Boris Johnson is 'greatest recruiting agent for independence', Plaid Cymru leader tells SNP

Boris Johnson is a "disaster" as well as being the "greatest recruiting agent" for independence, Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price has claimed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Mr Price criticised the UK Government over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic as he predicted Welsh and Scottish elections in May next year could usher in "the Indy summer of '21".

He told how support for independence was rising in his nation, saying the "Welsh awakening is catching up with the Scottish surge".

Mr Price, who was addressing the SNP annual conference, pledged that Plaid Cymru would fight the elections to the Senedd next year on the "most radical and transformational prospectus seen since devolution".

He also stated: "Giving the people of Wales the right to decide on their future as a nation will be central to our plans.

"Let no-one be in any doubt that I will lead a team and a party clear in its aims, united in its goal, committed to holding and winning an independence referendum as soon as we can."

His comments came as he said that the coronavirus pandemic had "exposed the worst excesses of Westminster rule".

The Plaid Cymru leader hit out at Mr Johnson's government for its "dubious PPE contracts, a calamitous testing regime and a Tory 'chumocracy' which is growing by the day".

While the Prime Minister reportedly described Scottish devolution as a "disaster", Mr Price insisted: "The only disaster is the Prime Minister himself - the greatest recruiting agent independence ever had.

"At this rate the crumbling palaces of Westminster will outlast the Union itself - with any luck we won't have to pay for the refurbishment."

Mr Price said he was keen to “cement and enhance” the relationship between Wales and Scotland, and, if he becomes First Minister of Wales, he has promised a “Celtic Summit” in summer 2021.

There he says he will map out how to turn “independence and mutual co-operation” into the “new normal.”

In his speech, Mr Price also says that his “first official phone call as the first pro-independence First Minister of Wales” would be to the First Minister of Scotland, Nicole Sturgeon.

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