Plaid Cymru (literally meaning, "Party of Wales") is a left-of-centre (describing itself as socialist "and proud of it") Welsh nationalist party. The name was used from the late 1920s until it was formally changed to Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales in the late 1990s, partly due to new electoral requirements that a party have an English name. In Wales, the party is often known as simply Plaid.

The party was founded on 5 August 1925 by members of Byddin Ymreolwyr Cymru , a nationalist party of north Wales and Y Mudiad Cymreig , an underground nationalist movement of south Wales as Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru ("National Party of Wales"), but soon changed to the more familiar name. It is still sometimes nicknamed the 'Welsh nationalist party' by some commentators, particularly those who do not wish to use the Welsh name.

Plaid Cymru has traditionally been strongest in the Welsh-speaking areas of Wales, particularly the north; but it was at Carmarthen in west Wales that the party gained its first MP, Gwynfor Evans (then the party's President) being elected to Parliament in a by-election in 1966. He lost the seat to Labour in 1970, but regained it in 1974, during a period when Plaid Cymru was increasingly being seen as an alternative for Labour voters even in the industrial, mainly English-speaking southern half of Wales.

Carmarthen was lost again in 1979, and the campaign to win self-government for Wales, towards which Plaid Cymru had been somewhat ambivalent, was temporarily abandoned after the referendum on devolution was lost. After this setback, Plaid Cymru continued to make inroads. Two younger men, Dafydd Wigley and Dafydd Elis-Thomas, won Parliamentary seats in 1974, inheriting the mantle of leadership in turn, and the party gained ground until the successful devolution referendum of 1997, following which the Welsh Assembly was set up. Plaid Cymru became the main opposition to the ruling Labour group in this new body.

Wyn Jones' distancing the party from supporting Welsh independence prompted a split from the party in January 2000 when Cymru Annibynnol was formed.

Many in Plaid were disappointed by the results of the elections of May 2003. Of their 17 AMs only 12 were re-elected, although they remained the official opposition party in the National Assembly. Labour won back their traditional strongholds of the Rhondda and Islwyn, but also made shock gains in Llanelli and Conwy, seats that Plaid were expected to hold on to. Ieuan Wyn Jones resigned as party leader on the 8th of May.

On 15 September 2003 the well-known folk-singer and long-time activist Dafydd Iwan was elected Plaid Cymru's new President, while Ieuan Wyn Jones was re-elected party leader in the Welsh Assembly (both roles being held by Ieuan Wyn Jones before 8 May 2003).

Some party members have been critical of Dafydd Wigley's tactics of distancing Plaid from its traditional defence of the Welsh language, and blame Plaid's decline on this, particularly in the Party's heartland of north-west Wales. In the 2001 General Election, Plaid lost Wyn Jones' old seat of Ynys Môn to Albert Owen. Commentators suggest that Wigley's old seat of Caernarfon remains secure, and generation change looks to have turned Carmarthen away from the Labour Party, but a resurgence of the Liberal Democrats could put Ceredigion at risk.

Since the 2003 Assembly elections Plaid have reassessed the clairity of their policy on "the national question"; the consensus within the party now expressly favours independence within the European Union as Plaid's constitutional aim for Wales.

Political commentators believed the party performed poorly in the 2004 elections. It lost one of its members of the European Parliament (mainly due to a reduction in the number of available seats), and lost control of two councils in south Wales to Labour.

Plaid retains close links with the Scottish National Party, with both parties' MPs co-operating closely with one another. They tend to form a voting block within Westminster. Both parties are part of the European Free Alliance bloc in the European Parliament.

External link

• Plaid Cymru