Live Afternoon Session Plaid Cymru Conference

The Plaid Cymru plan for leaving the EU fleshed out

Good afternoon. Welcome to round two of our coverage from Plaid Cymru's

conference in Llandeilo and. Divisions over talk with a coalition

with Labour coming to a four and Brexit is likely to feature heavily

with Leanne Wood. Vaughan Roderick is back for more. The Plaid Cymru

vision for leaving the European Union doesn't look deliverable at

present. They want membership of the single market with free movement. An

easy sell may be in Llandeilo but more difficult the wider population

who voted to leave. It is the softest of soft Brexits.

Plaid Cymru are banking on the idea that there are some people who voted

leave you wanted a soft Brexit. They could make up the majority. They are

also banking that public opinion could change and if the exit process

proves to be rough and if people see that the pound will buy a lot less

when they go on holiday and they see announcements made by companies

leaving the UK, if any of that happens then public opinion could

change and Plaid Cymru could find themselves ahead of public opinion.

It is a real gamble doing that but I think they sense, as the Liberal

Democrats do, there is a gap in the market for a party that is basing

its appeal starting with the people who voted remain.

Plenty more from you later in the afternoon. Taking the pulse of the

party in Llandeilo this afternoon is Bethan Lewis. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon and welcome back to the pavilion here. The delegates

have had their lunch and have gone back into the Hall and are gearing

up for the main event, the leader 's speech. The highlight of any

political conference. As you have mentioned, we had a taste of what

Leanne Wood is likely to say and talk of this 3-point plan for Brexit

and how she would like to see Welsh interest represented in that

negotiation process and that 3-point plan would include first of all

staying as part of the single market. You have already talked

about that. She also wants to see all four UK nations having a role in

those negotiations as the UK withdraws. The third point is about

the constitution. As the powers are transferred back from Brussels she

wants to make sure they are not centralised at Westminster but the

appropriate powers are perhaps devolved as well. A taste of what

she is likely to say but we will hear the speech in about 15 minutes

time. Plenty more later on the programme.

We will go into the main hall now where Steffan Lewis, the Plaid Cymru

member for South Wales East is already taking centre stage.

It may not be universally popular to say this in the current climate that

we all know who is to blame for Wales being a low wage economy, for

services under pressure and so many rely on state support. The blame

does not lie with those who came here seeking a better life, it lies

on successive London governments who take our people for granted and our

country for a ride. I know that concerns about immigration and held

for genuine reasons for most people in Wales, a genuine concern about

jobs, homes and communities. Those people deserve honesty from their

politicians and not political expediency. Will be the whole

question isn't thinking about cash, although we know the positive

benefits of migration in that respect, but I am concerned that if

we have a hard Brexit with closed borders coupled with the UK's free

market outlook on trade and regressive reforms to trade with

England, it would put the national health service under threat.

Increased marketisation of the NHS in England will have consequences

for this country due to the way we are funded. The UK Government has

refused to back Plaid Cymru demands that public services should be

protected in any future UK trade deals. We know almost a third of

doctors in Wales, a are trained overseas. We have a toxic cocktail

that threatens the success of the greatest achievement of Britain, the

NHS. People are demanding politicians say what they believe

and we need a straight talking politics were politicians speak

their minds, even if that means disagreeing with popular opinion. As

an elected representative I am duty-bound to say that if faced with

a choice of insuring a free and flourishing NHS for our children and

their children or shutting down the border then the NHS wins my vote

every single day of the week. And if our public services, if our NHS

matters to the Labour government, I urge them to reconsider their

position today on Welsh membership of the single market and our

relationship with Europe. In fact, I ask the Labour government to go a

bit further and come up with a coherent position in terms of

Wales's place in Europe. It is simply unacceptable for them to

point to the incompetence of the UK Government and claim we should all

be sitting on our hands waiting for Westminster to act on our behalf.

There are three fundamental point that must be addressed. The process

of our withdrawal from the EU, Wales's relations with the EU after

we have left and the constitutional status of our country. I have

repeatedly requested the First Minister address these three

fundamental points and he has repeatedly failed to even reveal a

partial position on any of them. Worse than that it seems the Welsh

government policy is being conducted by TV interview, changing and

contradicting itself within hours. In terms of Brexit negotiations, the

First Minister said he wants Welsh input in the process of withdrawal

but he hasn't said how that will happen and he is waiting for the UK

position first. He hasn't elaborated on the post article 50 negotiations

either. One day the First Minister told me he did not favour membership

of the single market and the day before to Leanne Wood he said he

did, before saying to Adam Price on the same day he preferred a

free-trade deal. He has taken great leisure in highlighting the UK's

lack of expertise in trade negotiations before ruling out

recruiting Welsh trade negotiators. This is further confused by the fact

the First Minister appears to have made free movement of people a red

line issue at the same colour saying that Wales could have no say on

migration policy in the UK. On the issue of the constitutional future

of Wales, the First Minister talks federal when he is giving speeches

overseas but when I asked him if people in Wales should decide their

own national future, especially in light of a bad Brexit deal from

London he categorically ruled out any referendum on Wales's future

under any circumstances. Let's be clear, the First Minister of our

country is sending Theresa May a message she could do whatever to

Wales and there will be no political consequences from the Welsh Labour

government. Not good enough. Labour sees Wales as an addendum and not a

nation in its own right, that is revealed in the Brexit period we are

living in. Plaid Cymru has a list of demands that would give Wales a

distinct voice in these negotiations and beyond. We demand a full country

approach to the negotiations and we will resist a Westminster one-way

system. All for governments in the UK should commence negotiations now

to establish the UK position on future negotiations with the EU

before article 50th triggered. The Welsh government should establish or

the policy areas that should be repatriated to Wales, not gobbled up

by Westminster. Plaid Cymru demands that following the conclusion of

these BOC aces and once article 50th triggered, all governments in the UK

should be represented at the negotiating table. The Tories should

not speak for all of us. Sun negotiations should take place in

the UK itself and where there is particular Welsh interest we ask the

Welsh government at least attempts to get some of those negotiations

conducted here in Wales. Plaid Cymru insists that once an agreement has

been reached with the EU and its enactment should require the consent

of all four parliaments in the UK and to be clear, that means Wales

preserving the right to veto any Brexit treaty that is damaging to

our country. And an the constitutional future of

Wales, there has never been a more important time to be a reassert the

basic principle that the people of Wales should determine the country's

future. The referendum result has been interpreted as a mandate for a

centralised, inward looking British state. We do not recognise that

mandate and we never will. There is no end date for Wales to be subsumed

into a greater England entity. There is no mandate to dilutes devolution

and no mandate to depress the Welsh economy. During the referendum

campaign I was intrigued to hear politicians in London, many of whom

have led a political life opposing devolution to Wales, said they

wanted their country back. Conference, I also want our country

back. I want it back from a discredited UK Parliament that sets

out taxes, makes laws without being properly accountable to us. I want

it back from a faceless Whitehall bureaucracy that get to decide which

powers are reserved and which are devolved and I want it back from

xenophobic Tories who have never won a mandate to rule over our country.

I can tell you Plaid Cymru very much welcome the opportunity to talk

about taking back control of our country. I Cymru is opposing a

number of measures so we can do that. We would like to see the

foundations laid so that we can build prosperous communities, a

flourishing country and strong public services. And essential to

that outcome is a considerable effort to establish Wales on the

international stage. We must make Wales a global success story. In the

short term, Plaid Cymru aims to transform Wales into one of the

world's most recognised substate nations. To gain influence to

further our national interest and to fulfil our obligations to the world

community. It is a source of great disappointment the Welsh government

has never undertaken a serious assessment of Wales' international

recognition and it is a big hindrance to realising our

potential. Add to that the refusal of the government to host the

Commonwealth Games or the world Expo, or to resurrect the WDA and it

is little wonder that Scotland or Qu bec take a bigger share of the

international limelight. We should aim to be just as recognised

globally as those two countries. I reiterate, it is time for Plaid

Cymru and Wales to develop a distinct foreign policy for this

country with a dedicated Minister for external affairs with an

undertaking to raise Wales' global reach to boost trade, to create

opportunities for culture, business and to develop Welsh influence in

international bodies. As Westminster looks into itself, Wales must now

look out. Over coming years, however optimistic you are or not about our

prospects post exit, we can all agree there will be in and

volatility until our departure from the European Union. Because of this,

Plaid Cymru calls to take advantage of emerging opportunities and to

mitigate against unforeseen challenges. For example, with the

pound at record lows, now is the time to sell Wales more than ever as

a destination for a holiday especially. If there is a challenge,

as there appears to be, in recruiting overseas students, we

cannot afford to wait for Westminster to come up with

solutions. We must respond rapidly to mitigate the threat. Labour

believes Wales is helpless and they have surrendered our fate to others.

Now is precisely the wrong time to wallow in the aftermath of the

referendum. Now we must demand the best from ourselves and each other

to make the very best of our nation. My optimism for our country's

potential is not dampened. We must resolve to be as determined as ever

before. No one has the right to say to a nation, this is how far you

should go and no further. The world has changed dramatically in a short

period of time but there is still a place for Wales in that world. It is

time for us to decide whether or not we are ready to take our rightful

place as a nation among equals. And to take back control of our country

and communities so that we can build the progressive Wales that our

citizens deserve. Earlier this morning another debate

was held on leaving the EU. Here is a flavour of the discussion chaired

by Simon Thomas, the panellists were Steffan Lewis, Rebecca Williams,

director of the Country Landowners Association in Wales, and Jill

Evans. TRANSLATION: If I could begin by asking Jill whether she could

outline... Obviously Theresa May has been in Brussels, and what are the

impressions and so on? EU in the Parliament -- in the Parliament

there is a great deal of good will still. People want us to come to an

agreement which is fair for everyone and will benefit everyone if

possible. As regards rural areas and agricultural policies particularly,

this is extremely important for us in Wales, and I am very grateful for

all the organisations, farmers organisations and rural associations

and so on, which have carried out so much research in this field. One

thing I am quite confident about is that we can draw up a new

agricultural policy which will be suitable for Wales, and suitable for

the needs of Wales, because over the years, I have been very proud to

speak on things like food standards and what we export to other

countries, and I am pleased and proud that Wales has played a very

prominent part in this. I am sure we can cooperate. It won't be easy, I

know, but I hope we can continue to do so by drawing up a policy for

Wales, which also maintains our standards. Thank you, Jill, if I can

turn now to Steffan Lewis. How will democracy in Wales form itself?

Immediately after the Brexit referendum I think we all went

through several stages and several motions, and after the Nile, despair

and anger and the rest of it, as a party we came together and decided

we need to look at how we move the country forward and try to find some

glimmers of hope somehow, somewhere. It's a shame the Labour Party in

Cardiff haven't done the same but that reflects more on them than us.

I want to agree with what Jill has said. Whether in Europe or with

diplomatic meetings in London, there isn't an appetite there to punish

the UK. That isn't driving force. People are genuinely disappointed

that the UK has voted to leave, and some people are really still shocked

by it. There is no appetite to punish, but the other thing they are

clear about is there cannot be a rewriting of the rules. If you are

outside the club and do not pay into the club and abide by the rules, you

don't get the benefits of membership. In Theresa May's speech

at her party conference, and other noises coming from the Tory

Government in London, there is a constant contradiction between, we

want our country back and we will be a great sovereign, independent

country on the one hand, and on the other hand talking about how you can

pick and choose certain aspects of EU membership. So that will be a

constant problem, and the repercussions for us in Wales, and

for me as a Plaid Cymru membro want to bring it back to the

Constitution, but all politics is about the constitution, when you

look at the hands of the Northern Ireland Executive and Scottish

Government have in these islands now, they have leveraged because of

the way their countries voted, to exert pressure on the UK Government

to find different solutions and opt in or out of some aspects of the new

post Brexit UK. The Welsh Government should be right now covering up the

distinct position for our country to create, and I accept it is difficult

to create that leveraged at the same level, but to create leveraged so

there is a distinct Welsh pressure on the UK Government, that we are on

the radar, and I don't get the impression we are. Things being

discussed at the moment might seem inconsequential, talk for example

that Scotland and Northern Ireland could become substate members of

certain EU organisations and represent themselves, and nobody is

talking about Wales having that same right. In which case, then,

constitutionally, we have this reinforcement of a greater England

entity of which we are apart, and this is the biggest threat to Welsh

political nationhood in Wales voted the same way as England in terms of

the referendum, that that it seemed to reinforce the political entity of

greater England, not even England and Wales, just greater England, and

I think that will be devastating if it is not resisted and we don't find

a way of overcoming it. So, at the moment, the focus has been on when

Article 50 will be triggered, but let's never take our eye off the

very, very great need for us to ensure that we secure a framework

for negotiations, not just between the UK and the EU but between the

nations of the UK, so that we can ensure that Welsh national interests

are further that that level. Thank you, Steffan APPLAUSE. May I ask the

CLA. The CLA is a body with over 3000 members, and we look after the

rural members, and indeed, in all professions in the rural areas. As

Simon said, as a body, we didn't say in the referendum which way we

should vote, but we provide information about the best things,

the worse things, so people could make a balanced decision. Because we

have been neutral, we have started to prepare quite soon after the

result, and we are looking at the project in Cardiff and in

Westminster, and over the summer we have been working very hard to

provide a leaflet, "New opportunities," looking at the new

situation, looking at the possibilities of rules and trade

agreements. This has raised questions. We haven't the answers

yet and we are honest about that, but we need to raise the questions.

Although it is very important, we saw that there are basic questions,

constitutional questions, as you refer to, Steffan. They are

important to us in the agricultural sector. In the last fortnight we

have submitted a new pamphlet looking at the needs of rural Wales

and the rural economy. And the constitutional issues arising from

there. And giving suggestions as to what the Welsh Government needs to

look at. There is a need of some sort of framework on UK level for

agriculture and agricultural policies that might be

controversial, I don't know. But from our members, we feel this is

very important. We should keep a balance between what is happening in

Wales and what is happening in the rest of the UK. That was a flavour

of the debate earlier today on leaving the European Union. We are

now getting very close to Leanne Wood's conference speech. Before

that begins, let's cross back to the reference, where Bethan Harris

guests. Thank you. I am joined by two prominent Plaid Cymru AM is

before they going to take their seats for the leaders speech. Elin

Jones, presiding officer, AM for Ceredigion, it has been a full week

for Plaid Cymru, one of your colleagues has left the group. What

role do you see Dafydd Elis-Thomas playing in the Assembly in future?

It seems such a long time ago that happened, many things have happened

since then. Dafydd Elis-Thomas is now an independent Member of the

National Assembly who has moved to sit in a different location. I have

no doubt he will contribute in his own interesting way in future, and

we will hear what he has to say over the next few years, but he will not

be saying it in the name of Plaid Cymru in future. I am sure that is

disappointing for many who voted for him in the name of Plaid Cymru, but

he has chosen this decision, so suddenly after the election he has

only just stood in. There is speculation over the role he might

play in future, whether he might join the Labour Government in some

way. What do you think? Again, he was voted in other Plaid Cymru

Member and I think it would be foolish to make any arrangement as

an independent, I think that would tarnish his reputation. He still has

40 years of public service to stand on. That is part of his good name,

if you like, and I think he needs to remember that. In everything he does

now is an independent, Plaid Cymru will continue to work for the best

as we see it for Wales, including Dwyfor Meirionydd, still represented

by a Plaid Cymru AM. Talking about working with Labour, we have heard

Neil McEvoy talking about it on stage, other people referring to it.

You worked as a minister in a Plaid Cymru- Labour coalition. Would you

be comfortable with that arrangement happening again? It works very well

for that period of four years, the one Wales Government between Plaid

Cymru and Labour is held in high esteem, I think, as one of the

periods in Government when Wales was at its most constructive, creative,

and there is much to say for the fact that coalitions, two parties

working together, challenge within Government as well as outside it,

that that can be a greater force for the good, but obviously I am

presiding officer now, therefore I have to watch these things and

preside over these matters rather than have my own opinion on them.

Simon Thomas, you can have an opinion, can't you? Really, I

suppose we had seen a scope of using Plaid Cymru, Neil McEvoy at one end

is totally opposed to co-operating, but Adam Price at the other end

fairly pro-coalition. Where are you? We negotiated a compact with Labour

which I negotiated with Jane Capcom -- Jane Hutt, used by Adam Price to

deliver the best budget deal any opposition party has for any Welsh

Government. Short of coalition that shows a progressive, grown-up,

mature way of working when the card you are dealt with an election put

you into Government. I think there are challenges for this present

Welsh Government, the first of which is undoubtedly leaving the EU and

the confusion about that. It means the Welsh Government itself has to

examine whether it has the right talent in the right post and have

the right leadership. Whether we go into coalition is a matter for

parties at home and for the group to think about, but I think it also has

to be a matter for the political timing. The One Wales Government

worked well but the objective was clear, to deliver further powers

with a referendum which we want handsomely in 2011. We have to be

clear if we went into Government, what is the objective? Just having a

pop at the current regime is not enough, we need more, which has not

yet been offered. Is discussion going on with Labour about this,

then? Not a discussion, no, but we have liaison groups, committees as

we call them, ongoing, so we discussed the legislative programme

with them, Brexit, we have discussed the budget, obviously, but we have

no direct talks around joining them. Elin Jones, before you take your

seat for Leanne Wood's speech, what would you like to hear from there

this afternoon? It is important at this time, in such an uncertain time

politically, in terms of how the future of Wales will work in the

context of possibly leaving the European Union, clarity from a

political party is very important at this point in terms of how Plaid

Cymru wants to see negotiations and what we want to achieve as a

political party and the nation out of negotiations, and all the good

that has been in the European Union, how much of that we can salvage for

the future and for Wales. Clarity on Brexit is definitely something I

hope we will hear this afternoon, and I'm sure we will. Beyond Brexit,

is there anything else to bring out in the speech? We have to be honest

that Brecht Brexit is the biggest upheaval in politics at the moment.

Leadership from Wales is woefully lacking at the moment and I sure

Leanne Wood will out ideas about how we respond positively to new

economic circumstances, and I think she will have exciting ideas, and I

think the party as ready as well to take these forward. Thank you very

much. Brexit is obviously the dominating theme in this conference,

but the work of the Welsh Government and making sure public services,

health, education and so on run effectively still goes on. Is there

a danger Leanne Wood could be focusing on Brexit at the expense of

everything else? There is that danger but in the

minds of the electors, they don't seem to be that engaged with issues

beyond Brexit at the moment. People have concerns about the health

service and education but Brexit is tending to dominate everything in

all of the party conferences at the moment. I think that'll change. As

we move towards the local elections next year, local issues will come

more to the fore that really at this time all the parties are having to

set out their stalls on where they can go next.

Do you think the local elections which you have just mentioned next

year will be the first test on the things Leanne Wood has been saying

about leaving the European union? A subject which has nothing to do with

the local election but that doesn't stop people. Local elections are

strange creatures because they do play out on different dynamics.

National politics will play in in terms of Welsh politics but also UK

politics. It showed on paper be an opportunity for Plaid Cymru because

one suspects you are going to go into the election with the UK

Government fairly unpopular as UK Government is always are at

mid-term. The Welsh government probably not very popular. The

Liberal Democrats still reeling after their awful results and Ukip,

one suspects, not being able to field that many candidates. That

should leave the field wide open for Plaid Cymru but I don't sense they

are going up to those local elections with any huge enthusiasm.

They don't sense they are going to make very substantial gains apart

from maybe in a couple of places like Cardiff, where they haven't had

much of a presence before. I think it is a very unpredictable set of

elections. And apart from her particular

election result in the assembly election, she hasn't made great

strides as a party leader in terms of having successful elections, has

she? In the programme this morning you raised the possibility of a new

leader fighting the next assembly election so how crucial with this

next electoral test be for a? If it is a disastrous election, it

increases or puts pressure on her leadership. I don't think there is

leadership at the moment and if it comes it will come later down the

track. A good set of elections will free her hand to decide what she

wants to do because I think she has a decision to make herself of

whether she wants to lead the party into another election, which would

mean she has led the party for seven or eight years, which is a long time

to lead opposition in the assembly. A lot of people have said what Plaid

Cymru are advocating has not been delivered. She is talking about the

Norwegian model that does allow some movement but there is a level of

control. Do you think the Plaid Cymru stance on free movement will

soften? All parties positions will change as

the negotiations proceed. That is inevitable because options will be

taken off the table and options might be put on the table by our

European partners. We are in a very fluid position. Place Cymru are

starting their journey, if you like, or starting their opening gambit is

being minimum Brexit. Good timing. Leanne Wood is taking

to the stage in the Angolan. This will be her conference address. --

in Llangollen. This good afternoon, conference. We

gather here at a defining time for our nation. It has been a year of

political drama and global upheaval. Even before our Welsh general

election and the referendum on our membership of the European Union,

2016 was a year are destined to weigh heavy on our collective

memory. It is 50 years since the Quinn for Athens victory in

Carmarthen. That set the scene for Wales to become a modern political

nation. And it is 50 years since the tragedy of Aberfan. The 21st of

October 1966. And industrial catastrophe half a century ago. 116

children and 28 adults were lost in the collapse of the spoiled tech.

Gwynfor himself remarked on the significance of Aberfan and said he

could not imagine how such a monstrous mountain could be built

above the school where the children of people of power and wealth go to

school. Let us not forget that the tragedy of Aberfan took place

because of the mismanagement. It was not a natural occurrence. M Gresford

back in 1934, this industrial legacy unites both the north and the south

of Wales. The whole of Wales mourned the children and the workers who

were lost in Aberfan 50 years ago. And together we will remember then.

Many of us thought the 21st-century all of our lives would be valued

equally but when I see the way people are being treated in reports

of the Calle jungle and reports of the refugee crisis and the lack of

compassion, especially for the children, I am not so sure. The

debate on the refugee crisis, immigration, free movement of

people, it has become toxic. I am horrified by some of the comment I

read on social and in the traditional media. Politicians are

now openly fanning the flames. Adding fuel to the fire of

xenophobia instead of seeking to provide a lasting solution or to

calm people's fears. We may have come to expect it from the likes of

Ukip but it has taken a dark turn when the UK Prime Minister joins

Owen. Conference, the debate has been thuggish. It is no wonder we

have seen a rise in hate crimes. Translation macro and during the

last few days we have seen children and young people, refugees, being

treated with suspicion. Conference, many people in our communities are

concerned or worried about the direction of this debate. So I tell

you clearly - Plaid Cymru will contribute to politics and will not

contribute to hate. Instead, we will contribute to the politics of hope.

That is our politics. Our Welsh nation is open to refugees and

people who are escaping from all sorts of conflict. We will never

close our doors in the faces of people who need sanctuary.

The European market is our largest single market. Unlike the UK as a

whole, Wales is a net beneficiary of EU funding. European Union

membership is written into the legislation which underpins our

national political nation had. These are facts but they don't change the

reality. A majority of people in Wales voted to leave the European

Union. It is vital we rebuild and we knew Wales following this decision.

-- renewal Wales. There are many reasons why those in our most

neglected communities chose to leave in June and the chief reasons in my

conversations with people who voted to leave our economic and political.

The EU structural funds programme was not sufficient to improve

conditions in those communities that have received the largest terms.

People in Ebbw Vale welcome the new railway, opened using the EU

funding. But it isn't enough to compensate for the lack of

opportunity in the area. People in Swansea are pleased with the new

University science campus built using EU funds but the campus

doesn't make up for the perception that the city isn't seeing enough

prosperity. Conference, people and communities have been left behind.

In the valleys, in Wrexham, in Newport and all the other parts of

the countries which voted to leave so there has to be a new approach,

both to economic regeneration and in terms of taking seriously and

listening to people in some of the most forgotten about communities. I

am sure you will remember that promise on the infamous bass,

telling us that leaving the EU would free up ?350 million every week for

spending an hour breaking point NHS. That has gone up to ?410 million per

week now the pound has fallen. That was a promise which made sense areas

hit hardest by austerity, even if that austerity came from Westminster

rather than from Brussels. To overcome our economic challenges

there has to be a plan that is much more innovative much more ambitious,

more creative, more entrepreneurial than anything have seen to date. The

Welsh government has set up a Welsh valleys tax force -- task force. I

wonder what has prompted them to do that right now!

But I'm afraid it isn't good enough. Plaid Cymru has emphasised the need

for the creation of specialist economic development agencies,

covering these regions where GDA stubbornly remains at 64% compared

to the UK average. It is why we have said planned infrastructure projects

should begin in those areas needing the investment the most. O and city

deal projects for the South and North shouldn't start in the cities.

They should start at the points furthest away from the big cities

and towns. We favour a bottom-up approach because we know trickle

down doesn't work. And while the cost of borrowing money has never

been lower, we must take this opportunity to invest in our

infrastructure and in our national institutions. We must make sure that

we seize this chance to properly spread the benefits of this

investment to all, everywhere in the country. I will reiterate again-

Plaid Cymru accepts the referendum result. We might not have wanted

this outcome but we have to try to secure the best possible deal for

Wales. But what we will never accept is a negotiating a deal which sees

Wales worse off. Our red line at all times is the Welsh economy and Plaid

Cymru will never sign off or endorse something that is bad for Wales.

And we can't accept that a majority of people in this country would have

wanted to have voted for something that was bad for Wales either. As

Plaid Cymru leader and as a Democrat I am not in the business of trying

to alter the past or rerun lost campaigns. I am in the business of

getting the very best outcome for Wales. Conference, there are three

key steps we must take when it comes to Brexit. Three clear ways we can

advocate and articulate the Welsh national interest. Firstly, the UK

must adopt a four countries approach to the Brexit negotiations. There is

no point having a Welsh national interest if we are put at the top

table. The devolved governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland have

put machinery into action. What we hear from the First Minister of

Wales? Apparently when he said Wales should have a seat at the table he

didn't mean an actual seat at the table. Who knows what he meant? The

Welsh government has been all over the place. When I was out in

Brussels, officials from all other nations and regions had no idea

about the Welsh position. There should be no more excuses and no

more hesitation from the Labour government in Cardiff. Secure that

seat at the top table and don't let the likes of Boris Johnson and Liam

Fox to the negotiating on our behalf.

My second point is that Wales must retain membership of the European

market. In the most recent quarter 39% of Welsh exports went to the EU.

Hi than the exports to North America or Asia. For food and drink, the

European Union represents 90% of our market. That means salt from

Anglesey, hand from Carmarthenshire, it means ?100 million worth of lamb

exports. Businesses rooted in our communities.

And across Wales, almost 200,000 jobs depend on that trade with

Europe, and when our industry thrives, Wales thrives. For now, we

are still enjoying the benefits of being in that single market, and we

can continue to benefit from free charade with the EU as a Member of

the European Economic Area or the European Free Trade Association.

This would amount to a soft Brexit. That is the option that would cause

the least harm to our businesses and industries. It is the best outcome

we can hope for in the hard bargaining over Brexit that is to

come. Plaid Cymru wants membership of the world's largest economic

area. Never again should we see Labour voting with Ukip and the

Conservatives in the national Assembly to muddy those waters.

APPLAUSE. . Conference, there is no such

coherent plan or position from Labour in Wales. We need that plan,

and we need that seat at the table. Not the First Minister's Mehta

metaphorical seat, a real one. By refusing to include our countries in

these negotiations, the Prime Minister is playing a high risk

game. She purports to want to keep the UK together. Why, then, would

she make such antagonistic moves towards the Welsh, the Scots and the

Irish? The Leave vote in Wales means bargaining position may not be as

strong as those in other countries. But Welsh people still deserve to

have a say. Whilst the majority of people might have voted to leave,

the hard Brexit position favoured by the Prime Minister was not on the

ballot paper. Hard Brexit is not the best option for Wales, and it is not

just me saying that. I've spent weeks visiting and talking to some

of the key players in the Welsh economy. Only this week I was in

Tata steel in Shotton. These major employers are overwhelmingly telling

me they want to see our continued participation in the single market.

They don't want tariffs. But it is not just about tariffs. They don't

want to have to operate outside the EU's regulatory regime, either. They

understand it is in the best interest of industry, jobs, science

and research collaboration as well as Wales's wider national interest

to continue to participate as a Member of the single market. The

third element is our position in the debate over the future of the United

Kingdom. Brexit will mean unpicking decades of regulation and

legislation. Every national Parliament within the UK must have a

final say, not only on the terms of Brexit, but also on whether powers

go back to Westminster or to the nation 's instead. In Belfast, the

solution would need to accommodate the open border in Ireland. In

Edinburgh, the failure to protect the Scottish European interests with

a unique solution could put the future of the UK at risk if people

in that country choose to become independent in the EU. The stakes

couldn't be any higher. Far from uniting Britain, the Leave vote

could well have created a disunited kingdom. Britain's governing itself

but losing its grip on its territory. In that context, we need

a bold response from the Welsh Government. If the Leave vote was a

vote against distant and centralised rule, then it was not a vote to

concentrate more powers at Westminster. In every crisis there

was an opportunity. With strong leadership, Wales could even come

out of this period stronger than before. We could well enter a

scenario where powers recently rejected in the Wales Built like

corporation tax, air passenger duty and R tax credits could come back

on the table. A range of options could become available, such as a

federal or confederal UK all the way through to an independent Wales. And

it is essential that when that happens we are represented by a

confident and ambitious government. First Minister, we will be watching

your response to constitutional developments. And if you do not get

the best possible deal for Wales, we will hold you to account.

APPLAUSE. Four countries approach, membership

of the single market, a stronger Constitution and a stronger nation.

These are our aims. Let's make sure we don't let anyone forget, the

Tories have no mandate in Wales. They have never had one. We have

never given the majority here, and Brexit doesn't give them one,

either. A revamped British nationalism is a danger to

everything we hold dear about Wales, and I can assure you, Plaid Cymru

will oppose that ideology. APPLAUSE.

The Conservatives cannot offer an alternative to Labour. Since the EU

referendum they have tried to undermine the future of the National

Assembly. The Conservative leader in Wales is playing a dangerous game,

like the one he was playing when he undermined Chris Coleman's football

team. The days of Nick Bourne feel long gone. Instead we have a Welsh

Conservative Party going backwards, backwards in the elections and

backwards in attitude. We will always reject the mindset that says

Wales is too small or too weak to look after ourselves. Wales needs

the opposite of that kind of attitude. Hope for our country after

Brexit comes from is being empowered and enabled to build our country to

be more self-sufficient to improve our economic position. And we must

also insist that Wales is enabled to protect our people from the worst of

any fallout from June's vote. The Wales Built risks being another

missed opportunity to empower our nation. The UK Government has missed

a trick. The powers on offer are now already out of date before they have

even been used. Drip feed devolution has failed Welsh democracy, whether

under Labour or Conservative UK governments. In some fields like

policing, Wales is behind some of the English regions. Greater

Manchester can control policing but politicians here fall over

themselves to stop their own country from having that responsibility.

Every single system of devolution in Wales since 1999 has proven

unworkable, and this has to be changed. To our cost, Welsh

governments are missing the opportunity to make a difference to

our citizens. They are given an easy way to explain their own failures.

Conference, we need to develop more backbone, more confidence, and more

self-respect, and it will only come with a Plaid Cymru Government.

APPLAUSE. Plaid Cymru believes in democracy,

and we believe that our democracy needs shaking up. If we accept that

the vote back in June was in part a protest against not being listened

to, then we have to accept that our current democratic model is failing

to deliver for too many people. We need a democracy revamped, a renewal

which should be designed with the purpose of giving everyone a voice,

and we begin from the premise of local control, local

decision-making, decentralisation. Wales as a community of communities.

Another principle for us is subsidiarity, The Party of Wales

believes the decisions about Wales should be made in Wales. That

decisions should be made as close as possible to the people they affect.

I am pleased to be able to announce to you today that Plaid Cymru

members will be out in your community is asking for your views.

Where do you stand on your democracy? Look out for our renewed

democracy campaign. Let's not play lip service to the slogan. Let's

really take control back of our politics. Plaid Cymru will make

politics work for people against. APPLAUSE.

-- work for people again. I want to make sure this country is in the

best possible shape to decide upon its future, should people in

Scotland choose to become independent. The choice for us will

be whether we hitch our wagon to Westminster's divisive politics, or

do something different. Theresa May doesn't represent me, with her lists

of foreign workers. She doesn't speak to me when she says, "If you

believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of

nowhere." I consider myself to be a Welsh European. But I am also a

global citizen. APPLAUSE.

Thomas Paine, or one of the founders of the United States, sums up where

I come from on this, when he said, "The world is my country, or mine

came -- mankind my brethren, and to do good is my religion." I might

include womankind and sisterhood, but you get the point!

APPLAUSE APPLAUSE. I joined this party 25 years ago

because I saw so many injustices around me in the community in which

I live. The way people are written off, has so many people are allowed

to go under. Going to university and meeting people from other places

made me realise that the circumstances in the Values in the

1980s were neither normal nor average. -- in the South Wales

valleys. We were getting a raw deal and I wanted to do something about

that. It made me ask questions about why we were in that situation when

others elsewhere had better opportunities. So I became a

probation officer and join Plaid Cymru, and in doing so I signed up

to the project to build our nation, to end these injustices, and to

empower ourselves by ending our dependence on others. I was

motivated then in both my career and in my political work by the firm

belief that the only way we will be able to reach our full potential as

individuals and as a nation is when we can do for ourselves the maximum

that we are able to do, when we can take more responsibility for

ourselves, neither being dependent upon, nor blaming or scapegoating

others, for the problems we have all the challenges we face. By taking on

those challenges ourselves, it's never easy in the beginning, but if

people can be empowered, then more than not, they will flourish and

grow -- more often than not. This principle must also be applied to

our communities. This is the first conference where I stand before you

as the Assembly Member for the Rhondda.

APPLAUSE. Yes, I'm pretty pleased about that,

too! LAUGHTER. In May, Plaid Cymru was the only party to take a seat

from Labour. In so many other seats, The Party of Wales was cemented as

the only viable alternative to Labour. In Blaenau Gwent, Conway,

Cardiff West and many other places, we lay the foundations for future

success. Many sitting Assembly members increased their majorities,

and of course, we want two out of the four police and crying

Commissioners as well. APPLAUSE.

-- police and crying commissioners. The evidence couldn't be clearer.

Plaid Cymru candidates and elected politicians who work hard and are

rooted in their communities see the result of that effort, while the

Tories, Labour and the Liberal Democrats lost ground last May,

Plaid Cymru gained. They went backwards while Plaid Cymru went

forwards. And that campaign stands us in good stead to contest next

year's council elections. For The Party of Wales, the community level

of operation is the most important level of governance. Wales has a

community of communities, and our programme for next year's local

Government elections will be all about building up and strengthening

our local communities. We want to do more of what Plaid

Cymru run Carmarthenshire Council are doing, prioritising economic

development, by climbing up the league table when it comes to how

public services are delivered. We want to do more of what the party of

Wales run Ceredigion Council are doing, one of the county council 's

anywhere in these islands to welcome refugees. They are also one of the

best local authorities for education outcomes, looking after the

education of each child through a pupil tracker scheme and ensuring

that no child is left behind. We want to do more of what Plaid Cymru

run Gwynedd Council are doing, achieving some of the highest

standards in the country this summer, along with Ceredigion

Council, mainstreaming the workforce and prioritising local policies is

to strengthen the local economy. And we want to do more of the

infrastructure and investment and cross boundary regional

collaboration that is being carried out by Conwy council. They are

prioritising the development of the whole of the north of Wales and on

tourism they are supporting new attractions. The way that we will

survive and thrive post Brexit is by doing more for ourselves, by being

more self-sufficient, by being more cooperative in our approach,

especially in the production of our food and energy needs and in

indigenously meeting the needs of our foundational economy. You can

expect to see from us next May a programme of opportunity to get our

communities into being ready and resilient for the new situation we

are now in. While Brexit has dominated our thoughts and actions

since June, we are still taking forward the Plaid Cymru agenda in

the assembly. You might remember we had a tied vote for the election of

First Minister in the days following the election. It was the first time

Labour had been directly challenged for that post. To give the country

stability, we entered into a compact to allow their candidate to become

First Minister. That has come to fruition this week with an agreement

on the Welsh budget. Plaid Cymru's opposition with a purpose has

changed and shapes the priorities of the Welsh government. We forced them

to rebalance their resources to delivered to people in all parts of

the nation. It is a deal that reflects our manifesto priorities.

We have halted further cuts to local government, protecting local

authority budgets from deeper austerity. We have secured an extra

?30 million for higher and further education, a sector which has felt

the pinch under Labour in the past. This will help close the funding gap

between Welsh and UK universities. We have almost doubled funding for

Visit Wales to help us sell our fantastic landscape to the world as

a top tourist destination. As part of the budget deal, there will be a

new independent agency established as well as 5 million additional

pounds for Welsh for adults. We will establish a national football

Museum. There is no funding for a study into establish Roman in

Wrexham, the original home of the football Association in Wales. -- to

establish one in Wrexham. We have also stood up for arts and

culture, backing those who tell the story of Wales. We have secured

extra resources for key cultural associations like the National live

brick, the arts Council, the Welsh books Council and our National

Museum. These organisations should play a role in our cultural lives.

Following several years of cuts, Plaid Cymru has acted to turn the

situation around. In the health we have achieved more funding for end

of life care, medical training, diagnostic equipment. This deal will

increase the capacity at medical schools in Cardiff and Swansea as

well as developing medical training in the North including in Bangor.

And we have secured an extra ?20 million for an area which is to

clearly close to my heart and that is for improved mental health

services. While teenage self harm is on the rise, while suicide is such a

big killer of our young man, we have to up our game in caring for people

with mental health problems. I want to see more prevention, more people

engaging in mindfulness to protect their health as well as more

investment in talking therapies. People should get help from mental

health services when they need it and Plaid Cymru will be focusing

much more on mental health during this term.

Linked to the field of mental health, we have built on the

proposals in our manifesto by securing as a commitment to

establishing a gender identity clinic as well as an eating disorder

clinic for Wales. We are... We are widening the services of the NHS to

groups who in the past had to move to England for treatment. Plaid

Cymru has also made gains on our nation-building project by securing

additional resources for the infrastructure and for our economy.

Extra help for town centres to skew the advantage away from the out

stores, investment in port infrastructure, a national cycleway

and more money for safer Routes to schools. A full feasibility study

into reopening the Carmarthen to Aberystwyth rail line. The West End

show -- the essential next step for that ambitious scheme. Conference,

this is an agenda which secures more public investment for all parts of

the country. By reaching agreement on this budget, we have made the

government raise their sights in terms of what can be delivered. And

we will of course continue to look for opportunities to deliver a well

educated and wealthier nation. The budget announcement this week

represents the biggest deal ever secured by an opposition party in

the assembly and it has been secured by the party of Wales!

Plaid Cymru's budget deal will help Wales. It is the right thing to do

in these difficult and uncertain times. But Wales still needs and

alternative government. Wales went to see the change we need until we

achieve a Plaid Cymru government in our own right. We have a rudderless

and clueless UK Government pandering to Ukip, heading for a hard Brexit

that is not in the interests of Wales. I have always said that I am

willing to work with others to defend Wales and its people. The

problem of course is that we have numerous Labour parties, a multitude

of attitudes towards Wales from both within and outside the country.

Unless they get their basic split on the fundamentals sorted out, I can't

see what shape Labour would be in to work with us or anyone else to

defeat the Tories. Conference, we are not seeking a coalition with the

Labour Party. Be wary of those who suggest that it

is our preferred option as a party. Don't allow anyone to mislead you.

The wary of those who suggest it might be my preferred option. When I

challenged the First Minister for his nomination, that wasn't cosying

up to the Labour Party. It was taking them on, just like I took

them on in the Rhondda valleys. Conference, I'm happy with the

current opposition role that we play. We saw the fruits of that last

week. The arithmetic of the National Assembly means that the votes to

bring the government down simply don't exist and it is important to

understand that. But the compact means we can implement parts of our

manifesto and I believe that is the best manifesto in the history of

devolution. It is an alternative to being in

coalition and it is an alternative to working with Ukip for the Tories,

parties who are not part of this country's solution, part of the

solution to this country's problems. Now the compact and we have with the

government is not a substitute for outright victory but it lays the

foundations for us to deliver for those who vote for us. Let me

clearly state today that we are not seeking ministerial car us, we are

not seeking ministerial pensions, we are not seeking coalition.

We will remain the strongest opposition party Wales has ever had,

and more victories will follow our success in the Rhondda. To everyone

who wants to see this alternative in Wales, I say to you this - join us

today. For us to realise our alternative vision, Plaid Cymru has

to have more members, more councillors elected next May, more

MPs, more AMs. I have concerns about where our society could end up and

about the future of Wales. Help us build the alternative, take a stand

and did it now. Our role has always been to protect and secure the Welsh

national interest. Despite the challenges and the uncertainties

thrown up by Brexit, we remain optimistic. We have a clear and

detailed policy programme which is designed to build our nation and to

give confidence to our people. We have the chance to grow our presence

at the council level and to lay the foundations for future success by

building on that trust within our communities. At the next assembly

elections, Plaid Cymru will be the only realistic challenger to Labour

and I am convinced of that. Alone, out of all the other parties in the

assembly, the party of Wales responded to the EU referendum vote

in a way that shows we are ready and up for the challenge. Like me, you

support Plaid Cymru because you believe in Wales. You believe in our

capacity to look after our best national interests. Conference,

let's take this message of conviction from this all today and

into our communities. Plaid Cymru will make a difference and Wales

will move forward stronger. Thank you.

So, Leanne Wood talking for about 40 minutes there, talking, much of it

was centred obviously around Brexit. There was also a passage on the

budget deal struck between Labour and the Plaid Cymru government last

week. She also did address the question of a coalition head on. She

said, we are not actively seeking a coalition. Those were her words

towards the end of the speech. Listening to all of it was our

political editor Nick. Let's start with that. There has been something

of a wobble this week on that question of a coalition, now ruled

out in that last passage of the speech?

I think you have got to say it was the biggest cheer of the speech when

she said it and she said it at least twice. She was not seeking a

coalition. The first time she did it it brought the huts down -- it

brought the house down. You could say. Really it was in a way set

against her stall and her position that the status quo is exactly where

she wants to be at the moment and obviously not going in the direction

of the coalition. In a way it told its own story with the amount of

time that was taken up in the speech with the defence of the budget. As

you said there, it turned into something of a list but it went

through the higher education, the diagnostic equipment and it included

an awful lot. But really stressing the point again and again about how

she wasn't in the business of trying to get ministerial positions and

cars, they were not in the business of going after a coalition.

On Brexit, a 3-point plan flushed out by Leanne Wood. I don't suppose

we have learned anything new from the Plaid Cymru stance after

listening to Leanne Wood today. You are right. As you said, she spoke

for 40 minutes, a big, long speech with plenty in there, lots of

material, and it really started with probably the first half devoted to

economics and the Brexit vote. Interesting, I suppose, in the sense

that she did try to do a postmortem, an analysis of where it went wrong,

if you like, for those on the Remain camp. Plaid Cymru fiercely

Pro-remain of course. She spoke about funding in areas like the

South Wales valleys and her analysis that they were left behind

communities, and how the EU funding, although she supported it, wasn't

enough to persuade people to remain in the EU, then she came through

with this 3-part Brexit plan for the party, firstly the insistence that

Wales should be at the top table, secondly the insistence that the UK

should ring maintain membership of the single market and all that

entails, and a third element with a reasonably heavy dose of

constitutional trains, all wrapped up in Brexit, and this fear that we

have heard a number of times during the weekend of the potential

Westminster Power grab over a number of powers transferring back to the

UK from Brussels via Westminster, and whether it flows to Wales or

not. Generally we have spoken about this in terms of agriculture and

things like regional funding, but she covered broader territory on

that front, and she also tried to address this question, of whether

the party is in denial or not about the result. She says she absolutely

Act sets the result in Wales, with 52% of people voted to leave --

accepts, but following up saying she doesn't accept that people in Wales

voted for a bad deal. She also tried to deal with the issue of the top

table and the potential influence of Wales in the Brexit negotiations,

bearing in mind Wales voted to leave. Again she said Theresa May

should involve Wales just because Wales voted to leave, it doesn't

mean to say Wales should not have a say on this. Just to run through

some other elements, some personal stuff there, a huge cheer she got

restating her victory in the romper, that went down particularly well --

in the Ron Vlaar, which flowed into her current leadership style and her

strategy, which is to have this position holding Labour to account

in opposition, while at the same time trying to say they can make a

difference, they can get Plaid priorities into Government by the

deal we have seen in the last week in the budget. Nick, thank you,

let's get Vaughan's thoughts as well. If we tied Brexit and

coalition into this mini debate, Brexit is the very reason Adam Price

said he favoured a coalition, but it has obviously now been rejected by

Leanne Wood. Death. There were two key lines, I think, in that speech

-- yes. Nick pointed them both out, the first, the line about coalition,

the other which didn't get a cheer at all, the line saying we accept

the result of the referendum, which was then followed by a long passage

which was more or less saying that it doesn't mean we will not continue

to put the case for Europe. I was talking about this privately to

someone quite senior in Plaid Cymru a couple of weeks ago, and they said

to me, this is a party that had its whole reason for being rejected by

the Welsh people by a majority of four to one in a referendum in 1979.

We accepted that result and accepted the Assembly would not happen, but

we continued making the argument for devolution, making the argument for

the Assembly, then eventually that decision was reversed in 1997. What

this person told me was, we have two except that Brexit will happen

because of the referendum, but that doesn't make it illegitimate for us

to argue what Brexit said mean or to argue after Brexit that we should

re-enter the EU. No one said Ukip couldn't argue for withdrawal

because a referendum in 1975 took Britain in. So they are preparing

for a long game and nailing their flag to the European mask --

pro-European mast. We have heard a lot of people saying the people of

Wales didn't vote for a hard Brexit. They didn't vote for a soft Brexit

either, which maybe leaves politicians until contrary about

where they find and pitch the middle ground. Referenda are always like

that, you are always asking about a broad principle, unless you have a

post-legislative referendum, where you legislate in detail then ask

people whether they agree or not. If you have a pre-legislative

referendum like this one, inevitably people vote for a whole range of

reasons, as they do in elections, of course. People don't vote for the

Conservatives for a single reason, it you may vote for Labour for a

number of reasons, so politicians exist to interpret the results of

elections. What Plaid Cymru is doing is offering a radically different

interpretation, almost the opposite interpretation, of the one being

offered by Theresa May. And on the budget, Nick mentioned it read like

a very long list of what Plaid had secured. Where would you stand on

whether Labour would have done this anyway? Well, there are two ways of

looking at it. Labour would never in a million years be against spending

more money on higher and further education, albeit against spending

more money on mental health. These are all things that in an ideal

world, dare I say any party would want to do, but what you are doing

is reordering priorities. There are probably things Labour might have

chosen to spend money on instead which are a higher priority for

them, but when you have a budget negotiation, and we have seen it in

the past with Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats, you always have

to give the party supporting you credit for a specific shopping list.

That's how these things work. It is no great surprise that but what they

have, a list. Vaughan, thank you. Let's find out how this speech went

down with the party faithful. Bethan Harris hold of some of them. Let's

get more reaction to Leanne Wood's speech. I am joined by former leader

Dafydd Wigley, a few speeches to conference yourself, and form a

Plaid AM Nerys Evans. Dafydd Wigley, what were the main messages you

take? The first was that this was the most confident speech I have

heard Leanne Wood make. She has had a lot of exposure and built up a

confidence, which is so important in leading Plaid Cymru as the main

alternative to Labour in the Assembly. The second point, she

cleared up, without doubt, where Plaid stands in the post-Brexiteer.

Regrettably we must accept the result of the referendum but we must

accept that the single market is important from manufacturers and

agriculture. Nerys Evans, a very soft vision of Brexit. Is it in tune

with people in the romper that Leanne -- people that elected Leanne

Wood recently? The messages about Wales which is what Plaid Cymru is

all about and I don't think we can define the percentage of people who

voted to leave the EU as one entity in terms of how they feel about

Brexit so it is our responsibility to set that out in terms of the best

interest for Wales, but I agree in terms of her confidence, and also

that is the most relaxed I have seen her deliver a speech because she

knows in terms of her position and what she has managed to deliver with

11 Assembly members in terms of the budget deal on the key priorities

for Plaid Cymru is an achievement, and I think that came across in her

speech today. Where do you think the confidence comes from, is it her

victory in the Rhondda, is that reinforcing her position as leader?

It has undoubtedly reinforced her possession. It has been a very happy

conference. Plaid is united party here and the will to go forward to

local elections next May as clear-cut, gaining numerous seeds

and control. A happy conference despite losing Dafydd Elis-Thomas,

or happy because of that perhaps? It is sad but that has happened. It has

been in the offing for so long, it has now happened, we have to close

that gap and move on for the sake of Wales as well as the party. Nerys

Evans, a big cheer when Leanne talked about winning the Rhondda,

also a big cheer when she said very plainly that Plaid Cymru was not

seeking a coalition with Labour. Why such a big cheer for that? She was

just clearing it up, there has been speculation and questions by the

press because of a few comments here and there, and they are clearing it

up and making sure the party understands where we are wrapped in

terms of policy. It is reinforcing the message that the numbers don't

stack up. We are trying to make the best of opposition and being a

progressive opposition and challenging the Government where

appropriate. We wanted it in the best interests of our nation 's. You

have seen key people emerge as well, people like Steffan Lewis playing a

prominent role, Adam Price on the main stage again. Plaid Cymru is

becoming a party ready for Government. Would you like to see

them joining in Government with another party? I would like to see

Plaid Cymru leading a Government with a majority. But if there is an

opportunity... If we are the largest party without a majority then we

need an agreement that sustains us in power in the same way as Labour

had. This is mature politics, delivering the best for the people

of Wales, of course we want to deliver R4 programme, or as much as

we can. The big focus in this speech was on Brexit and the implications

for Wales. Not that much on the detail of policies and maybe less

about the health service, the sort of stuff you would usually here in

conference speeches. Is there a danger that the policies will be

sidelined with all the focus on Brexit? Brexit is such a dominating

factor it will affect everything. It threatens the future of our

devolution settlement so the focus was rightly on Brexit, but also

looking to next year's elections, local Government elections,

increasing the number of councils we run and the campaign on renewing

democracy. It is such a bizarre time politically with Brexit and

everything else, it is right that we have that campaign to talk to people

about the democracy they want, and that was a clear new campaign

initiative launched by Leanne Wood today with an eye towards elections

next May in local Government. And what are the aims for those local

elections? In terms of local elections it is becoming the

governing party in as much of Wales as we can. What is realistic? We

already lead government in a number of councils, either with overall

control or a minority regime. There is a need particularly in those

Valley communities for an alternative to Labour to emerge.

Plaid Cymru is the only serious party that can do that, and we need

to build on becoming the governing party in those valleys for the sake

of good government and the people of those valleys who need a fresh

start. And the main message of the campaign for the local elections?

Leanne is showing they are working and we need to get the message to

members. I know members are tired, it has been a busy year politically,

but it is now renewed focus on winning both elections next year.

Nerys Evans, Dafydd Wigley, thank you very much, back to you for the

last time, I think, from me. Thank you, Beth Allen. Plaid Cymru have

long been trying to follow in the footsteps of nationalist

counterparts in Scotland and replicate their success in Wales.

Glasgow South West MP Chris Stephens was the guest speaker at the

conference, and he shared some of his use and aspirations with

delegates. I hope you forgive me for doing to the Welsh language what

George did to your football team in 1977. It is a pleasure to be invited

to deliver the fraternal address from your SNP Konradsen, in

particular here in Llangollen. Although some people would say it's

a good thing that my dulcet tones are aimed at you today rather than

the judges of the Eisteddfod. A lot has happened in our politics since

last year. In Scotland the SNP achieved over 40% of the

constituency vote, the highest share of the vote of any governing party

anywhere in Europe. APPLAUSE.

Whilst the Labour Party have now been reduced to third place. The

Tories, with a 22% share of the vote, are now the official

opposition. But for those who suggest this is some great Tory

revival, this is the lowest share of the vote the Tories have achieved in

Scotland since 1987. As the SNP go from strength to strength we are

working with Plaid MPs in Westminster daily, holding the

Tories to account. We are collectively the effective

opposition to the Tories at Westminster.

The hard work carried out is inspiring and it is clear to me they

represent this great nation with distinction. The support they have

provided us is very much appreciated by all of us SNP MPs. Last week the

SNP assembled in Glasgow for our annual conference. We arrived in

good heart and left feeling energised at the possibilities

before us because the events of the last few months have transformed the

political landscape not just here and in Scotland but in all corners

of this island these are dangerous times to. Not in my lifetime have I

seen the file, degrading, naked bigotry now spewing forth from some

members of the establishment. The front pages of some of our

newspapers are quite simply an affront to human decency. The

normalisation of the kind of attitudes we thought were consigned

to the dustbin of history by those in charge of the UK is nothing short

of a national and international disgrace. But I know the people of

other nations are better than that. Better than divide and rule, better

than the Daily Mail, better than anti immigration mugs, better than

Ukip and better than the zealots. If people of these isles will not stand

for a list of foreign workers compiled under orders of the Tory

government, the people of our isles will not stand by while EU citizens

are used as bargaining chips by the disgraced and disgraceful Liam the

people of our isles will not stand by while the extremists give succour

to fellow extremists and xenophobes elsewhere. Our call is to seek the

opportunity to harness and channel the resources and talent of our

nations alongside accommodating Europe and beyond. We look to a

least that includes a multitude of cultures. The Welsh and the Gaelic

alongside the French and German. Above all, as human beings, as

people constantly on the move, culture is constantly integrating

and moving forward, new cultures developing and evolving. Our cause

is not that the little Englander variety. We are being dragged into a

dystopian and pretty future where instead of reaching across the

water, Westminster is setting fire to the drawbridge. This cannot

stand. This hatred, this intolerance, this bigotry, this

extremism, this disgrace, this cannot stand. In communities around

these isles, it will not stand. Conference, my constituents in

Glasgow know that the slippery slope Brexit has greased has been made

more slippery by Westminster. They know that all that is required for

bigotry to triumph is the silence of good men and women. We know that

across these isles from Stornoway to Snowdon, Melrose to Merthyr,

Holyrood to Holyhead, people will not let it stand.

Chris Stevens of the SNP talking to delegate this morning. I am sure

Plaid Cymru would give anything to replicate the success of the SNP. We

touched on this in our earlier programme. The referendum result has

played into the hands of Nicola Sturgeon which is very different

here in Wales when it comes to Leanne Wood.

That's true in the sense that Scotland voted to remain while Wales

voted to leave. It is important to remember as well that the Plaid

Cymru areas of Wales tended to vote to remain so Plaid Cymru did deliver

their own hopeful the Remains said. Wales didn't vote the way they

wanted. If you call yourself the party of Wales surely you have some

duty to reflect the views of the majority of the people of Wales.

The point Leanne Wood is making about membership of the single

market, a lot of people have said this really just equates to

continuing as a member of the EU and Carwyn Jones is making a different

point that he wants access to the single market but membership isn't

crucial. Can you explain to viewers whether there is a difference and if

there is, what it is? Some of these arguments are almost

theological. Basically what Plaid Cymru is looking for is a situation

where although the UK has lost its influence, its ability to influence

decisions in the EU, it basically continues to play by the EU's rules

in return for full access to the single market. Every country in the

world has access to the single market but the question is what

access you have. I think that is where Carwyn Jones has been less

than clear, to be honest. He talks about full access. Well, you can't

really have full access unless you do what Plaid Cymru say you do. He

seems to be... You know, people are saying what Plaid Cymru are asking

for is unobtainable but what Carwyn Jones is asking for seems to me to

be pretty unobtainable as well. We go to reason they says it will be a

bespoke deal but, you know, what sort of deal and what timetable? We

have seen today that the small province of Wallonia, a province of

Belgium that has the same population of Wales has basically sunk the EU's

trade deal for Canada which had taken seven years to develop. If

they're going to be a bespoke deal? Is the Plaid Cymru deal possible?

Unlikely. Is the Carwyn Jones Labour deal likely? It doesn't seem very

likely. Nor does Theresa May's. So it seems to me that you may be

getting a hard Brexit by default because it is just too difficult to

get anything else. Thank you very much for the time

being. We have heard from Leanne Wood a few minutes ago and she joins

us now on the programme. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. Can we wind the clock back to last

Friday evening to begin with, and the resignation of Lord Dafydd

Elis-Thomas? You took the whip from him in 2012, sacked him as chair of

an assembly committee in 2014. Should you just have got rid of him?

Well, we are a centralist party and it is a matter for local members who

they choose to select, of course. The local members chose to select

him ahead of the last election. We are where we are now and Plaid Cymru

is looking forward in a position of being more united in terms of our

sense of purpose and I very much look forward to the future and not

the past. So many assembly members have said,

this news came as no surprise whatsoever. If it was no surprise,

why did you let it happen? Sometimes in politics you have to

play a long game and we were in the situation we were in. I am not a

dictator. I am not the kind of leader who goes around and tells

local party members decisions they should make. We are a centralist

party, and I have said, and local parties make decisions.

You say you are not a dictator but you are a leader. Is it up to you to

make a decision as to whether you want him in the party or not?

No, it is a matter for local members to decide. We are a decentralised

party. As I keep saying. I am not a dictator.

He was the opinion that Plaid Cymru should form a coalition with Labour.

You have gone from actively considering coalition, saying Plaid

Cymru is genuinely torn on the subject to no not a coalition in the

matter of three days. You have a 3-point plan on Brexit but no idea

on coalition? This question is asked every two

weeks at least by the BBC and I don't know what the obsession is

with it. I have made my position clear. We are not seeking coalition.

We are happy with the position we have is a strong and effective

opposition the budget deal we won last week had made a real difference

to people living in all parts of the country in key manifesto areas and

we are happy in the situation we are in. Of course there is going to be

an ongoing situation as we are a minority government but if you keep

asking the same question you are going to get a range of different

answers. The McComb I's speech -- Neal

McEvoy's speech obviously shares our obsession. He said Plaid Cymru

should have nothing to do with Labour and he wants a vote of the

compact you have with him. Why not give the Plaid Cymru group a say on

whether there should be any cooperation between yourself and

Labour? The Plaid Cymru group have a say and

we agree things collectively, bound by the collective decision of the

Plaid Cymru group. The compact that we have is something we have all

decided upon as a group and we are enacting the group decision we made

fairly early on in this assembly term.

He also said you should not be there to move money around in a Labour

budget. He is obviously not very keen on a deal struck between Labour

and Plaid Cymru earlier this week? I'm sure anybody who knows Neil

McEvoy knows his feelings about the Labour Party and his views are his

views. We are an open party and we are happy to have these kinds of

discussions and disagreements. I think debate is healthy and some

people want to go into a more formal arrangement with the Labour Party in

Wales and other people like Neil are against the idea. We will continue

to have this debate and I and relaxed about it. I have made my

position clear this afternoon. No matter how many times you ask me you

are not going to get a different answer.

What about Adam Price, who has said that post Brexit, after the

referendum, now with the time for a coalition? We are in different and

uncharted territories. His view, and he did say he was in a minority. His

view was that a coalition was the way forward.

He did. Adam's view is different to Neil's view and we are accommodating

everybody's position and we are actively engaged in an ongoing

discussion about this. I know you are keen to betray splits within the

party but there are any. We are united on the way forward for Brexit

and I challenge you to find such unity in the parties. We are united

in the sense of purpose although we have an ongoing debate about various

aspects of our strategy and I think that is healthy and perfectly

reasonable. On your 3-point plan for Brexit,

isn't that already in tatters? You are asking for membership of the

single market, which means people say is not compatible with free

movement? Sammy, what is the question? What is not compatible?

You said you wanted membership of the free market but that is not

possible with free movement? We have never been against free movement.

Sorry, controlling the free movement of people. We have never raised the

free movement of people as an issue. If you look at the figures,

immigration and free movement is not a major issue in Wales. There are

pockets of areas like in Wrexham and Llanelli were there may be workers

from Poland or Portugal but it is not a problem here in Wales and in

fact our problem is that people are depopulating our communities. In the

valleys we are closing schools because of falling numbers. Our call

for membership in the single market and free movement of people is a

perfectly reasonable position and logical to hold.

When people were voting in the referendum, they were not voting to

control immigration? Some might well have been. We don't

know because that question wasn't on the ballot paper. The ballot paper I

voted on asked if I wanted to remain or leave. There was no question

about immigration or hard or soft Brexit or anything to do with the

single market. It was the straight question. We accept the vote to

leave but the terms on which we leave are up for debate and we are

seeking to influence that. The Welsh government should be seeking to

influence that, demanding a seat at the negotiating table. If they went,

we will do it instead. The accusation levelled at you is

that you say you respect the result of the referendum but you are not

listening to what people were saying during the campaign, especially when

it comes to immigration. Ukip and the Tories through that at

us all the time. There is still room for debate about the kind of Brexit

we have and we also have to remember it was actually quite a close vote.

48% of people don't want to leave the European Union and their voices

deserve to be heard as well. On having a seat, a little seat at

the top table when it comes to these discussions, would you concede it is

not going to happen? It has been ruled out by the Prime

Minister. It is very disappointing that she is seeking for the UK to go

it alone, and I think she is playing a dangerous game by doing so. Wales

needs a voice in those negotiations. We have interests which deserve to

be safeguarded and upheld. Yes, the Prime Minister has said she will not

consider that, but that doesn't mean we cannot still put the case for

something we believe is right. You say people voted to leave for

numerous reasons. I am sure they did. Do you think one of them would

have been the fact that you saw a lot of European money coming into

Wales, and were not convinced that money was spent very well? I am sure

that's the case, I am sure there are various projects in many of our town

centres right throughout the values, big sculptures we can name in

certain town centres and so on which people see us being funded by the

European Union and having little impact on their lives. If they have

to take regular trips to the food bank I think you can take them --

understand their point. The job of sending the party faithful home

happy has fallen to Adam Price this year. Let's join him now as he

brings proceedings to a close. The Labour Party imploding on the UK

stage, but somehow limping over the victory line here at home. The vote

against Europe, the coronation of unapologetically right-wing Tory

Prime Minister, egged on by the Murdoch press. To paraphrase another

Tory from perhaps gentler times, you'd never had it so bad. But, you

know, in times like this, when you feel a sense of desolation, it is

always good to get some sense of historical perspective. 1416, cast

your minds back 600 years ago. I know some of you were there!

LAUGHTER. It was the year Owain Glyndwr is thought to have died. A

man whose birthplace was raised to the ground, who regained his

nation's independence only to see it once more lost. His family

disinherited, dead or disbursed, and his countrymen and women brutally

punished through the aptly named Penal Laws. If you think this year's

Wales Bill is bad, you should read the Wales Act passed in Westminster

in 1402! One tradition has it being harboured by his daughter Alice in

Herefordshire, disguised as the Scudamore family chaplain, who may

even have been the poet we know as Sean Kent. In his most famous work

he contrasts the glories of Wales passed with that travails of Wales

around him, but ends with these words, "My hope is on what is to

come." Whether or not those were the words of Owain Glyndwr himself, they

were certainly the words of someone who breathe the same air, thick with

the dust of defeat and the world at last brought low by the plague --

the world at large. But even at this darkest hour the poet could summon

up the courage to declare, "My hope is on what is to come," and that is

the courage we need now. We live in a world, and Wales, in pain. If we

don't know that, we don't know anything, from the charred hiding

holes of a letter to the trafficked children of Calais, to the children

of our future who risk suffering an environmental catastrophe as

terrible as a thousands Aberfans. In this divisive and divided kingdom we

have a Tory party moving so far and fast to the right it renders Ukip

superfluous, as that party once did to the BNP. These are dark times --

BNP. Let no one deny it. But we will not let the darkness enveloped us.

It will not extinguish our hope. As they go low, so also will we go

high, reaching for the light of a new dawn, a new day, in which the

future will be better than the past. Not so devalued pound shop imitation

of the 1950s, nor some tragic re-enactment of the 1930s. Now, no

one should underestimate the challenges we face. We currently are

in the situation, as we have seen an events of the last few days, that

the Walloon Parliament will have more say in what happens to Wales in

Brexit than our own Parliament. That is the situation we are in. Whatever

happened to taking back control? To create the Wales and the world we

want to see, we will have to tap into deep reservoirs of hope that

have sustained this nation and its people in times even more desperate

than these. It is easy to despair, give up, to carp from the sidelines,

to blame others and, criticised, to withdraw into 1's own private world.

This world in pain is crying out, not for selfishness but for self

sacrifice, not for the individualism of the few but for the determined

collective action of many. Sean Sion Cent talked about the birth of the

National saviour who would take our pain away. It is beautiful poetry

but the more prosaic truth is this. There is no saviour, singular. The

one we have been waiting for is asked, and that is the hard message

-- the one we have been waiting for is us. That is the message we need

to take to everyone in Wales. We cannot do this without you, we

cannot change Wales without you, there is no power outside ourselves

that can change our country, Wales can only heal itself, and this

party, The Party of Wales, can only ever be a vehicle for a process the

people of Wales must lead. We are as strong as we decide. If you look

with admiration and awe at Scotland and wish we had that leadership

here, then look straight ahead into the mirror, because the answer there

is right in front of you. It's great to see this whole fall, but look

over here, there are a few empty chairs. -- this room full. Until we

fill this hall and bigger halls and halls around the land, Wales will

not be what she could be. The choice is ours at this time in a

generation, what will become of us as a generation. At its best

political party is in army of practical visionaries, the movement

of doers and dreamers who together get big things done. The dreamers of

1945 who built my family's council House, the hospital in which I was

born, the mind my father worked in, the school and university that

educated me and gave me hope of a future that is better than the past.

The dreamers of July 1966 in front of the Guildhall, now owned by the

people of Carmarthenshire, who built our Welsh medium schools, our Welsh

Parliament, and rebuilt our self-respect as a people and as a

nation. For the dreamers 50 years ago, when to be gay was to be

guilty, and because of whose courage, I am now able to fall in

love without fear, and shame on the Tory party using a filibuster

yesterday to prevent John Nicholson's Bill, which would have

provided the pardon and apology to 50,000 living gay men.

APPLAUSE. Dreaming is as natural as breathing,

as regular as our heartbeat. And, yes, we all dream, you know? If we

sleep, we dream. And we have a dream, don't we? A dream of a Wales

free and flourishing, a beaker of justice, a land in which poverty of

ambition and circumstance could actually be abolished -- a beacon of

circumstance. A country where knowledge flows freely, where long

life is not a lottery but are right, where we heat every home by Sun,

wind and wave, and where, yes, you can travel from the south to the

north of your country via a publicly owned railway that does not make a

detour into a neighbouring country. APPLAUSE.

Independence is a state of mind. To turn our nation into a start-up

society, pioneering, reinventing, shaping a -- anew. That is not a

distant dream, the start-up nation begins when we begin to take power

locally and nationally, and show through the breadth and depth of our

innovation, the new nation that we could yet be. We have just

negotiated 1% of the budget of our country. We did some important

things. We began to close the funding gap with a knowledge base

over the border. We invested in the best diagnostic technology so we can

prise ourselves from the bottom of cancer's survival tables. We

invested in mental health so we can finally build an NHS of the mind and

not just of the body. We reversed the cuts in the arts, in culture and

the language, because we believe that to truly thrive, a society must

also have a soul. If that's what -- if that's what we can do with 1%,

imagine what we could do with the other 99.

APPLAUSE. We are a Government in waiting, but

we are also an opposition that's working in the here and now. Because

we cannot wait until 2020 to many people's broken lives and wasted

potential. Our patriotism and our politics is pre-figurative. We must

build tomorrow's Wales Today, because tomorrow cannot wait. We

will put in the foundations, the scaffolding, the frame to build up