Plaid Cymru: Future of leader Adam Price could be decided at emergency meeting

The future of Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price could be decided at an emergency meeting this evening. 

ITV Wales understands that the party’s National Executive Committee will take place tonight after which Mr Price is expected to make a statement. 

There had been confusion earlier following a report by Nation Cymru that he had already offered to step down at a separate meeting last night (Tuesday) in the Senedd. 

It brought members of the Senedd group together with the party’s leader in the UK Parliament, Liz Saville Roberts, to discuss the findings of a critical report into failures by the leadership to tackle sexual harassment and bullying.

That report by the former AM Nerys Evans investigated the way that allegations of bullying and harassment within the party have been dealt with.

The report, known as Prosiect Pawb, found that women in particular had been “let down” by party leaders who had failed to implement a zero tolerance approach to sexual harassment. 

Confirming Wednesday's meeting of the NEC, a Plaid Cymru spokesperson said: "Last night, the Plaid Cymru Senedd Group met to discuss the implementation of the recommendations of the Prosiect Pawb report.

"Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price has subsequently called a special meeting of the NEC where the next steps for the party will be discussed. 

"Plaid Cymru’s priority remains the well-being of its staff and members, and fostering a culture which is safe, inclusive and respectful to all."

Following the report’s publication last week, Adam Price apologised and said: "This isn't the party that we want to be, but clearly a culture has been allowed within the party for too long."

But he refused to resign, telling ITV Wales: "The conclusion that I've come to is that it would be the wrong thing for me now to walk away from this.

"My responsibility now is to help work with others. To get this right. And I think it's right to take responsibility by issuing the heartfelt apology that that I have because ultimately the buck does stop here."

Speaking on Tuesday’s Sharp End programme, the chair of Plaid Cymru’s Senedd group, Llŷr Gruffydd, refused to say whether the leader would resign of not, saying that “I don’t have a crystal ball.”

But he insisted that failings highlighted in the Prosiect Pawb report were a “much wider corporate issue” and that “you cannot pin this on one solitary single person.”

"It's a collective responsibility and collectively now we need to make sure that we respond in a way that minimises these activities in future. 

“That means that we pull our act together. It's a process that other organisations have or are going through.

“It's our responsibility now to make sure we get our own house in order and as Chairman of the Plaid Cymru group in the Senedd I'm determined that our focus will be unstintingly on that over the next period."