Plaid rebel attacks party principles

Gwilym ab Ioan asked members to discuss communities

The senior Plaid Cymru figure who said Wales was "a dumping ground for England's social misfits" has hit back at the party after he was forced to resign.

Gwilym ab Ioan stood down as a party vice president in August after the remarks and lost his position as chair of the Ceredigion party after facing a vote of no confidence on Thursday

I have an obligation to represent people who have proposed me

Gwilym ab Ioan

At the second meeting of Welsh-language pressure group Cymuned on Saturday, Mr ab Ioan said his party was diluting its core principles.

And he told members he wanted more party leaders to speak up about safeguarding Welsh-speaking communities.

Mr ab Ioan has also pledged to fight for re-election to the senior post, saying: "It would appear that one or maybe two branches in Ceredigion have put my name forward for re-election.

"If enough people within branches have proposed me, I feel there is an obligation toward them that I represent them.

"Who am I to say that I don't want to do that?""

'Right decision'

Mr ab Ioan sought to appeal to disillusionment among nationalists, but his comments at the Cymuned meeting will not be met with favour among the Plaid Cymru leadership.

Earlier in the week, party president Ieuan Wyn Jones said it was the "right decision" that he was no longer a member of the executive.

His remarks were the latest in a series of controversial statements made to highlight the alleged erosion of Welsh communities through the influx of so-called "outsiders."

Cymuned gathered support in July

At a meeting on Saturday, Welsh-language campaign group Cymuned, established in June to fight that cause, supported plans by an English local authority to prioritise local housing for local people.

The group said it welcomed plans this week by Exmoor National Park to clamp down on buying second homes. Executive member Simon Brooks welcomed the lead set by the authority.

Mr Brooks edits the Barn magazine which has recently published debate over the plight of Welsh communities.

It was Cymuned's second gathering since the group's first meeting on the Lleyn Peninsula in August drew around 500 people to a packed-out village hall.