Plaid Cymru: Build for independence with reform - Rhun ap Iorwerth

1 year ago 22
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Rhun ap IorwerthImage source, Getty Images

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Elected unopposed, Rhun ap Iorwerth did not have to set out detailed policies before becoming leader

By Daniel Davies

BBC Wales political correspondent

Rhun ap Iorwerth will say he wants to start laying the "strongest foundations possible" for an independent Wales, when he addresses his first Plaid Cymru conference as party leader.

The Ynys Mon Senedd member will set out policies intended to improve cancer treatment and help businesses.

He will say Wales needs to "reform to build" after years of "frustrating" Labour leadership in Cardiff Bay.

He is speaking on the first day of the two-day conference, in Aberystwyth.

Mr ap Iorwerth has already said he will not set a timetable for an independent Wales.

It marks a break with his predecessor, Adam Price, who promised a referendum within five years if Plaid won the 2021 Senedd election.

Mr ap Iorwerth took up the reins in June after a damning report into Plaid's internal culture led to Mr Price's resignation.

This will be the first conference since the Prosiect Pawb review called on the party to "detoxify a culture of harassment, bullying and misogyny".

A "Plaid Cymru Cancer Contract" will include proposals for quicker diagnosis and better survival rates, Mr ap Iorwerth will tell the conference on Friday.

He will also hail a long-standing Plaid policy to bring back the Welsh Development Agency - the organisation responsible for attracting investment to Wales, until it was absorbed by the Welsh government in 2006.

He will talk about the need for "a strong, sustainable and socially just" economy.

"All this needs reform," he will say. "We must reform to build.

"By reforming the structures and systems that sustain us, that educate our children and care for our parents, we can begin building the strongest foundations possible for an independent Wales."

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Plaid Cymru has 12 Senedd members and three MPs at Westminster

As leader, he has inherited an agreement with Labour in Cardiff Bay that sees the two parties work together on key policies, including legislation to increase the size of the Senedd from 60 to 96 members.

The agreement has a year left to run.

The leader's speech will attack Labour and the Conservatives as Plaid builds towards a general election, expected next year, and next Senedd election in 2026.

It will hope for a better performance than the last Senedd election when it slid to third place, behind the Conservatives.

Mr ap Iorwerth will try to position Plaid as the "antidote to Tory antipathy to Wales" while saying "Keir Starmer's Labour Party will never make fair play for Wales a priority".

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