TIDE IS TURNING

The “tide is turning” on Welsh independence according to Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price.

Speaking ahead of the first ever March for Welsh independence held today in Cardiff organised by AUOB Cymru, Adam Price said that people were “waking up” to the idea that independence is normal.

Mr Price said that decades of neglect from the UK Government has resulted in poverty in Wales and that coupled with the Brexit chaos was enough to show that Westminster was “not fit” to govern or represent Wales.

He cited the emergence of various grassroots organisations including Yes Cymru, Undod, AUOB and Welsh Football Fans for Independence as a sign that attitudes towards Welsh independence is changing.

Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price said,

“For many years, our desire to see an independent Wales has seemed distant. But the tide is turning, the marches are growing, and the voices are louder.

“Decades of Westminster neglect have resulted in poverty and under-investment. A third of our children are living in relative poverty and you only have to look at the Brexit chaos to see that Westminster is not fit to govern or represent Wales.

“People are waking up to the idea that independence is normal and that the solution to our problems in Wales is to take our future into our own hands.

“Grassroots organisations like of Yes Cymru, Undod, AUOB and Welsh Football Fans for Independence, the repainting of Cofiwch Dryweryn and the sold-out, thousand strong Yes is More gig shows there is a new-found confidence in Wales’ future as an independent country.

“Imagine what an outward, fairer, progressive and welcoming country, with all the democratic and economic levers it needs and where anyone who wants to be Welsh can call Wales their home, could contribute to the world.

“Today, I will be proud to march alongside my fellow citizens from all across Wales to proudly declare that Wales’ brightest possible future is as an independent nation at the heart of Europe.

YES, WALES CAN

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price today publishes an anthology of notable writings which can be seen as a ‘manifesto’ for Welsh independence.

Wales – The First and Final Colony by Adam Price, published this week by Y Lolfa, is a collection of writings by the politician and Plaid Cymru leader on the politics, history and culture of Wales. In it, Adam offers his ideas for securing a brighter future for Wales.

Adam Price was born to a working class family in a council house in Carmarthenshire the son of Rufus, a miner and Welsh champion boxer, and Angela, who moved to Wales from Worcester.

At 31 years old, he was elected an MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr in 2001 and within a year he was uncovering dodgy dealings between Tony Blair and international steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. Shortly after, he led a campaign to impeach Mr Blair following the invasion of Iraq – eventually leading to the Chilcot Inquiry.

However, in 2010 he stood down from Parliament and headed to the Kennedy School of Government in Harvard, before taking up a role in an innovation foundation.

He returned to frontline Welsh politics in 2016 when he was elected as an Assembly Member in his home patch of Carmarthen before subsequently becoming leader of Plaid Cymru on 28 September 2018.

Speaking ahead of the book’s publication Adam Price said, 

“I grew up in the shadow of the miners’ struggle of 1984. A struggle which shaped the politics I retain today. 

From council house to House of Commons and from Harvard to Cardiff is not a well-trodden path, but I now face the biggest challenge of my political career – leading the Welsh national movement. But mine and Plaid Cymru’s message to the Welsh people must be simple: Yes Wales Can. 

As the first openly gay man to lead this party and indeed any party in Wales, I am a modern, inclusive leader for a modern, inclusive Wales.

I am confident that we can compose a new future for a new Wales. Labour will not be its author. And nor will it be written for us in the marbled halls of Whitehall and Westminster. It will be written in the streets and shops, the pubs and rugby clubs, the homes and hearts of our nation.

Some may shrug off our hope as blind optimism. I say to you that a successful, independent Wales is not a far-off, unachievable aspiration. It is a firm, near-term, realisable goal.”