Editor,

Plaid, the Greens and the Lib Dems have formed an electoral alliance called Unite to Remain. Here in Dwyfor Meirionnydd only Plaid of those three parties will stand in the General Election.

In 2017 Plaid got 13,687 votes, 45.1 per cent. The Tories came second with 8,837 votes, Labour came third with 6,273 votes. The Lib Dems and Brexit Party got fewer than 1,000 votes each.

With those numbers, how can the fact that the Lib Dems and the Greens (who didn’t stand last time) are not standing this time possibly make a difference to who wins?

Personally I think Plaid will lose votes in this constituency because of this agreement, which looks like nothing other than political exhibitionism here.

I predict many Plaid voters will revert to Labour, their traditional political home until 1974 when the strong belief in the power of the community caused Welsh nationalists to under-estimate the effect of the pursuit of profit by the ruling class.

This electoral strategy is enough in my view for Plaid to lose thousands of votes to the rejuvenated, genuinely socialist Labour Party, whose candidate’s politics is genuinely communitarian socialist as reports in these pages, on his commitment to Fairbourne, on his determination to make safe swimming in Barmouth and along the Gwynedd coast, and on his backing for the young in their fight against climate change, all testify.

We need a community politics, yes, combined with a proper socialist critique of capitalism, which Corbyn provides, and an acknowledgement that all communities need help from a powerful socialist government in Westminster.

Ian MacIntyre, Flat 6, Shelbourne Court, St John’s Hill, Barmouth.

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