Plaid Cymru leader would ‘put a fiver’ on Labour winning election

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

The leader of Plaid Cymru has joked he would “put a fiver” on Sir Keir Starmer being the next prime minister.

Rhun ap Iorwerth called for voters to support his party in the General Election, to ensure a Welsh voice is heard and stop Labour from acting “with impunity”.

Speaking on the BBC’s Panorama programme – which is interviewing each of the UK’s political leaders ahead of the General Election on July 4 – he said Sir Keir’s party was almost certain to win and Wales’s voice needed to be heard.

He said: “I think Keir Starmer is going to be prime minister in four weeks’ time.

“Having covered politics long enough, I think the evidence points in that direction.

“He will become prime minister regardless of how Wales votes and that’s a key factor for people to consider in Wales.”

Mr ap Iorwerth told the host, Nick Robinson, that the choice was whether voters give Labour a “huge majority to act with impunity” or “ensure that there’s plurality of thoughts and ideas and energy in the Houses of Parliament”.

When Robinson pushed back on the outcome being known, the Plaid leader joked: “I’ll put a fiver on it.”

He also accused some Labour politicians, including shadow Welsh secretary Jo Stevens, of forgetting the people they represent, particularly on the issue of funding for high-speed rail project HS2 not coming to Wales.

“We believe, firmly, that Wales should be given a consequential share of funding for that as Scotland did,” Mr ap Iorwerth said.

“Labour members in Wales in the Welsh Parliament agree with us, but Jo Stevens doesn’t.

“We have members from Labour in Wales who act as if they have forgotten they are representing Welsh constituencies.”

Plaid argues that Wales missed out on £4 billion because HS2 was designated an “England and Wales” scheme by the UK Treasury – despite the route being entirely in England.

This meant it did not trigger the mechanism which would normally see extra funding given to the devolved nation.

Mr ap Iorwerth was also challenged on when his party would like to see Wales become independent.

His party previously called for a referendum to be held by 2026, and while Mr ap Iorwerth said he would like to see independence “tomorrow” he said they were no longer setting a date.

Instead, he said he had an “absolute belief” that Wales could not reach its full potential until it was independent.

Asked if devolution had failed due to high NHS waiting lists and poor school performance, the Plaid leader insisted it had not.

“Devolution hasn’t failed,” Mr ap Iorwerth said.

“Devolution is just devolution.

“Devolution is making sure that we in Wales have a voice over the public services that we need to depend on every day.

“We know that the NHS in England is in all sorts of trouble. Social care in England is in a very, very problematic state.

“I believe in devolution because I believe in us deciding on those major issues.

“The problem that we have in Wales is that we have had 25 years of unbroken Labour-led governments.”