Wales’ survival depends on Plaid Cymru winning the battle against the Brexit Party

Simon Brooks

The results are in, and we can see that we have arrived at a critical juncture in Welsh history.

The Brexit Party have topped the poll. Their vision is of a world in which Wales has no place. They are retreating from internationalism, and from the vision of Europe. A vision of peace and harmony between nations.

But they are not retreating from internationalism into the nation. They are returning to the State. The British State. A state in which we, the Welsh people, have no place.

Plaid Cymru have come second. The party has achieved a result of historical significance. It has beaten the Labour Party. It is the latest sign that support for independence is significant and growing.

Welsh independence will be within Europe of course. For Plaid Cymru, the nation is international.

Every leader of Welsh nationalist thought has seen Wales as part of Europe: Owain Glyndŵr, Iolo Morganwg, Lady Llanover, Emrys ap Iwan, Michael D. Jones, O. M. Edwards, Saunders Lewis, Gwynfor Evans, Dafydd Wigley, Leanne Wood and now Adam Price.

They are all Welsh Europeans.

There can be no doubt that this is a time of crisis for Wales. We need leaders who are prepared to be bold and tough and who will hold the line. We are lucky that in Adam Price and Liz Saville Roberts we have two.

Whatever happens during the coming months in Westminster, we must oppose Brexit. Even if Brexit happens, we shall oppose Brexit. In a post-Brexit Britain, we will oppose Brexit.

The nation is temporal, but it also weaves a narrative. It is to this narrative that the nation returns.

If we leave the European Union, our children must know one simple fact to be true.

The Welsh national movement opposed destroying our European inheritance, and it opposed it with every fibre in its body.

Generations to come will find sustenance in this truth.

The new Wales which has come into being is a struggle between the Brexit Party and Plaid Cymru. It ushers in a new form of politics.

The politics of the next five years will be about putting down principles and sticking to them.

The age of selfies on Facebook is over. PR is another name for Blairism. Self-promotion on a mobile phone is the politics of the past.

At a time of national crisis, there can be no place for plastic politics.

This is not a time for politicians with nothing to say.

Rather we need a linear message: the survival of the Welsh nation.

Every form of Welsh identity and culture must be built upon. The language must be defended. We must carve out a vision of Wales which promotes both social justice and creates wealth.

Patrick McGuinness was right to say on Nation Cymru before the election that the Brexit Party is a Trojan Horse. It is a Trojan Horse for Britishness.

Its success is due to the way it has delivered a simple message. The foreigner is to blame.

The only way to defeat this message is by challenging it with another.

The foreigner is not to blame. But something is to blame and it has a name. It is called the British State.

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