Neil McEvoy’s Welsh National Party forms first council group
Neil McEvoy’s new Welsh National Party announced its first political group in Wales on Cardiff Council today.
Four independent Councillors announced they would join and are now members of the Welsh National Party, which was registered in January.
The new group will be led by Cllr Keith Parry, with Cllr Andrea Gibson serving as Deputy Leader. The Group also includes Councillors Lisa Ford and Neil McEvoy AM.
All four were elected to represent Plaid Cymru but after Neil McEvoy was expelled the others announced that they are resigning from the party in October. Cllr Keith Parry was the leader of the Plaid Cymru group.
They said at the time that their decision to leave was motivated by the treatment of Neil McEvoy. The Councillors represent Fairwater and Ely wards in the west of the city where McEvoy intends to stand against First Minister Mark Drakeford in next year’s Senedd elections.
‘Growing’
Leader of the Welsh National Party group on Cardiff Council, Keith Parry, said:
“The party is not being officially launched until the 3rd of April but we already have a four-strong group of Councillors in Wales’ capital city,” he said.
“I’m really proud to lead this new group and this team as we push for individual, community and national sovereignty for Wales. We’ll also be putting forward positive proposals for sorting the housing crisis, tackling corruption and ending severe poverty in our city.
“I’ve been politically active for decades and I’m just over the moon that we finally have a party in Wales that will start getting it done for our communities. I’m looking forward to electing other Councillors throughout Wales to join our growing team.”
Neil McEvoy was suspended from Plaid Cymru’s Assembly Group in 2018 and eventually expelled from the party itself.
In January he was suspended as a councillor for four months after a council panel ruled he had bullied a care home worker.
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all of them were elected as Plaid Cymru councillors. They should resign their seats and stand again and be elected under their new so-called party before they should be descriped as WNP members..
Sort your own house out in Gwynedd with Dafydd Elis Thomas before chucking mud at others #Crachach.
Dafydd Elis Thomas isn’t a Plaid member
But he WAS elected as such!
“new so-called party” – do you have to be so obviously bitter that people have the temerity to leave another party ? As for resigning and standing again they are only doing what countless others have done for years. The practice of jumping ship is far more damaging at our Cynulliad where Reckless in particular seems to regard a move from party to party a key part of his survival strategy, and it has gone largely unchallenged. No doubt we need a rule change but where an A.M is expelled surely he/she has a right to go off and join… Read more »
I am not surprised by that comment coming from someone called Gwynedd. Says it all outside of Y Bro the Welsh speaking Heartland Plaid Cymru these days are nowhere to be seen. What exactly do Plaid Cymru stand for these days. The disasterous election pact with the Unionist Lib Dems at the General election. Yet they must be very happy with Mark Drakeford as they standing in the way of Neil in Cardiff West.
Plaid bears little resemblance to the party of my youth, it has lost its way and seems to have substituted one firm of bullying for another with some very toxic members hounding others who do not share, in their opinion, the ‘right’ attitude. It is far from the party of inclusion that I grew up with
I personally find Neil McEvoy a very good politician and one who actually interacts with people on the street and not just in the corridors of Cardiff Bay. I do however have some reservations about the formation of a new party because of a potential split in the vote and also because it could end up being representative of a Welsh Wales in the same way that Plaid Cymru is perceived as being representative of Welsh speaking Wales. That’s not to say it doesn’t have legs but division has always caused Wales insurmountable problems throughout history and I am weary… Read more »
50% of the population don’t vote in Welsh elections. The WNP aims to change that. Those of us involved have a lot of experience in growing votes. We aim to substantially increase the amount of people voting for a Sovereign Wales. The monopoly of the Welsh national movement is over.
I support Plaid, through Adam, but do admire what you are doing politicizing that 50%.
More up ticks if possible ! Fact that you and your team actually get out, talk to people, listen, understand needs, develop response then act differentiates you from the other posturing poseurs who describe themselves as “politically active”. Crack on, you will make a difference , probably in what’s left of my time.
Whilst it is important to get greater political engagement with the Welsh public I would also like you to outline the benefits of devolution and greater sovereignty. The attempts to have our future dictated to by people who have no links to Wales (Reckless) or who have a servant complex (Hamilton, Bennett) makes my blood boil. I would hope that when it comes to election time people are made aware of what you can offer as the WNP and what we as a nation could lose. If you could engage with those in the North East and the Borders as… Read more »
There’s undoubtedly a potential downside to the fracturing of the movement for greater autonomy within Wales: ‘divide et impera’ – divide and rule – is so ancient a political strategy that it has its own Latin tag!
But surely diversification in our politics is an essentially healthy phenomenon. If the new ‘Welsh National Party’ soothes an itch which ordinary Welsh voters are feeling, it’ll gather support. If it doesn’t, it’ll ultimately fail.
It seems to me to be worth a try, on the principle of ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’.
Dach chi’n cywir, John, and there are ways around the problem of a split anti-unionist, pro-Wales vote: Neil happens to be better-placed to have a stab at toppling Drakeford than Plaid Cymru or Gwlad, Gwlad are. They must leave him to have a fair fight in the open field, and instead challenge for other constituencies. Plaid could be in for a hiding in Cardiff West if they persist in this vendetta to the point of gifting the seat to Welsh Labour. This is serious business. Time for the Party to grow up and free itself of the influence of Deryn… Read more »
Neil McEvoy’s strength (at least as far as I can see; living up here yn Nyffryn Clwyd, I’m a long way from the action down south) seems to me to be that he’s an authentically local politician who has demonstrated by his repeated electoral successes locally and nationally that he does ‘soothe an itch which ordinary Welsh voters are feeling’. The fact that he’s now garnered the support of a number of Fairwater and Ely councillor colleagues in establishing the new party appears to be further evidence of that; presumably they must think so too.. Winning the confidence of local… Read more »
Plaid the party of bolshy women and emasculated men can continue its lurch to the the left in pursuit of the miniscule ‘woke’ vote and Neil’s new Party can mop up the centre ground.
Everyone’s happy.
So the Welsh National Party is the party of subservient women and hyper masculine males? Keep up the good promotion for this new party, I’m sure your bile is exactly what Neil Mcevoy wants. He needs to be careful of the company he keeps, but he won’t.
I hope the WNP will be a party of equals.
Something no one can claim for Plaid and its cliques.
Equal, but subservient women and hyper masculine men are a better fit for the WNP. Which is fine, people get to vote, if people want subservient women and hyper masculine men, then Neil mcevoy will do very well in the elections.
U ok hun?
I’m fine glen. How are you? Want to have a proper discussion like reasonable human beings or stick to you’re ignorant bigotry?
A despicable and sexist comment Alwyn. How dare you suggest the female free thinkers in the WNP are “subservient.” Maybe say that to Cllr Andrea Gibson and see how you get on. Those with nothing to offer but insult, show the emptiness of their politics.
Neil Mcevoy, i’m not surprised you can’t read. You’re party is advertising that it only wants subservient women and hyper masculine men. YOU’RE PARTY, not me. Nice try at gaslighting though one of your skills, it seems.
Our Party has obviously said no such thing Alwyn. Individuals comment here. The WNP speaks through its elected members and spokespeople only at this stage. Your comment was: ” Equal, but subservient women and hyper masculine men are a better fit for the WNP. Which is fine, people get to vote, if people want subservient women and hyper masculine men, then Neil mcevoy will do very well in the elections.” Maybe run such a comment past my wife next time you see her. I am sure she will have plenty to say to you about subservience. I would ask you… Read more »
That’s 2 females you’ve shot up to virtue signal. Twice you’ve gaslighted. Once you’ve ignored solid advice, be careful of the company you keep. Would you like to mention to Glen, who is fully supporting your party, that misogyny and misandry is not acceptable? No, of course you wouldn’t. As for level of debate, it’s only possible to be reasonable with people who can reason, which you keep proving yourself incapable of.
Alwyn, I don’t like to barge into someone else’s discussion, but it’s already been explained to you, by McEvoy himself, that there is no foundation to your accusation of misogyny in the WNP. How far do you think such an attitude would get them today?
The ploy of aiming a fake ‘ism’ at a Welsh pro-sovereignty party whose tenets you, as a Plaid Cymru supporter, might be expected to find some common cause with, is unbecoming. Perhaps we should all wait until we read the Party’s manifesto before looking for weaknesses, real or imagined.
It’s not barging in. As the WNP has no members at this time, its OK to judge them on their supporters. “Plaid the party of bolshy women and emasculated men” is a statement clear in its misogyny, misandry and homophobia from someone offering support. Has anyone from WNP condemned or explained to Glen how his support isn’t welcome if he has such views? A party of decency would have addressed Glen and is open isms, so I can only conclude, WNP will tolerate this kind of attitude for a vote or they are seeking to exclude bolshy women and emasculated… Read more »
“Those with nothing to offer but insult, show the emptiness of their politics.” says McEvoy with no hint of irony,
Neil, many admire your courage to challenge the Status Quo, but many ask or believe that your actions are all “ attention seeking “ and using politics to satisfy your own personal ego . How do you respond to this accusation ?
Seeking attention to make people think about politics and the current situation in Wales is part of the job of a politician. The WNP aims to shine lights. As time goes by, there will be many faces in the public domain, supporting the Welsh National Party. My job going forward is to enable them to get as much attention as possible, in order to pull public opinion the way of a Sovereign Wales. I ask to be judged by results.
“Judge me on my track record” you said in a recent interview. Now you ask to be judged by results. OK. You have an appalling track record and I can’t think of any results either.
I’ve never commented on any site before, but please, please if you want the best for Wales can’t you at least be polite to one another. The comments here do Welsh politics a great disservice.
Dw i’n cytuno. Some of the comments on this particular page are both offensive and with no basis in reality. There are certain interest groups in colonial Wales who do very nicely, thank you, out of leaving things as they are politically. When a new broom comes along , they feel their position threatened, and resort to character assassination and offensive, false accusations. Alternatively, they pointedly ignore the new broom, hoping against hope that it will go away and that nothing will change in Cymru. We’ll have to wait and see.
Spot on there brawd. Poor old Alwyn has an extreme case of the “chills” ( as opposed to “hots”) for McEvoy and it brings out the worst characteristics. I’ve read some of his stuff when discussing other matters unrelated to McEvoy and while I may not agree with everything he comes across as a rational analytical sort. But bring the “prince of darkness – Cardiff West” into the picture and he goes off on one straight away. Just pray it doesn’t coincide with a full moon !
There’s always valium, Huw.
If he must use such intemperate language in a forum for debate, he should at least redirect it at Welsh Labour.
I’m consistent in my desire to see decent democracy and representation in Wales, Neil Mcevoy isnt that, so yes I’ll oppose him. However, nation cymru doesn’t really give soft platforms to other destructive forces such as Neil Hamilton or I would be as equally vociferous.
Your stuff about some bloke’s alleged ‘misandry’, etc is one of the reasons why people are abandoning the Party, and why it is fast becoming an irrelevancy in many of the de-industrialised constituencies. Shame on Plaid Cymru, and shame on you, sir.
Have the last word if you must; everyone’s past caring now.