THEY claim to be non political, i.e not made up from one particular party and they support the call for independence for Wales. Peter Freeman is the chairman of YES Cymru Llanelli, a group, which is seeking independence for Wales even though recent polls suggest that only 6% of people in Wales agree with the group and are in favour of independence for Wales. Are they on a losing wicket?
On average 6% of people in Wales said they wanted independence when presented with a range of options on how Wales should be governed. Source:
(https://fullfact.org/news/welsh-views-independence)
Nia Griffith MP has said that she respects the wishes of the majority of people of Wales who have thus far rejected the call for independence. She said: “I do think we need to listen very carefully to the people of Wales. 94% of the people of Wales have repeatedly shown in poll after poll that actually, whilst being very proud to be Welsh, we are actually not in the least bit interested in an independent Wales.”
The most popular view appears to be that the Welsh Assembly should get more powers (41% of people on average said this), followed by the Welsh Assembly’s powers staying the same (29%). Around 17% of people thought that the Welsh Assembly should be abolished altogether and roughly 3% said it’s powers should be reduced. The rest didn’t know or didn’t say.
A separate poll done in July last year asked people whether they thought Wales should be independent, with only a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer to choose between. 15% said ‘Yes’, and 65% said ‘No’. 20% said they didn’t know or wouldn’t vote, a higher proportion than when last asked the question in 2014.
Source:(http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/an2kjtji56/WelshBarometer_July2016.pdf#page=5)
Another asked people whether they’d vote for Welsh independence if it meant Wales could stay in the EU while the rest of the UK left. 28% of people said they’d vote for independence while 53% of people said they’d vote against it. The rest didn’t know or wouldn’t say.
Llanelli Online attended the rally of the YES Cymru Llanelli group in the town centre today, Thursday (Oct 5). You can watch our short film here:
Independence for Wales? from Llanelli Online on Vimeo.
