Stating the obvious

Plaid Cymru's conference has decided to state that the party is committed to independence for Wales.

Delegates voted to drop the term "full national status" and declare its constitutional aim as "independence" - a word it has been avoiding until now, for fear of alienating some voters.

It seems to be that it's more of an issue of semantics than anything else - regardless of what Plaid may have officially stated when I lived in Wales, most people considered that Plaid supported independence for Wales even if the party didn't use the I-word. It's a nice way of getting their conference a few headlines, though, and it gives Peter Hain something to do:

Welsh Secretary Peter Hain said, after the vote : "Now everybody in Wales knows what Plaid Cymru is about - full blooded separation and independence, which would bankrupt Wales and make us an international laughing stock."

In the long run, though, I doubt it'll have anything more than a miniscule, if that, effect on how Plaid Cymru does in any elections, unless there's a huge swathe of Welsh voters who are thinking "Well, I might have supported 'full national status', but 'independence'? Never!"