Voting Plaid Cymru ‘essential’ to keep Tories out of Wales and Labour in check – Rhun ap Iorwerth
A vote for Plaid Cymru is “essential” to deny the Tories a Westminster foothold in Wales and to keep Labour in check, Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth has said.
Speaking ahead of an election rally in Bangor on Thursday morning (30 May) Mr ap Iorwerth said Plaid Cymru is taking the fight to the Tories and Labour in all parts of Wales and is in “pole position” to dislodge the sitting Conservative MP in Ynys Môn and is best placed to represent the people of Carmarthen.
Called time
Mr ap Iorwerth, the MS for Ynys Môn, said: “It is clear that people across Wales have called time on this disastrous and destructive Conservative government.
“Voting Plaid in constituencies like Ynys Môn is essential in keeping the Tories away from Westminster and out of Wales. As recent polling and the Police and Crime Commissioner Election in May showed, Plaid Cymru’s Llinos Medi is in pole position to dislodge the sitting Tory MP, giving constituents a fresh local voice at Westminster.
“At the same time, voting Plaid in Carmarthen and Bangor Aberconwy keeps Labour in check too. With candidates like Ann Davies in Carmarthen, Plaid Cymru is best placed to effectively represent our communities and offer a positive alternative to Labour and the Tories.”
Ambitious
He added: “Plaid’s positive message of a fairer, more ambitious Wales, shows that we are the only party putting the interests of the nation ahead of party interests.
“In stark contrast, Labour’s campaign has already consigned Wales to the scrapheap of unfair funding and a Westminster parliament which holds Wales back.
“This election is not just about who has the keys to 10 Downing Street. It’s also about who represents your street, your community, and your country’s interests day in day out.”
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Careful what you wish for. Numbers don’t add up with FPTP so you risk leaving the door open for the Cons in some seats. I will vote to remove the Conservative party in the form of Wallis (or whichever plant they shove up to replace him). For me, this election is destroying the worst party that has ever led the UK.
But its your vote. Whatever you do, make sure you have the correct ID or postal vote but vote, that is important. Be good is all the politico’s tramping up and down the country mention this.
“For me, this election is destroying the worst party that has ever led the UK.”
I suspect that for you every general election is a variation of that theme.
So you know of a previous government that is actually worse than the present one?
“is a variation of that theme”
Ever heard of the ‘Nasty Tories’.
Labour’s been using that trope for decades to scare anyone from voting for any other party.
Nasty Tories or Useless Labour.
You needn’t confine yourself to that false choice.
Most of the time I would tend to agree with you but not this time. I really do believe that the current tory government (unlike previous tory governments – John Major’s government for example) is a direct threat to our democracy and freedom to protest and they need to be stopped – and to that end I’ll vote for whoever is most likely to get them out.
The present government is THE most extreme I’ve ever known and they’re getting worse.
Nothing that I’ve said indicates I that I don’t think it’s the worst also. At the time, 1992, as usual Labour here in Cymru portrayed John Major as leading the Nasty Tories and anything other than voting Labour would unleash them on us. The Tories won the election with a majority even though Labour won 27 out of 38 seats in Cymru and the Tories only 3. I’m sure you can do the maths. If all the seats here had been won by Labour there would still have been a Tory government. There’s only one way to avoid future Tory… Read more »
Once again, you have absolutely no idea. But crack on.
Would you mind elaborating on what I have “absolutely no idea” of.
Otherwise I fear I might not be able to “crack on”.
“Voting Plaid in constituencies like Ynys Môn is essential in keeping the Tories away from Westminster ….”
Possible to make an arguable case for that assertion, given the voting history of Môn.
But voting Plaid in my area at the forthcoming election merely makes the return of another Conservative MP more likely.
Makes you wonder how on earth Plaid Cymru ever got any MPs elected at all or the SNP or for that matter even Labour.
People had to change their usual voting habit at some stage in order for change to occur.
Or maybe voters had nothing to do with it and it was down to the Gods of creation.
Voters’ political allegiance certainly can and does sometimes change, gradually and over time. Years ago I lived in an area of England which had consistently returned Tory councillors and a Tory MP for decades. In more recent years, it became solid Labour, simply as a consequence of gradual demographic change. And when I first lived in Ceredigion – 1964 – folk there were still electing a Liberal MP, just as they’d done for a century and more. That changed with the increase in Welsh consciousness in y Fro Gymraeg during the ’60s and ’70s, with the consequence that eventually Plaid… Read more »
It’s not your only rational choice. If you share Plaid’s values and aims you can fight to win votes for Plaid and build towards a Plaid seat in the future. England will decide Westminster’s trajectory. The Tories are toast. We wont change Wales’ trajectory until we stop voting for Unionists.
What you recommend indeed shaped my own vote in the last Senedd election, when I unhesitatingly cast my votes – both for the constituency and for the regional list – for Plaid Cymru. But when it comes to a Westminster election it’s absolutely obvious that there neither will nor can be a UK-wide Plaid Cymru government. So, given that the coming Westminster election will be fought on a playing field radically different from the one on which Senedd elections are fought, I adjust my voting decisions accordingly. I’ve long given up on hoping for the ‘ideal’ faction to support. These… Read more »
Plaid Cymru isn’t a party of and for Welsh speakers.
It’s what Labour use to try and convince voters to keep voting Labour.
It is successful as you’ve demonstrated with your argument.
Fortunately in the past others chose a different type of” rational option” otherwise your priority this coming election would be doing your bit to ensure that the UK didn’t elect yet another Tory or Whig government.
I certainly don’t view Plaid Cymru as ‘a party of Welsh speakers’; I was living in Gwent during the late ’70s and early ’80s when Plaid won control of both Merthyr Tudful and the former Cwm Rhymni councils as a consequence of voter disillusion with the complacency, and sometimes the sheer corruption, of Welsh Labour during that era. Few enough of Plaid councillors in those areas back then were Welsh language partisans. But we’re now facing a UK-wide general election, and a vote for Plaid in the area of north-east Wales where I live is, indirectly, likely to enhance the… Read more »
If you vote for Labour then you’ll have no right to complain about how they govern us.
Mmm – I don’t really buy that, given that I’ll be casting my vote on the basis that, in the context of FPTP in a UK-wide election, I’d be backing them as ‘least worst’ rather than as ‘the ideal’!
I’d be a bit more sceptical of Electoral calculus with respect to it’s results for Wales, all the more because almost every constituency has been radically altered (which will affect tactical voting), the core issue is how they choose to distribute changes in electoral support, for example one of their indicators is ‘Nationalism’, in Wales this is mostly centre left and tends towards Plaid, not in England (they do have a different model for Scotland, but not Wales), it would also appear that there is no adjustment to take in to account the (partial) 2019 deal between Plaid, LibDem, &… Read more »
I’m no psephologist, but I do respect the folk who do cultivate that art. I’m a bit of an anorak in respect of pollsters, even though I lack their expertise, and Electoral Calculus have very clearly factored in the impact of the new constituencies in formulating their predictions. Take a look at their website if you’re sceptical.
I’ve just completed a few Electoral Calculus’ “Guess my vote”. from their website. I entered the same answers for where I live except previous vote. If I voted Plaid last time it gave a 44% chance of voting Labour and a 41% chance of of voting Plaid. If I voted Labour last time it gave a 88% chance of voting Labour and a 0.3% chance of of voting Plaid. I tried the same thing for the English Constituency of SW Hereford If I voted Labour last time it gave a 83% chance of voting Labour again If I voted Tory(no… Read more »
FPTP issues. Yep. If Plaid were in with a shout in my area, I could risk it for a biscuit. But they don’t, previous polling is very low. So its the one game in town that will remove my MP (he is off anyway, someone else is standing but same thing).
For many years people were told that the only cure for syphilis was to keep taking Mercury. That went well.
Sounds like you’re pretty much where I am – even if you live in a different neck of the woods.
It would be refreshing to hear from will be Labour voters some positive reasons why they’re voting for Starmerlabour and the Torylite austerity, middle England courting policies he’s committed to implementing.
My only reason for backing Labour on July 4th is my sense that a Westminster Labour government is likely to be less dire than yet another Conservative one. I’m not looking beyond ‘least worst’.
Most of these people believe that a man can become a woman and that bankrupting the country with the net zero idiocy is a good idea. There’s not much to choose from if one exists in the real world.
“…the net zero idiocy…”
Oh dear, someone’s been watching too many conspiracy theories on YouTube.
Yep, I’m very Pro independence but I won’t return to being pro Plaid until they put independence back on their agenda. That’s the only thing that matters! Any economic worries won’t last long once we are independent! If Iceland can survive with 100k odd pop then we will be fine.
Read the manifesto of Gwlad on their website, for another independence party.
Voting Labour all but ensures the Tories govern Wales repeatedly. The UK transitioned to its current version of democracy between 1857 and 1928. Since that time, Wales has not returned a Tory majority in any national election. In spite of this, we have had to endure Tory governments the majority of the time. Voting for any Unionist party locks us into the Tory State AKA the UK and imposes England’s electoral calculus on Wales by dint of scale. No matter the short term risk, we must change the long term trajectory of Wales. The only way to end Tory Government… Read more »
Just checked Deryn’s seat projector. Tories will bleed votes to Reform – based on their current polling, if Plaid picks up the pro-indy vote it wins 9 seats with both Labour and Tories losing some.
Vote Plaid Cymru. Help us change Wales’s trajectory.
Such a shame that Plaid only appeals to a narrow section of Welsh society. To become a main stream party root and branchs restructuring is needed.
The narrowness of appeal is determined by how many people are supportive or at least open to the idea of independence. So at the moment it’s true that Plaid Cymru “appeals to a narrow section of Welsh society”. However a lot of people are sick of the Tory government in Westminster and tired of the Labour government in Caerdydd. A growing section of people are also becoming aware that the current Anglocentric British state hasn’t, isn’t and won’t do much for Cymru. It’s Welsh society itself that’s restructuring its root and branches. It’s not surprising that British nationalists are uneasy… Read more »
The narrowness of its appeal is determined by the nature of the party’s supporters.
I’m not entirely sure what you mean by that as voters support a party by voting for it.
Nevertheless parties can widen their appeal in two ways easy and difficult.
Easy – Change it’s principles to attract more voters – Tories and Labour seem to function this way.
Difficult – Seek to convince voters that the principles are worthy of support – Plaid also other parties SNP Greens.
I’m voting for Plaid, they may not win in my constituency but if even vote then maybe in 4 years time they will be seen as a realistic contender.
I thought that 30 years ago.
IF you believe in independence, get out and campaign for it – talk to people. What I’ve found is great disillusionment with both Labour and Tories.
Spot on Robert. We have to look to the long term. Diolch.
He’s 100% right – I’d much rather an incompetent person from Wales, than a competent Anglo whose goal it is to purposefully pillage my nation and eradicate my culture. Unfortunately many a Cymro don’t really care.
Is Lloyd Georgfe the incompetent. You are talking about.
Strictly speaking Lloyd George was from Manchester.
You can thank him for your state pension.
And like many people from Manchester (and Liverpool and London for that matter) he identified as Welsh just as many people from Wales identify as English (and Scottish Irish etc.).
You can also thank him for unemployment benefit and sick pay.
It’s especially difficult to decide which party to vote for if you’re a feminist. Prosiect Pawb (Plaid Cymru), the WRU report, South Wales police report etc. shows that Cymru is a misogynistic country. Add to that the “transwomen are women” brigade then women are well and truly stuffed here in Cymru. The Tories are belatedly supporting women as they see it as a vote winner. So many socialist women in Cymru are politically homeless.
Feminists like everyone else are affected by austerity, interests rates, the NHS, etc.etc
Hold your nose and vote for a party that comes closest to agreeing with you on the other issues that matter to you.
Or “register” your dissatisfaction by spoiling your ballot
I’ve just completed a few Electoral Calculus’ “Guess my vote”. from their website. I entered the same answers for where I live except previous vote. If I voted Plaid last time it gave a 44% chance of voting Labour and a 41% chance of of voting Plaid. If I voted Labour last time it gave a 88% chance of voting Labour and a 0.3% chance of of voting Plaid. I tried the same thing for the English Constituency of SW Hereford If I voted Labour last time it gave a 83% chance of voting Labour again If I voted Tory(no… Read more »