 The speech in English was to non-Welsh speaking members |
The president of Plaid Cymru, Dafydd Iwan, has delivered his first ever major speech almost entirely in English. Addressing the party's spring conference in Pontypridd, he said he wanted to kill off the myth that Plaid was only for people who spoke Welsh.
He used his speech to reiterate a commitment to an independent Wales.
The speech in English was a seminal moment for a former leader of the Welsh Language Society and a folk singer who has worked through Welsh.
Mr Iwan told delegates at the University of Glamorgan he was making the speech in English because he wanted "to address particularly those of you who do not understand or speak Welsh".
He said: "Plaid Cymru, the party of Wales, will always do all it can to ensure the survival and indeed the flourishing of this living symbol of our nationality.
"But the survival of the Welsh language is not the responsibility of one party alone, it is the responsibility of all political parties in Wales and the language must never become a political football to be kicked around the political arena."
 |  For independence read the first two letters - in  |
He went on: "There are those who have used the Welsh language as a weapon against Plaid Cymru, by spreading the myth that our party is somehow only interested in people who speak Welsh.
"Let us put this senseless lie to rest once and for all."
He repeated the party's call for a full Welsh parliament.
"The establishment of a national sovereign parliament for Wales is essential - a national elected body with all the necessary powers to govern Wales and to release the full potential of our country's wealth and our people's genius."
Mr Iwan also pointed out that many of the countries joining the EU in May had similar or smaller populations than Wales but that did not stop them being independent.
"If independence is the key to freedom for Slovenia, if independence is the key to prosperity in Ireland and if independence is the key to new prospects for Latvia, then independence is the right goal for Wales too
"For independence read the first two letters - in," he told delegates.
"This is not the way to drop out, or to be cut off -- this is the way in to a new Britain, a new Europe and to the United Nations of all the nations.
 Jill Evans and other delegates applaud Dafydd Iwan's speech |
"Independence is the way in. You heard it here first." Earlier, Plaid's assembly leader Ieuan Wyn Jones attacked the growth of Welsh quangos, calling it "undemocratic".
According to the party's research, over 1000 people now sit on nearly 100 quangos across Wales.
He accused the assembly government of allowing quangos to spend almost �5bn of public money without any accountability to voters.
MEP Jill Evans, Plaid Cymru's deputy president, told delegates the party could still return two Plaid MEPs to Brussels after the European elections which will be held at the same time.
Wales' allocation of five MEPs is being cut to four at these polls, along with the other UK electoral regions, to accommodate the 10 new member states joining the European Union on 1 May.
Following the re-organisation, Plaid Cymru is widely expected to lose one of its two current MEPs.
But Ms Evans said five years ago the party was not expected to win two seats and did, and could still take two of the four seats available this June.
But she warned it would need "the campaign of our lives" to achieve it.
One-Minute World News 
News services
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
