WHY I’M IN FAVOUR OF INDEPENDENCE FOR WALES.

By Cllr W Gwyn Hopkins,

There are at least 5 reasons why I favour Independence for Wales:

 So that Wales is free from the domination and control of another – very much larger – nation.

On a personal basis I would hate to be dominated and controlled by another person.  Indeed, I would never put up with it unless circumstances made this impossible.  Likewise, I hate the nation to which I belong – the Welsh nation – being dominated and controlled by another nation – England.  Indeed, because England’s population is so massive compared to that of Wales (17 times as large), while the Union exists this domination and control will, in essence, be total.  It means that whenever there is a conflict of interest between England and Wales, the option that favours England’s will always prevail.

England imposed the Union on Wales by barbaric violence – that makes it unjust and invalid.

No civilized person could believe that belligerent nations that invade, conquer and take over weaker nations should be rewarded in any way for these absolutely appalling, aggressive acts.  I certainly don’t.  England finally conquered Wales in December 1282 and ever since has effectively treated Wales as a colony.  Like all colonial powers England has done as it wished with its first colony – exploited it and taken what it wants from it, all without the consent of the people of Wales.  This exploitation continues to this day with the daily free flow of huge amounts of water and electricity from Wales to England (how much would these earn for Wales at market rates?).  Because of the common border between the two countries, from 1283 until 1707 England was in a position to pretend and proclaim in law (English law, of course) that Wales no longer existed, England and Wales being just one country, called England.  By 1707 this conquest and annexation policy was extended to Scotland which was – by threats and intimidation – forced into Union with England, totally against the wishes of its people.  Thereafter the pretence that England and Scotland became just one country called Great Britain was vigorously promoted.  In 1801 the pretence was extended to a ridiculous level when a nation on another island – Ireland – was bullied into the Union after suffering protracted invasion, aggressive conquest and colonization by England.  As a result a single country called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was supposed to have come into existence.   In 1922 (with the Independence of most of Eire) yet another single new country was supposed to have been born, namely the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  Cameron, Osbourne and nearly all other Unionist Politicians and media presenters insist on referring to the current UK (or Britain) as “the country” and “the nation” thus promoting the myth that the UK is a single country and that the people of the UK constitute just one nation.  The clear implication is that Wales and Scotland are not countries at all and that their peoples do not constitute nations – a pretence designed to undermine and erode Welsh and Scottish national identity, peddled by the English establishment for centuries.  However, when persuading the people of Scotland to vote “NO” in the Independence Referendum in 2014, Cameron, Milliband and other Unionist Politicians hypocritically declared that the UK was (after all) a family of nations!

The tyrannical methods of creating so-called Unions of countries mentioned above – and, therefore, the Unions themselves – totally lack any legitimate foundations and are surely totally unacceptable to any fair-minded person.  I therefore regard the current Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as fundamentally invalid.

3      Union between 2 countries is only valid after the people of both nations give their consent to it.

The only Union between 2 (or more) nations/countries considered acceptable and legitimate by any person with any sense of justice is an alliance between equal partners conclusively approved by the people of both nations before the Union comes into being.  As this did not occur when the current – or earlier – UK was formed (nor when the so-called Unions of England with Wales, Scotland and Ireland were established), in my view this Union is neither valid nor legitimate.

4      Promoting and safeguarding the well-being of Wales is best entrusted to the people of Wales.

In this connection it is worth quoting the statement made by rugby commentator Dr Gwyn Jones from Penclawdd.  In the mid-1990s, before serious injury, he played wing forward in 13 rugby union internationals for Wales – 5 times as captain.  In the Western Mail of 12 December 2013 – in a rugby article – he states “Do you really trust the English to do what is in the best interests of Wales?  Eight hundred years of oppression should have taught us to be cautious”.  The implication is clear.  Unless Wales becomes Independent its “best interests” will never be secured and safeguarded – it will always be subordinate to England.

With 82% of the MPs and 84% of the population, it is blatantly obvious that England controls the UK.  Moreover, the ruling Tory Party at Westminster now consists almost entirely of MPs representing English constituencies (96%).  It follows that the destiny of Wales is unquestionably in England’s hands which is totally unacceptable, to me.  English MPs will always act in the interests of England irrespective of whether it is detrimental to Wales.  Like all colonial powers England has always done what’s best for England not what’s best for their colonies, such as India, and pseudo-colonies like Wales.  Of course, colonial powers always exploit and neglect their colonies and it is worth quoting the colourful language of Phil Bennett in this connection.   Phil played rugby for Wales in the 1970s (he was outside half for the Scarlets) and was captain when Wales played England at Cardiff Arms Park on March 5th 1977.  In his pre-match pep-talk he said ““Look at what these bastards have done to Wales.  They’ve taken our coal, our water, our steel.  What have they given us?  Absolutely nothing.  We’ve been exploited, raped, controlled and punished by the English – and that is who you are playing this afternoon”.  Wales won 14 – 9!  Although admittedly rather coarse the essence of this statement can be verified by well documented historical facts.  Victorious nations always tend to deride and mock the conquered nations often portraying them as stupid barbarians with the conquering nation depicted as the deliverers of civilization.  One only has to take note of some of the London daily newspapers – for example the Daily Mail – to witness how Wales still suffers in this respect.

Wales’ well-being is never going to be top priority while we are controlled by England (promoting England’s well-being will always take precedence).    Independence is an essential prerequisite for this to occur, i.e., Wales governed and all its affairs managed entirely by its own people.

    5.  Welsh money would no longer contribute to projects promoting England’s prestige in the world.

For 2015 – 16, the National Assembly’s (Barnett Formula) Block Grant from the Treasury is £15.3 billion.

Annually, the UK spends £60 billion on defence.  On a population basis Wales’ contribution to this is about £3bn (a fifth of Wales’ annual block grant).  It is highly unlikely that an Independent Wales would maintain an air force or a navy and would retain only a small army for internal security, thus saving a large proportion of this £3bn.  In addition, the current Tory Government is determined to renew the Trident Nuclear Weapon System, the estimated cost of which has now risen to £183bn, claiming that remaining a nuclear power is essential for the UK’s defence.  On a population basis Wales’ contribution to this is about £9bn – almost 60% of its current block grant.  Of the 193 Member States in the UN only 8 definitely possess nuclear weapons (Russia, China, France, UK, USA, India, Pakistan, North Korea).  In addition, Israel is believed to have them.  This means that 184 or 185 UN Member States (96%) don’t have nuclear weapons (some of which could certainly develop them – Italy and Brazil, for example).  Thus the vast majority of countries obviously don’t share the UK’s view that being a nuclear power is essential for their defence.  One of them – South Africa – was a nuclear power, but in 1990 decided to relinquish its nuclear weapons and did so.  On this evidence it is almost impossible to believe that the real reason for the UK retaining nuclear weapons is defence.  In my view it is very clearly for status and prestige purposes – that of England.  In my view, the UK should  – like South Africa – lead by example and decommission all its nuclear weapons so that it is in a strong position to persuade the other nuclear powers to do likewise.  An Independent Wales would be considerably better off not having to contribute financially to promote England’s self importance and super ego, especially that of the English establishment.

Gwyn Hopkins                                                                                                                       25 November 2015