Adam Price needs to raise his profile to benefit Plaid
Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price seems well regarded, but it’s time he raised his profile outside the world of politics, says chief reporter Martin Shipton
SOME telling statistics were published this week which demonstrate the gap between Wales’ political class and the rest of the country.
As well as polling figures which showed Labour had lost a significant amount of support since December, YouGov’s latest Welsh political barometer poll for ITV Wales and Cardiff University asked participants to rank a list of political leaders.
Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price was rated most highly with a net average score of 4.6 out of 10.
Yes, it seems low – but we’re living through a period when politicians are among the least highly regarded sections of society.
A score of 4.6 is relatively high these days – apart from the fact that when asked to rate Mr Price, 72% of respondents said they didn’t know what mark to give him.
Is it that his election as leader last September is too recent for them to have made an assessment of his performance?
Or is it that most voters in Wales simply don’t know who he is?
I’d like to believe it was the former, but I fear the likelihood is that the latter is closer to the truth.
Nevertheless, Mr Price had higher ratings than the 10 other leaders.
Tied on 4.5 were former Welsh Labour leader and First Minister Carwyn Jones (of whom 27% said “don’t know”) and former Plaid leader Leanne Wood (32%).
Other ratings were Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds on 4.0 (76% don’t know); new Welsh Labour leader and First Minister Mark Drakeford on 3.9 (56%); Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable (3.8 (30%); Conservative leader and Prime Minister Theresa May 3.5 (9%); Welsh Conservative leader Paul Davies 3.5 (74%); Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn 3.2 (10%); Ukip Wales leader Gareth Bennett 3.1 (76%) and Ukip leader Gerard Batten 2.8 (73%).
Mrs May’s rating of 3.5 is pretty poor, but better than Jeremy Corbyn’s, which should be of considerable concern to Labour in a country where the party has been continuously in power for so long.
Mr Drakeford’s rating is better than Mr Corbyn’s, but he’s the same distance behind Mr Price as he is in front of Mr Corbyn.
It’s no surprise that Plaid made a lot of Mr Price’s position at the top of the ratings league, producing a chart that showed him clearly in the lead.
Nor is it a surprise that the lobbyist Daran Hill had a snipe at Plaid, tweeting: “Dear Plaid, When you create a chart like this, using an axis up to five when the polling was out of 10, you demean yourselves and your credibility. You also wilfully underrepresent the struggle and challenge you face. The poll was OK verging on good for Adam – but not a landslide.”
What should we make of these ratings, then?
What’s good news for Mr Price is that in terms of the marks alone, he is clearly the best-placed of the party leaders at the Senedd.
Those who know who he is and have formed a judgement are more likely to give him a relatively high mark – certainly when comparing him with his direct rivals.
But his low recognition level provides him with a daunting challenge.
If he is serious about becoming First Minister in two years’ time, he will need to become better known by ordinary voters.
Those who take an interest in Welsh politics, reading the Western Mail and watching or listening to BBC Wales’ and ITV Wales’ political programmes, will already have a sense of Mr Price’s capabilities and be in a position to mark him accordingly.
But the majority aren’t in that category, and he needs to make an inroad into that section of the community.
Plaid strategists say they have a two-pronged strategy to do so.
The first – given that many people living in Wales get their news from London-based media – is to get Mr Price into the London “national” papers as much as possible and, if possible, on to network news and current affairs programmes.
He’s already had some success in this respect, and for that Plaid Cymru can be grateful to Brexit.
Mr Price has been up and down to London to hold meetings with the likes of the Prime Minister and Jeremy Corbyn, as well as to Brussels, where he has met senior figures from the EU.
He’s hoping to do more of this over the next couple of years, and who would dare bet against Brexit remaining at the top of the political agenda whatever transpires over the next few weeks?
The paradox is that Brexit – a concept regarded by Mr Price with loathing – could therefore help him gain the recognition he needs to have a chance of leading the Welsh Government in 2021.
The other part of the strategy is for him to continue his never-ending tour of Wales, speaking to people at public meetings and inviting them to question him and even have a drink with him afterwards.
Pursuing this strategy will doubtless help Mr Price to improve his profile. He has the luxury of being in opposition, where it’s more difficult – at least in theory – for an opposition party to slip up. He must, however, unite Plaid Cymru and make it look like a credible alternative government.
That’s a task which could prove much more difficult than simply raising his own profile.