Silencing

IT IS SAD to see that a party that once held freedom of speech as a goal worth aiming for has tried to silence Dafydd Elis Thomas, a senior Plaid Cymru Assembly Member, by threatening to stop him standing at next year’s Assembly elections for speaking off message.
Party insiders argued that comments he had made were demoralising to members and were undermining the party. He has been told that in future he must run statements he wants to make on policy by his local constituency first.
The ability to scrutinise policy and disagree with it is at the heart of democracy.  
Plaid’s tactics simply highlight the weakness and paranoia of its leadership.