Ex-Plaid Cymru leader attacks election focus on parity

Lord Elis-Thomas says Plaid is no more or less Welsh than other parties in Wales

A former Plaid Cymru leader has criticised his party's main general election demand that Wales should be treated in the same way as Scotland.

Lord Elis-Thomas told the Western Mail newspaper the campaign did not appear to focus on Wales' future.

He also said that arguing people should vote Plaid "because we're more Welsh" was "arrogant" and a "bit sectarian".

Lord Elis-Thomas insisted that all parties contesting assembly elections were "part of the politics of Wales".

During the election campaign, Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said that only her party could ensure Wales received equal treatment with Scotland in terms of funding and powers.

A key Plaid demand was that Wales should receive an extra £1.2bn a year from UK ministers, to achieve financial parity with Scotland.

On polling day in May, the party held its three seats, but failed to gain targets such as Ynys Mon and Ceredigion.

Leanne Wood beat Lord Elis-Thomas and Elin Jones to be elected Plaid leader in 2012

Lord Elis-Thomas, a former assembly presiding officer, told the newspaper: "Clearly the campaign did not seem to be focused on an argument about where Wales needs to be going in terms of powers and its future development, and it tended to concentrate mainly on drawing comparisons with Scotland.

"Scotland is another country, in all senses. It's politically different. The people of Wales understand that."

And he said he did not think it was "helpful" to insist Wales be treated like a nation that was "over resourced in comparative terms in the UK".

'Obviously Welsh'

Lord Elis-Thomas said he was not sure his party had "learned the lessons of what it means to be operating in a government and a national assembly of its own".

He said it was "not about saying that our party has to be voted for because we're more Welsh than the others".

"All the parties that contest elections in the national assembly are obviously Welsh parties. They are part of the politics of Wales."

To argue otherwise was "arrogant and it's a bit sectarian", Lord Elis-Thomas added.