IF SCOTLAND votes to leave the UK, then Wales should get a vote on independence, the leader of Plaid Cymru has argued.
Leanne Wood said Scottish independence would bring the UK to an end and Welsh voters needed to consider all the options.
The Plaid leader said: “The announcement from the Scottish Government today shows that any failure by the UK Government to recognise Scotland’s interests could lead to the end of the UK as a state. In that situation, Wales would need to decide its own future.
“Plaid Cymru has said that a remaining ‘England and Wales’ entity was not on the ballot paper during the EU referendum. A national debate to explore all of the options, including an independent Wales, must take place in Wales when that scenario becomes a realistic one.
“Plaid Cymru believes that decisions about Wales are best made in Wales and the way in which this hard Brexit is being pursued highlights exactly why.”
Wood added that an independent Scotland could open the door for self-government in Wales.
She said: “If the UK Government’s Brexit negotiation also leads to the Welsh national interest being overlooked, support will grow for greater control of our own affairs in Wales.
There has been little support for Welsh independence.
Plaid Cymru is the official opposition in the Welsh Assembly, and hold just 11 of the Senedd 60 seats.
Earlier this month in a poll for the BBC, just six per cent of people in Wales said they supported independence.
A spokesperson for Carwyn Jones, the Labour First Minister of Wales, said: “The constitutional future of Scotland is a matter for the people of Scotland.
“However, the First Minister is clear that the four nations of the United Kingdom are stronger together than apart.
Neil Hamilton, the disgraced cash-for-questions former Tory MP who now represents Ukip in the Welsh Assembly, challenged Wood to call a referendum to prove how little support there was for Welsh Independence.
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