AM suspended from Plaid Cymru sets up new group
CONTROVERSIAL AM Neil McEvoy will today launch a new political group called Propel.
He was suspended from Plaid Cymru earlier this year after three complaints were upheld.
This week it emerged a Plaid appeals panel had reduced the South Wales Central AM’s exclusion from the party from 18 months to a year, and he will be eligible to re-apply for membership next March.
Mr McEvoy will this week meet lawyers to discuss the possibility of a court challenge to the expulsion.
Today he will launch ‘Propel,’ described as a “group in Plaid” that is also open to non-members of the party.
Mr McEvoy said: “Politics is too important to be left to politicians. All politicians come and go; some know their sell-by date, some don’t. Ideas though, remain. Ideas endure, ideas will propel us all on our journey of optimism to create the Wales we know we can be.
“Propel’s mission is to reach out and to really connect. To take politics to the people, to show people that voting can bring about change.
“We want to empower people to take control of their own lives, their own communities and, by implication, our country.
“We are going to break the mould and make our Senedd, the Parliament of the people, for the people. That’s our mission.
“Propel also aims to return Plaid Cymru to being an inclusive party for the whole of Wales.
“It is not a weakness that people supporting Welsh sovereignty also believe different things, it’s a strength. I still hope to return to the kind of Plaid Cymru most of us joined.”
Speakers at the launch in Cardiff Bay’s Exchange Hotel will include Heledd Gwyndaf, who chairs Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the Welsh Language Society
Ms Gwyndaf, who lives in Ceredigion, said: “Over the past few years, we have had the perfect political storm to put Welsh sovereignty at the heart of our political debate.
“The current Plaid leadership has not really provided a platform for this agenda.
“As a loyal Plaid member, I see Propel as the vehicle to drive towards a sovereign Wales.”
Plaid activist Bethan Phillips will also speak at the launch. She said: “I believe that the political situation in Wales needs to be shaken up, because in my lifetime and since devolution began, there has only been one party governing Wales. I believe that a reshuffle of ideas and administration is essen- tial to Wales reaching its full potential.” Mr McEvoy said there will be three core principles – of individual sovereignty, community sovereignty and national sovereignty and it will “tackle corruption”.
He added: “Wales is so strong and we need to remember that. Look at the passion every time we pull on a sporting jersey. I want that passion translated into Welsh politics.”