Luke James: Your speech is on economic inequality across Britain — a theme you’ve come back to again and again as an MP. Why is it so important?

Jonathan Edwards: There is no doubt the UK is completely lopsided, with so much wealth concentrated in the south-east. 

It’s the most unequal state in the EU. Nine of the 10 poorest parts of northern Europe are in the UK and the poorest of those is my part of the world — west Wales and the valleys. And yet the UK is also home to the richest part of the EU in London. 

I think one of the great political battles of our time is trying to address those huge geographical wealth inequalities. 

LJ: What inspired you to take up that battle?

JE: My father was a trade union shop steward so I was brought up in a very left-wing family. I heard recently that he was known as “John Strike,” although he says he only ever called industrial action once. 

Those principles of organised labour are very dear to me politically. That’s why I find myself in Plaid Cymru.

Many other people in my home of the Amman valley have made that transition from staunch Labour to Plaid Cymru because they see us as the party that puts social justice and economic fairness at the heart of the political agenda.

LJ: Many people in Wales have not made the same transition from Labour to Plaid. What is Plaid offering at the general election that might convince them to do so?

JE: We offer something completely different to the three Westminster parties who are wed to the same ideological position — they support austerity, privatisation and neoliberalism. 

We offer an alternative and make those arguments consistently in Westminster. The only way Westminster will ever take notice of Wales is if there’s a strong contingent of Plaid Cymru MPs. 

LJ: Plaid Cymru aspire to leave Westminster, so what is the point in electing the party’s MPs in May? 

JE: Plaid Cymru has always been a reformist force in Westmisnter. Although we’re driven by the aspiration of empowering our own democratic institutions, the reality is the vast majority of key economic levers continue to be reserved in Westminster. 

A wise man once told me you have to react to the world how it is and not how you would like to be. 

So although our aspiration is to get control of policy levers to actually do something about our economy and the social injustices we have in our communities, the reality is those powers for the moment reside in Westminster. For as long as Plaid Cymru come down here, we’ll try and challenge the Westminster consensus. 

LJ: There’s a consensus that another hung Parliament is likely and, with the Lib Dems set to lose seats and the SNP predicted to make significant gains, the SNP/Plaid/Green group here could hold the balance of power. What would be your price for supporting a minority Labour government?

JE: That is a very real prospect because the Lib Dem vote is imploding. We would want to ensure that the Treasury doesn’t spend Welsh taxpayers’ money on projects in England unless Wales also receives investment. That would be worth billions of pounds. 

We would also not support a government that’s committed to new nuclear weapons. That’s a massive red line. If you’re going to pursue savage cutbacks to public services, how can you justify spending £100 billion on a new nuclear weapons system that is completely obsolete?

Labour would have to shift considerably from where it is at the moment.

LJ: The reason the SNP/Plaid/Green group could hold the balance of power is because the SNP are set to do so well. Why isn’t Plaid enjoying the same success?

JE: The fact that there’s been an independence referendum in Scotland has completely changed the game. 

Labour were joined to the hip with the Tories, celebrating with them following the result and signing up to joint policy pledges that have now been dismantled. 

We haven’t had that referendum. The challenge for Plaid is to push the nature of the debate towards that so that people realise Labour is an Establishment party. 

Plaid needs to convince the people of Wales that we’re the only party that’s going to act solely in their interests. 

LJ: What will be a good result for Plaid at the general election?

JE: There’s no doubt every election is a challenge. A good result for Plaid Cymru would be retaining the three seats that we’ve got. 

It’s not a very favourable electoral environment for us. We’ve never won Carmarthenshire when there’s been a Tory government — and there’s been far better politicians than me fighting those elections and we’ve lost. 

But we’re hopeful we can make gains. There’s a lot of unknown factors going into this election and everything to play for.

Jonathan Edwards is Plaid MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr.