Party of Wales leader Leanne Wood AM will tell her party’s conference that the forthcoming European elections represent the clash of two contrasting futures for Wales.
She will say the country faces being dragged to the margins by a wave of damaging Europhobia by UKIP or a future where the Welsh national interest is furthered at the heart of Europe by Plaid Cymru.
She will tell her party’s faithful who gather in Cardiff this weekend, that her party carries the mantle of progressive politics and must defeat the isolationist politics of division.
Ms Wood will appeal to despondent former Lib Dem and Green voters not to stay at home at May’s election, telling them that issues such as climate change, international cooperation and tax avoidance risk being pushed off the agenda if regressives win the election.
Plaid Cymru leader, Leanne Wood AM, will say:
“This could very well be our last ever European election if we do not make our voices heard and our votes count. Do not forget what is at stake at this election. Do not forget all that will be put at risk if dangerous right-wing isolationist Europhobia is victorious.
“Our businesses rely on £5 billion worth of trade with our EU partners every year. Our country has benefitted from investment in our infrastructure and communities, with more on the horizon. More than one in ten jobs is directly dependent on our membership of the EU.
“That’s 150,000 reasons to vote Plaid Cymru in this May’s election.”
Leanne Wood will attack the politics of division that has characterised the tone and approach of the Westminster parties as they try to ‘out-UKIP’ UKIP. She will argue that such values are un-Welsh and incompatible with the Welsh national interest and she will appeal to the Welsh public to pull together for the country’s future economic prospects.
Leanne will add:
“Sewing the seeds of division, in our country and in this continent has no place.
“And I say to UKIP today: your politics are un-Welsh and have no place in our country not now, not ever. Your values are not the values of Wales. A vote for UKIP is a vote against Wales. A vote against the Welsh national interest.
“We cannot and will not let their ugly politics divide us in May.
“And I tell them here and now that we are one Wales.
Not immigrant versus local, not rural versus urban, not Welsh speaking versus English speaking, not North Wales versus South Wales.
“We are one Wales.
“Wales can’t rely on others to champion her national interests but the people of Wales know that Plaid Cymru can be trusted to put Wales first, every time, every day.”
