Datganiad i'r wasg: Ymgyrch 'Gwaith i Gymru'

Ddydd Sul y 29ain o Orffennaf, bydd Plaid Cymru Ifanc, adain ieuenctid a myfyrwyr Plaid Cymru, yn lansio ymgyrch ‘Gwaith i Gymru.’

Pwrpas yr ymgyrch fydd dwyn sylw at y gwirionedd brawychus bod bron iawn chwarter o Gymry rhwng 16 a 24 oed yn ddi-waith ac i alw Llywodraeth Cymru i’r gâd i weithredu er mwyn atal y sefyllfa ofidus hon sydd yn groes i’r tuedd Prydeinig. Lansir deiseb i’r Cynulliad Cenedlaethol yn galw ar Lywodraeth Cymru i wneud mwy i taclo diweithdra ymysg pobl ifainc ar yr un diwrnod.

Caiff yr ymgyrch ei lansio yn ystod Ysgol Haf flynyddol Plaid Cymru y’i chynhelir y penwythnos hwn yng Ngwersyll yr Urdd, Llangrannog.

Meddai Cerith Rhys Jones, Cadeirydd Cenedlaethol Plaid Cymru Ifanc:

"Oherwydd llwyr ddiogi Llywodraeth Cymru a pholisïau distrywgar y llywodraeth glymbleidiol yn San Steffan, mae yng Nghymru filoedd o bobl ifainc sydd heb waith. Mae perygl mawr mai cenhedlaeth goll fydd eu cenhedlaeth nhw.

"Yn anffodus, mae’n well gan Lywodraeth Cymru ddefnyddio polisïau ffôl Llywodraeth San Steffan fel modd o ennill pwyntiau gwleidyddol. Nid gêm gwleidyddol yw bywydau a swyddi pobl ifainc Cymru, felly rydym yn galw ar Lywodraeth Cymru i weithredu ar frys i ddodi cynlluniau effeithiol a phositif ar waith er mwyn creu gwaith i Gymru."

Ychwanegodd Leanne Wood AC, Arweinydd Plaid Cymru:

"Mae’r ffigurau ynghylch diweithdra ieuenctid yn ddychrynllyd a dylent weithredu fel catalydd am weithdrediad brys ac uniongyrchol gan Lywodraeth Cymru. Mae 23.7% o bobl rhwng 16 a 24 oed yng Nghymru heb waith; nid yw hwn yn dderbyniol.

"Mae diweithdra ieuenctid yn difetha gormod o obeithion a dyheadau – mae yn barod yn tagu gormod o gymunedau, a nifer o hwythau heb eto ymadfer wedi dirwasgiadau blaenorol. Mae Plaid Cymru Ifanc yn llygad ei lle’n blaenoriaethu ymgyrchu dros swyddi ac yn erbyn diweithdra ieuenctid. Rwyf felly’n llawn gefnogi’r ddeiseb y’i lansir fel ran o ymgyrch 'Gwaith i Gymru!'"

- DIWEDD -

Cysyllter â Cerith Rhys Jones (cerithrjones@live.co.uk) am ragor o wybodaeth.

Mae Plaid Cymru yn rhoi’r hawl i chi ddefnyddio unrhyw rai o’n lluniau ar www.flickr.com/plaidcymru i’w cyhoeddi neu’u defnyddio ar-lein.

Diwrnod Gweithredu | Day of Action

Ddydd Sadwrn 21 Ebrill 2012 - penblwydd Mrs Windsor - fe gynhaliodd Plaid Cymru Ifanc ddiwrnod gweithredu, yn ymgyrchu gydag ymgeisyddion y Blaid yng Nghathays a Phenarth. Cawsom ddiwrnod da o daflenni ac ymgyrchu yn y dau ward, lle mae gan y Blaid chwe ymgeisydd ifanc. Yng Nghathays, mi ein Cadeirydd Cenedlaethol Cerith Rhys Jones yn sefyll wrth ochr ein Is-Gadeirydd Cenedlaethol Emyr Gruffydd, ein Swyddog Cyfathrebiadau Cenedlaethol Glenn Page, ac Andrew Pearc. Ym Mhenarth, mi fydd ein Swyddog Polisi Cenedlaethol Osian Lewis, a'n Cyn-Gadeirydd, sydd bellach yn Llywydd ar Undeb Myfyrwyr Prifysgol Abertawe Luke James, yn ymgyrchu i ennill y ward oddi wrth y Ceidwadwyr. Fe ymunodd arweinydd newydd Plaid Cymru, Leanne Wood AC, gyda ni am sesiwn o daflenni ar brif ffordd siopa Caerdydd, Heol y Frenhines, lle'r oeddem oll yn hapus gyda'r ymateb addawol a gafwyd gan siopwyr Caerdydd.

On Saturday 21 April 2012 - Mrs Windsor's birthday - Plaid Cymru Youth hosted a Day of Action, campaigning with our candidates in Cathays and Penarth. We had a great day leafleting and canvassing in the two wards, in which Plaid will be fielding six young candidates. In Cathays, our National Chair Cerith Rhys Jones will be standing alongside our National VC Emyr Gruffydd, our National Comms Officer Glenn Page, and Andrew Pearce. In Penarth, our National Policy Officer Osian Lewis and former Chair, now President of Swansea SU, Luke James, will be heading up Plaid's campaign against the incumbent Conservatives. The new Leader of Plaid Cymru, Leanne Wood AM, joined us for a leafleting session on Cardiff's main shopping street, Queen Street, and we were all pleased with the positive reaction shown by Cardiff's shoppers. Lluniau / Photos © Kirsten Whitney

The independence mindset

Some people in Plaid Cymru have been calling for a more aggressive stance from our politicians on independence for a long time, most notably an alumnus of this youth wing, Adam Price. It seems that since our sister party's landslide victory last year, that view has been adopted by most in the party, and certainly since the overwhelming endorsement it received in Llandudno last year by the membership, we as a party have been significantly more vocal on the issue.

Although I am certain of my support for an independent Wales, I do not share the view of the majority in our party that we should be moving the independence campaign into top gear just yet. It has been inspirational to witness the SNP's success in Scotland and I believe we have a lot to learn from them, but simply copying and pasting their rhetoric on independence would be a mistake. There are many reasons why Scotland is constitutionally so far ahead of Wales, not least the manner in which it was united with England and its success in preserving a distinct education system, legal jurisdiction and civil society. Wales was not united with England, it was assimilated into England, along with all aspects of civil society. Wales' distinctiveness was almost exclusively cultural for the best part of half a millennium. It is understandable therefore, that civil society in Wales has taken its time to build itself into the intrinsic role within Welsh governance that it now plays.

These differences are such that the SNP have been able to include in their manifestos and indeed, in their programmes of government, a promise to hold a referendum on independence. Only once do I remember any senior figures within Plaid Cymru mentioning such referenda in Wales, and even then it was a promise to hold one after we manage to become the biggest party in the Assembly in two consecutive elections. It begs the question therefore, why are we pushing the independence campaign to the forefront of our message at a time when a Plaid Cymru government would do nothing to deliver on that message?

In my opinion, we need to design that “roadmap” that Elin Jones promised in her leadership campaign. We need to know exactly what we are campaigning for. Simply saying, “We support independence… but not yet” is not good enough. We need to be campaigning for the first step on that road map, something that we could include in our manifesto. In doing that, we would be able to argue effectively, that what we are doing is advancing down a path towards a level of prosperity that would make independence a viable option. If we are going to reach our shared goal of setting our country free from the British puppet strings, we need to make this a priority after the election on May 3rd.

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Mae rhai ym Mhlaid Cymru wedi bod yn gofyn am agwedd mwy ymosodol gan ein gwleidyddion ar annibyniaeth ers amser maeth, yn fwy nodweddiadol na phawb yw alumnus o’r mudiad ieuenctid hwn, Adam Price. Mae hi’n ymddangos, ers canlyniad gwefreiddiol ein chwaer-blaid y llynedd, fod y barn hynny wedi’i fabwysiadu gan y rhan fwyaf yn y Blaid, ac yn enwedig ers y cefnogaeth llethol cafwyd yn Llandudno llynedd gan yr aelodaeth, rydym ni fel plaid wedi bod yn llawer mwy lleisiol am y peth.

Er fy mod i’n gadarn fy marn o blaid annibyniaeth, dydw i ddim yn rhannu barn y rhan fwyaf yn y Blaid y dylem rhoi annibyniaeth ar flaen y gad yn ein hymgyrch presennol. Rydym ni gyd wedi ein hysbrydoli gan lwyddiant yr SNP yn yr Alban ac yr wyf yn credu bod gennym lawer i’w ddysgu ganddynt, ond bysai eu copïo gair wrth air yn gamgymeriad. Mae yna lawer o resymau pam fod yr Alban yn gyfansoddiadol mor bell o’n blaenau. Un o'r prif resymau yw natur yr undeb rhwng yr Alban a Lloegr a llwyddiant yr Albanwyr i ddal ymlaen at eu system addysg, awdurdodaeth gyfreithiol a’u cymdeithas sifil. Ni fu undeb rhwng Cymru a Lloegr. Gorchfygu Cymru y gwnaeth Lloegr, gan gynnwys pob agwedd o'n cymdeithas sifil. Mi 'roedd Cymru'n wahanol i Loegr o ran diwylliant yn unig am bron i hanner mileniwm. Mae hi'n ddaelladwy felly, bod gwasanaeth sifil yng Nghymru wedi cymryd ei amser i ddatblygu mewn i'r rol ganolog y mae yn eu chwarae heddiw o fewn proses llywodraethu Cymru.

Mae'r gwhaniaethau yma mor ddwys, y bod yr SNP wedi gallu cynnwys addewid yn eu manifesto, ac wrth gwrs, yn eu rahglenni llywodraethu, i gynnal refferendwm ar annibyniaeth. Dim ond unwaith yr wyf yn cofio aelod uwch yn y Blaid yn son am fath refferendwm, ac mi oedd hyd yn oed yr aelod hynny yn son o fewn cyd-destyn o Blaid Cymru'n llwyddo ennill mwy o seddi nac unrhyw blaid arall, ddwywaith yn olynol. Ac felly, mae'r cwestiwn yn codi, pam gwthio'n hymgrych am annibyniaeth mewn adeg lle bysai llywodraeth Plaid Cymru yn gwneud dim byd i wireddu'r ymgyrch hynny?

Yn fy marn i, mae angen dylunio'r "map" hwnnw yr oedd Elin Jones yn son amdano yn ystod ei hymgyrch arweinyddol. Mae angen i ni wybod yn union am beth yr ydym yn ymgyrchu. Dydy dweud yn syml, "rydym yn cefnogi annibyniaeth... ond ddim eto" ddim yn ddigon da. Mae angen i ni allu dadlau yn effeithiol mai yr hyn yr ydym yn ei wneud yw symyd Cymru fyny llwybr tuag at lefel ffyniant mor uchel, bod annibyniaeth yn opsiwn go iawn i'r niferoedd. Os ydym am gyrraedd ein nod o rhyddhau ein cenedl o ddwylo'r Saeson, wedyn mae rhaid i ni wneud dylunio'r map yma yn flaenoriaeth ar ol Mai y 3ydd.


Osian Lewis

Plaid Cymru Cathays

Nominations for local elections officially closed on Wednesday 04/04/12. In the Cathays ward of Cardiff 3 members of the Plaid Cymru Youth national executive have put their names forward, myself (Glenn Page), Cerith Rhys Jones, Emyr Gruffydd and Andrew Pearce all of whom are under 30 and are active members of Plaid Cymru’s student and youth movement. Elsewhere across Wales numerous young candidates have come forward to represent Plaid Cymru, from Menai-Bangor to Penarth.

In total there are 563 Plaid Cymru candidates hoping to represent our communities from May 3rd, 18 of whom have already been elected unopposed. This constitutes the largest number of Plaid Cymru local election candidates ever put forward, indeed, there is no record of this many candidates standing for Plaid Cymru in any election, a clear indication of the growing support and momentum behind our Party.

Cathays is currently represented by four liberal democrat councillors. If the 2011 local elections are anything to go by we can expect the Lib Dem’s will suffer huge defeats. Indeed, Nick Clegg himself has admitted that the elections are going to be “tough”. Perhaps in Cathays especially, an area populated mainly by students, we can expect a large decrease in Lib Dem support. What we need to do in Cathays is to show disaffected students that Plaid Cymru is a party that will fight for them. We must galvanise support across the ward if we are to increase turnout, which sadly was only 16.35% in 2008.

Regardless of what happens in Westminster these elections are local elections and they should be fought on local issues. In Cathays there are plenty of issues that need our attention. Recycling and litter is still a problem that hasn’t been solved. My sympathies to those of you who have been unfortunate enough to walk through Cathays on a Wednesday morning, you no doubt watched your step. Terraced houses, such as those located off Cathays terrace, are without black containers for their litter bins, with black bins being collected once a fortnight people often resort to storing their litter in their gardens which inevitably attracts rodents. Supplying terraced houses with containers for their back gardens would be a simple yet practical solution, which Myself, Andrew, Cerith and Emyr would support.

One issue that I firmly believe needs our immediate attention is that of student housing, an issue largely ignored by Cathays councillors. Having lived in Cardiff now for almost 3 years I can say with first-hand experience that students are being exploited by letting agencies. Over-priced rent, extortionate late fees and poor service are but some of the realities that students can expect when they leave university-owned accommodation. As a solution I would propose the creation of a support group that could offer independent specialist advice to students on how best to act, whether it is legal advice or simply which company is best suited to their needs.

With just over 3 weeks to Election Day it is vital that candidates, activists and supporters of Plaid Cymru continue to do all that they can to support our communities. Together I have no doubt that we can improve our areas and the lives of ordinary people. We ask that you join with us and support our campaign to help us deliver for you, your family and for your community.

Glenn Page

Daw'r diwedd

Yfory, cyfrir y pleidleisiau yn etholiad arweinyddol Plaid Cymru a dyma ddiwedd ar gyfnod Ieuan Wyn Jones fel Arweinydd y Blaid, swydd y mae ef wedi'i dal ers 12 mlynedd.

Bydd y sawl ohonoch sy'n dilyn y blog hwn yn gwybod mai polisi swyddogol CymruX yw cefnogi ymgyrch Leanne Wood i'w olynu. Os nad ydych chi wedi pleidleisio eto, fe'ch hanogaf i ddewis Leanne fel eich dewis cyntaf i fod yn Arweinydd ac i ddanfon eich papur pleidleisio at Dŷ Gwynfor yn syth fel ei fod yn cyrraedd cyn yfory.

Ond wrth i'r ymgyrch Arweinyddol ddirwyn i ben, hoffwn gymryd moment i dalu teyrnged i Ieuan am ei arweinyddiaeth am dros ddegawd. Y mae wedi arwain ein Plaid gyda sgil ers blynyddoedd, ac wedi bod yn wyneb arbennig o dda i'n mudiad cenedlaethol yn ystod y cyfnod hwnnw. Mae'r teyrngedau a dalwyd iddo o ar draws llawr y Siambr yn ystod ei sesiwn FMQs olaf fel Arweinydd y Blaid ddydd Mawrth yn adlewyrchu'i boblogrwydd.

Ef wnaeth arwain y Blaid i mewn i Lywodraeth am y tro cyntaf ac fe wasnaethodd ein gwlad fel ei Dirprwy Brif Weinidog. Fel Arweinydd Plaid Cymru, fe arweiniodd ni at ddelifro senedd go iawn i'n Cenedl. Ac yn y dyddiau cynnar, roedd yn un o'r bobl wnaeth droi'r prosiect datganoli i mewn i'r llwyddiant y mae heddiw.

Edrychaf ymlaen at ei weld ar ôl-feinciau'r Blaid, yn brwydro dros bobl Ynys Môn ac ys dywedodd Kirsty Williams, gobeithiaf y bydd yn cymaint o drwbl o'r ôl-feinciau ag y mae cyn-arweinwyr eraill wedi bod.

Ar ran mudiad myfyrwyr ac ieuenctid Plaid Cymru, hoffwn ymestyn fy niolchiadau calonog i Ieuan am ei wasanaeth ar hyd y degawdau, a dymuno'n dda iddo wrth iddo ymadael wrth yr Arweinyddiaeth.

Cerith Rhys Jones
Cadeirydd Cenedlaethol

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

Peint i'r Blaid | Pint for Plaid

Gyfeillion oll,

Heddiw, ry'n ni'n lansio ymgyrch i gynyddu incwm misol mudiad ieuenctid a myfyrwyr Plaid Cymru, er mwyn inni allu cyflogi trefnydd a fydd yn hwyluso'n gwaith a'n hymgyrchu ledled Cymru.

Yr hyn ry'n ni'n ei ofyn yw gwerth peint rhad o gwrw bob mis - rhyw £2. Os ellwch chi fforddio rhoi mwy, felly gwych! Mi fydd pob un ohonom yn gwerthfawrogi unrhyw faint bynnag y gellwch chi fforddio rhoi.

Os y'ch chi'n fodlon buddsoddi yn nyfodol eich cenedl, yna cysylltwch gyda Cadeirydd y mudiad ar cerithrjones@live.co.uk am ffurflen ddebyd uniongyrchol.

Diolch enfawr ichi.

Friends,

Today we're launching a campaign to increase Plaid Cymru's student and youth movement's monthly income, so that we can employ an organiser who will facilitate our work and campaigning across Wales.

What we're asking is that you give us the value of a pint a month - some £2. If you can afford more, then great! We will all appreciate however much you can give very much.

If you want to invest in the future of your nation, then contact the movement's Chair at cerithrjones@live.co.uk for a direct debit mandate.

Thank you so much.

Cerith Rhys Jones
Cadeirydd | Chair