The ILLOGICAL FEAR of, and DISMISSIVE ATTITUDES towards, an INDEPENDENT WALES.

By Cllr W Gwyn Hopkins,

It is totally irrational to worry about Independence for Wales because the ONLY WAY WALES CAN BECOME AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY IS WITH THE CONSENT OF ITS PEOPLE IN A REFERENDUM (like the one held in Scotland in 2014 – if, and when, favourable political circumstances trigger such a referendum).

NO POLITICAL PARTY CAN IMPOSE INDEPENDENCE ON WALES – not even Plaid Cymru!

Independence for small countries is commonplace throughout the world.

Eighty-eight of the 196 independent countries in the UN (almost half) have small populations of less than 6 million – similar to that of Wales (3.1m).  Singapore (5.2m), Iceland (320k), Lithuania (3.2m),

Luxembourg (512k), Fiji (868k), Slovakia (5.4m), New Zealand (4.4m), Albania (2.8m), Norway (5.0m) and Uruguay (3.3m) are a few examples.

It is both grossly insulting to the people of Wales and preposterous to claim that, even though all these small countries can manage their own affairs competently, Wales would not be able to do so.

Most of these countries are former colonies of imperial powers, but none have chosen to revert to their former colonial status!  An Independent Wales would, indeed, be in good company.

Of the 53 countries in the British Commonwealth no fewer than 32 are smaller than Wales, for example Malta (418k), Gambia (1.8m), Jamaica (2.7m) and Lesotho (2.2m).

These examples show beyond doubt that independent small countries are widespread throughout the world.  Moreover, many are quite prosperous compared to Wales – particularly the ones in Europe.

The dishonest myth relentlessly peddled by pro-Unionists that Wales is subsidized by England.

Unionists often claim that England subsidizes Wales by several billion pounds per annum – various sums such as £9bn, £13bn, etc, being bandied about (with no real evidence offered).  Money is, of course, just a convenient proxy for services and resources (including raw materials) so that any honest, objective and equitable analysis must consider all the resources flowing between England and Wales in both directions.  However, pro-Unionists count all the resources flowing from England to Wales (nearly all financial) but only some that flow from Wales to England.  Roughly half the electricity produced in Wales goes to England.  This is never counted.  An Independent Wales would, of course, be paid for this.  How much would it cost at market prices?  Enormous amounts of that absolutely vital commodity water flows from Wales to England every day virtually for free – also never counted.  If Wales was independent, England would have to pay for this.  How much would it cost at market rates?

Are the following monetary resources that go from Wales to the London Treasury all counted and credited to Wales?:  Income tax, VAT, Corporation or Company tax (this is certainly not counted for companies in Wales whose headquarters are in England), Vehicle tax, Fuel tax (60% of pump prices), Alcohol tax, Tobacco tax, Inheritance tax, Business rates (tax), National Insurance contributions, most insurance investments of all kinds and enormous occupational pension contributions (both invested in, and profited by, City of London financial institutions), etc, etc?  We will never know the whole truth because one suspects that producing a complete, honest balance sheet would not be in the interest of Westminster governments.

In addition, Wales contributes £2bn per annum to the huge cost of the UK’s armed forces (and a one-off £5bn for the renewal of Trident).  Like the Irish Republic, an Independent Wales would almost certainly not squander any resources on a navy or an air force and would only maintain a small army for internal security.

Moreover, England owes Wales many, many billions of pounds for the raw materials that it has commandeered from us (England’s first colony) for a pittance during the last 300 years – iron, steel, tin, copper, slate, coal, water and energy. This list equates to enormous wealth and very little of it has found its way back to Wales.  Today the wealth is in the Thames valley – not the Rhondda valley!

England has also benefited greatly out of brainpower from Wales, notably the very large numbers of teachers and lecturers from Wales that have taught in England’s schools and colleges especially in the 20th Century.

Entering “UK national debt” into GOOGLE shows that the UK Government’s overall – and increasing – debt is now £1.72 trillion (1/7/2016) equating to £47,417 per taxpayer, £27,568 per citizen and almost 80% of the UK’s annual GDP (the monetary value of all goods and services produced in the UK).  It is extremely difficult to believe that an Independent Wales couldn’t do much better than that.

Independence for Wales is a Plaid aspiration but it can only be achieved with the people’s consent.

Many Plaid Cymru members favour Independence for Wales.  However, they all acknowledge that it will only happen if, and when, the people of Wales vote for it in a referendum.  Currently most people in Wales don’t favour it, which is hardly surprising considering the relentless pro-Unionist media, education and government indoctrination they have been subjected to all their lives.  The pro-Independence message gets zero coverage from these sources!

As Independence for Wales is unlikely to come about soon it rarely features on the Plaid agenda – there are more pressing issues to deal with, not least improving the well-being and prosperity of the people of Wales, including the protection of our environment and combating climate change.

Plaid Cymru strives to get the best deal for the people of Wales whatever the political circumstances.

This is really Plaid’s top priority in every form of government at which it is represented – Westminster, the Assembly, County Councils and Community Councils.  Plaid Cymru is the only political party that was created to serve the people of Wales.  It is also the only major party based in Wales.  We live in Wales so what could be more natural than striving to get the best deal for our people at every level of government, indeed, in every way possible.

Plaid Cymru is the only party devoted entirely to championing the interests of the people of Wales.

Welsh Labour MPs are always duty-bound to support the decisions of the London-based British Labour Party (which is totally dominated by English members, particularly English MPs).  So as not to damage their career prospects, Labour MPs must vote as directed by the Labour whips at Westminster.  This means that there is no way in which they can vote in the interests of their constituents and of Wales when this conflicts with Labour Party directives, which will always favour the interests of England because 89% of Labour MPs represent English constituencies.  The same is true of the Tories, the Lib-Dems and UKIP.  In stark contrast, Plaid serves Wales unimpeded by subservience to any London based political organization.  Plaid Cymru always votes in the interests of Wales.

The future of the UK – and of Wales, in particular.

In the referendum of September 2014, 45% of the Scottish people voted in favour of independence.  Support has slowly increased since then and has accelerated to almost 60% since the EU referendum.   This is because Scotland voted decisively to remain in the EU, whereas the UK voted to leave, so the only way Scotland can now remain in the EU is by becoming independent.  Consequently, a second Scottish Independence Referendum is inevitable but Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is shrewd enough not to call one until she is pretty sure of victory, so that Scotland withdrawing from the UK in the not too distant future is virtually certain.  Then the remaining rump UK will consist of England (population 54.31m), Wales (3.06m) and Northern Ireland (1.86m).  England will have 92% of the population and the same percentage of MPs.  With the current 650 MPs reduced to 550 (say), England would have 506 MPs, Wales 27 and Northern Ireland 17.  England’s dominance would, therefore, be so enormous (it’s already huge with England having 84% of the UK’s population) that the people of Wales would, surely, find it unacceptable.  It seems that Independence would then be the only way for Wales to avoid this massive imbalance in favour of (essentially Tory) England.

Gwyn Hopkins                   2 July 2016