Plaid leader faces calls to resign

Ieuan Wyn Jones is facing calls to resign

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones is facing a call to resign from a senior member of his own party.

Gwynfor Owen, a member of the party's National Executive, has told him he should go unless he gives firmer leadership on the future of Welsh-speaking communities.

Gwilym ab Ioan was forced to resign

A number of Plaid Cymru members have recently been repremanded over controversial comments made on the issue of the Welsh language.

Now the Plaid leader will face criticism over his lack of action over the preservation of the Welsh culture in the S4C current affairs programme Taro Naw on Monday night.

In seeking to broaden the appeal of the party, Mr Jones has upset some grassroots Plaid supporters who feel the party has taken its eyes away from Welsh-speaking heartland communities.

Last week Gwilym ab Ioan - who described Wales as a "dumping ground for oddballs and misfits" - was forced to resign as the party's chairman in Ceredigion.

English incomers

Mr ab Ioan had already quit the party's National Executive after his controversial remarks about English incomers were posted on an internet news group.

The row over the preservation of the Welsh culture was sparked last January by Gwynedd Councillor Seimon Glyn, who was hauled in front of the executive for similar comments.

He had said that English people were a "drain on resources".

Mr Glyn later branded Mr Jones a "coward" over the issue - a label which the party said was "entirely unacceptable."

Second homes

Plaid Cymru has previously pointed to its efforts to tackle the issue of housing in rural communities, in which some locals have said they are being priced out of by more wealthy incomers.

The party's rural housing taskforce published a report in July which called on the Welsh Assembly cabinet to allocate affordable land to local people and double the tax on second homes.

That body was chaired by the party's previous leader, Dafydd Wigley, who stepped away from the helm in 2000.

Plans drawn up by Exmoor National Park Authority in England last week to ban outsiders from buying second homes were declared illegal by the UK government, however.