Welsh nationalist party, Plaid Cymru has pledged to hold an independence referendum for Wales within five years. However, the party’s leader Adam Price said it could only happen if Plaid Cymru commands a majority at next May’s Welsh Parliament elections.
Mr Price said support for an independent Wales was now at its “highest” in history while devolution was under attack from Boris Johnson’s Westminster Government. Price also said the need to hold a referendum had been “accelerated.”
These statements derive from his belief that Scotland will become an independent nation by 2025 and that Brexit had made a united Ireland possible. Mr Price will formally announce his proposal during a speech in Cardiff on Friday morning.
Mr Price said “Wales is in real danger of being left behind as part of a rump United Kingdom, in a new England-and-Wales formation – which would be the ultimate worst of all worlds.”
Ahead of the speech, Mr Price said devolution itself was under attack from the Conservatives.
“Devolution itself – that most basic democratic principle that decisions affecting Wales should be made in Wales – is under attack from Boris Johnson’s Conservatives.”
“Meanwhile, the demand for another independence referendum in Scotland is becoming unstoppable and by 2025 Scotland could well be an independent country. And Brexit has also given further impetus to the calls for a united Ireland.
“Wales is in real danger of being left behind as part of a rump United Kingdom, in a new England-and-Wales formation – which would be the ultimate worst of all worlds.
“It is for these reasons that I therefore pledge today that subject to party approval, a Plaid Cymru government, able to command a majority in the Senedd, will offer a referendum on independence for Wales in its first term.”
A poll in June revealed that 25% of voters in Wales supported independence if there was a referendum the next day. This is the highest level of support ever recorded. However, in the same poll, 25% of the people asked said that they would choose to abolish the Welsh Parliament if they were given the option.
