Polls suggest Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru will battle Reform UK to end a century of Labour political dominance of Wales, at Senedd elections next May.
Plaid representatives at its upbeat annual conference – held over the weekend in Brangwyn Hall in Swansea – all seem on message: don’t bang on too much about independence; keep the focus on voters’ daily lives and be the government-in-waiting.
Yet every so often, a sense of giddiness among its rank-and-file membership breaks through. And who could blame them? Plaid is 100 years old, yet only now is it poised for perhaps its finest hour: its leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, is favourite to be the first minister.
So, for the giddiness. On Saturday morning, three Plaid delegates notice each other in a queue at the hall’s cafe. One holds a Welsh red dragon flag, one wears a Palestinian keffiyeh, while the youngest is draped in the black and white flag of Cornwall.
As they wait for coffee, the red dragon holder starts singing a jolly song about how “20,000 Cornish men will know the reason why!”.
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