This blog isn't
written because I crave independence for Wales. Frankly I don't think
we are ready, for many reasons. It is written to highlight , in the
main, the second reason below which nobody ever mentions.
Around the time of
the Scottish Independence Referendum there was chatter about whether
Wales could be independent. With my head finally ruling my heart I
have to say my opinion is no, for two reasons, one of which is often
discussed, but one which I have never heard discussed.
To begin with the
often discussed reason, the economy. Currently Wales depends heavily
on income from Westminster via the Barnett
Formula, which even Joel Barnett himself has discredited as only
intended to be a short term measure and no longer fit for purpose.
The secondary means of income is from EU subsidies and grants.
Finally businesses in Wales do actually produce some wealth for the
country, and now we are apparently going to have tax raising powers
we shall see what happens there. However, the fact remains that Wales
does not currently have a sufficiently robust independent economy
that could survive without external input. To achieve that I think we
need to find something at which we can be world leaders and make it
work for us. Without that any attempts at independence will fail.
However, the second
reason is, I feel even more fundamental. It took Scotland decades to
achieve a position where they were confident enough, and able, to
call a referendum on independence. I believe the bedrock of that
confidence is that as a nation they believed in the Scottish
Nationalist Party. They believed that Scotland should be governed by
the Scottish for the Scottish.
I am not a
nationalist per se, but I do recognise the sense in the logic that
you cannot be truly independent whilst allowing, indeed voting for,
the country to be governed by a party whose roots are in what would
be a different country. In Wales, ever since devolution in 1999, we
have been governed by the Labour Party. Every election for the last
16 years. A party with its roots in London. To me it is farcical to
think that Wales, with its capital city of Cardiff, could be
independent whilst the governing party is based in London.
In a nutshell, until
Plaid Cymru demonstrate an ability to govern, and until we as a
nation recognise that ability and vote them into power, Wales will
remain part of the United Kingdom.
