, also known in full as '''Plaid Cymru''' (pronounced
Political Party in
Wales . It used to advocate the withdrawal of Wales from the
United Kingdom and the establishment of an independent Welsh state, and the growth of the
Welsh Language and its associated culture, but its policies have become more ambiguous of late. Support for Plaid is historically concentrated in the
Rural Welsh-speaking areas of
North and
West Wales . In the
United Kingdom General Election, 2005 , the party's share of the vote in Wales was 14.3%.
Plaid Cymru has 1 of 4 Welsh seats in the
European Parliament , 3 of 40 Welsh seats in the
UK Parliament , 12 of 60 seats in the
National Assembly For Wales , and control of 1 of 22 Welsh
Local Authorities . According to accounts filed with the
Electoral Commission for the year of
2004 , the party has an income and expenditure of about
£ 500,000
Electoral Commission:
2004 accounts . Its website claims a membership of about 8,000.
Increasingly, during the last election and to the present, the party has adopted a quasi-
Socialist platform and called for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
The party was founded as (Welsh: ''National Party of Wales''), on
5 August 1925 , by members of ''Byddin Ymreolwyr Cymru'', a nationalist party of north Wales, and ''Y Mudiad Cymreig'', an underground nationalist movement. The party soon changed to the more familiar name, Plaid Cymru. In informal contexts, and spoken language, the name was regularly shortened to simply '''Y Blaid''' or the "Welsh nationalist party". On
February 24 ,
2006 , the word "Cymru" (Wales) was effectively dropped from the party's name. BBC news:
''Plaid image change a 'new start' '' 24 Feb 2006. The name Plaid simply means "Party".
Plaid Cymru contested few elections in its early years, preferring to concentrate on the promotion of the Welsh language and its culture, reflecting a split in Welsh nationalism over the question of whether to prioritise the constitutional separation of Wales from the United Kingdom or the promotion of the Welsh language.
In
1966 , however,
Gwynfor Evans (then the party's President) became the first Plaid Cymru
Member Of Parliament , capturing the largely Welsh-speaking Carmarthen constituency from the
Labour Party in a
By-election . Evans lost the seat to Labour in
1970 , but regained it in
October 1974 , during which time the party had gained a further two MPs from largely Welsh speaking areas.
Plaid Cymru retained this level of representation until
1979 , when Carmarthen was again lost. More significantly, however, a
Referendum On Welsh Devolution (or '
Home Rule ') was heavily defeated. Despite Plaid Cymru's ambivalence toward home rule - as opposed to ouright independence - the
Referendum result led many in the party to question its existence.
In
1992 , the party added a fourth MP, again from a Welsh speaking area. In 1997 a
Further Referendum was won, establishing the
National Assembly For Wales . Plaid Cymru became the main opposition to the ruling Labour group. In so doing it appeared to have broken out of its rural Welsh-speaking heartland, and captured supposedly strong Labour areas in industrial
South Wales . At the second Welsh Assembly elections in
2003 , however, all of these seats were lost to Labour.
The
1999 elections were seen as a breakthrough by the party, gaining seats in places where little or no Welsh was spoken — such as in the
Rhondda and
Islwyn . Many attributed this surge in support to the travails of the Labour Party, whose nomination for
Assembly First Secretary ,
Ron Davies , was forced to stand down in an alleged
Sex Scandal . The ensuing leadership battle did much to damage Labour (and thus aid Plaid Cymru who, by contrast, boasted a popular and high profile leader in
Dafydd Wigley ) after the
UK Labour leadership was seen to interfere in the contest and deny the popular
Rhodri Morgan victory.
Plaid Cymru's success, however, was short-lived: the Party's President, Dafydd Wigley resigned, citing health problems and amid rumours of a plot against him. His successor
Ieuan Wyn Jones struggled to impose his authority, particularly over the controversy surrounding alleged
Anti-English comments from a local Plaid Cymru
Councillor , Seimon Glyn and continuing allegations of anti-English and anti-
English Language sentiment.
In the
2001 General Election , Plaid Cymru lost Wyn Jones' old seat of
Ynys Môn to
Albert Owen , but gained
Carmarthen East And Dinefwr , electing
Adam Price . The
Assembly Elections Of May 2003 saw the party's representation fall from 17 to 12, with the spectacular 1999 gains such of
Rhondda ,
Islwyn ,
Llanelli and
Conwy reverting to Labour. Plaid Cymru narrowly remained the second-largest party in the National Assembly ahead of the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Forward Wales.
On having described it as a 'selfish' in the
1920s ).
In the
General Election of
May 5 ,
2005 , Plaid lost the
Ceredigion seat to the
Liberal Democrats , the result was a disappointment to Plaid, who had hoped to gain
Ynys Môn , whilst holding its four seats thus leaving them with their smallest parliamentary representation for a generation.
At its spring conference in Carmarthen in February 2006, the party unveiled the most radical change of image in its history. It was announced that it would in future use "Plaid" as the party's name, although "Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales" would remain the official title. The party's colours were changed to yellow from the traditional green and red, while the party logo was changed from the 'triban' used since 1933 to a yellow
Welsh Poppy ''(Meconopsis cambrica)''. The logo and brand were changed without consulting the membership.
At the same time the party voted constitutional changes to formally designate the party's leader in the assembly as its overall leader, with
Ieuan Wyn Jones being restored to the full leadership and
Dafydd Iwan becoming head of the voluntary wing of the party.
Plaid retains close links with the
Scottish National Party , with both parties' MPs co-operating closely with one another. They work as a single group within
Westminster , and were involved in joint campainging during the
2005 General Election Campaign . Both parties are part of the
European Free Alliance group in the
European Parliament , a self declared nationalist and regionalist bloc of parties.
