CYMRU: COUNCIL GAIN FOR PLAID CYMRU

Plaid Cymru's control in Cymru/Wales continues to grow as the Welsh nationalist party gains control of yet another strategically important council.

After the local Council election results on 1st May 2008, Plaid congratulated itself on a great victory as numbers voting for the party increased considerably. The media in Wales though generally portrayed a negative result for Plaid, mainly because it lost overall control of its only council seat of Gwynedd County Council. Nevertheless, Plaid had obtained a sizeable minority of Councillors in many of the Council seats throughout Wales and consequently has been working hard to form coalition deals with independents and other parties to gain control of the councils.

This tactic has paid off for the Party, with a coalition deal being struck with the Liberal Democrats in the Welsh capital of Caerdydd/Cardiff for the first time and Plaid's

Dilwyn Roberts has now also been elected as leader of Conwy County Council last week. Now this week, Plaid has announced that it has formed a coalition with independent Councillors in Caerffili/Caerphilly County Council, which has resulted in them taking overall control of the Council for only the second time in history.

The Labour Party has always traditionally held rule in Caerffili and has usually done so with a large majority. However over the last few years Labour's majority has been decreasing in the town at Local and Parliamentary level, while Plaid has made substantial gains. Caerffili is a commuter town for Casnewydd/Newport and Caerdydd/Cardiff and is located at the bottom of the Rhymney Valley. Caerffili is about 3 kilometres from Caerdydd.

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

23/05/08