Plaid set to vote on historic Welsh indy pledge

Plaid Cymru is set to formally adopt a pledge to offer a Welsh independence referendum within the first term of Government should it be successful in this year’s Senedd elections.

The party’s special conference on independence, held virtually today (Saturday 13th of February), is likely to see party members formally approving the pledge made by party Leader Adam Price last year.

In December, Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price pledged 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. 

If passed, the policy would make Plaid Cymru the only political party contesting the 2021 Senedd elections with a commitment to hold a referendum on Welsh Independence within a clear timetable.

It would also make the 2021 Senedd elections the first ever Welsh elections where independence and its timetable are on the ballot.

With an independent Scotland and a united Ireland growing “ever more likely”, Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price said that the people of Wales also deserved the “opportunity to decide”.

Membership of grassroots group Yes Cymru has grown exponentially – hitting 17,000 members last month. 25,000 people have signed its online pledge backing a referendum on Welsh independence.

Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price MS said,

“Something is happening in Wales. The last two polls on independence put it on its highest support in history. Thousands have now joined the grassroots movement for independence, Yes Cymru. And an argument once derided as a pipe dream or a fantasy has moved from the margins to the mainstream.

“With an independent Scotland and a united Ireland ever more likely by the end of the decade, the people of Wales deserve an opportunity to decide whether they too want that independent future. 

“We don’t want to win independence for independence’s sake, but rather for the sake of the thousands of families whose futures depend on Wales becoming a fairer, more equal nation.

“This is not about us and them. This is not about one person, a job, or a title. The only ‘self’ that matters is self-government – the ability to make independence a force for good.