Abolish Assembly member criticised over ‘ugly’ tweet
A SENIOR member of Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party has been criticised for a personal attack on Plaid Cymru politician Leanne Wood.
Lee Canning tweeted a picture of Ms Wood, who represents Rhondda, with text saying: “The ugly face of nationalism”.
He has since deleted the message and his party has admitted it was “inappropriate”.
Mr Canning quit as deputy chairman of the Welsh Conservatives to join the party in 2019.
Plaid Cymru’s leader Adam Price has said that the attack on his colleague and former party leader is “appalling”.
Mr Price said he was “unsurprised but nonetheless appalled to see the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party coordinator launch personal attacks on social media against my colleague, Leanne Wood MS, describing her as ‘the ugly face of nationalism’”.
In a letter he wrote: “Last week the vast majority of Senedd Members voted in favour of the revised code of conduct for members which sets out the principles we are all expected to uphold as elected representatives. The rules of the code explicitly state that members ‘must not subject anyone to personal attacks.’
“Five members voted against the code, two of whom sit as the ‘Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party’ members, despite being elected whilst belonging to other parties.
“With two ‘Abolish’ MSs already having refused to back the code and a third aspiring candidate showing such disrespect towards fellow candidates I ask that you join me in condemning the party’s behaviour and sending a clear message that it has no place in the Senedd election campaign.”
He said also called for the party to be cut from a planned televised debate ahead of the election.
In response an Abolish the Welsh Assembly spokesman said: “We can confirm that Lee has removed the tweet and we agree that the image against the headline was inappropriate.
“Although Lee advises he was attacking Leanne’s views and those of her party and used a normal picture of her we accept that this could be interpreted differently.
“Senior members of our party have received far worse from nationalist supporters, however we notice that the mainstream media is not interested in that.
“Having said that, who is Adam Price to determine who should and shouldn’t be in the debates? In a healthy democracy it is important for people’s voices to be heard on a public platform.
“This is an example of the dystopian future we have in store if Labour and Plaid get their way.”
It is understood that Mr Canning hopes to head the party’s regional list of candidates in North Wales.