Plaid Cymru not just for Welsh speakers - Rhun ap Iorwerth

Rhun ap Iorwerth says Plaid Cymru must show "respect to everyone without exception"

Rhun ap Iorwerth has stressed that Plaid Cymru is for everyone in Wales, not just Welsh speakers, addressing his first conference as party leader.

He said: "We are for everyone equally. Plaid Cymru speaks your language, whatever that language is."

Mr ap Iorwerth was speaking on day one of the conference in Aberystwyth.

Earlier, he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that independence was not "pie in the sky", but the party had to "bring people with us".

• What we know about Plaid Cymru's new leader

• New Plaid Cymru leader elected unopposed

• Next UK election difficult for Plaid, leader says

This is also the first conference since a damning report into harassment and misogyny within the party led to former leader Adam Price's resignation.

Speaking on Radio Wales, the Ynys Mon MS said Plaid was making progress on introducing the changes called for by the Prosiect Pawb review.

In his conference speech, Mr ap Iorwerth thanked Nerys Evans for leading the review, and the party's staff, politicians and members for carrying out the recommendations.

"I said this when I became leader and I'll repeat it today - I'm completely determined to lead a movement that is fair, inclusive and that shows respect to everyone without exception," he said.

He also emphasised that message of inclusion when it came to the language people speak, returning to a theme previous Plaid leaders have also felt the need to stress.

"We know the charge sometimes levelled against us - Plaid is for Welsh speakers," he said.

"Well I want to make it as clear as I can. We are for everyone equally.

"Plaid Cymru speaks your language whatever that language is.

"We speak your language when it comes to seeking fairness for Wales.

"We speak your language when it comes to showing real ambition for Wales."

The "choice is in the hands of the people of Wales" on independence, said Rhun ap Iorwerth

He said he wants to lay the "strongest foundations possible" for an independent Wales, and that the nation needs to "reform to build" after years of "frustrating" Labour leadership in Cardiff Bay.

"Westminster governments, red and blue, have tried and failed and, I tell you, they'll never try hard enough for Wales.

"Look around you - do you think this is the best things can get?

"No, it isn't. And that's why we're determined to build a new Wales."

He also set out policies to improve cancer treatment and help businesses.

A "Plaid Cymru Cancer Contract" will include proposals for quicker diagnosis and better survival rates, he said.

He highlighted a long-standing Plaid policy to bring back the Welsh Development Agency - the organisation responsible for attracting investment to Wales, until it was absorbed by the Welsh government in 2006.

He said: "By reforming the structures and systems that sustain us, that educate our children and care for our parents, we can begin building the strongest foundations possible for an independent Wales."

Mr Price led the party into the 2021 election promising to hold an independence referendum within five years if Plaid won.

In the end the party fell to third place, behind Labour and the Conservatives.

Plaid Cymru has 12 Senedd members and three MPs at Westminster

On Friday morning Mr ap Iorwerth, who has already said he will not set a timetable on independence, told Radio Wales there was "no fundamental difference at all" between him and his predecessor.

"I would vote for independence tomorrow," he said.

"I'm confident in our ability as a nation to be able to forge a brighter future for ourselves.

"But it's not about what I feel. It's about taking the people of Wales with us."

'Real aspiration'

He said support for independence had grown, "but it's not enough, is it".

"We need to be still working, winning over hearts and minds, because that's crucial.

"This isn't just, sort of pie in the sky aspiration.

"This is real aspiration that can be delivered.

"But we need to bring people with us, moving as fast as we possibly can, but the ultimate choice is in the hands of the people of Wales."

With most people expecting a UK general election next year, in the spring or the autumn, the new leader's message to party activists in the hall was that they will need to work "harder than ever, and smarter than ever" in the months ahead, particularly in the handful of key target seats that Plaid Cymru hopes to retain or win.