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First councillor in the north of Wales joins Welsh National Party

30 Apr 2020 3 minute read
Dylan Bullard (inset). Pwllheli picture by Killerfishfinger (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The first councillor in the north of Wales has said that he is joining Neil McEvoy’s Welsh National Party.

A Gwynedd Councillor, who represents Pwllheli North ward on Gwynedd Council, has announced he will sit as a WNP Councillor.

Dylan Bullard becomes the latest councillor to join the party after Cllr Martyn Peters on Neath Port Talbot Council joined yesterday.

The party now has six councillors, including four in Cardiff. The party leader, Neil McEvoy also sits in the Welsh Parliament for the WNP.

Cllr Bullard was first elected as an independent in 2017 for Pwllheli North after defeating a sitting Plaid Cymru Councillor, gaining 56% of the vote.

“Pwllheli is exactly the sort of town that can benefit from the WNP. It’s a great place to live but we could be doing so much more,” Dylan Bullard said.

“Every summer we’re a place that tourists flock to but outside of the summer months our town is too easily overlooked. The Labour Government in Cardiff seems to have little interest in us and Gwynedd Council has brought in policies that don’t benefit us.

“Local community schools across Gwynedd have closed because of Plaid Cymru. And their Local Development Plan has done nothing to progress our language. If anything, it’s led to an overwhelming number of second homes here. Local people are priced out of owning homes and young people see little option other than to move away.

“The Council’s reaction to the Coronavirus outbreak has been slow, to say the least. The Licencing Committee did not immediately issue orders for tourist sites to close and the Police and Crime Commissioner was so slow to react that locals had to take it upon themselves to keep tourists away.

“The simple truth is, Pwllheli and Gwynedd are not just here for other people’s enjoyment. We are proud Welsh communities.

“We need a party that fights for the people who live here year round. We need a party that doesn’t hold back when it comes to defending our interests. We need a party that puts community sovereignty at the heart of what it does. But most of all we need a party that recognises the enormous potential that Gwynedd and Pwllheli have.

“The WNP is that party and I’m really looking forward to seeing the party grow and develop in Gwynedd.”

 

‘Passionate’

WNP leader Neil McEvoy said that he was “thrilled that a Councillor of the quality of Dylan Bullard” had joined the movement.

“He defeated a sitting Plaid Councillor in 2017 and has been robustly standing up for the interests of Pwllheli North ever since,” Neil McEvoy said.

“He’s a really passionate guy with great ideas. I was very impressed with the way he stood up for his community during this pandemic and demanded that Gwynedd Council take action to keep tourists away.

“With the addition of Dylan to our team we are demonstrating that the WNP truly is a national party for Wales. We’re now representing people from coast to coast on three local authorities and I anticipate more community champions like Dylan joining us in the near future.”


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max wallis
max wallis
3 years ago

Cllr Bullard did announce he was joining Plaid in Oct. 2018, following election of Adam Price as leader. Was it the Party let him down, or like many others, is Dylan disappointed by Adam?

Helen Lewis
Helen Lewis
3 years ago
Reply to  max wallis

I contacted Dylan Bullard offering to support the Pwllheli food bank. No reply. I’m unimpressed.

Dylan Bullard
Dylan Bullard
3 years ago
Reply to  Helen Lewis

Hi Helen, thank you for volunteering to support the food bank. We had to move fast as the previous volunteers decided they were unable to continue for differing reasons. We had to find a new location and learn the ropes ourselves. We received over 300 offers to help, in fact I am currently coordinating many of these to help deliver food parcels and prescriptions throughout Llyn, if you would like to offer your help then please contact me personally and we will find you something. Many thanks.

John Ellis
John Ellis
3 years ago

Whatever the individual history which underlies Councillor Ballard’s political journey, it’s surely beyond dispute that there’s room for more than one Welsh-focused political party here.

It’s fifty-six years now since I first moved into Wales, and all through that time Plaid Cymru, while establishing itself firmly in y Fro Cymraeg (and all credit to them for that), has failed to win enough voters’ hearts and minds to establish itself lastingly elsewhere in the country.

Which suggests that there’s room for more than just the one national party perspective. Political plurality’s a healthy phenomenon in a nation’s life.

Wrexhamian
Wrexhamian
3 years ago

This is huge, because it suggests that the WNP is not merely a Cardiff party, nor a South-East Wales party, but a Welsh party on a currently small but nevertheless national scale. They will grow, and not just because of the talent, commitment and integrity of McEvoy, who is actually not the greatest orator in the Senedd.

John Ellis is right; there is room for more than just one Cymru-focused party, both in local councils and in Cardiff Bay. If Plaid don’t like it, they’ve brought it on themselves.

Does anyone know which parties the WNP councillors defected from?

j humphrys
j humphrys
3 years ago

Plaid seem to be growing in Wrecsam, where, together with Deeside, I would predict WNP growth. If the WNP are centre-right
this will squeeze the Conservatives, as the WNP feed off the McEvoy buzz: something money just can’t buy. And there is that
50%, just waiting for the call…………………….

Leigh Richards
Leigh Richards
3 years ago
Reply to  j humphrys

Er why on earth would pro unionist tory voters in Wales for the WNP? Like most people in Wales i know very little about the WNP, and i havent seen anything resembling a national manifesto from them, but nevertheless id assumed the WNP was in favour of Welsh independence – was i wrong in that assumption?

Ceri
Ceri
3 years ago
Reply to  Leigh Richards

It is more about whether any given tory voter in Cymru votes for them because they are unionists or not. If people have support/antipathy for the union as a primary focus and they vote tory, then yes, I doubt many would migrate to the WNP. But I don’t think that most voters here have any real position on the matter, rather. they focus on health, education etc. If the WNP offer a principled, conservative option and a conservative/right-leaning justification for supporting indy, many current welsh tory heads will turn.

Leigh Richards
Leigh Richards
3 years ago
Reply to  Ceri

“a conservative/right-leaning justification for supporting indy” – but didnt ein gwlad try that? And we saw how that turned out! So is the WNP going to be ein gwlad mark 2?

Rob
Rob
3 years ago
Reply to  Leigh Richards

It is possible to be a nationalist & have centre right views at the same time. How many nationalist votes have been lost because of Plaids stubborness not to embrace the centre ground. I know many who voted tory not because they liked them but because they didn’t like the alternative.

Wrexhamian
Wrexhamian
3 years ago
Reply to  j humphrys

Yes, JH, Plaid in Wrecsam have some very good people and do a lot of very good stuff. They will only win that seat when Wrexham people get out of their unionist mindset, though. Welsh is heard on the streets more than ever now, but so are Lancashire accents from those whom English local authorities have dumped here with the help of Welsh Labour’s Third Sector social housing butties. Labour’s collapse has created a gap in the electoral market Westminster-wise, currently filled by a very photogenic Tory parachutist from Lancashire. But the Senedd seat could be up for grabs if… Read more »

Steve Duggan
Steve Duggan
3 years ago

I am a Liberal Democat councillor who now believes Cymru will now be better off independent. It will go against my party’s beliefs but the people of this country must come first. This brings me to the subject of the Welsh Nationalist Party.. I’m all for a more vigorous approach to independence but if you are going to fight fellow independence parties – You will all lose. How do you think a few thousand British solders and diplomats control millions of Indians ? Divide and conquer, all the Maharajas were pitted against each other – you can bet you bottom… Read more »

Rhosddu
Rhosddu
3 years ago
Reply to  Steve Duggan

But people are unconvinced that the Plaid Cymru hierarchy are genuinely committed to the drive for independence, and until they can show otherwise, there is going to be a need for a more pro-active, indy-focused, Cymru-focused Party to keep the current momentum going.

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