THE Senedd will have its first-ever debate on Welsh independence today, with Plaid Cymru calling on the UK Government to devolve the powers necessary for a referendum.
Support for Welsh independence is at its highest-ever level, with a poll last month suggesting 25% of voters would back a Yes, up four points since January.
No was on 54%, down two points.
Plaid leader Adam Price said people were fed up of the “stagnant status quo”.
Speaking ahead of the debate, he said: “The status quo has failed Wales. Under-investment and unfair funding forms the crux of this unequal union of broken promises – delivered by the Tories at Westminster and defended by Labour through their support for the stagnant status-quo.
“Meanwhile, support for Welsh independence is on the rise and the people of Wales are waking up to the idea that there is another way, another future, another choice. And that choice firmly resides with the people of Wales.”
READ MORE: English independence: 49% of people in England back ending Union
Price said that Plaid wanted the Labour-led Welsh Government to “seek the constitutional right to allow the Senedd to legislate during the next term to hold a binding referendum on independence.”
As in Scotland, the constitution looks set to dominate next year’s elections.
Campaigning is already under way. Last week the Brexit Party promised to abolish the Welsh Parliament.
The party’s leader in Wales, Mark Reckless, said devolution had “gone so much further” than voters had expected in 1997.
Speaking to the BBC’s Politics Wales programme on Sunday, Reckless said many people in Wales would rather be governed by Westminster.
His pledge went down poorly with his members who have since distanced themselves from their leader.
A spokesperson for members in Swansea group said Reckless was running the party “as a dictatorship”.
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