Plaid’s shameful opportunism underlines the need for a Labour government in Wales

Plaid has consistently attempted to position itself as the party to the left of Jones’s Llafur Cymru and has argued that it belongs to a political tradition associated more closely associated with Socialism and the trade union movement than the current Labour Party. However, yesterday’s events have revealed that much like the SNP, Plaid has no integrity or ideological core of its own and has simply instrumentalised progressive ideas to advance the regressive goal of separatism.

Events in Wales have shown that the well-drilled opportunism of nationalists is not restricted to Scotland. An attempted coalition between Plaid, UKIP and the Conservative Party blocked the re-election of Labour’s Carwyn Jones as first-minister for Wales yesterday, leading a stalemate at the Senedd. Talks are now underway to resolve the issue, but Plaid’s Leanne Wood is likely to find that voters will now be asking questions about her credibility.

In the recent welsh elections, Labour lost its overall majority in Wales leaving the party with 29 representatives. Following the result Carwyn Jones announced in Cardiff his readiness to work with both Plaid and the Lib Dems to form a government, whilst emphasising his refusal to work with both UKIP and the Tories. Despite the previous working relationship between Labour and Plaid, it has been reported by the BBC that Leanne Wood approached UKIP last Monday and today a coalition between Plaid, UKIP and the Conservatives allowed her to challenge Carwyn Jones for his position as First Minister.

The concessions made here by Plaid to garner the votes of the two right wing parties are in stark contrast to their election campaign which promised that “you can stop UKIP, by voting for Plaid Cymru”.

I spoke to Vikki Howells, newly elected AM for Cynon Valley:

“On my first full day at the Assembly I started as I mean to go on – standing in solidarity with low paid and poorly treated museum staff at a PCS rally on the steps of the Senedd. One of the speakers spoke of his optimism for the new Assembly, based upon the fact that 42 of the 60 Assembly Members came from “progressive socialist parties”. For a few brief minutes I too shared his optimism, although there was a nagging doubt in the back of my mind – strange that while 11 Labour AMs attended the rally only 1 Plaid AM was present. Where were they all? I could hardly have imagined the truth – inside the Senedd making backroom deals with UKIP and the Tories in an attempt to bring Leanne Wood to power. “

Whilst Plaid are involved in political manoeuvring, some of the most vulnerable communities in Wales, highly dependent on our manufacturing sector, are suffering from the third recession to hit in a decade. Strong and immediate leadership is needed – and recent events in Port Talbot has shown that this leadership will not come from the Government in Westminster.

Howells added: “Naval gazing politics in Cardiff Bay is of no help to these communities. In addition, we are just six weeks away from the European referendum. It is astounding that Plaid Cymru, a strongly pro-European party, is willing to make backroom deals with UKIP and the Welsh Tories in these circumstances. They are portraying themselves as more interested in short term power play than the long term best interests of Wales.”

These deals expose a Machiavellian quest for power over principle. In their willingness to vote with parties that should be fundamentally incompatible to the supposedly “socialist’ party, Plaid Cymru have exposed what appears to be a recurring problem within contemporary neo-nationalist political parties.

This is no more evident than in Scotland; where, whilst styling themselves as a “progressive” left-leaning party, the SNP continually prioritise independence at the expense of reform to economic and social policy, and have failed to produce redistributive policies. Indeed in only 2007, the SNP set out in its economic strategy to “to make Scotland the lowest taxed part of the UK” through major cuts to taxes for big business. Nicola Sturgeon has since softened this position, but has still committed to “targeted changes” in reducing co-operation tax to ensure Scotland’s competitiveness in the UK.

The SNP approach to “economic independence” has led to further privatisation and fragmentation of the rail network than ever achieved under the Tories, and has resulted in a reluctance amongst some SNP MSP’s to express outright opposition to the risks of TTIP. Over the past five years, SNP austerity has cut £300 million from school budgets, and further cuts to council budgets will be made in the next year. Whilst announcing £610 million of cuts to local authorities, Scottish Finance Secretary, John Swinney, dismissed Labour plans to mitigate the burden of these cuts through a 1 per cent increase in income tax in a move praised by George Osborne.

The stalemate in Cardiff has thrown the election process into confusion, and the assembly has been forced to adjourn whilst the parties attempt to break the deadlock. They have until 2 June – following which another election will be called. With the credibility of Plaid Cymru now damaged, a fresh election may not yield a favourable result. More importantly, at a time when public trust is already low in political institutions events such as these damage the already waning relationship between the public and our political institutions.

Now more than ever we need straight talking, honest politics.

Greg Dash is deputy editor of Anticipations, the Young Fabian journal. He tweets at @GregLabour