Eurfyl ap Gwilym is first Plaid candidate for peerage
Jan 7 2008 by Martin Shipton, Western Mail
AN ECONOMICS expert who is a longstanding adviser to Plaid Cymru has become the first candidate from the party to formally announce his candidacy for a peerage.
Plaid recently dropped its opposition to sending members to the House of Lords in response to constitutional changes that give the second chamber the power to veto law-making proposals put forward by the National Assembly.
Businessman Eurfyl ap Gwilym, who costed last year’s Plaid election manifesto and is a former national chairman of the party, will be a candidate for a seat in the Lords.
Dr ap Gwilym, who lives in Cardiff and is deputy chairman of the Principality, Wales’ biggest mutual society, has been a member of Plaid since 1963.
For many years he has advocated a revision of the Barnett formula, which determines how much money Wales receives from the Treasury.
He argues that if a new formula based on need was introduced, Wales would be entitled to hundreds of millions of pounds extra a year.
Former MP and AM Cynog Dafis, who said he has no interest in standing for a seat in the Lords, said, “Eurfyl is extremely able and could make a very useful contribution in the second chamber.”
"The Nineteenth century saw a great Springtime of Nations as the revolutions of 1848 saw new countries created the length and breadth of Europe. In our world today we are now seeing our own Spring Awakening with people and cultures that have long been dormant and subdued asserting their right to exist, their right to dream." Adam Price MP
Truly an excellent, and one of the most able and intelligent people that Plaid Cymru can call on. It is a shame that he has never sought any office before, but he would be an asset in the Second Chamber, thaks to his brilliant economic and financial knowledge and reasoning. He and Dafydd Wigley would form an unstoppable duo, able to present the socio-economic case for further devolution in a detailed and forceful way, as well as making the case for Assembly legislation.
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