Plaid needs space to think

With the dust settling on the election results, I'm posting a piece I largely wrote before the polls closed. I've tried to maintain the key point without being distracted by results:

My view is that Plaid space to think anew about policy and party organisation.

I think it’s fair to say that the policy process for the current manifesto was challenging. I’m not talking about the detail of worthy programmes to be delivered in government – our experience over the past four years has been crucial in allowing us to put forward a very clear and deliverable programme worthy of any Western European Social Democratic Party. But, either through an unintentional nervousness or by design, we have downplayed the grand vision of transformative policies to reshape Wales. Incidentally, during this campaign, even when we had ideas which were innovative and radical, such as the Build for Wales company, we seemed to be almost apologetic for thinking ‘outside the box’.

It is wrong to suggest for a second that the Party doesn’t know what its purpose is in this post referendum period. Plaid has and always will exist to move Wales forward towards becoming an independent country, and I am confident that as we build and strengthen our economy we will take the people of Wales with us on that path. We must however learn how to inspire them towards wanting to achieve that aim and dislodge the quiet contentment in Wales with the under-achieving and unambitious status quo. Plaid must exude the confidence which is necessary in order to fully articulate what the our vision means in practice, in terms of the economy, our environment and our public services.

One recent document which has demonstrated some of that long-term thinking is the Greenprint for the Valleys, authored by Leanne Wood. The Greenprint is infused with the values of a century and more of decentralist socialism but placed firmly in the context of the challenges of the here and now. In years gone by, Greenprint-style documents would have been regularly produced, but I’m hard pressed to think of many similar longer-term policy papers produced by the Party over the past 12 years. Leanne took it upon herself to do some serious thinking about the future of our Valleys, but I’m convinced the broader Party needs avenues to discuss and debate the building anew of the Welsh nation. Whether that’s through formal party structures or more informal avenues, such as Plaid-leaning think-tanks, there is much work to be done. Plaid needs that space to think policy seriously in my view.

The election has thrown up some of the strengths and weaknesses of a party organisational structure that would be instantly recognisable to the likes of Lewis Valentine and Saunders Lewis! When the results are announced, I’m sure those candidates and areas where the Party has been rejuvenated and developed anew, such as Carmarthen West and South Pembs and Clwyd South, will see comparative progress. I’m not making election predictions here. I’m saying that some areas will clearly and dramatically out-perform the average national swing. [This was written pre-results and it seems vindicated by history] And it is no fluke that those are areas where candidates have taken to reshaping the party structure into campaigning structures. There is, I have no doubt, a need to think long and hard about developing a party structure that is suitable for the 21st century.

So if you’re with me on the need for serious thinking about party policy and organisation, the worse thing possible to do is to do nothing. I am not suggesting an exercise of contemplating our navels but an opportunity to plan for the future with the assurance that we have already changed Wales during the past four years. A law-making Assembly, official status for the Welsh language, an examination of the way Wales is funded, an overhaul of our NHS structures would not have happened had Plaid not decided to be a party of Government. The Party however has to decide how it can best respond to the bigger, long-term challenges facing our country and how it can be in a position to lead Wales rather than compete with the Tories for the runner-up position.

More than anything I’m convinced the Party needs space to think – about policy and organisation. As the new generation of Plaid politicians who have come to the fore during this election campaign assume greater prominence in the years ahead, we all owe it to them to react in a calm, measured and strategic fashion to the election results of 2011 – and not rush into any decisions.