Would-be Plaid leader calls for a rebranding
PLAID Cymru leadership candidate Adam Price has suggested the party should consider changing its name to the New Wales Party.
In doing so, the AM for Carmarthen East & Dinefwr has resurrected an idea first mooted by its former president Dafydd Wigley at a high point in the party’s fortunes in 1999.
Mr Price and Ynys Mon AM Rhun ap Iorwerth are both challenging current leader Leanne Wood, who has run the party since 2012.
In an essay published in today’s Western Mail, Mr Price argues that Plaid activists need to engage with 10 times as many voters than at present on a one-to-one basis.
He told us that the proposed name change could sum up in three words the new vision the party would be offering the people of Wales.
Mr Price said: “Many people are well-disposed towards Plaid, and while there are those who support and vote for us, there are many more for whom we are their second favourite party.
“It’s our challenge to get them to take that extra step and make us the party they will vote for.”
He said a name change would not be enough on its own to attract new voters, but it could be an important part of a package.
“Opinion polling shows that the most successful political slogan is ‘Time for Change’. In Wales we’ve had one party in power for many years, and I believe we can tap into people’s feeling that the Welsh Government is just plodding along without a vision.
“There’s a general sense of drift and stagnation, and we need to come up with inspirational ideas that people can believe in. It’s important that we appeal to a broad section of the population, as the SNP – which got a lower percentage of votes than Plaid in 1999 – has achieved in Scotland, where it has made itself the natural party of government.
Mr Price said nationalist parties often tended to look to the past with nostalgia. For him, Plaid needs to be a party for the future that can persuade people it can deliver real change for the better.
He said: “This is a crucial time for the party and it’s important that we make the changes needed so we can win the next Assembly election in 2021.
“We have to convince people that we will represent their interests, and that means non-Welsh speakers as well as Welsh speakers. We need to be seen as a party for the whole of Wales.”
Mr Price said he would not seek to impose a name change on the party; instead the idea would be up for discussion by party units.
He would envisage it being put as part of a package for change to a special party conference in January.
Leadership hustings will take place across Wales in the first two weeks of September, with the result announced on September 28.