Election reaction in the Star

This week’s Star had a picture of Nia Griffith on the front page, with the caption

Victorious Nia: “We did not mislead people of Llanelli”

After turning to page 4, the Star published extracts from a letter from Myfanwy Davies, the failed Plaid candidate saying that Labour ‘misled’ voters over Tory coalition claims. It’s absolutely amazing that the Star has given such prominence to what is essentially sour grapes from Myfanwy. In the letter she said:

People in Llanelli may have been misled to believe that Plaid had intended a coalition with the Tories. That was never the case - nor could it ever have been possible given the Tories’ close relationship with the Ulster unionists.

Nia replied

The point is that Myfanwy said on a TV programme with Rod Richards that they would consider going in with the Tories. Then on Monday, May 2nd, Helen Mary Jones said on a programme that they would consider going in with the Tories. Then on Tuesday night in Pontyberem, the candidate for Carmarthen East, Jonathan Edwards, told a Welsh medium radio programme broadcast they would consider going in with the Tories. Then on Wednesday night, Alun Ffred Jones on the chat programme CF99, he also said that they would consider going in with the Tories. So that’s four different politicians on four different broadcasts saying the same thing.

Plaid need to decide whether they are a party of the left or of the right. Fighting different campaigns over different ideologies in different constituencies will not continue to work, especially during times of economic hardship. Every Labour Party colleague I have spoken to since Tuesday have expressed their concern over the potential harm of Tory cuts on the people of Llanelli. We won’t be misleading people over such important issues.