The future of Adam Price’s leadership of Plaid Cymru is in doubt after a senior Senedd politician was unable to say if he will still be in charge next week.
Llyr Gruffydd told ITV he did not have a “crystal ball”.
His comments come after news website Nation.Cymru reported that Mr Price has agreed to quit as party leader.
The party has not responded to the claims, which follow a damning review of Plaid’s internal culture.
The report by Nerys Evans alleged misogyny, harassment and bullying in the party.
Senedd members held talks on Tuesday to discuss the findings.
Mr Price had refused to quit when the document was published last week.
Plaid Cymru is the third largest party in the Welsh Parliament, with 12 Members of the Senedd and three MPs in Westminster.
Mr Gruffydd, MS for North Wales and Senedd Plaid group chair, declined to say if Mr Price had the support of the party group when interviewed by ITV’s Sharp End programme.
He said: “I’m not going to enter into gossip of that sort.
“You cannot pin this on one solitary single person – this is a much wider corporate issue that Plaid Cymru is grappling with.”
When asked if Mr Price will be leader by next week, Mr Gruffydd said: “I don’t have a crystal ball, but what I do know is that our priority is making sure we respond in the most positive way possible to the accusations made in that report.”
Has Adam Price stepped down as Plaid Cymru leader?
Late Tuesday night Nation.Cymru reported that Adam Price had agreed to step down as leader of Plaid Cymru.
The website said it understood he wants to leave the post at once, but that others are wanting a more organised handover.
It said a joint meeting of Plaid’s Senedd group and the party’s national executive committee will take place on Wednesday.
Plaid Cymru spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment in response to the article late on Tuesday.
However a source told BBC Wales that the party talks concerned whether Mr Price would quit immediately or wait until a successor was in place.
Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast on Wednesday morning, Nation Cymru’s associate editor, Martin Shipton, said the Senedd group “were discussing not whether Adam Price should go but when he should go”.
He added: “It seems there wasn’t an immediate resolution.
“Mr Price wanted to go immediately but there were others at the meeting that thought there should be a more orderly handover.
“A lot of pressure has been brought to bear on him.”
Mr Shipton said the current situation “can’t go on”, as the party is “submerged” by allegations.
Last week’s report said Plaid Cymru needs to “detoxify a culture of harassment, bullying and misogyny”.
It said “too many instances of bad behaviour” were tolerated.
The review said an anonymous survey of staff and elected members highlighted examples “of sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination”.
Source – BBC News
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