A WELSH independence referendum should be held if the UK Government refused to hold a so-called 'people's vote' on Brexit, Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price has said.

Mr Price's comments come after Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon said earlier this week she would begin plans for a new referendum on Scottish independence by 2021 if Brexit went ahead.

The Plaid Cymru leader said leaving the EU without a second referendum would result in Wales becoming "a forgotten second-class region in a dying British state".

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“We now know what Brexit really means – chaos and untold devastation on our communities, industries and economy," he said.

"If Wales suffers being taken out of the EU without a People’s Vote, then it should hold its own referendum on independence."

He added: “It is broken Westminster, not the EU, which has failed the people of Wales.

"I do not believe that the poverty facing our country is inevitable and nor will these problems be fixed by Brexit - they will be fixed by taking our future into our own hands and becoming a nation in our own right."

While Scotland, as well as Northern Ireland, voted to remain in the EU in 2016, Wales followed England in voting to leave.