Plaid Cymru have ‘grounds to be confident’ about election chances – Rhun ap Iorwerth
Plaid Cymru “have every grounds to be confident” about their chances in the General Election, Rhun ap Iorwerth has said
The leader of the party visited four seats ahead of polling day in a final appeal to voters.
His party hopes to take the seats – Ynys Mon, Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Ceredigion Preseli and Caerfyrddin – most of which have seen major changes since the 2019 election, following boundary shake-ups.
Polling has suggested the party has a good chance to take the constituencies, but with Ynys Mon being a tight race.
Speaking to the PA news agency on Wednesday during his stop in Ammanford, in the Caerfyrddin seat, Mr ap Iorwerth said he did not think his party “could have done anything else in this campaign”.
Boundary changes
He said: “We have every grounds to be confident going into tomorrow. This is an election, I trust the democratic process.
“I’ve said throughout this campaign that it’s been a difficult election for us, boundary changes haven’t been kind to us.
“(People say) it’s a polarising election, all about blue versus red, but it’s not.
“What we’ve been trying to do in this election – I think we’ve done it pretty successfully – is saying ‘no, there is an alternative to 14 years of Tory pain but also to that Labour indifference towards Wales’.”
Despite battling heavy rain, he said his team would be out canvassing because they take the election “very seriously” and want to earn people’s trust in every part of Wales.
He said the message on the doorstep has been consistent throughout the campaign, with people “fed up” of the Conservative government but also “people aren’t getting excited about what Labour has to offer”.
Mr ap Iorwerth insisted his party would “stand up for Welsh interests”.
He said: “The number of MPs from Wales has been cut from 40 to 32 – that is a significant, 20% cut in the number of MPs speaking up for Welsh constituencies.
“So, in that case, we need more and more people to take part in that democratic process to say, ‘no, we won’t be ignored as a country’.”
Desperate
He also said the Conservatives are “desperate” for attacking Sir Keir Starmer for wanting to spend Friday evenings with his children.
Sir Keir said earlier this week that Friday night dinner is important to his family and that he tries to “not do a work-related thing after 6pm” on Fridays.
This led to senior Conservatives criticising the Labour leader, accusing him of being a “part-time prime minister”.
The attack on Sir Keir has been criticised by members of the Jewish community, with some pointing out that Sir Keir’s wife, Victoria, is Jewish and the family observe traditional Shabbat dinners on Friday nights.
Mr ap Iorwerth said: “I think that the Conservatives are pretty desperate if they’re coming down to that kind of level of personal attack.
“People attack me personally all the time and I tend to try to ignore it.
“What we need to focus on is what’s really at stake in this election.
“Conservatives are going – high time – Labour will form the next government, but we can hold them to account.”
Asked what Mr ap Iorwerth does to wind down after long days working, he said he liked to play the guitar “and strum a bit”, and to run, which he said was good for “mental wellbeing as well”.
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Be aware that they don’t have a big pool of candidates to choose from. In some cases, people get selected to stand because they were the only person put forward. The lack of quality concerns me
I can see your point but I have to say that for me Conservatives had had their chance and blown it. I did think that I would vote Labour but our First Minister has made me doubt if Welsh Labour are up to it and Starmer has given me the impression that he doesn’t give a dam about Wales really cos he can take us for granted. A Plaid voice in London may be just a little squeak but It could be annoying enough to remind them that we exist. And if they grow sensibly Over the next two years… Read more »
At least they are Welsh. Reform parachuted in something like 8 candidates, Labour and Tories are 2 each?
That lack of faith/indifference for their own candidates speaks larger volumes.
‘Be aware that they don’t have a big pool of candidates to choose from’. You can say that again, wasn’t that how we ended up with Rhun being coronated sorry elected as leader of the party? ‘The lack of quality concerns me’, see above.
But then again look at the quality we’ve got if our first minister is the best our government can come up with.
There appears to be a distinct lack of quality across the board here.
“His party hopes to take the seats – Ynys Mon, Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Ceredigion Preseli and Caerfyrddin”
Good luck to them, but why are they not hoping to win seats in the rest of Wales too, e.g., in the south-east and north-east, where most Welsh people live?
Bangor Aberconwy abandoned by the sound of it…the stolen City of Bangor…!
Bangor, the city of learning… one of the most depressing declines you will ever see. People like to highlight the negative impacts of holiday homes/second homes but seemingly never a word to say about places turning into studentvilles.
Those are the seats which the exit polls say Plaid have a strong chance of winning. Other areas are being contested by Conservative and Lib Dem, some seats are die hard Labour or the Labour campaign leans heavily in “we are the only option to get rid of the Tories”.
I am sure you are correct, but I think they need to start showing more ambition, other than constant failed attempts to win Ynys Môn.
I think it’s the journalist who is saying that. I don’t think Rhun ap Iorwerth would agree that they have little or no chance in other constituencies if he’d been asked that question by the journalist.
I really hope you are right.
‘The leader of the party visited four seats ahead…’ Looking at his personal Facebook page a voter would not know this. He seems to have spent most of his time bigging up Llinos Medi on Ynys Mon.
The c0-operation agreement with Labour could come back to bite them…