Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales – returned to Llandudno in Conwy County Borough Council for its annual conference, held in October.
Plaid holds cabinet positions on Conwy council: the party also leads four Welsh councils, has cabinet positions in eight, and has 13 Members of the Senedd.
Addressing the conference, Plaid Leader Adam Price MS launched what he described as a “radical” People’s Plan – slashing energy prices, freezing rents and providing affordable public transport.
He called for a return to the £1,277 a year fuel price cap, an immediate universal credit uplift of £25, and a commitment to raising benefits in line with inflation. There was also a need to ban housing evictions this coming winter.
Mr Price spoke about the party’s ambitions and asked the obvious question: “Can we make a worse job of running Wales than those in control in Westminster?
“No, it would be impossible! We need ‘Made in Wales’ solutions rather than relying on a broken Westminster system.”
Gweithredu dros Cymru (Making a difference) was not just a Plaid election slogan at the May 2022 Welsh local elections. It is a pledge to the people of Wales that has been reinforced by the 2021 Cooperation Agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid, which sets out 46 policy priorities embedded in the government’s programme.
One of the highlights of the agreement is the provision of free school meals for primary pupils, a scheme that Labour had voted against until the agreement was signed. Plaid is also looking to extend this scheme to secondary school pupils.
Elsewhere at conference, delegates welcomed the First Minister Designate of Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, who called for the re-introduction of democratic government and the importance of all parties respecting the Good Friday Agreement.
Motions were passed on the need for affordable housing, the advantages of a universal basic income, and the implications of fuel poverty, among others.
Also debated were the future of hydrogen energy, a call for a victims’ commissioner for Wales, the climate and nature emergency, Wales in Europe, and the country’s fiscal future.
Cllr Llinos Medi Huws, Leader of Ynys Môn (Anglesey) Council emphasised the importance of local government services.
She related the impact of local government to a young boy going to school where all the services he benefited from during the day were provided by the council. How serious would the consequences be if these services were not available?
The Welsh LGA hosted a discussion on bereavement issues, addressed by council leaders and chaired by Llŷr Huws Gruffydd MS.
Councillor Marianne Overton, Leader of the LGA’s Independent Group, also addressed Plaid’s Councillors’ Association’s AGM (Plaid Cymru and the Green Party are members of the LGA’s Independent Group).
Plaid Cymru and the Wales Green Party also announced the creation of a Future Cymru Forum to grow the case for independence. There will be a detailed shared programme to research and set out economic, social and environmental policies.
Closing the conference, Plaid’s Westminster Leader, Liz Saville Roberts MP, mentioned the chaos at Westminster and compared Liz Truss’s tenure as Prime Minister to the gestation period of a ferret – 44 days against 42!
She also predicted that an independent Wales would rejoin the European Union.