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The 2023 Plaid Cymru leadership election was triggered by the resignation of Adam Price as party leader on 16 May, [1] after an internal report found the party to have a "culture of harassment, bullying and misogyny". [2] [3] Rhun ap Iorwerth became leader on 16 June 2023 unopposed. [4]
Leanne Wood was elected leader of Plaid Cymru in 2012. The party re-elects its leaders every two years, typically unchallenged. In 2018, following growing discontent with the party's election performance, she was challenged by two members of the Welsh Assembly (now Senedd): Rhun ap Iorwerth and Adam Price. Price was elected, with ap Iorwerth coming second and Wood coming third. [5] Price had advocated "equidistance" between Labour and the Conservatives, while Wood was seen as closer to Labour under Jeremy Corbyn and ap Iorweth as more willing to work with the Conservatives. [6]
In the 2021 Senedd election, Plaid Cymru made a net gain of one seat to hold thirteen overall, though Wood was not re-elected. The result was considered disappointing for the party. [7] [8] The party formed a "co-operation agreement" on several areas of policy with the governing Labour Party. [9] In March 2023, the party produced a new political strategy that would enable it to enter a coalition with Labour in the future while ruling out working with the Conservatives. [10]
In November 2022, party figures complained that Price's leadership had developed a "toxic atmosphere" where members felt afraid to make complaints in case they faced retaliation, and that complaints were not handled effectively. [11] High-profile incidents included the readmittance to the party of Jonathan Edwards, an MP who was cautioned by the police for domestic violence against his wife, and waiting until an external investigation to suspend Rhys ab Owen, an MS accused of breaking the code of conduct. [11] In December, Price commissioned the former member of the Senedd Nerys Evans to write a report into the party's complaints process. [12] The report was published in May 2023, finding a "culture of harassment, bullying and misogyny" in the party. [13] Price apologised on behalf of Plaid Cymru, saying there had been times "whereby unacceptable behaviour has been allowed to take place or go unchallenged and that our processes and governance arrangements have been inadequate to address this". [13] Price announced his resignation on 10 May. [14] Llyr Gruffydd has been nominated to be interim leader while a permanent replacement is elected. [15] Former leader Leanne Wood later confirmed that "there were historic issues and incidences especially on the sexual harassment side of things" during her leadership (2012–2018), but there wasn't a "toxic culture amongst the staff." Wood also said that the next leader should be a woman and that Plaid should avoid a coronation of an unopposed leader. [16]
Only members of the Plaid Cymru group in the Senedd are eligible to stand for election, with the interim leader ineligible to stand. Nominations closed on 16 June. [17]
On 16 June 2023 Rhun ap Iorwerth became leader of Plaid Cymru after nominations closed and no other candidate put themselves forward. [4]
On 30 May 2023, Rhun ap Iorwerth, joint deputy leader since 2018 and MS for Ynys Môn, declared that he would be running in the election. [18]
The MPs Ben Lake and Liz Saville Roberts were also included in media coverage, but were ineligible to serve as leader due to not being members of the Senedd. [19]
The other eligible candidates Cefin Campbell, Luke Fletcher, Peredur Owen Griffiths and Sioned Williams [17] also declined. [23]
Plaid Cymru is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom.
Adam Robert Price is a Welsh politician who served as Leader of Plaid Cymru from September 2018 to May 2023. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr since 2016, having previously been a Member of Parliament (MP) for the same Westminster constituency from 2001 to 2010.
Welsh republicanism or republicanism in Wales is the political ideology that advocates for Wales to be governed by a republican system, as opposed to the monarchy of the United Kingdom.
Bethan Sayed is a Welsh politician. She represented the South Wales West region for Plaid Cymru as a Member of the Senedd from 2007 to 2021.
Leanne Wood is a Welsh politician who served as the leader of Plaid Cymru from March 2012 to September 2018, and served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) from 2003 to 2021.
Welsh independence is the political movement advocating for Wales to become a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom.
Elizabeth Gwendoline Nerys Evans is a Welsh politician. She was a member of the National Assembly for Wales representing Plaid Cymru in the Mid and West Wales region. She contested the Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire seat for the 2011 National Assembly for Wales elections, finishing in third place, and thus lost her seat in the Assembly. She is currently a director of the public affairs agency Deryn.
David Jonathan Edwards is a Welsh politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr since 2010. Elected as a Plaid Cymru MP, he had the whip withdrawn in May 2020 after he accepted a police caution for domestic violence against his wife. He sat as an Independent MP after the party's disciplinary panel suspended him. His membership of Plaid was restored in July 2022, and the whip was returned the following month although following further revelations he stated that he would not rejoin the Plaid group of MPs at Westminster.
The Welsh Shadow Cabinet is constituted by members of the largest party not part of the Welsh Government. Since 6 April 2017 this has been the Welsh Conservatives, and since 7 May 2021 the Leader of the Opposition has been Andrew RT Davies.
Llŷr Huws Gruffydd, is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician, serving as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for the North Wales region since 2011. He acted as interim leader of Plaid Cymru from 16 May to 16 June 2023.
Rhun ap Iorwerth is a Welsh journalist and politician serving as the Leader of Plaid Cymru since June 2023. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Ynys Môn since 2013.
The 2016 National Assembly for Wales election was held on Thursday 5 May 2016, to elect members (AMs) of the National Assembly for Wales, now known as the Senedd. It was the fifth election for the National Assembly, the third election taken under the rules of the Government of Wales Act 2006 and the first since the Wales Act 2014.
Siân Gwenllian is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician who has represented the constituency of Arfon in the Senedd since 2016. She currently holds the seat with a majority of 8,642 votes.
Neil John McEvoy is a Welsh nationalist politician, serving as leader of Propel since 2020, and as a Cardiff Councillor for the Fairwater ward since 2008.
Ben Morgan Lake is a Plaid Cymru politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ceredigion since 2017.
The 2018 election for the leader of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru began on 7 August. Voting closed at midnight on 27 September. Adam Price was declared the winner on 28 September, defeating the two other candidates.
Elizabeth "Buffy" Williams is a Welsh politician who is the Labour Member of the Senedd for Rhondda.
In Welsh politics, the term clear red water refers to the Welsh Labour strategy of distancing itself from the UK Labour Party and adopting both more progressive and more distinctly Welsh policies. The strategy was first formulated in the early 2000s, with the Rhodri Morgan-led Welsh government using it to distinguish itself from Tony Blair's New Labour. The term itself is credited to Mark Drakeford AM.
Events from the year 2023 in Wales.
In December 2021, the Welsh Labour government and Plaid Cymru signed a three-year co-operation agreement, where the two parties agreed to work together in 46 policy areas. The agreement is not a coalition or confidence and supply agreement; Plaid Cymru remain in opposition but can appoint advisers to offices of the Welsh Government.
