It hasn’t been long since we in Wales elected our new leader. But there’s a difference.
The leader in Scotland leads the party but our leader in Wales only leads our group of Assembly Members.
We need clarity on who actually leads our party and who is responsible for us.
Our party in Wales is technically headed up by a chairman who is not chosen by party members so is only truly accountable to the Chairmen of each local association.
We as members need to be able to choose the person who runs our party, runs our campaigns and is responsible for keeping our party in order.
If we do not have clarity on who is actually in charge then it will be difficult for prospective voters to understand who will be calling the shots if we win an Assembly election in the future.
Having our own leader in Wales will help set us free as a party.
We will have the independence to build our own manifesto, work on better campaigns, localise our policies and election strategies and most importantly, give our members a bigger say in the future of our party.
In the 2017 general election we lost 3 Welsh seats because of the row over who should be at the front of our TV debates.
This could have been avoided if we had that clarity on who actually heads us up. We need a leader like Scotland to set us free, empower our members and help build an effective strategy for future elections.
Article submitted by Cllr Russell Downe - Deputy Chairman (Membership & Finance)