Madam,

Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas was in Bala last week.

A day later Carwyn Jones announced he is standing down as Welsh Labour leader and First Minister.

Lord Elis-Thomas was on TV saying he would not offer an opinion as to who the new leader of the Welsh Labour Party should be. But Lord Elis-Thomas is our AM here in Dwyfor-Meirionnydd and is in the Welsh Labour Cabinet as Minister for Culture Tourism and Sport. Who could conceivably be better placed than he to advise his constituents as to whom the best leader would be?

He has represented Dwyfor Meirionnydd in different ways since 1974. His opinion as to what is best for the constituency is what won him, in particular, the last Senedd election in 2016. Then he left the party he represented.

It would be a second betrayal of the people of Dwyfor-Meirionydd if he withheld his opinion for a minute longer.

Choosing who is to be the next leader of Welsh Labour is to choose who is to be the next First Minister, someone who steers the direction of government policy, for the whole of Wales, but crucially for us living here.

How can Lord Elis-Thomas not use his experience of working alongside all the potential candidates in Cardiff and tell us his view, as to who would best serve the purposes of our constituency here?

This would be by no means idle political speculation. For the leader will be chosen by the vote of the members. It means that every ordinary member and every trades unionist member of the Labour Party, and there are about 500 of us here, have a vote as to who, in effect, the next First Minister is to be.

To fail to advise, to fail to make public his view is a dereliction of his duty in his role as our political representative in Cardiff.

Who would do best for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Dafydd?

Yours etc,

Ian MacIntyre, St John’s Hill, Barmouth.

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