Standing opposite Home Bargains on a small green on the bottom of Station Road in Llanelli, local councillor Terry Davies has a tear in his eye.
A councillor for the ward of Tyisha he is explaining to Plaid leader Adam Price about a development he has helped bring to this very deprived ward. It is clear how much it means to Terry, to be making a difference in his community.
The Plaid leader is nodding along and questioning Terry and the wider party should really be hoping that Adam Price is listening because Terry is a very unusual breed since Adam became leader - an elected Plaid politician in a Labour stronghold. Terry is a rare Plaid representative in the town where he is a lone piece of green and yellow in a sea (or should that be a wall) of red.
Read more: Adam Price says Plaid Cymru 'must do better' after accusations about party's culture
The Plaid leader is facing several pressing issues as conference unfolds. The first is that the party is languishing in the polls combined with the perception that he lacks ambition to truly challenge Labour dominance. He tried to address this with the line in his speech: "For the avoidance of doubt, this party and this leader have not given up on the goal of leading our country."
The other issue he was facing was criticism that he has failed to address complaints about behaviour and serious allegations within the party. He attempted to put this to rest in the first few minutes of his speech to conference making a "solemn pledge" to improve the culture in the party and "be the change we want to be in society".
Ahead of the conference WalesOnline caught up with the Plaid leader to see where the party stands with a general election possible in the next 15 months.
WalesOnline: Why are you struggling to cut through as a party?
Adam Price: Here's an example of a ward where we have broken Labour's dominance in this particular part of Lllanelli, we've also been doing it in Wrexham. Plaid is breaking through in some areas, what we've got to do is to learn from from that success, and to share that throughout the party and that's what we're talking about in some depth in the political strategy. Right at the heart of that one of the one of the three key themes is broadening our bases of support, and we go into some detail as to our theory of change, if you like how we can actually get from where we are now to where we want to be.
But why are you not cutting through? With the pandemic and Brexit it should be the perfect time to make inroads?
I think largely is to do with a lack of media landscape in Wales. It is very difficult is when we have a position where people consume their news and information largely from London-based media, and then there isn't much oxygen then further debate and discussion about Wales. So we've got to, we've got to find ways of counteracting that or compensating for it and that means that we've got to be, we've got to be direct publishers, direct communicators, ourselves. We have to build up our activist base because they're the principal means by which we can have those conversations with people.
What is a successful general election for Plaid? It is more seats? More votes?
We always want to increase the number of seats and we want to increase the number of votes. Both are important to us. They're both very, very important arbiters of success for us. But also, they will be the things that will influence how future Westminster Government views Wales. If Plaid Cymru's s vote is going up, but then actually Wales is more on the radar of political decision makers in London than otherwise, because then they sit up and notice.
With higher support for independence, I know some opinion polls put it up or down a little bit, but it is up considerably over what it was 10 years ago, and one of the key challenges for us in in Wales, outside of our traditional areas, is to get those pro independence voters to vote for us in the Westminster election.
When will there be a conclusion to the Rhys ab Owen investigation?
I don't. I will know, probably, when you know, when it's made public by the commissioner.
Are you committed to being leader? Any plans to step down?
Yeah, I'm very committed to doing the work and as long as I feel that I can make a positive difference to the party and to the work that is central to our vision, then I want to do that.
I think coming here, speaking to Terry with a bit of a tear in his eye talking about his community, that's the stuff that gets you up in the morning, isn't it? That's the stuff that really keeps you keeps you focused. The fire still burns.
You have talked about a new economic plan for Wales, what does that actually look like?
What we're doing is we're starting the work now, led by Luke Fletcher, and we'll be producing the economic plan in due course. It is about maximizing the huge potential that we have with a green industrial revolution Wales is very positioned well positioned to benefit from that.
But we don't want to make the same mistakes of the past of course, where we didn't get actually the benefit of some of our mineral wealth in Wales I think there are there are things that that can and should happen like the devolution of the Crown Estate.
READ NEXT:
- Living and dying in pain: The victims of Wales' NHS waiting list scandal
Adam Price says Plaid Cymru 'must do better' after accusations about party's culture
The £3.90 fry-up Welsh politicians can enjoy that makes a mockery of plans to make us eat healthily
Wales' Future Generations Commissioner's jet-setting flights round the world
