A LETTER FROM WALES
This week, we take a take a look at how Wales seems to be emulating Scotland right now-
and not in a good way!
After Nicola Sturgeon stepped down from the SNP Leadership a couple of months ago,
Plaid’s Adam Price has now followed suit this week.
This in the wake of what was-quite honestly- even in this age of political hyperbole, a
jaw-dropping report about a long-standing culture of sexual harassment and bullying
within the party.
We’ll consider the implications and ask what next for the national movement?
LEADER PAYS THE PRICE FOR TOXIC POLITICS
THE toxic culture within our political parties has reared its ugly head again this week with
the fall of Plaid Leader Adam Price.

Price announced his resignation yesterday(Thursday), following a damning report on the
long-running problem of sexual harassment and bullying within the party.
The “Prosiect Pawb” report was chaired by Ex-AM Nerys Evans, with 80
recommendations made by her panel to properly tackle such problems moving forward.
Some will mourn the fact that the party leader has had to be sacrificed for his whole
party’s failings in this respect.

And that Adam Prices’s famed “mab darogan” status in Wales will never now be realised.
However, it now provides an opportunity for the whole national movement to consider
what the next steps should be concerning independence.

Alongside the Plaid members themselves who will now have to choose a new leader.
Considering the absolute state of the Tories at Westminster and the complete loss of trust in
the UK political system- it seems incredible that the two leaders of the main nationalist
parties in Scotland and Wales have now had to resign within a couple of months of each
other.

The SNP have been engulfed in a wave of sexual and financial scandals of late and are still
the subject of on-going investigations by Police Scotland.
Whilst there are no suggestions of Police involvement as yet in Plaid’s predicament, it now
seems clear that a toxic culture of sexual harassment has existed within the party going
back a number of years.

The SNP have been engulfed in a wave of sexual and financial scandals of late and
are still the subject of on-going investigations by Police Scotland.
Whilst there are no suggestions of Police involvement as yet in Plaid’s predicament,
it now seems clear that a toxic culture of sexual harassment has existed within the
party going back a number of years.
With both young men and young women affected by this long-running toxic culture
within.
Only this week, seasoned Welsh journalist Martin Shipton wrote an article in “Nation
Cymru” saying the problem had been in place for many years having witnessed a
direct sexual harassment example with his own eyes back in 2008.
The internal and external travails of Plaid have been well- known for quite a while,
with the party having been described by one commentator as “An unhappy family
with a dark secret”.
This chaos and internal turmoil has been seeping out more into public consciousness
of late, and has also been a decisive factor behind the rise of the three new nationalist
parties in Wales of late, Gwlad, Propel and Sovereign Wales.
With the three new parties seemingly now coalescing together on a broad
centre/centre-right platform for independence.
Gwlad Leader Gwyn Wigley Evans said the whole sorry saga was a blow for the
whole national movement in truth.
“As a party, we don’t want to gloat about any of this, because it reflects badly on
everyone to be honest” said Mr Evans.
“Ordinary people will be looking at all this and asking themselves- what on earth is
wrong with these people to behave like this? And asking themselves as well- do we
really want to give such people more power in Wales?”
He added that it was obvious that Adam Price had to resign after such a damning
report, but that making him the sole fall-guy for the whole problem was just an easy
way out.
“Surely, the whole National Executive should also have to resign after presiding over
such a seedy and unhealthy culture within the party for so many years?” he said.
“All of them have been sleeping at the wheel for years in allowing all this to happen
under their watch”.

One can only speculate why this sexual harassment problem has taken such a deep
root within Plaid, especially considering its non-conformist roots.
But perhaps a long standing presumption to “speak for Wales” has fostered a sense of
entitlement within the party. Leading in turn to a sense of personal entitlement
amongst elected members to be able to behave with such impunity.
And perhaps indeed that the frustrations of not being able to exercise political power
in Wales has led some of them to exercise personal power over others in their own
party.
So, what next for the national movement?
Many Plaid members and nationalists in general have been dismayed to see the party
becoming so close with Welsh Labour over the past few years under Adam Price’s
leadership since 2018, being almost indistinguishable in many ways by now.
But perhaps the warning signs were in place from the start when he insisted that he
was a socialist above being a nationalist.
He’s also been an unswerving supporter of imported ideology from the United States
such as gender ideology and critical race theory, which have proved as divisive
within Plaid as they have been within the SNP.
Some are asking whether his 6 year stint at Harvard in the States between 2010 and
2016 have actually played a part in all this ideological infiltration.
Yes, the co-operation agreement between Welsh Labour and Plaid has served to move
some policy areas forward.
But the considerable downside has been a complete inability to criticize Labour and
show up their multiple inadequacies in governing Wales effectively.
And not being able to function as an effective opposition to all intents and purposes.
One would think that Plaid now have to choose a new leader who can de-couple the
party from Welsh Labour and make the case for independence in a more direct and
honest way from this point on.
And you would also imagine that the clear choice to be able to do this would be the
AM for Ynys Mon, Rhun ap Iorwerth.
But he’s only gone and shot himself in the foot by declaring for Westminster at the
general election, thus being unable to rescue his party from its predicament.

You could argue that his decision to leave our own legislature Y Senedd to go to
Westminster at this crucial juncture in the party’s fortunes is just another example of
Plaid’s internal and external dysfunction at this point.
Many are asking, why after 23 years of devolved government, a leading nationalist
figure has decided to reverse the direction of travel and return to Westminster.
According to Gwyn Wigley Evans it sent a very unfortunate message to the electors
about the relative importance of Wales compared to Westminster.
“Gwlad’s policy is not to send anyone to Westminster, where we have no influence at
all amongst 650 members there- but to make sure we have all our best people here in
Wales, serving the people of Wales alone.”he said.
Time will tell who will emerge as the new leader of Plaid over the next few months
and how exactly this will influence the trajectory of the party going forward.
But one thing is clear, many voters and ordinary people in general will find it hard to
forgive the party for allowing behaviour of this nature to go unchecked for so many
years.
Because people do remember political betrayals as has been proved with other parties
time and time again over the years.