The leader of Plaid Cymru has pledged to hold a “Celtic Summit” in summer next year to cement ties between Scotland and Wales.

Speaking ahead of an address to the SNP conference today, Adam Price said that his first official phone call will be to Nicola Sturgeon if his party wins the Welsh Parliament elections next year.

He also attacked Boris Johnson saying he was the “greatest recruiting agent for independence”, with the Covid-19 crisis also exposing the “worst excesses of Westminster rule”.

The Senedd election is due to take place on May 6, 2021, the same day as the elections to the Scottish Parliament.

Labour is ahead in the polls, but a recent survey suggested support for independence is at its highest level in Wales, with a total of 33% saying they would vote yes.

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Price said: “Over the coming months Plaid Cymru will be making the case that changing Wales for good will only come about through a change of Government. Let no one be in any doubt that I will lead a team and a party clear in its aims, united in its goal, committed to holding and winning an independence referendum as soon as we can.

“It is this common cause which is the bedrock of the bond between the SNP and Plaid Cymru, and it’s my dream to see these two nations come together all under one banner, in a Celtic Summit to map out our common aims and purpose as independence and mutual co-operation becomes the new normal.

“Which is why my first official phone call as the first pro-independence First Minister of Wales will be to Nicola Sturgeon.

“The pandemic has exposed the worst excesses of Westminster rule: Dubious PPE contracts, a calamitous testing regime, and a Tory ‘chumocracy’ which is growing by the day. In Wales they stole our tests, in Scotland, too, they denied furlough, and now they’re aiming fire at devolution itself.

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“The Chancellor’s reward for the sacrifice and struggle of public sector workers is the poison pill of a public pay freeze. Where they build back bitter, we have a blueprint for our countries not just to be equal nations alongside all others, but nations of equals, fair and free, where freedom is the key to the flourishing of all.”

Earlier this month Price – as well as the Labour-led Welsh government – hit out at Johnson’s dismissal of devolution as a “disaster”, saying Wales’ mistake was not leaving the Union sooner.