Wednesday, 22 March 2017

Wales may call for independence referendum - Leanne Wood

Wales may call for independece

More troubles for Theresa May as Wales joins Scotland to demand and independent referendum for the Welsh people. This is due to the PM’s persistent stand for a ‘hard’ Brexit from the EU, and her alleged refusal to actively involve all the devolved administrations in her Brexit plan.

According Leanne Wood, “all options should be on the table” when it comes to the future of the Welsh nation once Britain’s divorce from the bloc is over. The warning was made to the PM during her visit to Swansea as one of her strategy to strike a successful Brexit deal.

Speaking further, Ms Wood stressed of “clear consequences” of Mrs May “not listening” to the plights of the rest of the UK as she arranges to trigger Article 50 on March 29.

During her presentation on Radio 4’s Today programme, Ms Wood argued: “The prime minister has said she will properly consult the devolved nations, we’ve yet to see any evidence that there is any seriousness about that.

“Plaid Cymru put down our political differences aside with the Welsh Labour Government to produce a White Paper to outline what should happen to ensure that Wales is kept within the process.

“There are key issues that affect Wales, for example, our continued participation in the single market which is crucial when 67 per cent of Welsh exports go to the EU’s single market.”

Despite the huge exports to the EU single, Wales, along with England, voted overwhelmingly to leave the Brussels club.

As result of the importance the EU single market plays in the Welsh economy, the Welsh government in January released it lists of demand to Westminster, which advising the PM to ensure the country is kept within the union’s single market.

“We need to see some evidence of listening,” Ms Wood continue. “Clearly between Plaid Cymru and the Labour-led government, in Scotland, they’ve said the same, they want to retain single market membership as well.

“There are clear consequences to the prime minister of not listening, or not including Scotland in her plans, we’ve heard the First Minister of Scotland say that if the prime minister insists she goes ahead with Brexit, it’ll be damaging to Scotland and Scotland will hold a second independence referendum.

She also stated: “There is a demand in Wales for our assembly to have more powers, if the Scots vote to be an independent country, then that will constitute a material change in circumstances for Wales - the UK will no longer exist for example.

“We’ve said that under those circumstances, Wales should be able to determine what happens to us, we should have self-determination and all options should be on the table and we should debate independence and what that will mean for Wales.”



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