SNP conference 2020: Plaid Cymru leader Adam price addresses members

Mr Price said he becomes First Minister of Wales next year his first call will be to Nicola Sturgeon.

READ MORE: Adam Price: Scotland and Wales must form our own Celtic Union

Below is Adam Price's full speech:

Friends, Caraidean, gyfeillion.

I can’t see you. I can’t embrace you. We can’t chew the fat or sing karaoke.

But as people and parties, we have never been closer.

From the solemnity of the Covid storm, has came a determination which has united our nations and a resolve to rebuild.

In this, the season of reflection and preparation, we look back at lost times and lost loved ones but also forward to strengthening new bonds and embracing a new beginning.

Our virtual world has exposed a new reality; the small things in life became the big picture while health and wealth collided like never before.

Covid has crossed continents, exposed excess, entrenched inequality, and laid bare the fragility of our being. It has struck everywhere, but how governments have struck back will be the defining issue of our time.

Your government has done just that – striking back with the consistency and conviction envied by many across the world under the outstanding leadership of your First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.

Nicola’s grace and gravitas – her rare quality of moving seamlessly between that steely gaze and glowing smile – has shone a light on the darkest of days.

Meanwhile in Downing Street, 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.

When it comes to Boris Johnson, with every word his reputation wanes. The only disaster is the Prime Minister himself – the greatest recruiting agent independence ever had.

Make no mistake – at this rate the crumbling palaces of Westminster will outlast the Union itself – with any luck we won’t have to pay for the refurbishment.

The challenge now for our nations is to not be footnotes in someone else’s history but the authors of our own.

How do we guarantee people opportunity in youth and dignity in old age? How do we create a greener, kinder economy which preserves our planet for future generations? Now that the clapping has stopped, how do we take care of our carers?

The devolution dividend will only take us so far.

The answer to all these questions?

Independence.

Today we may be physically apart, but we’ve travelled far since we last met. 

Support for Welsh independence is at an all-time high.

Polling shows that 72% of people in Wales don’t trust Westminster, 59% want devo max. The right to govern ourselves, so long discounted in our discourse and derided as a pipe dream, has moved from the margins to the mainstream.

People are joining YesCymru quicker than David Marshall’s reflexes and with as much delight as those conga celebrations.

I’ve never needed much encouragement to visit Scotland and march to its indy tune. At times I felt like a Sherpa helping the climbers, willing them on, but no more. Our common goal now shares a common time frame – the Welsh awakening is catching up with the Scottish surge.   But the higher up the mountain we climb, the harder we must work – though every step we take now brings us closer to that the final assent.

That’s why, 12 months ago, I commissioned the most detailed work ever published on Welsh Independence.

I will be responding formally to the Independence Commission’s report before Christmas, but the wider independence movement owes a debt of gratitude to its members under the chairpersonship of Plaid Cymru’s former Parliamentary Leader Elfyn Llwyd for their diligent work.

As befits an arms-length commission, it asks some searching questions and has undertaken extensive analysis as we consider a clear pathway towards the independence we need as a nation.

And we need independence now more than ever.  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. 

Now we know we can’t ‘Zoom’ our way towards independence without building ‘Teams’ to make it work.

That’s why my party is undertaking its most wide-ranging consultation ever on independence.

We will draw on expertise from within the Commission to engage with our members and hold a historic special conference in the new year – keeping true to the old adage that there is no ‘I’ in Wales but there is a ‘we’.

And we, Scotland and Wales are on this journey together. 

Which is why my first official phone call as the first pro-independence First Minister of Wales next May will be to your First Minister.

We can further cement and enhance our relationship in the Indy summer of ‘21 by coming 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.

First, we like you, have an election to win.

READ MORE: Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price plans ‘Celtic Summit’ for Scotland and Wales

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. We will fight the election on the most radical and transformational prospectus seen since devolution and we will re-energise a Laboured managerial machine.

And giving the people of Wales the right to decide on their future as a nation will be central to our plans.  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 our sister parties ever since Winnie Ewing’s seminal victory in Hamilton was cheered on in Westminster by that crowd of at least 200 Welsh supporters, with our first MP Gwynfor Evans at her side.

Just like those hundreds of Welsh campaigners who campaigned for Scotland in 2014.  On the day itself, I was in Murrayfield and I’ve never yearned there for a Scottish victory before.  But it’s canvassing a Glasgow tenement that I will never forget, and a gentleman in his eighties, climbing four flights of stairs, gasping for air because he wanted to say thank you.  But it’s you we should be thanking because the Scotland you are creating is an inspiration to us all.

And that’s why when our independence comes then you are all invited

And I ask you not just to join us then, but to join us now.

Many in Plaid Cymru have become members of the SNP in recent years, - just as I am a proud member of the SNP - inspired by the energy and hope exuding from the Yes campaign.

By joining Plaid Cymru in return, you can help us ensure that not just one, but two sister nations will very soon win their freedom and join the global family of independent countries.

Just like Winnie and Gwynfor showed, we have taken it in turn, to stand on each other’s shoulders, but this is a fight we will win together.

And win it we must.

For the hill farmer in the Highlands and the steelworker in Port Talbot.

For the fishermen in Fraserburgh and the haulage firm in Holyhead.

These are ones that must be protected from the perils of a Westminster Government – hell-bent on a reckless Brexit at any cost. As our workforce face being tariffed to oblivion and our Government’s bypassed by the power-grabbing UK Parliament – we say no more.

No more deceit, no more disrespect, no more dodgy deals devised by Dom.

Our time has come to forge our own union, a Celtic Union - as inclusive, outward and forward-looking, our patriotism based on the progress, all of our people. Now that’s a union worth joining.

See You Soon Scotland. And Stay Safe.