Plaid members quit to back new party for Wales
MORE than 100 members of Plaid Cymru have resigned and are planning to join expelled South Wales Central AM Neil McEvoy in forming a new Welsh nationalist party.
Mr McEvoy abandoned a bid to gain readmission to Plaid in July. He was expelled in March 2018 after a party panel decided he had brought the party into disrepute.
In a letter informing local members of his decision to resign, Cardiff West Plaid chair Jonathan Swan said: “I am cutting all ties with Plaid Cymru with 117 other people in 15 constituencies. We avoided doing so during the election to avoid needless bitterness.
“There is no integrity in internal Plaid procedures, but serious prejudice. Bullying is rife and there is crushing intolerance to anyone who is different. I believe in unity through diversity, not in uniformity.”
Mr Swan claimed that less than 10 party members in Cardiff had been “not only allowed, but encouraged to reverse the brilliant progress built in our capital city over the past 16 years, through hundreds of people and hundreds of thousands of hours of work”.
He added: “Last week saw Plaid retain four seats and fail to even come second in a single other seat in Wales. Plaid got its worst result ever in Rhondda constituency, in terms of number of votes cast for Plaid. In Cardiff, a candidate was not fielded in one constituency to make way for the unionist Lib Dems. In two others the deposits were lost. In Cardiff West, the vote went down yet again. It seems we’re being left with a rump of a party, confined to rural traditional Welsh-speaking areas, yet happy to prop up Labour in the Senedd.
“I’m interested in beating Labour and ending their two decades of rule in Wales.
“The only way to do that is by winning in south Wales, including our capital. It’s become clear that Plaid will never become a party capable of beating Labour here.
“It’s time for a new Welsh party to emerge that can represent all of Wales and I’ll be committing my time from now on towards making that new party happen.”
Long-term party member and donor Dilys Davies, a clinical psychologist who spends her time between London, Cardiff and west Wales, and who bought the Tryweryn wall to save it for the nation, said: “I think Neil McEvoy has been treated very badly, and I have been vilified on social media too. There is a very unpleasant element within Plaid who operate on social media. I was vilified and accused of being rich by a Plaid staff member. I never wished for a thank you, but I did not expect my professional and personal reputation to be so attacked.”
Nia Marshall Lloyd, of Wrexham, said: “I went down to Plaid’s Swansea conference with four other party members to vote for the party chair, but we were barred from doing so. The other reason we have all left Plaid is because of the treatment of Neil McEvoy. He should never have been expelled in the first place – the charges against him were pathetic. We are very interested in the new party.”
Mr McEvoy said: “What goes on in Plaid Cymru is no longer my concern. I’ve got big plans for next year to give people a real alternative. 2021 is the year when we defeat Labour and the First Minister, Mark Drakeford, loses his seat.”
A Plaid Cymru spokesman responded: “Plaid Cymru has seen a surge in membership before and now after the General Election. The party is more united than ever before and is focused to working towards forming the next Welsh Government in 16 months’ time.”