Councillor’s new party
A PLAID councillor has joined the Welsh Nation Party following a sixmonth suspension. Tim Thomas, above, said he decided to change parties a month ago and WNP is “a breath of fresh air”.
A LONG-SERVING Plaid Cymru councillor and local candidate has moved to the Welsh Nation Party following a six-month suspension.
Tim Thomas, the representative for Ynysawdre, has joined Neil McEvoy’s Welsh Nation Party (WNP) after he was suspended from Plaid earlier this year.
Councillor Thomas said he decided to change parties about a month ago and working for WNP has been “a breath of fresh air”
He is hoping to stand as its next candidate for South Wales West in the 2021 Senedd election.
He became the Plaid Group leader for Bridgend County Borough Council in September last year and represented the party for Ogmore in the 2015 General Election and 2016 Assembly election.
Cllr Thomas claimed he was suspended from Plaid because of “a minor internal matter” related to the selection of regional candidates.
“A lot of people think it was a little bit harsh.”
Asides from his suspension from Plaid Cymru, Cllr Thomas said he had “other reservations” with the party. He said he had “not really” received “any support” from its Members of the Senedd while he worked as a Plaid Cymru representative.
“It was a very difficult decision to leave the party but I decided to,” he said.
“I’d been slightly disillusioned for a long time but I stuck by it because I’ve got a lot of friends in the local party.
“But I think they’ve become increasingly centralised on their decisionmaking and I just think communities like the one I represent, in Ynysawdre, are being forgotten about.”
Cllr Thomas said he has “already been heavily involved” in work with the WNP such as supporting local sports clubs during lockdown and scrutinising BCBC’s local development plan.
Despite his departure, he said he remains amicable with local Plaid Cymru representatives.
A Plaid Cymru spokesperson said: “Like the leader of the party which he has joined, Mr Thomas was suspended from Plaid Cymru for breaching the party’s standing orders.
“Plaid Cymru is proud of the way its councillors, MSs and MPs represent their constituents with compassion and commitment in all parts of Wales.”
Neil McEvoy, MS for South Wales Central, said it was “great” that Mr Thomas had joined the WNP.