Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price quits after damning report

Adam Price has quit as Plaid Cymru leader after a report found misogyny, harassment and bullying in the party.

North Wales Senedd member Llyr Gruffydd will take over as interim leader, with a new leader in place in the summer, the party has said.

It follows months of difficulties including allegations of a sexual assault made against a senior staff member, and a toxic working culture.

In his resignation letter, Mr Price said he no longer had the "united support" of his colleagues.

He said he wanted to resign in the wake of the report's findings, but was initially persuaded not to quit.

"You have my personal assurance that I will continue to serve my country, my constituents and our party with determination and enthusiasm," he said in a letter to party chairman, Marc Jones.

On Thursday Labour First Minister Mark Drakeford said discussions on his co-operation agreement with Plaid will take place "in light of recent developments"

He thanked Mr Price "for the constructive way the Welsh government and Plaid Cymru have worked together".

• Who is Adam Price?
• Probe finds bullying and misogyny culture in Plaid
• Plaid Cymru must do much better, leader admits

The resignation announcement was made following a meeting of the party's ruling body, the National Executive Committee (NEC), late on Wednesday night.

One source from the meeting said some members raised the possibility of Adam Price remaining in post.

But it was considered untenable given the seriousness of the findings of the review.

Plaid's Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts said Mr Price was not asked to resign in the wake of the "toxic culture" report because "stability" was needed to implement its recommendations.

Speaking on the Today programme, Liz Saville Roberts said: "Effective leadership is about balancing conflicting demands.

"What we felt strongly was that we needed a collegiate approach within the party because it (the report) cuts across all aspects of the party and it requires a change of culture".

"In order to do that we would need stability".

She also told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that Mr Price had to go because he had become a "distraction".

She ruled herself out of a leadership contest, saying any new leader would have to be an elected member in the Senedd.

"I'm an MP in Westminster so that's done and dusted," she said.

Mr Gruffydd's appointment as interim leader was agreed at a meeting of the party's Senedd members on Thursday and will need to be rubber-stamped by Plaid Cymru's National Council on Saturday.

He will not stand in the forthcoming leadership contest.

Mr Gruffydd said he was "grateful to the Plaid Cymru Senedd group" for the nomination and thanked Mr Price for his "vision, commitment, and dedication".

Plaid Cymru is the third largest party in the Welsh Parliament, with 12 Members of the Senedd and three MPs in Westminster.

The pro-independence party is in a co-operation agreement with the Welsh Labour government, which means they help them govern.

Mr Price was elected party leader in 2018, when he ousted Leanne Wood.

Welsh Conservative leader, Andrew RT Davies, said: "I have no doubt Adam Price's departure is a moment of personal sadness for him.

"Following the recent report into the culture within their party, it became clear Plaid Cymru politicians no longer had confidence in his leadership, so his departure became inevitable."

For the converted, the die-hard believers, it wasn't meant to be like this.

Adam Price was touted by many in Plaid Cymru as a "once in a generation" politician who could overcome the party's many electoral barriers.

When he challenged his predecessor for the leadership in 2018, he said only he could "create the momentum" Plaid needed to become Wales' main party of government and install him as first minister.

And yet, there was no great advance at the following Senedd election - Plaid remains in third place behind the Welsh Conservatives.

Supporters will say it was an election like no other, one focused almost entirely on the public's broadly favourable opinion of the Welsh Labour government's handling of the pandemic.

It is clear, though, that some of the sheen had faded and in terms of public support, the party remains no further forward under Adam Price's leadership.

As it nears its 100th birthday celebrations, Plaid Cymru will seek its 11th leader with many of the perennial questions about its purpose, its lack of reach beyond the heartlands and its relationship with Welsh Labour likely to be raised.

But it is the drip, drip of negative stories over the last year, culminating in a damning report that found a toxic culture within the party that meant Adam Price's position was no longer tenable.

Addressing those major issues will be his successor's primary focus.

Since last year Plaid Cymru has been dogged by claims of a toxic culture in the party, and it emerged last November that an allegation of sexual assault had been made against a senior member of staff.

Separately, a serious allegation was also made about the conduct of a Member of the Senedd, Rhys ab Owen, who is now suspended from the Senedd group pending an investigation.

The party asked Nerys Evans, a lobbyist and former Plaid assembly member, to hold a review last December.

Her working group's report said Plaid needed to "detoxify a culture of harassment, bullying and misogyny".

It said too many instances of bad behaviour were tolerated, and said an anonymous survey of staff and elected members highlighted examples "of sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination".

Mr Price admitted the document left Plaid Cymru "harmed and tarnished". He apologised, but refused to quit.

In his resignation letter, Mr Price said: "On receiving the report, I informed you that I felt morally bound to step down as leader of the party in recognition of our collective failure."

"You counselled against my resignation as you felt it would make it more difficult to achieve progress in implementing the recommendations."

He said he was "persuaded by the argument that my stepping down would be an abdication of responsibility".

But he added: "It is now clear I no longer have the united support of my colleagues that would be necessary to follow this course to fruition."

Mr Drakeford said: "I want to thank Adam Price for the constructive way the Welsh government and Plaid Cymru have worked together to develop and implement the co-operation agreement. These shared priorities are making a real difference to people across Wales.

"The co-operation agreement is an agreement between the Welsh government and Plaid Cymru - not between individuals. There will be discussions about the agreement in light of recent developments."

• Founded in 1925
• First MP Gwynfor Evans elected in 1966 Carmarthen by-election
• Currently has 3 MPs at Westminster and 12 Senedd members in Cardiff Bay
• Third largest party in 60-member Senedd, behind governing Labour Party and the Conservatives
• In co-operation agreement since 2021 with Welsh Labour ministers on 46 policy areas
• Campaigns for Welsh independence
• Plaid Cymru means Party of Wales in Welsh