Plaid Cymru 'would hold Wales independence referendum'

An independence referendum, national air carrier and energy grid would be created under a Plaid Cymru government, the party has said.

In a speech at the party's conference in Llangollen, Denbighshire, Adam Price outlined what two terms of a Plaid government would hope to achieve.

Mr Price made several proposals for a "vibrant, confident, successful nation" to be achieved by 2030.

He also called Wales "a wealthy country whose people live in poverty".

Mr Price, AM for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, said the party will "tackle the myth" Wales is a poor nation by claiming, in terms of per capita income, it is richer than "every nation in Asia bar two, every nation in the Americas bar two, and richer than more than half of Europe".

Under the pledge, if elected, Plaid Cymru would establish a Wales national carrier with direct connections to the Americas and mainland Europe, create a national energy grid, set up a national housing company and provide free university education for Welsh students.

A referendum on Wales' constitutional future would be held at the end of the second term of a Plaid government, which Mr Price said would "ask this coming generation where they want Wales to be mid-century and will include independence as a realistic option", he said.

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"Are you ready to add your voice to that greatest of all causes?" Mr Price asked party members, as he rounded off the closing speech of the conference.

"To liberate this nation from poverty, from sickness, from ignorance and timidity.

"Are you with us? Then let the work begin."

Speaking at the spring conference on Friday, party leader Leanne Wood said Plaid Cymru members needed to stand "shoulder to shoulder" in order to dislodge Labour.

She said hers was the only party that could offer an alternative Welsh government, following a call from two Plaid MPs to reposition the party in the centre and to be open to working with the Tories.

Speaking to BBC Wales on Saturday, Ms Wood said: "The centre in Wales is Welsh Labour and that place is filled, you could argue."