Senior Plaid Cymru politician Liz Saville Roberts has said that a new interim leader for the party should be in place by the weekend. She was speaking after Adam Price told party members he is quitting as leader days after a review found a culture of harassment, bullying and misogyny in the party.
In his resignation letter, he said he no longer had the support of colleagues after the report was published last week. Ms Saville Roberts, who is the group leader of Plaid Cymru in the House of Commons, had last week backed him to stay on but admitted on Thursday (May 11) that a week is a "long time in politics".
"There were a number of us who felt, at the time of publishing the report, which is important to point out we put into the public domain, that we needed a collective leadership in a small party in order to bring about these important cultural changes," she tod BBC Radio Wales. "But a week is a long time in politics and it became clear that Adam himself was becoming a distraction and that if we wanted to move forward we needed a new leader."
It was a WalesOnline investigation which first exposed problems in the party. Mr Price's decision to quit comes following a special meeting of Plaid’s national executive committee to discuss “next steps” after the Prosiect Pawb report found a culture of harassment, bullying and misogyny in the party.
The report, published on May 3, found the Welsh nationalist party had “failed to implement a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment” and that women had been “especially” let down. Mr Price had apologised and said all of its 82 recommendations to “detoxify” the party would be taken on board.
Ms Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, cannot stand to be the next leader because they have to be an elected member in the Senedd.
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She added in the radio interview that it was not for her to decide who the new leader will be, adding: "We are going to have an interim leader by this weekend and then we will be moving into the leadership process that will be in place by the summer.
"One thing I will say for my party in the face of this report is that we talk about it and we say that we have a problem. We have faced up to it. It is immensely difficult for us but we have faced up to the fact that we need to change. We are doing our best in what is difficult circumstances. This now allows us to move ahead."
Asked if the party was in crisis, Ms Saville Roberts said: "We must make the cultural change because otherwise we will be talking about it and not putting it into action ourselves. As a party we have to find a way of reforming ourselves and how we talk to the Welsh people.
"Our message to voters is that we have a very strong voice, we have a credible voice. Plaid Cymru is a critical part of the political landscape in Wales. We face challenges head on and we will come out of this stronger."
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