Plaid has ‘stagnated electorally’ says Price
BALLOT papers for the Plaid Cymru leadership contest are sent out this week and as the race nears its climax the candidates are striving to convince activists that they can turn the party into an election-winning force beyond its areas of core support.
Adam Price’s campaign has explicitly stated that Plaid has “stagnated electorally” and its record in recent contests contrasts starkly with the SNP, which has led the Scottish Government since 2007.
Plaid has seen its share of the constituency vote in Assembly elections fall from 28.4% in 1999 to 20.5% in 2016, while Conservative support over this time has risen from 15.8% to 21.1%.
Although the party was encouraged when leader Leanne Wood took Rhondda from Labour in the 2016 Assembly election, Plaid has struggled to make inroads outside its traditional heartlands.
In the last Westminster election Plaid won Ceredigion from the Lib Dems by 104 votes but held onto Labour-targeted Arfon with a majority of just 92. Other than the four seats it won, there were only two constituencies – Blaenau Gwent and Ynys Mon – where it finished with 30 percentage points of the winner’s vote share.
Carmarthen East and Dinefwr AM Mr Price has set out proposals including the creation of a “national organising academy”, a “national campaigns unit” and “seat by seat targeting”.
Speaking ahead of the final election hustings in Aberystwyth, Mr Price said: “I have been inundated with messages from party members across Wales. So many of them feel the party’s election results have not been good enough, we’re failing to break through and connect with the voters.
“If I am elected as our new party leader, I will dedicate my first year in office to transforming our party into one that can win seats at every level of government – local government, Westminster and Assembly.
Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader and a strong supporter of Mr Price, said: “This is an urgent priority for our party – if we do not change course now, we could go backwards in 2021.”
A priority for Mr Price is turning “supporters into members, and members into activists” and ending a “dependency on wills and legacies to help us fight elections”. He argues that a “small donations strategy” is needed and the party should aim for a “minimum £500,000 campaign war chest to contest the 2021 National Assembly election”.
When it comes to “learning from the best”, he argues the “obvious start is with our friends in the SNP who replaced Labour as the party of government in a short space of time”.
Fellow leadership contender and Anglesey AM Rhun ap Iorwerth described how he hoped to broaden Plaid’s appeal and win the support of people who have moved to Wales.
He said: “As well as seeing me as being able to communicate a fresh and clear vision to new audiences, I was urged to stand in this election as the one to bring the party together, to provide real leadership and stability, and turn the party into a sharper election force. I’ve outlined in this election the need to focus clearly on building our campaigning capacity – quite separate from the work of developing policy – bringing in more funds, including through growing membership, and being focused on our targets.
“But perhaps more importantly, I’ve stressed time and time again, as a core message throughout the campaign, that a key way to gain support is by a showing we are at the heart of a new alliance, turning Plaid into a natural home for all those who believe in building the Welsh nation. That means being a home to people wherever in Wales they’re from, whatever their background or language, and whether they were born here or moved here yesterday. The message to those newcomers has to be, ‘You’ve made Wales your home, now make it your nation.’”
Ms Wood argued that the party under her leadership was laying important foundations.
She said: “Where we work hard, where we have local leadership able to inspire people to go out and work in our communities – that [is] where we do well. We are already doing the work for future elections, we are working on selecting candidates – we had an in depth discussion [at] the NEC on diversity – how we can get more women, more minority ethnic, disabled candidates – so that our party looks more like the country we are seeking to address and represent.
“We have taken a decision to employ organisers to build up our campaign unit. Some are wanting to make out that the party has no plan and that my electoral record is weak.
“We have the most MPs that we have ever had. After the 2016 Assembly election, we were the second party. We have two out of four Police and Crime Commissioners. And we have the second highest number of councillors than we have ever had.
“That’s a good record and winning in the Rhondda back in 2016 and again in the council election in 2017 shows what can be done.”