LONDON (Reuters) -The leader of Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru has stepped down, saying he no longer had enough support from colleagues after a report revealed a culture of sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination in the party.
In his resignation letter, Adam Price said he “felt morally bound to step down as leader of the party” after initially receiving the report last month, but was advised by some colleagues that this could be an “unhelpful distraction”.
Price, who had been leader of the left-leaning pro-independence party since 2018, said “it was now clear I no longer have the united support of my colleagues that would be necessary to follow this course to fruition”.
Plaid Cymru said Llyr Gruffydd had been nominated as acting leader of the party on Thursday. The nomination is subject to ratification by the party’s National Council on Saturday.
The review by a former member of the National Assembly for Wales said Plaid Cymru “failed to implement a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment”, and staff and elected members reported “cases of sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination”.
Price said the report’s findings contrasted with the “independent Wales we together champion”.
Plaid Cymru is the third largest party in the devolved Welsh Parliament, the Senedd, which sits in the Welsh capital Cardiff and has some lawmaking powers in Wales. Plaid Cymru, which in Welsh means the Party of Wales, has three Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom parliament at Westminster.
The announcement from the leader of Wales’ pro-independence party follows the resignation of Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon in February who was the head of Scotland’s pro-independence Scottish National Party.
The devolved Welsh government is currently led by Britain’s main opposition Labour Party.
A timetable will be published outlining the process of electing a permanent leader of Plaid Cymru “at the earliest possible opportunity,” the party said.
(Reporting by Farouq Suleiman, Editing by Gareth Jones)
