Election 2010 party guides: Plaid Cymru

The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Thursday 22 April 2010 We said below that Plaid Cymru's achilles heel was that it veers "very close to hate of the English". We accept that this characterisation was wrong. Leader Ieuan Wyn Jones is currently deputy first minister in the Welsh assembly; Elfyn Llwyd heads up their Westminster delegation. Campaign slogan "Think different, think Plaid". Plaid are emphasising how, in a hung parliament, they'll be able to stand up against cuts to Welsh budgets and the two parties will campaign jointly. Campaign colours Yellow and orange (not the yellowy-orange of the Lib Dems). Up until 2006 the party used the distinctive red, green and white of the Welsh flag but now they use the Welsh poppy as their logo. Number of MPs Three, but aiming to get five. Star performers No Plaid politician has the same UK-wide cut through as Alex Salmond of the SNP and though Ieuan Wyn Jones has good ratings in Wales, outscoring his Tory opposite number, he's not standing in Westminster elections and their media high flier Adam Price is also standing down to go and study at Harvard. So the floor is free for Elfyn Llwyd. Achilles heel They veer very close to hate of the English, using "London" as a similar term of abuse as a Welsh politician once derided the good people of "gin soaked Surrey". Now Llwyd has actually been heard to say "some of my best friends are English" on the BBC News channel recently. And that the chances of a larger party really needing to rely on Plaid are slim. Economy To stimulate growth they will slash business taxes by up to half for small and medium-sized companies; currently calling for a fuel duty regulator; raising taxes for those earning over £100,000. Public services Wyn Jones went to Kier Hardie's constituency in south Wales to announce his party would raise the basic state pension by a whopping 30% - the move was seen as an attempt to scoop of disillusioned Labour voters; costing £20bn and paid for out of scrapping ID cards and Trident, plus their tax hikes. Community trusts to build enough houses for young people, creating a link between work and home. A free education system, whereby students receive grants, not loans while they study; more apprenticeships for the non-academic; all documents to be available in Welsh as well as English; and they will dump ID cards; affordable childcare in every community to help more women return to work; create a new community health service and wellbeing centres tailored to each community with services provided by nurses, physiotherapists, and doctors. Foreign and defence In February of this year Llywd called for troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan and has criticised the government over support offered to veterans. Environment No nuclear power, instead replace with renewables.