The poverty statistics for Wales really do make grim reading. 1 in 4 people in Wales lives in relative income poverty, and the figure is rising. 1 in 5 pensioners lives in relative income poverty, and it’s risen in the last 4 periods. 28% of children in Wales tragically lives in poverty. If you want the Welsh Government stats they’re here.

Poverty has been a problem in Wales and the UK for centuries. But what’s different now is that the establishment’s past methods for dealing with the ‘unwanted’ poor largely no longer exist.

The Plaid leadership debate is now well underway and the most positive aspect so far has been to see Welsh independence being talked about again.

Over the past six years it hasn’t been mentioned much. The Plaid leadership was simply more interested in, what Jonathan Edwards has called, ‘niche issues’ rather than Welsh sovereignty.

This rejection of Welsh nationalism by Plaid has been an abdication of responsibility to our nation, and it must not continue. We need to be upfront with people about our aims for Wales.