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Opinion

The unfinished revolution: Why I am standing in 2026

15 Apr 2025 6 minute read
Adam Price picture by Plaid Cymru

Adam Price MS

Some moments arrive like a whisper, others like a thunderclap. The 2026 Senedd election will be neither – it will be the culmination of a long, patient struggle for Welsh self-determination that began generations before most of us were born.

Today, as I announce my candidacy to lead Plaid Cymru’s Sir Gaerfyrddin list, I’m acutely aware that we stand at the convergence of history, opportunity, and necessity.

This election isn’t just about who governs Wales—it’s about whether Wales will finally govern itself in more than name only. It is the threshold of a new chapter in our national story.

I still remember the exact moment I understood what politics really means. It wasn’t in a classroom or from a book. It was watching my father, a miner, return home during the 1984-85 strike – exhausted, angry, and betrayed by a Labour Party that had once been the backbone of our communities.

In that moment, I realised that power concentrated elsewhere would never truly serve Wales. Some lessons burn themselves into your very being. That one has guided everything since.

Half-light

For too long, Wales has lived in the half-light of almost-autonomy – granted just enough self-government to manage our own decline but never enough to chart a genuinely different course. Twenty-six years of unbroken Labour rule hasn’t delivered the transformation that devolution promised. Instead, we’ve become resigned to the politics of mitigation rather than the politics of possibility. We’ve learned to ask for too little, to expect even less.

Meanwhile, the machinery of extraction continues – our resources, our talent, our wealth flowing outward while poverty calcifies in our communities.

This isn’t just political failure; it’s a form of collective harm that we’ve normalised over decades.

Delivering for Carmarthenshire

The reformed electoral system – which I fought to secure through months of painstaking negotiation – has finally cracked open the door to something genuinely different. For the first time since the Senedd’s creation, the mathematical possibility of a Plaid Cymru government with Rhun ap Iorwerth as First Minister is real. Recent polling doesn’t just suggest change; it practically demands it.

This isn’t abstract for me. After representing Carmarthen East and Dinefwr in Westminster for two terms on the Opposition benches, I deliberately stepped away from frontline politics to prepare for government. At Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, I didn’t just study policy – I immersed myself in understanding how small nations thrive in a world built for the powerful. I wanted to know not just why Welsh independence makes sense, but how to make it work from day one.

Elected to the Senedd but regrettably still in Opposition, I’ve channelled my energy into winning victories, locally and nationally: securing the Llandeilo Bypass despite Labour opposition, or getting them to U-turn on universal free school meals. I took Arfor from a concept first outlined in a Glyndŵr Lecture in Caernarfon in 2012 to a fully-fledged government programme in just five years – proving that ideas born in opposition can become reality with persistence and strategic thinking.

Second homes

When second homes threatened our communities’ cohesion and affordability, I persuaded a reluctant Labour Government to implement the most radical control measures in the history of these islands. Most recently, I worked with the Leader of the Liberal Democrats to include support for the Brynaman Lido in her budget agreement – demonstrating that effective representation means fighting for every community asset that enriches local life.

These weren’t accidents or lucky breaks. They were the result of knowing exactly how power works, how to leverage every available tool to shift it, and how to find common ground when it serves Welsh interests.  Where others might have accepted defeat, I’ve consistently found pathways through seemingly immovable obstacles  – precisely the skills that we will need in Government come 2026.

The coming election is about more than just changing the party in power – it’s about changing what power means in Wales. As lead candidate, I would bring not just my electoral record but a depth of experience and expertise developed and honed precisely for this moment. My ability to articulate complex ideas in accessible language – whether in the Senedd chamber or around kitchen tables across Carmarthenshire – ensures our message resonates beyond our traditional support base. My work on the economic success of small nations wasn’t academic theory – it was practical preparation for the transformative governance Wales desperately needs.

For Carmarthenshire specifically, I’m not offering vague aspirations but a concrete plan: a new hospital in Carmarthen and a restored Minor Injuries Unit in Llanelli; reopened railway stations at St. Clears and along the Amman Valley line; power lines buried underground rather than scarring our landscape. Placing me as lead candidate will give me the mandate to negotiate these concessions, whether in party manifesto or programme for government.

Transforming Wales

These local victories point to a larger truth: when we refuse to accept artificial limitations, Wales can chart its own course.

I see the despair settling into our communities, the quiet resignation that things cannot fundamentally change. This despair isn’t just politically dangerous – driving voters toward the empty promises of populism – it’s existentially harmful to the Welsh spirit. Hope cannot be for us just a campaign slogan; it must become the real driving force of Welsh national renewal.

As a four-term elected representative who has never lost an election in Carmarthenshire, I know I can win the battle for hope over despair. The dynamism I bring to every campaign – the relentless pursuit of new ideas and connections – has consistently translated into electoral success over Labour in Carmarthenshire.  As lead candidate I will be able to use that experience in the battle to secure the crucial third seat.

Some will say this is just another election, just another internal selection. They’re wrong. This is the moment when Welsh political history could finally break free from its circular path – when we could stop having the same conversations about the same problems and start building the Wales we’ve always known was possible.

We live in the shadow of all that has been, the light of all that might be. In 2026, we have the chance to step fully into that light – a Wales governed according to its own values, for its own people. With the support, first of Plaid Cymru members and then the people of Carmarthenshire, I’m ready to help lead that transformation with the same determination and vigour that has defined my public service from Westminster to the Senedd.

The door is ajar. All we need is the courage to walk through it together.

Adam Price is the Member of the Senedd for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr and former leader of Plaid Cymru


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harrisR
harrisR
3 days ago

Blimey! It’s almost a rewrite of Trotsky’s classic “My Life”, but not really. “Join me to storm the Winter Palace of Cardiff Bay” – and can a self denying leadership bid be far away? If Adam’s boostered rhetoric was a car he’d be driving a big red Lamborghini around Llandudno and not a Fiat 500.

Strangely little space for why he’s not leading Plaid and the little “unfortunates” of that lack of leadership debacle, but hey, the Prince from over the Water is back boosting with a vengeance. The Prophet Unleashed indeed!

David
David
3 days ago

Adam, did you fight for the closed list? Please answer.

Rhobat Bryn Jones
Rhobat Bryn Jones
2 days ago
Reply to  David

I’m not Adam and I certainly don’t speak on his behalf. My understanding is that Plaid, including Adam, wanted STV but Welsh Labour was opposed. The compromise of a PR system with a closed list was agreed on the basis that a proportional system was better than the status quo. However the new system will be reviewed before the next election with STV being back on the table.

Ben Wildsmith
Ben Wildsmith
2 days ago

That’s my understanding also.

Daf
Daf
2 days ago

With respect, I don’t think voters – or Plaid members – will buy this. It sounds like he’s not sure whether to pitch himself as a glorified local Councillor, or wants to remind us all of his Harvard qualifications. It doesn’t really matter, as we can remember that Price had to resign as Plaid leader after a damning report showed how he had failed to tackle misogyny and bullying in his party. If he wasn’t willing to get his own house in order, we’re not going to be wowed by his promises to build a new future for Wales.

Y Cymro
Y Cymro
2 days ago

Wales desperately needs politicians
of Adam Price’s calibre standing for election. Less we forget, in the past it was often said that the then Welsh Assembly was full of political lightweights. I just don’t understand the pessimism towards him. Look, If you want a Senedd full of Wales hating Welsh Conservatives, Reform UK cuckoos , or perhaps more of the same spineless toothless political patsies with sloth Welsh Labour, are going the right way about it.

Robert Tyler
Robert Tyler
2 days ago

I was under the impression that Plaid has to have a woman top the list (correct me if wrong). This means that Cefin Cambell or Adam will almost certainly miss out. We saw this lunacy before when Wigley lost out to Janet Ryder. No disrespect to Janet, but missing out on Wigley in the Assembly (as then was) was a massive disservice to Wales.

Dr John Ball
Dr John Ball
1 day ago
Reply to  Robert Tyler

I’m pleased that you used the word ‘lunacy.’
In 99 this nonsense almost resulted in the life long nationalist and deep thinker Phil Williams not being elected to the (then) Assembly – woke replaced knowledge and commitment.

Robert Tyler
Robert Tyler
15 hours ago
Reply to  Dr John Ball

I remember. A close one. Plaid never fails to shoot itself in the arse.

Hedd Gwynfor
Hedd Gwynfor
1 day ago

There are three excellent Plaid Cymru candidates standing in Sir Gaerfyrddin: Adam Price, Cefin Campbell, and Nerys Evans. This is one of the few seats where there’s a real chance of electing three Plaid candidates to the Senedd. I’ll be giving my first vote to Adam, and my second and third to Cefin and Nerys. Pob lwc i’r tri!

Undecided
Undecided
20 hours ago
Reply to  Hedd Gwynfor

Yes, but in the overall scheme of things Carmarthenshire is a sideshow. They are almost certain to get two seats and possibly a third; but if they don’t get two across Valley seats, it’s game over.

Robert Tyler
Robert Tyler
15 hours ago
Reply to  Hedd Gwynfor

I believe you get one vote and that is for a party. The candidate order is decided by the party internally. Therefore, you don’t get to choose and, as per Plaid policy, the female candidate gets the top spot. Another winner from the Plaid stables. I hope I am wrong!!

Chris Franks
Chris Franks
2 hours ago
Reply to  Robert Tyler

You are wrong. Snipping from the side-lines is never attractive.

Robert Tyler
Robert Tyler
23 minutes ago
Reply to  Chris Franks

I’m not sniping. I really want to know. How am I wrong?

Robert Tyler
Robert Tyler
21 minutes ago
Reply to  Chris Franks

And as for sidelines, I have been a Plaid activist for decades. A problem with the Party is that any criticism is crushed. Chis, you should have stood at the GE when Plaid stood down in favour of a unionist party.

Robert Tyler
Robert Tyler
18 minutes ago
Reply to  Chris Franks

Really Chris, tell me if I am wrong about a female candidate topping the list in Carms. Even if that is not the case, the second position will be allocated due to chromosomes, and the party, the Senedd, and Wales will lose out on either Adam or Cefin. Insane

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