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Plaid Cymru is facing a grassroots backlash from party members unhappy about the way it has handled a series of complaints against Neil McEvoy.

Mr McEvoy was expelled from Plaid’s Assembly group a week ago after AMs said there had been a major breakdown of trust and they could not envisage a future situation in which they could work with him.

In parallel to the group’s concerns about Mr McEvoy, the central party has been dealing with a series of complaints made about him.

Those complaints associated with his work as an AM have been passed to the National Assembly’s Standards Commissioner, while others remain with the party.

Most of the complaints were submitted to Plaid in early 2017, and some complainants have accused Plaid of inordinate delay.

Since details of the complaints emerged late last week, Plaid members and supporters have been debating their reaction to what has happened on social media and among themselves.

Immediately after Mr McEvoy’s eviction from the Assembly group was confirmed, his home constituency party issued a statement which said: “The Plaid Cymru Cardiff West Constituency fully supports Neil McEvoy as our regional Assembly Member and the leader of the Plaid Cymru group on Cardiff Council, as well as being a valued member of Plaid Cymru.”

Now, following an emergency meeting on Sunday of the branch covering the ward he represents as a councillor, a statement was issued expressing full support for Mr McEvoy and calling for both “a full and independent investigation into the appalling treatment of Neil McEvoy by the party and its leader” and “a written explanation by the [party] Chair [former AM Alun Ffred Jones] to justify his conduct over the last 10 months in relation to Neil McEvoy”.

The statement added: “We note and welcome the apology the Chair has offered the complainants. We demand a full written apology is also given to Neil McEvoy by the Chair and leader of the party; an investigation headed by the national executive committee into the relationship between Plaid Cymru, the Plaid Cymru Assembly group and Deryn; an investigation by the NEC into working relationships between all members of the Assembly group and the clear lack of due process operated by the group; and [the introduction of] a Plaid Cymru policy on the duty of care that the party owes to all its elected representatives at all levels.”

Separately Moelwyn Gwyndaf, a grassroots party member in Ceredigion who is a human resources specialist, has written an open letter to Plaid’s Assembly group Chair Dai Lloyd, asking for clarification on a wide range of matters concerning the complaints made against Mr McEvoy.

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Ms Gwyndaf also questions how two internal Plaid communications appear in a complaint to Plaid about Mr McEvoy from Nerys Evans, a former Plaid AM, the party’s ex-vice chair and a director of the lobbying firm Deryn.

Ms Gwyndaf has called on Plaid Cymru to investigate how Ms Evans came by the two documents.

A spokeswoman for Plaid Cymru said the party did not wish to comment.