The End is Near

Tomorrow, votes will be counted in Plaid Cymru's leadership election and Ieuan Wyn Jones will cease to be Leader of Plaid Cymru, a post he has held for 12 years.

Those of you who follow this blog will now that official CymruX policy is to support Leanne Wood's campaign to succeed him. If you haven't already voted, I would urge you to select Leanne as your number once choice for Leader and get your ballot paper in the post to Tŷ Gwynfor so that it gets there before the deadline tomorrow.

But as the Leadership campaign draws to a close, I want to take a moment to pay tribute to Ieuan for his leadership for more than a decade. He has led our party with skill for years, and has been a fantastic figurehead for our national movement during that period. I think that the tributes paid to him from all across the Siambr floor during FMQs on Tuesday - his last as Leader - reflect how popular he is.

He led Plaid Cymru into Government for the first time and served our country as its Deputy First Minister. As Leader of Plaid Cymru, he led us to delivering a proper law-making parliament for our Nation. And in the early days, he was one of those people who helped turn the devolution project into the success that it is today.

I look forward to seeing him on the backbenches, fighting for the people of Ynys Môn and as Kirsty Williams put it, I hope he's as troublesome from the backbenches as other former leaders have been.

On behalf of Plaid Cymru's student and youth movement, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Ieuan for his service over the decades, and wish him all the very best as he takes his leave of the Leadership.

Cerith Rhys Jones
National Chair