LEANNE URGES YOUNG SCEPTICS TO VOTE PLAID
PLAID Cymru leader Leanne Wood says young people sceptical about politics should vote for Plaid Cymru in the General Election to help defeat the “pernicious Tories”.
Speaking in Llanelli, Ms Wood said she believed the “youth vote can determine the outcome of the election, particularly here in Wales”.
Ms Wood, who was supporting local constituency candidate Mari Arthur, said: “Young people are very sceptical as to what the main parties are able to deliver.
“If they register and actually vote in great numbers in this election, I think they can have a real impact, so my message to anyone who is under the age of around 30 is, don’t see this election as being irrelevant, it is highly relevant and your participation in it can make a big difference.”
She added that she had spoken to many young people in schools around the country following the EU referendum and they felt their voices hadn’t been heard.
She urged young people not to let that happen again.
Llanelli, which has been held by Labour since 1922, is one of the areas Plaid plans to target in the leadup to the June 8 vote.
The party has candidates contesting all 40 of Wales’ constituencies.
Ms Wood said this election was about the defence of Welsh people, communities and nationhood – and that Labour could not be relied on to oppose the Tories.
She said: “We have to defeat these pernicious Tories.
“We have to defend our people, our community and our country from what they [the Conservatives] are capable of doing.
“We can’t rely on Labour to oppose the Tories; they are split, they are divided and so many of those Labour MPs here in Wales are just ready, waiting with a knife in their hand ready to stab their leader in the back.
“It is down to Plaid Cymru to provide the opposition to the Tories because Labour has failed to do that.”
Ms Wood added: “We have virtually been ignored since leaving the European Union, and we risk being ignored further unless we get a strong team of Plaid Cymru MPs to stand up for Wales.”
The Plaid leader said she was worried the Tories in Westminster would claim back devolved powers on agriculture, the environment and transport via the Great Repeal Bill, which aims to convert European law into UK law.
“We accept the result of the EU vote but what is crucial is that we get the best deal for Wales,” she said. “Not having any tariffs is our top priority.” THERESA MAY has insisted there is “goodwill on all sides” to resolve the border problems thrown up by Brexit on the island of Ireland.
During a visit to an agricultural show in Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister also insisted she was “personally engaged” in resolving the power-sharing deadlock in Belfast.
Mrs May said “we all want to see” an agreement reached by the deadline shortly after the June 8 General Election.
She told broadcasters: “We have got to make sure we do resolve the issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
“I’m clear that we want to see no return to the borders of the past, no hard border.”
Mrs May said the issue had been set out in her Article 50 letter triggering the start of Brexit negotiations.
She added: “There’s goodwill on sides.”
Mrs May made the comments as she toured the Balmoral Show in Lisburn, where she attracted a crowd as she stopped to talk to stallholders, including members of the Women’s Institute.
The Prime Minister stopped and posed for selfies with children and chatted to surprised show-goers.
As she walked past the parade ring, Mrs May bumped into DUP leader Arlene Foster and stopped for a quick chat.
The Prime Minister was later asked about criticism that she had not been involved enough in resolving the Stormont political crisis, but she pointed to meetings she held before Easter with Mrs Foster and Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill.
“I have been personally engaged. I have had contact with both Michelle and Arlene,” she said. all