Plaid Cymru wants to discipline a non-member for passing information already in the public domain to Nation.Cymru

Martin Shipton

A member of the public who says he has never been a member of Plaid Cymru has been threatened with disciplinary action by the party for passing on information to Nation.Cymru that was in the public domain.

In early May 2025 we ran a story which revealed that Plaid peer Baroness Carmen Smith - at 29 the youngest member of the House of Lords - had been accused of breaking a promise to be a full-time working peer.

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Elevated

Tom Morgan, a reader, had contacted us to say: “When Baroness Smith was elevated, she and Plaid said clearly said that the Lords would be her full time job. I don't know about you but for most of us that would mean only doing the Lords work.

“However, a look at her declaration of interests show she has two other areas of remunerated employment:

Adviser on diversity and inclusion matters to Plaid Cymru; and

Adviser on youth governance to Windward Global Limited (renewable energy).

“Windward is the parent company of Bute Energy and Green Gen Wales. Of course, you will remember that the Baroness worked for Bute Energy at the time of her elevation. She only seems to have gone off the payroll for a few months before going back on. When prominent Plaid politicians attack Green Gen, another is receiving money from them!

“Can you please find out what on earth is an adviser on youth governance? Why is Windward interested in this? How many days a month does she spend on these other jobs? How much is she paid? One might come to the conclusion that Windward is not interested in youth governance and more interested in having an insider within Plaid Cymru.

“It is clear from her attendance that many members attend the Lords more frequently than her and that she does not attend every day. This is surprising considering she was supposed to be a strong voice for Wales at the Lords and this is her full time job.

“How do you reconcile the comments made in March 2024 that the Lords would be her full time job when she doesn’t attend every sitting and also has two other paid jobs?”

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Allowance

Members of the House of Lords can claim an allowance of £361 for every day they attend debates.

The record shows that during the 2023-24 parliamentary session, covering the period from November 7 2023 [before she became a peer] until May 24 2024 - the most recent for which such details have been published - Baroness Smith voted on 23 out of a possible 34 occasions.

A spokesperson for Plaid Cymru in Westminster responded at the time: “Upon her appointment to the House of Lords, Carmen Smith left her full-time role to focus on her parliamentary duties, which take precedence over all other commitments.

“Unlike most peers, Carmen Smith does not have a pension or an outside salary to supplement the daily attendance allowance. She has been remunerated for her contribution to a youth governance project with Windward, helping to embed young people’s perspectives in decision-making processes and to strengthen long-term organisational resilience.

“As her entry in the register of interests states, Carmen’s involvement is limited solely to this area. She holds no role in any other aspect of Windward’s work.

“Carmen is one of the House of Lords' most active Members. Since taking up her role, she has spoken 38 times in the Chamber, tabled 63 written parliamentary questions, and engaged extensively with schools and colleges across Wales to communicate her work in Parliament on behalf of Plaid Cymru – efforts that have directly reached over 1,000 young people.

“When comparing peers’ voting records, it is important to take into account that Plaid Cymru peers, like Plaid Cymru MPs, do not vote on England-only matters, in line with a long-held principle.”

'Workhorse'

Tortoise Media, in its analysis of the contributions made by individual peers to the House of Lords, describes Baroness Smith as a “workhorse” - among the most active peers in terms of doing the work to scrutinise, amend and move government legislation through the chamber.

Weeks after the story was published, Mr Morgan received an email from Paula Reed, Plaid Cymru’s head of finance, compliance and HR, which said: “Dear Member, A complaint has been submitted to the party in relation to an email sent to Martin Shipton at Nation Cymru via an email [address] which is linked to your membership details with Plaid Cymru.

“I am writing to you having been appointed investigating officer on behalf of the Membership, Disciplinary and Standards Committee Panel.

“I would be grateful if you could tell me:

1 Did you send this email to NationCymru?

“If not, please can you tell me:

1 Are you the only person who uses the email address?

2 Can you explain how it went from your email address without your knowledge?”

'Ridiculous'

A bemused Mr Morgan told us: “I have no concerns with what I arose with you. It was in the public domain in any event and the fact that the Baroness worked for a company other Plaid politicians were campaigning against smacked of hypocrisy to me. This should be asked of Cefin [Campbell], Adam [Price] etc.

“I’m happy for you to write another report. It seems ridiculous for them to say they’ve received a complaint when the complaint has obviously come from them! They should be far more concerned about the Baroness’ second jobs than chasing me.

“I have never been a member [of Plaid Cymru].

“I have been told by a friend who is a Plaid activist that Alun Cox chairs the panel and that Beca Brown is also a member of the disciplinary committee. Both including Marc Jones as Chair are candidates for the next [Senedd] election.

"I take it that this matter appeared in front of the committee or some members of it before an investigation was commenced. I would be interested to know if those three really think that talking to a journalist about publicly available information is a disciplinary matter. I just feel that this is a very dangerous path….”

We sought a response from Plaid Cymru, but the party did not comment.