Senedd Election 2021 party profile: Plaid Cymru

Plaid Cymru pledges to hold independence referendum

On a visit to a rainy Caerphilly last August, Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price told Caerphilly Observer he was convinced Wales would become an independent country by 2030.

In February this year, Plaid Cymru members approved the party’s pledge to hold an independence referendum within the next five years, should the party be successful in May’s election.

Mr Price said: “Something is happening in Wales. The last two polls on independence put it on its highest support in history.

“Thousands have now joined the grassroots movement for independence, YesCymru – and an argument once derided as a pipe dream or a fantasy has moved from the margins to the mainstream.”

He told Caerphilly Observer last year that the coronavirus pandemic had highlighted “many of the reasons why independence is a better option for us”.

A poll made for the ITV News Tonight programme in March this year showed support for Welsh independence from the UK at 39%, when ‘don’t know’ answers were taken out of the equation.

Before the election campaign, Plaid had ten Senedd Members, including Delyth Jewell, who has served as a regional Senedd Member for South Wales East since 2019.

Ms Jewell became a Senedd Member following the death of her predecessor Steffan Lewis – a much respected figure within the party, who died from bowel cancer aged just 34.

Ms Jewell will be contesting the Caerphilly constituency, and will be first on Plaid’s regional list for South Wales East.

Blackwood town councillor Rhys Mills will be standing in Islwyn, and will be hoping to become the first Plaid representative in the constituency since Brian Hancock, who was Islwyn’s first ever representative in Cardiff Bay between 1999 and 2003.

Meanwhile, Ian Gwynne has been chosen to represent the party in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney.