{"id":165,"date":"2016-10-25T10:11:39","date_gmt":"2016-10-25T10:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/thinking-wales\/?p=165"},"modified":"2022-04-13T17:25:10","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T16:25:10","slug":"all-those-opposed-plaid-and-the-role-of-opposition-in-the-national-assembly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/thinking-wales\/all-those-opposed-plaid-and-the-role-of-opposition-in-the-national-assembly\/","title":{"rendered":"All those opposed: Plaid and the role of opposition in the National Assembly"},"content":{"rendered":"

In light of Dafydd Elis-Thomas’ decision to leave the Plaid group, Nye Davies explores the role of Plaid and the opposition in the National Assembly<\/em><\/p>\n

Clement Attlee called it \u201cthe greatest betrayal in the political history of the country\u201d. Ramsay MacDonald\u2019s decision to form a National Government in 1931 has dented his legacy in the history of the Labour Party. Labour\u2019s leader had turned his back on the Labour movement \u2013 the alliance with the Tories has not been forgiven by many.<\/p>\n

Dafydd Elis-Thomas\u2019 decision to leave the Plaid group is perhaps not on the same scale as MacDonald\u2019s but it has caused similar levels of outrage from his former colleagues. Elis-Thomas was leader of Plaid Cymru for seven years between 1984 and 1991, a considerable amount of time. But with rumours rife that Dafydd Elis-Thomas will join the Welsh Government in the future, it remains to be seen whether the Plaid Cymru historians will place the same verdict on Elis-Thomas as Ramsay MacDonald received from Labour.<\/p>\n

Elis-Thomas said his decision to leave was down to the Plaid group being unwilling to \u201cseriously participate in government and to give Wales a stable government\u201d<\/a> adding that \u201call pro-devolutionists should be working together\u201d in order to prevent Wales losing powers in light of Wales\u2019 departure from the EU.<\/p>\n

But why leave now, especially having just been elected as a Plaid Cymru member in May\u2019s National Assembly election? Many will likely feel betrayed by Elis-Thomas\u2019 decision to leave the group so soon after fighting an election as a Plaid candidate. A petition has been setup calling for a by-election to be fought as Elis-Thomas was \u201celected through the hard work and financial resources of Plaid Cymru\u2019s local activists\u201d<\/a>. However, there is no constitutional obligation to call a by-election \u2013 perhaps morally though there is an obligation. But as Aneurin Bevan was claimed to have once said, \u201cI have never regarded politics as the arena of morals\u2026it is the arena of interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

As well as internal problems for Plaid, there is also the issue of the role of the opposition in the National Assembly. Former Secretary of State for Wales Ron Davies\u2019 ambition for \u201cinclusiveness\u201d in Welsh politics, creating \u201ca political system which leads to pluralism\u201d<\/a>, might be what Dafydd Elis-Thomas feels Plaid are not taking part in, exemplified by the deadlock over the election of the First Minister.<\/p>\n

If Elis-Thomas\u2019 complaints are taken as a given, then the question must be asked \u2018what is the role of an opposition?\u2019 Elis-Thomas sees Plaid\u2019s stance as a \u201cnarrow oppositionist stance\u201d<\/a>, arguing a coalition should have been sought with the Welsh Labour Government. He also argued that \u201cthe idea of an official opposition is not in the Assembly\u2019s Standing Orders and is a Westminster concept\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, the deadlock of the First Minister vote could be seen as a success in both collaborative and oppositional terms. After the deadlock, leader Leanne Wood stated that Plaid were happy with the concessions they received from Labour, arguing that \u201cthe Party of Wales has secured more concrete gains for people in Wales in one agreement on one vote than the Conservatives achieved throughout the course of the entire last Assembly.\u201d<\/a> The recent agreement on a budget deal between Labour and Plaid seems to fly against Elis-Thomas\u2019 argument that Plaid are not being constructive in opposition.<\/p>\n

Leanne Wood recently commented<\/a> that \u201cpeople [in Plaid] are genuinely torn between the two views of whether or not they [Labour] are so bad at governing that we should be in there helping them, or they are doing such a bad job they need to be held to account with a strong opposition.\u201d But in her 2016 conference speech, she stated that “we are not seeking a coalition with the Labour Party.”<\/a><\/p>\n

Wood has previously argued for the need to get Labour out of government, maintaining that \u201cWales needs an alternative government in order to progress\u201d, a statement echoed at conference by AM Neil McEvoy<\/a> who was adamant that Plaid \u201cshould have absolutely nothing to do with that party\u201d. If Plaid and Labour have contrasting views on what is best approach for tackling Wales\u2019 problems, perhaps concessions cannot be gained and consensus cannot be met. Fundamental differences mean that Plaid might be better off arguing for its core principles rather than being a passenger to Labour policy. As McEvoy stated, “the public want robust opposition and that is what we should give them\u2026If we go into coalition with Labour we will lose support and will never have the power to really change Wales.” A gradualist approach, with the aim of winning concession, might not be the best option for Plaid.<\/p>\n

Perhaps ironically, Elis-Thomas\u2019 defection might help to decide Plaid\u2019s approach to opposition. Plaid have agreed a budget with the Welsh Government but in the future, Plaid\u2019s support might not be as badly needed. With Kirsty Williams in Government, Labour could possibly get the votes they need to pass future budgets and legislation by appealing to Elis-Thomas. As former First Minister Rhodri Morgan put it, Plaid \u201chave lost their leverage\u201d<\/a> over the Labour Government. If Plaid AMs feel they cannot achieve concessions, and if Labour does not need their support, they may become even more opposition-minded towards the Welsh Government and argue more forcibly for changes in policy.<\/p>\n

The numbers in the National Assembly mean that Plaid are level with the Tories on 11 AMs, losing status as the official opposition, highlighted by Presiding Officer Elin Jones now referring to Leanne Wood as \u2018the leader of Plaid Cymru\u2019 instead of \u2018the leader of the opposition. They will now either share the status with the Conservatives or the position will be lost entirely. Will the same collaborative approach towards the government that some expect of Plaid, also be expected of the Tories? The government whose First Minister described the Tories as \u201cfar too much to the right of where we stand\u201d<\/a>? The first five months of this Assembly term have raised some major issues; but after 17 years, the very nature of opposition and Plaid\u2019s role in the National Assembly is still yet to be fully resolved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In light of Dafydd Elis-Thomas' decision to leave the Plaid group, Nye Davies explores the role of Plaid and the opposition in the National Assembly Clement Attlee called it \u201cthe […]","protected":false},"author":1043,"featured_media":166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[49,48],"tags":[50,10,51,35],"class_list":["post-165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-assembly","category-plaid-cymru","tag-dafydd-elis-thomas","tag-national-assembly-for-wales","tag-opposition","tag-plaid-cymru"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8iFWs-2F","meta_box":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/thinking-wales\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/509\/2016\/10\/welsh-assembly-492530305.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/thinking-wales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/thinking-wales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/thinking-wales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/thinking-wales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1043"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/thinking-wales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/thinking-wales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/thinking-wales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions\/168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/thinking-wales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/thinking-wales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/thinking-wales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/thinking-wales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}