It appears that the Plaid Cymru ruling group in Gwynedd County Council is about to implode during the New Year.
Cllr Gwylym Euros Roberts has already noted on his blog that Cllr Linda Wyn Jones has resigned from the Plaid Group and that another two Plaid Councilors are considering their position and are having discussions about their futures with the group leaders over the holiday period.
Another Plaid Cymru councillor has told me that he is one of at least seven group members who are awaiting the outcome of the two's discussions - and that if they jump ship then the other seven are likely to jump with them.
If Plaid loses another 10 councillors in addition to those it lost to Llais Gwynedd in May's elections the party in Gwynedd will be in total disarray. Considering that one of the two Westminster seats that Plaid holds in Gwynedd is considered as "Labour" under boundary changes, the party can't afford this sort of rift.
Earlier this year I predicted that it might, just, be possible for Plaid to gain as many as 9 seats in the next General Election, I also thought that Plaid was on course to gain a second Euro seat next June. But if Plaid can't sort out the infighting in its own heartland with a big announcement that will please traditionalists and show that it has learned its lessons from the May fiasco in Gwynedd, then Adam Price might be a very lonely man in Westminster after the next election, and Jill might be on the dole by July.
Is that what Plaid's ignorant tendancy wants?
Unbelievable. As a Plaid voter in N Wales, I'm disgusted at the party's ineptitude and inabolity to sort itself out. Plaid in Gwynedd is stagnant, arrogant and hopeless at PR. It's meant to be the powerhouse of the region, politically for us, but it's grey and boring and divided.
ReplyDeleteStill, many of Llais Gwynedd are liars and useless amateurs, and I don;t think they'll have much to celebrate come the next council election either. But the fact remains that Plad need to sort it.
I doubt very much that anything like 10 councillors will leave Plaid Cymru on Gwynedd - and it certainly won't benefit Llais Gwynedd.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Plaid would still easily win Arfon at the next election; Labour is now practically non-existant there and Llais Gwynedd isn't a threat. I wouldn't be surprised if the PC majority in Arfon is higher than in Dwyfor Meirionnydd, where Plaid I think actually do have problems which they need to sort out.
As much as I myself am unhappy with PC at the moment, the party is hardly in meltdown, in Gwynedd or anywhere else - to suggest otherwise is pie in the sky.
In addition to the above, though, while Plaid isn't in meltdown it could well go through a very difficult period in Dwyfor Meirionnydd, and to ignore voters' (and councillors for that matter) concerns would be very foolish indeed. Although to be honest I doubt that much of the electorate are that concerned about closing public toilets.
ReplyDeleteI must say that I agree with HoR on a lot of what he say's...I'm certainly not aware of 7 other councillors who are considering their future as part of the Plaid group on Gwynedd Council other than the 3 that I stated on my blog.
ReplyDeleteOf these I cannot imagine any of them joining Llais Gwynedd for obvious reasons, although some of them have voted with Llais on certain issues and in the case of Cllr. Linda Jones, she works well with myself and Cllr.Dafydd Hughes here in Blaenau for the benefit if the coomunity.
I also agree with HoR's take on things here in Dwyfor Meirionnydd as for a number of reasons, Dafydd El will face a severe backlash at the next election if he is faced with a credible challenge and I would go as far to say that he could lose his seat if he stands. I believe Elfyn should be ok as he is still in tune with the electors and is still held in high regard by many -unlike the Assembly Member.
I would disagree with HoR on the toilets issue as many people across the County, particularly the elderly and parents of small children and people working in the tourist industry are very concerened and angry about the closures which could and should have been avoided.
I am a member of Plaid in Conwy and I have heard rumours that five or six councilors in neighbouring Gwynedd are thinking of defecting.
ReplyDeleteWe have put a huge amount of effort into campaigning in this constituency to re elect Gareth Jones and to put Plaid in contention here in the next GE. The infighting in Gwynedd is very frustrating and is having an effect here. Too much of our effort is frustrated because of daily reports of bickering in west. I doubt if either of the Gwynedd seats is under threat in a General or Assembly election, but the goings on in Gwynedd will make it more difficult for us to win here in Conwy.
If - and it's a big if - anyone defects it won't be to Labour, who can't even find a candidate to fight Arfon now that Martin has given up the ghost. Plaid has a challenge in Gwynedd but that's a challenge all ruling groups face with a tight budget.
ReplyDeleteAli Bach and the rest of the clowns should enjoy their crowing now - if they ever got to power there'd be a right old mess here.
The basic point about Plaid in Gwynedd is that they're a ruling party that has become rather stagnant. If you look at the creative and political talent in North Wales, and in Gwynedd in particular, you'll ask yourself why so little of it is formally attached to or working for Plaid. The reason in my view is that the party is old and grey and uninspiring, and has forgotten how to actually fight and communicate.
ReplyDeleteSomeone has asked 'where are Gwynedd's Adam Prices and Nerys Evanses, where are Gwynedd's distinctive next generation of politicians. It's a good question because it doesn;t look like there are any. Odd , given the fact that Gwynedd is a stronghold of Welsh culture.
The other thing to remember is that the C and D paper is so anti-Gwynedd counciul that it's become a joke: 'old lady falls on Y Maes - Council to blame', and those endless letters from that egot-maniac Paul Brett, etc etc.
Plaid in in Gwynedd need to sort out their PR, and get some younger voices chasing younger voters.
The council is actually excellent - their record on all sorts of things is pretty damn good.
Llais Gwynedd will get their backlash, not least for smearing and lying about Dafydd Iwan, who may have been rather supine by the end, but who amounts to more for Wales and for Gwynedd just by getting up in the morning than the whole of Llais Gwynedd's fake populist grandstanders.
I am a Plaid Cymru member of Gwynedd Council, and as such I am limited in what I can say publicly. However, I would caution against believing too much of what has been said on some blogs in the past few days. I won't begin to speculate about the motives of my fellow members, but I would ask those of you who have an interest in this matter to look at the voting record of the Plaid Cymru group since this Council was formed in May 2008. If my memory serves me correctly, only 4 Plaid Cymru members have voted agaist the whip since May, and each one of those members has done so only once. I think that this is a more realistic measure of dissent within the party than any rumours coming from un-named sources within the party.
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