Plaid Cymru

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Plaid Cymru (pronounced [plaɪd ˈkəmri], meaning the Party of Wales), also commonly referred to as Plaid for short[note 1] is a left-wing political party in the United Kingdom which also advocates an independent Wales, and campaigns vigorously for the Welsh language. Their current symbol is a Welsh poppy, although the logo looks curiously similar to the daffodil which is more commonly associated with Wales as a national symbol.

Plaid Cymru probably does not contain any druids, nor does its annual conference coincide with an Eisteddfod. Out of forty Welsh seats in Parliament, Plaid Cymru currently holds an amazing four. However, despite their lack of success in the English dominated British parliament, they have been relatively successful in the Welsh Assembly, forming a coalition government in Third Welsh Assembly (2007–11) with the Labour Party.

They are not to be confused with 1980s nationalist group Meibion GlyndŵrWikipedia (pronounced May-beon Glin-doore), who used to burn down English people's holiday homes in protest not only to the way this affected the price of neighbourhood houses - primarily because the houses were empty save for two nights a year, which was considered extremely disrespectful to Welsh locals - but also the way the English treated the country at the time. To this day, the group have not been caught. The police actually arrested well-known nationalist celebrities who had nothing to do with the group.[1]

Despite having 'plaid' in their name, most of them do not wear kilts.[note 2]

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External links[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. While "Plaid" means "party" in Welsh, the term is slightly old fashioned. Other parties are available.
  2. Welsh kilts, or cilts (sic), are a thing, but are not as common as their Irish, let alone Scottish, equivalents.

References[edit]