Thursday 20 April 2017

Should Leanne stand in the Rhondda?

Is Leanne Wood  seriously considering putting herself forward for the parliamentary seat of Rhondda, Plaid Cymru sources  as BBC Wales.
They say 
Speculation is mounting the leader of Plaid will stand against Labour's Chris Bryant in the general election in June.
She has not ruled out the move, which would trigger both an assembly by-election and a leadership contest if she won.
Potential rival Mr Bryant did not want to comment.
Ms Wood took the seat of Rhondda from Labour in the 2016 assembly election when she beat Leighton Andrews, a former Welsh Government minister.
The party leader refused to tell BBC Radio Wales in an interview if she wanted to be on the ballot paper.
She said she had "not ruled anything in or anything out".

So should she? 

Pros

  • It would lead to much needed coverage for Plaid as they are likely to be sidelined.
  • Plaid could claim the Rhondda is their Govan the seat which was  the springboard for them in Labour's Scottish heartlands.
  • It would increase the number of Target seats for Plaid.
  • If she was to win then Plaid would probably retain the Assembly seat in the Rhondda which may be held on the same day,
  • It might galvanize the Plaid vote in the South Wales Valleys and have a ripple effect.
  • She  if the election is closer than predicted find her self part of Progressive Coalition government that can deliver real democratic change.
  • It could make a election that looks to be gloomy for Non-Tories interesting.

Cons
  • She will have to resign her Assembly seat on as I understand
  • There is no guarantee that the UK (and ("Welsh") media will increase as a result of her standing.
  • She might win but  Plaid lose the Assembly seat
  • She might lose and Plaid lose the Assembly seat
  • She will diminish the Assembly and put foward the idea that it is better to have small number of MPs in Westminster than being the opposition in Cardiff or even being the Government.
  • This will be the last battle for the Rhondda constituency for the UK Parliament  as it will be abolished by the  Tories as they reduce the number of MPs
  • With a potential huge Tory majority its going to be even more frustrating  and she not going to ring any concessions out of May as she has out of Carwyn Jones.

On balance it does not look that she will run. But she is a courage politician who might have been the only one who really believed she could win the Assembly seat.
 

I believe that if she stood she could win , but does she really want to be a small fish in a large pond, rather than what she is now?









2 comments:

Leigh Richards said...

Leanne most certainly should not stand in the uk general election. To do so would send a signal out that westminster is more important than wales own Senedd. I expect it of the likes of alan cairns and david davies - tories who jumped from the senedd to westminster first chance they got. But i wouldnt expect it of the leader of the Party of Wales.

Quite frankly i look forward to the day when Wales doesnt send any MPs to Westminster at all.

glynbeddau said...

Yes and we are running out of time. Before we are completely merehed into England.