Rhun ap Iorwerth: Plaid Cymru is ready to ‘lead the charge’ in Wales

Leader launches ‘roadmap’ of first 100 days in power to show party is ready to govern if it wins Senedd elections

The leader of Plaid Cymru has described the prospect of leading the next government in Wales as “a heck of a task” but that he senses voters are increasingly driven by their Welsh identity and may be ready for Britain to be “redesigned”.

Speaking to the Guardian as he published a glossy 60-page “roadmap” for his party’s first 100 days in government, if it takes power in May, Rhun ap Iorwerth said he was ready to lead the devolved administration in Cardiff but would work with other parties if he did not win a majority.

Ap Iorwerth said publishing the document at his party’s spring conference in Newport, south-east Wales, did not show he was complacent about this spring’s Senedd (Welsh parliament) elections, but that he was ready for power.

“We want to persuade people of the seriousness with which we’re approaching the business of preparing for government,” he said. “It most certainly isn’t complacency. I argue it’s the opposite of that. If we’re asking people to put their trust in us, we have to show them that we’re ready to start repaying that trust immediately.”

Ap Iorwerth said he felt daunted but in a positive way. “I think it would be strange if I didn’t feel: ‘Wow this is a heck of a task’, because if we win this election we would be taking on board the legacy of decades of missed opportunities and the pressure of wanting to get things right.”

The roadmap focuses on five topics: cutting hospital waiting lists, tackling the cost of living crisis, boosting the economy, improving standards in school and easing child poverty.

There is no sharp focus on independence – a fundamental Plaid aspiration – but ap Iorwerth suggested the idea was implicit in its promises to “resettle” Wales’s relationship with the UK government.

He said: “Independence is a word that I’m happy to use. The concept that we’re talking about is Wales reaching its potential. I happen to believe that it’s through independence.

“To me, it’s not isolationism, it’s about redesigning Britain. But the key thing is it’s in the hands of the people of Wales. We talk all the time about our view that Wales should take the levers of change into its own hands, and to argue that we shouldn’t have that debate is to argue that Wales could never, and is unable to, stand on its own two feet. I think talking Wales down in that kind of way won’t be taken kindly by a Welsh electorate who are feeling increasingly driven by their Welsh identity.”

He said Plaid did not have a singular vision of Wales. “It is an amalgam of many world views, of interests. There are many cultural aspects that we celebrate, but we have at the core of that this thing called Welshness that binds us.”

Plaid has been leading the polls in Wales, with Reform UK second and Labour third, but a new electoral system for May’s election almost certainly means no party will have a majority.

Ap Iorwerth said: “I’m making it explicitly clear that whilst my preferred option would be to lead a minority government ourselves, it would be a government that would be seeking out people who are willing to share common ground. We offer that cooperation that I think the people of Wales expect.”

Ap Iorwerth said he does not fear the sort of Green surge seen at the Gorton and Denton Westminster byelection being repeated in Wales. “We need one party to be leading the charge. We need one party to be bigger than Reform. It is only Plaid Cymru who can be that party.

“What happened in a byelection in England this week tells a story perhaps of what might be emerging in English politics. Wales is different, and I think the Welsh electorate understand that.”

Although the party is so close to power, the conference still has a homely feel. Volunteers shake buckets to encourage attendees to contribute to its fighting fund – the party does not have the wealthy backers Labour and Reform can call on.

On Saturday, the conference centre was being shared with the BCA Cymru Clash, a large and noisy cheerleading competition, which meant there was a delay to the leader’s press conference setting out the roadmap because some journalists were caught in cheerleader traffic.

One of the stars of recent Plaid history, Lindsay Whittle, who won the Caerphilly byelection, said the conference had been “buzzing”.

“I’ve been coming to these since I was 15. My maths is lousy, but I’m 73 next week,” he said. “And it’s absolutely electric. I’m seeing old friends but a lot of young people here too.

“This is a new Wales and it’s going to happen. We’re not looking at the past, we’re looking to the future. And that’s what the young people want. Don’t tell them about the mines because they don’t even know about the mines. Tell them what we’re going to do in the future. And that’s what we’re doing here.”

Among Plaid’s promises in its blueprint are plans to restrict the use of smartphones in schools for under-16s, to launch an express coach service linking north and south Wales, and to create a national agency to “coordinate crime prevention and diversion”.

Plaid’s Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts, said Westminster used to “put Wales in a box” but that the dynamic had changed.

“In the last year, something has shifted,” she said. “The Westminster establishment no longer sees Plaid Cymru as a quaint, regional quirk of local politics; country mice who’ve landed in the big city. We are a threat.”

In her conference speech, she told delegates that diplomats from the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Ireland had attended, reflecting rising global interest in Wales. “The world wants to understand what is unfolding in Wales.”

In a video address to the conference, Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, said the Scottish National party and Plaid should work together to make the case for greater powers.