 2013.
The 2016 National Assembly for Wales election was held on Thursday 5 May 2016, to elect members (AMs) of the National Assembly for Wales, now known as the Senedd. It was the fifth election for the National Assembly, the third election taken under the rules of the Government of Wales Act 2006 and the first since the Wales Act 2014.
The 2021 Senedd election took place on Thursday 6 May 2021 to elect 60 members to the Senedd. It was the sixth devolved general election since the Senedd was established in 1999. The election was held alongside the Scottish Parliament election, English local elections, London Assembly and mayoral election and the Hartlepool by-election.
The 2018 election for the leader of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru began on 7 August. Voting closed at midnight on 27 September. Adam Price was declared the winner on 28 September, defeating the two other candidates.
In the Senedd, the Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest political party in the Senedd that is not part of government and provides the official opposition to the government. Since 7 May 2021 the Leader of the Opposition in the Senedd is Andrew RT Davies (Conservative). To date the office has been held by six individuals, three from Plaid Cymru and three from the Welsh Conservatives. Only one, Ieuan Wyn Jones, has gone on to serve in the Welsh Government.
Pro-independence supporters in Wales have proposed a referendum on Welsh independence from the United Kingdom, following similar calls for a proposed second Scottish independence referendum. Pro-independence party Plaid Cymru has pledged to hold a referendum should they win a majority of seats in the Senedd.
References
↑ Gwawr, Elliw; Deans, David (18 July 2022). "Plaid Cymru readmits assault caution MP Jonathan Edwards". BBC News. Archived from the original on 18 July 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2022. Gwynedd councillor Beca Brown is now acting chair of the party until its annual conference, when the position will be up for election.
↑ "Plaid Cymru". Politics.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
1 2 Schrijver, Frans (2006). Regionalism After Regionalisation: Spain, France and the United Kingdom (Thesis). Amsterdam University Press. p.330. hdl:11245/1.288031. ISBN9789056294281.
↑ Siaroff, Alan (2000). Comparative European Party Systems: An Analysis of Parliamentary Elections Since 1945. Garland. p.467. ISBN9781138888098.
1 2 Elias, Anwen (2006). "From 'full national status' to 'independence' in Europe: The case of Plaid Cymru — the Party of Wales". European Integration and the Nationalities Question. Routledge: 194.
↑ Driver, Stephen (2011). Understanding British Party Politics. Polity Press. p.176. ISBN978-0745640785.
1 2 Hamilton, Paul (2008). "Nationalism and Environmentalism". Nations and Nationalism: A Global Historical Overview. ABC-CLIO. 3: 881.
↑ Dunphy, Richard (2004). Contesting capitalism?: Left parties and European integration. Manchester University Press. p.157. ISBN0719068037.
↑ McEwen, Nicola; Parry, Richard (2005). "Devolution and the preservation of the United Kingdom welfare state". The Territorial Politics of Welfare. Routledge: 53.
↑ "Election profile: Plaid Cymru". BBC News. 27 March 2015. Archived from the original on 23 October 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2016. Led by Leanne Wood, the first female leader in the party's history, Plaid Cymru sees itself as a left wing party aiming at increasing economic prosperity and social justice, and securing an independent Wales
↑ McAllister, L., Plaid Cymru: the Emergence of a Political Party (Seren, 2001), "The tentative moves towards elaborating and broadening Plaid's policy portfolio did not allow it to shake off its early identity as a language movement or a cultural pressure group." See also Philip, A. B., The Welsh Question (University of Wales Press, 1975), "It is clear that the Welsh Nationalist Party was at the outset essentially intellectual and moral in outlook and socially conservative."
↑ Morgan, K. O., Welsh Devolution: the Past and the Future in Scotland and Wales: Nations Again? (ed. Taylor, B., and Thomson, K.), (1999), University of Wales Press. Williams, G. A. When Was Wales?, (1985), Penguin. Davies, J., A History of Wales, (1990, rev. 2007), Penguin. Davies, D. H., The Welsh Nationalist Party 1925–1945 (1983), St. Martin's Press. Morgan, K. O., Rebirth of a Nation, (1981), OUP.
↑ Davies, J., A History of Wales (1990, rev. 2007), Penguin: "Saunders Lewis ... hoped that a substantial number of Welshmen would refuse to be conscripted on the grounds that they were Welsh. He was disappointed by their response."
↑ Davies, J., A History of Wales (1990, rev. 2007), Penguin.
↑ Morgan, K. O., Rebirth of a Nation, (1981), OUP.
↑ Francis, H. and Smith, D., The Fed: A History of the South Wales Miners in the Twentieth Century, (1980), University of Wales.
↑ Tanner, D., Facing the New Challenge: Labour and Politics 1970–2000 in The Labour Party in Wales 1900–2000 (Ed. Tanner, D., Williams, C. and Hopkin, D.), (2000), University of Wales Press.
↑ "Plaid pioneer Gwynfor Evans dies". BBC News. 21 April 2005. Archived from the original on 15 January 2009. Retrieved 31 July 2008. Mr Evans changed the face of British politics when he became Plaid's first MP in the 1966 Carmarthen by-election. Fourteen years later he threatened to starve himself to death in the cause of Welsh language television, leading to the foundation of S4C.
↑ "Morgan is more popular — Michael". BBC News. 17 February 1999. Archived from the original on 31 December 2002. Retrieved 31 July 2008. Mr Michael, who has Prime Minister Tony Blair's backing, has been widely predicted to come first due to the form of electoral system used. An electoral college composed of three groups — politicians, trade unions and party members — will determined the winner. Large unions such as AEEU that have made their choice after a ballot of a small number of delegates are backing Mr Michael, but Mr Morgan has won every union member vote, including the shopworkers' union Usdaw on Tuesday night. Mr Morgan, a left-wing backbencher, has also repeatedly topped opinion polls taken among Labour Party members in Wales.
↑ "'Wigley downfall' plot denied". BBC News. 14 July 2000. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2008. Mr Wigley's announcement that he was to give up the presidency of Plaid Cymru in May came as a shock. Although he had been in hospital undergoing heart surgery, he was expected to resume his career. Some Assembly members said privately that he had taken on too much — being an MP, AM, party president and also group leader in the National Assembly. But there was also the suggestion that there was a conspiracy to oust him.
↑ "Moderate with a hard act to follow". BBC News. 4 April 2003. Archived from the original on 22 June 2006. Retrieved 31 July 2008. But Mr Jones was soon facing questions about his credentials for the job. Seimon Glyn, until then a fairly obscure Plaid Cymru councillor from Gwynedd, had made controversial comments on BBC Radio Wales about inward migration into Welsh-speaking communities. The issue was raised when Mr Jones appeared on the BBC's Question Time in Caernarfon, and he was criticised for his response, in which he at first denied that Mr Glyn had referred to English as a foreign language. There were more problems when Plaid's then chief executive said that Mr Jones was on a learning curve in the job.
↑ "First ethnic minority AM elected". BBC News. 4 May 2007. Archived from the original on 16 May 2007. Retrieved 6 May 2007. The assembly has its first ethnic minority member with the election of Plaid Cymru's Mohammad Asghar on the regional list. Mr Asghar, who was second on the Plaid list, was the fourth and final AM to be elected in South Wales East.
↑ "Details of Labour–Plaid agreement". BBC News. 27 June 2007. Archived from the original on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2008. On the sensitive issue of giving the Welsh assembly full law-making powers, a referendum on the issue is promised "as soon as practicable, at or before the end of the assembly term (in 2011)". According to the document "both parties will then take account of the success of the bedding down of the use of the new legislative powers (which came in after last May's election) already available and, by monitoring the state of public opinion, will need to assess the levels of support for full law-making powers necessary to trigger the referendum".
↑ "Jones confirmed as deputy leader". BBC News. 11 July 2007. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007. Retrieved 31 July 2008. Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones said it was a "great honour" to become the Welsh assembly's Deputy First Minister. He was Plaid's first government minister in the party's 82-year history. In accepting the post as part of the coalition deal with Labour, Mr Jones said it was an "historic statement" personally and for his party.
↑ "A Guide for Credit Unions"(PDF). Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Archived(PDF) from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
*Co-operative Party candidates stand jointly with the Labour Party. †Sinn Féin have elected members and offices at Westminster, but as abstentionists do not take their seats.
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