A new century Plaid sets sights on power in 100th birthday year

It is fair to say Rhun ap Iorwerth, leader of Plaid Cymru, was on safe ground at the national Eisteddfod in Wrexham this week: more than once, festival goers interrupted our interview to shake his hand or take a selfie.

- Bethan McKernan

Ap Iorwerth has just embarked on a nationwide "listening tour" of every Welsh constituency before the Senedd elections next May.

Today, the Welsh nationalist party celebrates its 100th birthday, and ap Iorwerth believes he is on the verge of delivering the best present the party could ever ask for: toppling Labour's long reign to win power in Wales for the first time.

"Wales gave Keir Starmer his big majority but I don't think [voters] expected this barrage of bad policy, passing on the cost of the failures of successive governments to the most vulnerable," the 52-year-old said of the UK Labour government's refusal to lift the two-child benefit cap and attempts to cut the winter fuel payment and disability benefits.

Plaid Cymru recorded its highest ever vote share in last summer's general election, returning four MPs and eating into Labour's support in heartlands such as the south Wales valleys and Cardiff.