Plaid Cymru ( ; often
referred to simply as Plaid) is a political party in Wales
. It
advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within
the
European Union.
Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966.
Plaid
Cymru has 1 of 4 Welsh seats in the European Parliament
, 3 of 40 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament
, 15 of 60 seats in the National Assembly for Wales,
where it is the junior partner in the coalition government with the
Welsh Labour Party and 205 of
1,264 principal local authority councilors. According to
accounts filed with the
Electoral Commission
for the year of 2004, the party has an income and expenditure of
about
£500,000.
Aims of the Party
Plaid Cymru has five stated aims.
- To promote the constitutional advancement of Wales with a view
to attaining independence for Wales
within the European Union.
- To ensure economic prosperity, social justice and the health of
the natural environment, based on de-centralist 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.
- To create a bilingual society by promoting the revival of the
Welsh language.
- To promote Wales's contribution to the global community and to
attain membership of the United Nations.
In September 2008 a senior Plaid Cymru
AM spelled out her party’s continuing
support for an independent Wales. The
Welsh Minister for Rural Affairs
Elin Jones kicked off PC’s annual
conference by pledging to uphold the goal of making Wales an EU
member state.
She told the delegates in Aberystwyth
that the party would continue its commitment to
independence under the coalition with Labour.
History
Beginnings
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 purposes of establishing a Welsh Government.
Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru (Welsh:
National
Party of Wales) was formed on
5 August
1925, by members of
Byddin Ymreolwyr
Cymru (The Welsh Home Rule Army) and
Y Mudiad Cymreig
(The Welsh Movement). 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.
Nevertheless, at the General Election of 1929 the party contested
its first Parliamentary constituency in
Caernarfonshire,
polling 609 votes, or 1.6% of the vote for that seat. The party
would contest few such elections in its early years, a product
partly of its early ambivalence towards participating in
Westminster politics. Indeed the candidate
Lewis Valentine, the party’s first
President, offered himself in Caernarfonshire on a platform of
demonstrating Welsh people's rejection of English dominion.
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 lead to the
broadening of its appeal beyond that of an intellectual and
socially conservative Welsh language pressure group. The alleged
sympathetic views of the party's leading members (including
President
Saunders Lewis) towards
Europe's totalitarian regimes compromised its early appeal
further.
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
became a cause célèbre, heightening the
profile of the party dramatically and seeing its membership double
to nearly 2,000 by 1939.
1940s
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. In fact, the party adopted a
neutral standpoint and urged (with only limited success)
conscientious objection to war service.
In 1943
Saunders Lewis contested the
University of Wales Parliamentary seat at a by-election, gaining
1,330 votes, or 22%. At 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
Gwynfor Evans’ Presidency coincided with the maturation of Plaid
Cymru (as it began to refer to itself at this time) 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. At this
latter General 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 avert such
bills from passing.
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.
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 Party 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. However - in Carmarthen
particularly - Plaid Cymru also successfully depicted Labour's
policies as a threat to the viability of small Welsh
communities.
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, however, lost Carmarthen to
Labour, lost again by three votes in February
1974, 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.
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
Caernarfon MP,
Dafydd Wigley succeeded
Gwynfor Evans as President in succession 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. In 1984
Dafydd Elis-Thomas was elected President,
defeating
Dafydd Iwan, a move that saw
the party shift to the left.
Ieuan Wyn
Jones (now Plaid Cymru leader) captured Ynys
Môn
from the Conservatives in 1987. In 1989
Dafydd Wigley once again assumed the Presidency of the party.
1990s
In the
1992
General Election, the party added a fourth MP, Cynog Dafis, on
a Plaid-Green Party ticket, gaining
Ceredigion
and Pembroke North from the
Liberal Democrats. 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
First Welsh Assembly, 1999–2003
In the
1999 election Plaid
Cymru gained seats in traditional Labour areas such as in the
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, 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
UK Labour national
leadership was seen to interfere in the contest and deny the
popular
Rhodri Morgan victory. Less
than two months later, in
elections to
the European parliamnent, 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. His successor,
Ieuan Wyn
Jones, struggled to impose his authority, particularly over
controversial remarks made by a senior councilor, Seimon Glyn. 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' 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, 2003–2007
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
councilor
Dafydd Iwan was elected Plaid
Cymru's new 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 councilors than all the other
political parties in Wales combined, along with gains in
authorities such as Cardiff and Swansea
, where Plaid Cymru representation had been
minimal. In the European Parliamentary 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.
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%.
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–present
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. 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. Ieuan Wyn Jones was subsequently confirmed as
Deputy First Minister of Wales and
Economy and Transport Minister. His Deputy,
Rhodri Glyn Thomas was appointed Heritage
Minister with Ceredigion AM
Elin Jones
appointed to the Rural Affairs brief in the new 10 member
Cabinet.
Party Leadership
Plaid Cymru Leadership
Electoral performance
European Parliament Elections
| Year |
Percentage of vote in Wales |
Seats won |
| 1979 |
11.7% |
0 (of 4) |
| 1984 |
12.2% |
0 (of 4) |
| 1989 |
12.9% |
0 (of 4) |
| 1994 |
17.1% |
0 (of 5) |
| 1999 |
29.6% |
2 (of 5) |
| 2004 |
17.1% |
1 (of 4) |
| 2009 |
18.5% |
1 (of 4) |
|
UK General Elections
| Year |
Percentage of vote in Wales |
Seats won |
| 1929 |
0.1% |
0 (of 36) |
| 1931 |
0.2% |
0 (of 36) |
| 1935 |
0.3% |
0 (of 36) |
| 1945 |
1.2% |
0 (of 36) |
| 1950 |
1.2% |
0 (of 36) |
| 1951 |
0.7% |
0 (of 36) |
| 1955 |
3.1% |
0 (of 36) |
| 1959 |
5.2% |
0 (of 36) |
| 1964 |
4.8% |
0 (of 36) |
| 1966 |
4.3% |
0 (of 36) |
| 1970 |
11.5% |
0 (of 36) |
| 1974 |
10.8% |
2 (of 36) |
| 1974 |
10.8% |
3 (of 36) |
| 1979 |
8.1% |
2 (of 36) |
| 1983 |
7.8% |
2 (of 38) |
| 1987 |
7.3% |
3 (of 38) |
| 1992* |
9% |
4 (of 38) |
| 1997 |
9.9% |
4 (of 40) |
| 2001 |
14.3% |
4 (of 40) |
| 2005 |
12.6% |
3 (of 40) |
- One seat contested on a joint Plaid Cymru/Green Party
ticket
Welsh Assembly Elections
| Year |
Percentage of vote (constituency) |
Percentage of vote (regional) |
Seats won (constituency) |
Seats won (regional) |
| 1999 |
28.4% |
30.6% |
9 (of 40) |
8 (of 20) |
| 2003 |
21.2% |
19.7% |
5 (of 40) |
7 (of 20) |
| 2007 |
22.4% |
21.0% |
7 (of 40) |
8 (of 20) |
European Free Alliance
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
References
- Electoral Commission: 2004 accounts
- Our Aims: Plaid Cymru website. Retrieved 8 June 2006.
-
http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/news/Plaid-Cymru-want-independent-Wales/article-320673-detail/article.html
- Butt-Phillip, A, The Welsh Question, (1975),
University of Wales Press
- McAllister, L, Plaid Cymru: The Emergence of a Political
Party, (2001), Seren
- McAllister, L, Plaid Cymru: The Emergence of a Political
Party, (2001), Seren “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 Butt-Phillip, A, The Welsh
Question, (1975), University of Wales Press. "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.
- Butt-Phillip, A, The Welsh Question, (1975),
University of Wales Press
- Inspector Williams the Spy Catcher:
South Wales Police Website. Retrieved
29 September
2006.
- 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
- McAllister, L, Plaid Cymru: The Emergence of a Political
Party, (2001), Seren
- Elfyn Llwyd - Plaid Cymru parliamentary leader
ePolitix interview, ePolitix, 6 September 2006
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2005/html/region_10.stm
Election 2005 results, Wales, BBC News, 1 June 2005, Retrieved 6 February 2007
External links
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
