THE spirit of the Chartists was invoked at the launch of Plaid Cymru's campaign for the party's candidate for the Newport West by-election Jonathan Clark.
Party leader Adam Price and South Wales East AM Delyth Jewell were among those at the event this evening at the party's new office in Newport, just yards from the Westgate Hotel, the site of the 1839 Chartist uprising.
Speaking at the event Mr Clark said: "We need change.
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"This city cannot endure any more Labour rule.
"We have to begin the process of ending that rule now.
"We begin the process by voting Plaid Cymru on April 4. That will give the city the opportunity to be radical again, to be creative again, and to do something different."
And Mr Price said Newport could become "a gateway to a new Wales".
"This is where, potentially within the next few weeks, a new arc of rising hope could begin," he said.
"That's the prospect. I feel it in the conversations I've been having and other Plaid Cymru members have been having here.
"There is something in the air, and that something is hope."
Ms Jewell also spoke at the launch, saying Plaid spoke to Newport's "radical history".
"We are fundamentally a part of this city, which has been let down for years," she said.
"We are no longer facing the firing squad - but we are facing decline."
The by-election will be held on Thursday, April 4.
The other candidates running in the Newport West by-election are:
Richard Suchorzewski (Abolish the Welsh Assembly)
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