Oh no, it’s voting time. Council elections for all 22 Welsh local authorities take place on May 4th. I will duly trudge to the polling station tomorrow, duly put my crosses next to the Plaid Cymru candidates in this safe Labour ward, and then, when I have the stomach to face it sometime during Friday, duly absorb whatever awful results the 35% who bothered to get off their arses have delivered. Yes, I fully expect to maintain my extraordinary personal record of never ever having voted for the victorious party or even a winning candidate – and I’ve voted in every single local, Assembly, Westminster and European election since 1974. Given the cast iron law that mainstream, majority, prevailing tastes and opinions are always wrong (eg: the most popular newspaper, TV programme and music are invariably the very worst examples of their genre), I derive some small consolation from this regular, cyclical confirmation of my unerring good judgement!
That said, the fight goes on. It must, or else the bastards get away with murder. It is possible to envisage Plaid consolidating in Gwynedd, the one council it runs, and perhaps making enough gains in Ynys Môn, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion to move from being the largest party to being in control. On a very good night Plaid might even dethrone Labour in Caerffili, make inroads into Labour hegemony in Neath Port Talbot and Rhondda Cynon Taff, become the largest party in Conwy, move into 2nd place in Denbighshire and the Vale of Glamorgan, and build on tiny footholds in Pembrokeshire, Bridgend and Wrecsam. As for Blaenau Gwent, Flintshire, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Newport, Powys, Swansea and Torfaen…well, it might take another few hundred years or so…be patient, I’m working on it.
Last but not least, Cardiff. Anybody with a modicum of intelligence and conscience (oh dear, that reduces the numbers) will want to topple Labour. It wouldn’t take much: Labour hold 39 of the 72 seats (LibDem 17, Tory 9, Plaid 5, Independents 2), so just four losses can thwart them and halt their scandalous Local Development Plan before it’s too late.
Vote Plaid Cymru, the Party of Wales.
Plaid Cymru Manifesto 2017 English Online