Plaid Cymru and Greens form Cardiff council election pact

Plaid Cymru and the Greens have agreed to fight as a single party at the next Cardiff council elections

Plaid Cymru and the Green Party have struck a deal to work as a single united party in Cardiff.

The two organisations will draw up a joint slate of candidates for next year's council elections.

They have promised a single manifesto pledging to protect and enhance public green spaces, provide fairer housing, and give "real democratic power to communities".

Neither currently has any sitting councillors on the authority.

Plaid won three seats in 2017 and a by-election in 2019, but the group's former leader Neil McEvoy was expelled from the party, while the others have since quit.

Three councillors for the Fairwater ward, including Mr McEvoy, are members of Propel, while the fourth former-Plaid Cymru councillor is an independent.

Anthony Slaughter said the alliance will give voters "an opportunity to vote for real change"

Anthony Slaughter, Wales Green Party leader, said the alliance "will give Cardiff voters an opportunity to vote for real change and genuine community representation".

Rhys ab Owen, Plaid Senedd member for South Wales Central, said the alliance recognised "the need for a new political force that will protect and nurture everything that is good about Cardiff".

The alliance "embraces" independent grassroots activists from outside Plaid and the Greens, they said, who "share common ground with the parties on vital campaign issues in the city".

Discussions will be held with the Electoral Commission about registering a joint description for candidates to use.

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The deal is limited to Cardiff Council and BBC Wales was told Plaid Cymru is not looking at pacts with the Greens anywhere else in Wales.

Alliances between Plaid Cymru and the Greens have been frequently discussed in recent years.

The parties came to a deal with the Liberal Democrats at the 2019 general election, where in nine Welsh constituencies only one of each party stood.

Plaid's four MPs were re-elected but none of the other participants in the pact were successful.

Wales' council elections will take place on 5 May 2022.