Rhun ap Iorwerth: Plaid Cymru is ready to ‘lead the charge’ in Wales | Plaid Cymru

Plaid Cymru’s leader described the prospect of leading the next government in Wales as a “very challenging task” but said he felt voters were increasingly driven by their Welsh identity and could be ready for a “reimagining” of Britain.

Speaking to the Guardian as his party published a glossy 60-page “road map” for its first 100 days in government if it comes to power in May, Rhun ap Iorwerth said he was ready to lead the devolved administration in Cardiff but would work with other parties if he failed to win a majority.

Ap Iorwerth said publishing the document at his party’s spring conference in Newport in south-east Wales did not indicate he was happy with the Senedd (Welsh parliament) elections this spring, but that he was ready to rule.

“We want to convince people of the seriousness with which we approach the work of preparing for the government,” he said. “It’s certainly not indifference. I think it’s the exact opposite. If we want people to trust us, we must show them that we are ready to repay that trust immediately.”

Ap Iorwerth said he was intimidated but felt positively. “I think it would be strange if I didn’t feel: ‘Wow, that’s a tough call,’ because if we win this election we will have endured decades of legacy of missed opportunities and the pressure of wanting to do things right.”

The roadmap focuses on five issues: reducing hospital waiting lists, tackling the cost of living in crisis, stimulating the economy, improving school standards and reducing child poverty.

There is no sharp focus on independence, which is the Plaids’ core desire, but ap Iorwerth has suggested that the idea is implicit in promises to “realign” Wales’ relationship with the UK government.

He said: “Independence is a word I’m happy to use. What we’re talking about is Wales reaching its potential. I believe that’s through independence.”

“To me, this is about reimagining Britain, not isolationism. But what’s important is that it’s in the hands of the people of Wales. We always talk about our view that Wales should take the levers of change into their own hands, and to suggest that we shouldn’t have that debate is to argue that Wales cannot and will never stand on its own two feet. I think belittling Wales in this way would not go down well with a Welsh electorate. They feel increasingly manipulated into their Welsh identity.”

He said Plaid did not have a singular vision for Wales. “It’s a mixture of many worldviews and interests. There are many cultural aspects that we celebrate, but at the core of what binds us is something called Welshness.”

became plaid Leading in polls in WalesReform UK comes second and Labor third, but a new electoral system for the May election almost certainly means no party will have a majority.

Ap Iorwerth said: “Whilst my preferred option is to run a minority government ourselves, I make it clear that this will be a government that looks for people willing to share common ground. We offer the co-operation that I think the people of Wales expect.”

Ap Iorwerth said he was not afraid of a Green swing seen in Wales’ repeated Gorton and Denton Westminster by-elections. “We need a party that will lead the attack. We need a party that will be bigger than Reform. That party can only be Plaid Cymru.”

“What happened in a by-election in England this week perhaps tells a story of what might emerge in British politics. Wales is different and I think Welsh voters understand that.”

Even though the party is so close to power, there is still a homely atmosphere at the conference. Volunteers shake buckets to encourage participants to contribute to the challenge fund; The party does not have the wealthy backers that Labor and Reform can call on.

On Saturday, the conference center was being shared with partners. BCA Cymru Shootouta big and loud cheerleading competition, which meant there was a delay in the press conference laying out the leader’s road map because some journalists were caught in cheerleading traffic.

Lindsay Whittle, one of the stars of recent Plaid history who won the Caerphilly by-election, said the conference was “very lively”.

“I’ve been coming to these since I was 15. My math sucks, but I’ll be 73 next week,” he said. “And it’s definitely exciting. I meet a lot of young people here as well as old friends.

“This is and will be a new Wales. We’re not looking at the past, we’re looking at the future. That’s what young people want. Don’t tell them about the mines because they don’t even know about the mines. Tell them what we’re going to do in the future. That’s what we’re doing here.”

Promises in Plaid’s plan include plans to restrict smartphone use in schools for under-16s, launch an express bus service connecting north and south Wales and create a national body to “co-ordinate crime prevention and diversion”.

Plaid’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts said Westminster used to “put Wales in a box” but the dynamic had changed.

“Something changed last year,” he said. “The Westminster establishment no longer sees Plaid Cymru as a quaint, regional oddity of local politics, country mice descending on the big city. We are a threat.”

In his conference speech he said delegates were joined by diplomats from the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Ireland, reflecting the growing global interest in Wales. “The world wants to understand what is going on in Wales.”

Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, said in his video speech at the conference that the Scottish National Party and Plaid should work together to achieve greater powers.