Source: Daily Post, Wales
Pub date: Thursday, April 21, 2005
Subj: Plaid in poll shock
Author: Tom Bodden, Daily Post
Web: http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/
PLAID Cymru is on course for a sensational victory
in Ynys Môn, an opinion poll predicted last night.
In a knife-edge general election battle with
Labour, an opinion poll for ITV Wales gave former Plaid MEP Eurig Wyn 33%
support, ahead of sitting Labour MP Albert Owen on 29%.
But with two weeks before voters go to the ballot
box, 30% of those questioned are still undecided, making Ynys Môn the fiercest
battleground in Wales.
The ITV/NOP poll on the island gave Conservative
candidate James Roach 21%; the Liberal Democrat Sarah Green 10%; rebel former
Tory AM now Independent Peter Rogers 6%; and UKIP's Elaine Gill 2%.
Just 1% of Ynys Môn voters would support the Legalise
Cannabis candidate, Tim Evans.
Albert Owen was elected Labour MP with a slim 800
majority after Plaid Assembly leader Ieuan Wyn Jones stood down from
Westminster.
Plaid held the Assembly seat in 2003 and have made
the island its number one priority in next month's parliamentary election.
Eurig Wyn, who lost his European seat when Wales's
allocation of MEPs was reduced from five to four, was immediately adopted as
the Plaid candidate and has been campaigning since last June.
Ynys Môn was one of only two constituencies in
Wales that changed hands at the last general election.
The ITV/NOP poll suggests that the so-called
"Peter Rogers factor", combined with a UKIP candidate, is working to
undermine Conservative chances in what otherwise could be a three-way marginal.
Mr Rogers quit the Tories to launch an Independent
bid after his ambition to become official Conservative candidate was thwarted
by party bosses.