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Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader will today call for Wales to be put on an equal constitutional footing with Scotland.

Elfyn Llwyd will address the party’s Spring conference in Beaumaris, Anglesey, later today, claiming that “tectonic plates” within the Union were shifting, and that the Silk Commission represented the next stage in Wales’ history.

The MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, is speaking the day after the party’s leader Leanne Wood issued a warning that Wales’ education system was a “graveyard of ambition” in her keynote speech to delegates, amid a call for greater powers to be devolved to Wales.

Mr Llwyd had already called for immediate steps for the creation of a separate Welsh jurisdiction in a debate on the future of the Union, and he’ll use his speech today to call for “parity” with Scotland.

He will say: “Our Scottish cousins have secured a critical referendum which will have a profound impact on these islands. Make no mistake: the tectonic plates under this beleaguered union are shifting.

“Whatever the result of the referendum, we in Plaid Cymru must be ready to adapt to circumstances and strive for parity with our Celtic neighbours, to ensure that ours is a partnership of equals in this changing union.”

He will also say that the Silk process - which is examining the future of devolution in Wales, and recommended in the first report of its process that Wales should have limited powers to vary income tax, if voted for in a referendum - represented an opportunity for Plaid.

“Silk has tied Labour in knots – which is admittedly not hard to do,” he will tell delegates.

“In the last few weeks, the Welsh Government has announced that it – finally – recognises the expediency of devolving justice powers to Wales. But as soon as Carwyn Jones announced this, he set obstacles to trip us up.

"Like a closing-time drunk, every time Labour take a step forward, they lurch back two paces.

"They have claimed that it will be impossible to afford devolving the justice system. But where Labour spots impediments, Plaid Cymru sees potential. Of course further devolution should be accompanied with the allocation of sufficient funding for those powers.

"After all, the justice system in Scotland costs less per head than either Wales or England – devolution should not have to equate to an increase in costs."