Plaid reduces McEvoy’s expulsion to 12 months
NEIL MCEVOY has had his 18-month expulsion from Plaid Cymru reduced to 12 months after a successful appeal hearing.
An appeal hearing was held last week between the Assembly Member and the party. Mr McEvoy had previously called his suspension a “disgraceful decision”.
Now the result of the appeal has been made public. Mr McEvoy, a councillor and AM for South Wales Central, is understood to still be considering taking legal action against the party.
A Plaid Cymru spokeswoman said: “The hearing panel has resolved to uphold the complaints against Neil McE- voy. He is excluded from the party for 12 months. The decision of the panel is final.”
Mr McEvoy, who had already been expelled from the party’s Assembly group, gave evidence to the disciplinary panel at the party’s Cardiff Bay headquarters in March before they chose to suspend him.
Three of the four complaints he faced were upheld and were deemed to be in breach of party standing orders.
The complaints were that he had taken actions or made statements damaging, or potentially damaging, to the public reputation of the party, and been responsible for breaches of confidentiality.
Relating to his actions during the 2017 Plaid Cymru spring conference, Mr McEvoy was found responsible for “conduct in party meetings or against party members during party-organised events or in correspondence dealing with party business which is intimidating, harassing or which causes distress or disillusionment among party members and/or staff ”.
A Plaid Cymru spokeswoman said at the time that his exclusion reflected “the gravity of the cases put before the panel”.
It is now understood that several complaints, including from lobbying firm Deryn, Llamau chief executive Frances Beecher, and a former member of staff have been dismissed by both the party and Standards Commissioner.
However, the Standards Commissioner has repeatedly refused to comment whether there was any investigation.
Since his expulsion, Mr McEvoy has sat as an independent AM and has said he will launch a new party.
The launch of that party will take place on May 21.
Mr McEvoy said he had “no option now but to discuss court action with my legal team”, adding: “I’ve worked so hard for this party for 15 years. I’ve built teams and increased the vote in Cardiff West far more than any other constituency in Wales and always brought in new members.”
There had been concerns from complainants and Mr McEvoy about the time the process has taken.
In the appeal panel’s decision papers, released in full by Mr McEvoy’s team, the appeal panel said they “sympathised” with concerns about the length of time the complaint process has taken, they said that proceedings in civil courts or tribunals “can take an inordinate length of time”.
But they dismissed a claim from Mr McEvoy that the party had failed to follow its own constitution.
Mr McEvoy has released a statement and said that “key principles of natural justice, due process and duty of care have been completely abandoned by the current Plaid leadership”.
The letter concludes that the suspension ends on March 18, 2019, and from the following day he will be able to reapply to join the party.