Adam Price 'may leave Carmarthenshire and seek a Senedd seat in Cardiff'

Martin Shipton

Plaid Cymru members have been speculating that the party’s former leader Adam Price may leave his home county of Carmarthenshire and stand as a candidate in Cardiff at the next Senedd election in 2026.

Nation.Cymru has been told by Plaid insiders that Mr Price would struggle to get selected for a winnable seat on his home patch under the new “closed list” electoral system that is being brought in to coincide with the increase in the number of MSs from 60 to 96.

Under the new arrangements, Wales will be split into 16 “super constituencies”, each electing six Senedd Members by a form of proportional representation. People will vote for a party rather than for individuals, and parties will choose the order in which its candidates will be elected, if they win sufficient votes.

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Super constituency

One prominent local Plaid member told us: “There will be one super constituency covering the whole of Carmarthenshire, combining the two Westminster seats of Caerfyrddin and Llanelli. Plaid could win two seats out of the six, but to win a third would be a big stretch and probably isn’t feasible.

“Cefin Campbell was elected as a regional Senedd Member for Mid and West Wales in 2021 under the old electoral system. He very quickly established himself as an effective representative, is very popular among party members and it is thought highly likely that he would beat Adam in a selection contest for top spot on the new Carmarthenshire closed list. “Plaid is very likely to have a candidate selection process which alternates male and female candidates. That would mean that a woman would take the second spot on the list and Adam would be left in third position and very unlikely to win a seat in the Senedd.”

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Cardiff West

This Plaid source and another said they had heard the suggestion that Mr Price would stand instead in Cardiff. The second party source told us: “There’s a strong rumour going around that Adam knows he won’t be able to beat Cefin, and that he’ll try instead to get selected as a candidate in Cardiff, where obviously he is well known. He has a home in the Cardiff West constituency and he won’t be going up against a sitting male Senedd Member because Rhys ab Owen is no longer in the party.”

Mr ab Owen was elected as a Plaid MS for the South Wales Central region in 2021, but has sat as an Independent since being suspended from Plaid after being accused of inappropriately touching two women when drunk on a night out. The Senedd’s Standards Committee upheld a complaint against Mr ab Owen and he was suspended from the Senedd for six weeks. In July 2024 he was expelled by Plaid after a disciplinary process, meaning he won’t be eligible to stand as a candidate for the party in Cardiff or anywhere else in 2026.

Other sources have told Nation.Cymru that Mr Price fully intends to stand for Plaid at the next election.

We sent him a detailed message telling him we had heard the rumour and asked him to comment. Mr Price did not respond directly, but a spokesman for him contacted us to say: “I categorically deny the suggestion that Adam intends to stand in Cardiff.” The spokesman would not elaborate further.

Final decision

However, another party source pointed out that Plaid had yet to make a final decision about how its Senedd candidates will be selected. Sitting MSs are understood to favour an arrangement under which they are given preferential treatment, although Plaid’s national executive committee voted against such a move recently.

Under the current boundary proposals, Cardiff North would be twinned with Cardiff South & Penarth to form one super constituency. Plaid Cymru would be expected to win at least one of the six seats, and possibly two.

Mr Price was elected as the MP for Carmarthen East & Dinefwr in 2001, holding the seat until 2010 when he took a career break to study at Harvard University’s renowned Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 2016 he returned to elected politics, becoming the MS for his old constituency.

In 2018 he was elected leader of Plaid Cymru amid high hopes that the party would return to government three years later. But the impact of Brexit and the Convid pandemic changed the political landscape, and Plaid performed below expectations in the 2021 Senedd election.

In 2023 Mr Price resigned as party leader following allegations of bullying and sexual harassment involving members of Plaid’s staff at the Senedd.