Welsh Lib Dems oppose Welsh independence referendum

The comments came from Jane Dodds MS, the party's leader in Wales, after Plaid Cymru claimed a vote on the nation's future in the UK would "make Westminster sit up and listen".

The referendum call was made in response to UK Government plans to curtail workers' rights by repealing a Welsh Government law passed in 2017, with Plaid leader Adam Price calling the move "potentially devolution’s breaking point".

But Ms Dodds warned: “It seems that Plaid Cymru has learned nothing from the years of division and chaos that resulted from the Brexit referendum.

“While I am in full agreement with the outrage over Westminster’s latest power grab, an independence referendum would only bring more division to an already divided country, and take away focus from more pressing political issues.

“We have already seen the huge amount of damage the breakup of one union has done to Wales - we don’t want to see this replicated on an even bigger scale. Independence, like Brexit would hurt the poorest in Welsh society the hardest.

“It is extremely out of touch for Plaid Cymru to propose this referendum now, when people are struggling to make ends meet.

"We saw with the Brexit debate, and the Scottish independence debates, that referendums not only divide the public but also suck all the energy out of everyday politics.

“We need to be focusing on the cost-of-living crisis, ambulance waiting times and lifting children out of poverty. We cannot afford to be distracted, especially at a time when barely one in five people support independence.

“The Welsh Liberal Democrats will continue to fight for a federal UK, whereby Wales will have the powers it needs without the damage independence would cause to our economy and wellbeing.”

At First Minister's Questions this week, Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price called for a referendum on Wales' future in the union, after Westminster announced its intention to repeal the Welsh Government's 2017 Trade Union Act, which bans agency staff from being used if public sector workers go on strike in Wales.

The announcement was thought to be a reaction to last week's RMT rail strikes, which saw around 50,000 railway staff - from ticket collectors and cleaners to signallers and maintenance workers - walk out over pay cuts and working conditions.

Teachers, firefighters and postal workers are just some of those that could go out on strike in the coming weeks and months, and bringing in agency staff would damage the ability of these workers to win their disputes.

"Westminster wants it to be a relationship where they are in control and our Senedd is subservient - where their Parliament is supreme and ours is subordinate," said Mr Price.

"[They] have shown their contempt not just for workers, not just for Wales, but for our democracy.

“This is not just one more in a long list of power grabs - it’s a turning point.

"It rolls back the rights of citizens, but also it denies those citizens' very right to decide their own future.

“There has to be a political response that will make Westminster sit up and listen. 

"A strongly worded letter from the Welsh Government is not going to work.

"The first minister’s response to the Westminster power grab is to hope for a Labour success in the next General Election, but what happens if Labour loses the next general election and the one after that?"

The Plaid leader said that Welsh independence "would remove Westminster’s right to run roughshod over our democracy permanently", and suggested that if Labour would not back a direct vote on independence, it could instead hold a "consultative referendum on Wales’ constitutional future."

In answer, Mark Drakeford implied that such a referendum should only be held if Plaid Cymru - or any other pro-independence party - won a majority in the Senedd.

It came as Scotland's Nicola Sturgeon laid out her route for a second Scottish independence referendum, which Plaid called a "bold, confident gambit".

This article originally appeared on our sister site The National.