Plaid Cymru leadership candidate Leanne Wood AM told supporters at her campaign launch that she wants to lead the party in winning new ground and building the case for “real independence.”
The AM said it is time for the people of Wales to take the future of the country into their own hands and only Plaid Cymru can drive this transformation.
At a launch event at the Ammanford Social Club (aka The Pick and Shovel) last night, Ms Wood said “Welsh people can no longer wait for the British parties to catch up.
“We’ve achieved a lot, but we all know that we have so much more to do.
“The Assembly that we have does not have the tools to deal with our disadvantaged position which means worse effects on Welsh people from the economic crisis.
“Only Plaid Cymru has the political analysis that is needed to lift Wales out of perennial disadvantage and poverty.
“We are the only party that has this ambition for Wales. There is a powerful economic argument for independence.”
Ms Wood also said:
“Winning independence is not enough. We want independence plus. My vision for Wales is for real independence.
“Monmouthshire’s Raymond Williams may not be a name on the lips of many people in Wales, despite the fact that in his particular field of academia, he was considered one of the greatest in the world has known. He was a clever man who had a lot to say about politics in his home land, and so much of what he wrote is relevant to us today. On independence, Raymond Williams said this:
‘Real independence is a time of new and active creation: people sure enough of themselves to discard their baggage; knowing the past is past, as shaping history, but with a new confident sense of the present and the future, where the decisive meanings and values will be made.’
“That’s our challenge: building and selling the case for independence plus, real independence.
“I want independence so we can protect and build on those things that are valuable to us all. “Real independence”– independence of thought, as well as constitutional freedom: independence to enable us to develop economic equality; to free us to argue for peace in the world instead of war; to allow us to build on our internationalist traditions by contributing to world affairs while at the same time ensuring a vibrant future for our own unique language and cultures.”
She added: “The difference between Plaid Cymru and the British parties is that they seek to ‘manage’ Wales. We want to transform Wales. Plaid Cymru is the only party that will work to ensure Wales breaks out of its poverty by enabling the development of the inherent skills of our people so that we can thrive and achieve our true potential.
“That ambition for Wales sets us distinctly apart from the British parties. I believe wholeheartedly in the ability of our people, and I will offer the leadership that can grow a sense of national confidence and ambition that is a precursor to renewed prosperity.
“A new era has come for Plaid. An exciting one. This is the time for us to be developing our case, discussing ideas, looking for Welsh solutions to Welsh problems, as well as reaching out to the world.
“We have long established the case for independence, for me that is a given. The job in hand now is to explain what an independent Wales would look like, what it would mean to the people of Wales, how it would shape and improve our lives and how we can all travel on a journey together that will take us there.”
Carmarthenshire MP Jonathan Edwards also addressed party members in support of Miss Wood’s campaign. He added:
“This is a hugely important election – not just for Plaid Cymru but for Wales as a whole.
“Plaid Cymru is the totem pole of Welsh politics – we are the party that sets the agenda.
“Our membership has a very important choice to make – they’re not just electing a leader of an Assembly group like the other parties in Wales, but electing a genuine national political leader.
“Also unlike the other parties, in our election it is one member one vote. Every grass roots member has the same influence on the ballot as an elected member.
“I’m supporting Leanne as she’s a conviction politician. In these turbulent times people expect their politicians to offer a clear vision. Leanne has consistently been someone who has been who criticised the excesses of the failed neo-liberal economic ideology pursued by the three unionist parties which has created so much damage to our communities in Wales.”
Read more on Leanne’s campaign website at www.leannewood2012.com
