Wales must shout louder, Plaid Cymru leader says

Wales must shout louder as a nation, the leader of Plaid Cymru has told his party conference.

On Saturday, Rhun ap Iorwerth outlined his ambitions for the first 100 days of a Plaid Cymru administration in Wales, which he said aimed to demonstrate the “seriousness” with which the party is approaching the prospect of governing.

Plaid Cymru has positioned itself as a government-in-waiting ahead of the Welsh Parliament election in May, with its targets including improvements to healthcare, education and a “resetting” of the relationship with Westminster.

Mr ap Iorwerth said: “I want to have a constructive relationship with a UK Prime Minister, whoever that is, be it Keir Starmer or his successors, but it will be based on transparency and honesty.

“Let’s spell out what we need.

“I’m sometimes accused by (Labour First Minister) Eluned Morgan of saying, all I want to do is shout louder.

“It’s not about just shouting louder, but damn it, we do need to shout louder as a nation, because the silence of Welsh Labour when it comes to criticising their colleagues in Westminster is deafening.”

Labour has led Wales since the Senedd was first established as the National Assembly for Wales in 1999, but, if opinion polls are to be believed, the May election could see more than two decades in power brought to an end.

Both Plaid Cymru and Reform are hoping to win enough seats to form a new government.

Speaking to the Press Association, Mr ap Iorwerth said: “If we’re asking people to trust us, the least we can give them is a promise that we are ready to start repaying that trust immediately.

“And I think any party that is leading in the polls, that looks as if it could be leading a government, owes it to the Welsh public to say, ‘listen, if you choose us, we’re ready to go from day one’.”

Mr ap Iorwerth said there would be a “marked difference” in his relationship with Sir Keir Starmer, who has recently stressed the importance of the Labour governments in Wales and Westminster working “side by side”.

Mr ap Iorwerth said: “It’s not a matter of me saying, ‘can I please have this’, and I get it. I know that’s not how politics works.

“(Labour) will have to choose either to cast Wales aside or to try to show that perhaps they do care, and I will be encouraging them to opt for the latter and do the right thing.”