The Plaid Cymru leader, Leanne Wood, has attacked Labour for what she calls its 17-year record of failure in Wales as she prepares to open her party’s conference in Aberystwyth.
While welcoming the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader – which she said would allow Welsh nationalists to work with others in Westminster against austerity – Wood said years of Labour rule had reduced Wales to a second-class nation.
Wood told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Welsh workers earned less on average than workers in England and waiting times in the health service were longer in Wales. Plaid has made health a central issue of next year’s Welsh assembly elections. Wood will address her party conference later on Friday, where Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Nationalist party leader, is also speaking.
Wood has said Plaid wants to ringfence health spending so it becomes a national priority again. It wants to recruit 1,000 extra doctors, scrap care fees and create specialist cancer diagnostic centres across Wales.
At the last Welsh assembly election in 2011, Labour ended a coalition with Plaid to govern alone – despite being one seat shy of an overall majority. Since Wood, a former probation officer, took charge Plaid has not made any major gains in either the EU or UK elections, and she is under pressure to do well in May’s election in Wales.
Despite a rise in Wood’s public profile during last year’s general election debates, Plaid failed to increase its three seats in Westminster – although it came close to winning a fourth. Plaid has 11 seats in the Welsh national assembly.
Asked why Plaid had not been as successful as the SNP in Scotland, Wood said devolution had started earlier there, with education and justice in 1997. The Welsh assembly was created in 1998.
“I fully expect to make progress,” she said of the May vote. “We have a strong team of candidates.”
Wood has acknowledged her party has gained more attention since she appeared in the televised leaders’ debates. But she has said the increased media coverage was not a “magic wand”, and that Plaid had more work to do before it could enjoy the same kind of electoral success as the SNP.
Wood – who will be standing for election in the Rhondda constituency – said she did not think of the May poll as “death or glory” in terms of her leadership. “I don’t look at things in those terms,” she said. “I just put my effort into everything and do the best I can. I look forward to what the people of Wales will say next year.”
Plaid Cymru’s conference is being held at Aberystwyth University art centre on Friday and Saturday.
