Labour for an Independent Wales is a group of Labour Party members who "believe the best way to achieve a

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within a ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

is through

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

Background

Labour for an Independent Wales held their first event with

Neville Southall Neville Southall (born 16 September 1958) is a Welsh former international footballer. He has been described as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation and won the FWA Footballer of the Year award in 1985. He joined Bury from Winsford U ...

, at Welsh Labour Conference 2018. A second event took place at the 2019 Welsh Labour conference. The group formed a constitution in 2020. An executive committee was elected in 2021. President of the group is Rachel Garrick.

Support for independence in Welsh Labour

Elystan Morgan Dafydd Elystan Elystan-Morgan, Baron Elystan-Morgan (7 December 1932 – 7 July 2021), known as Elystan Morgan, was a Welsh politician. He sat as a crossbencher in the House of Lords from 1981 to 2020, and served as a Labour MP from 1966 to 197 ...

(1932-2021), a former Labour MP for Ceredigion and a life peer in the House of Lords, was a lifelong supporter of devolution and, following the Brexit vote, for dominion status for Wales.

Gwynoro Jones Gwynoro Glyndwr Jones (born 21 November 1942) is a Wales, Welsh politician who served as a Labour Party (UK), Labour Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament. He was a schools inspector for 18 years; he has also been a broadcas ...

, a former Labour MP has argued for a constitutional convention that would explore a movement towards a sovereign Wales. In August 2020, a

YouGov YouGov is a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. In 2007, it acquired US company Polimetrix, and sinc ...

poll showed that "if there was a referendum tomorrow", 39% of Welsh Labour voters would vote for independence with 37% against. The Welsh Governance Centre also found that at the time of the 2016 Senedd election, over 40% of Labour voters supported independence. Blaenavon council, with a Labour majority, voted in to support independence. In the 2021 Senedd election the co-founder of Labour for an Independent Wales, Ben Gwalchmai, was selected as the first openly pro-independence Welsh Labour Senedd candidate in the history of the Senedd; Dylan Lewis-Rowlands and then Cian Ireland were later selected as the second and third openly pro-independence Welsh Labour Senedd candidates. It has been suggested by Labour for an Independent Wales that Welsh Labour could support Welsh independence in the future.

Vision

Labour for an independent Wales set out their answers to the public consultation of the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales: * "constitutional, environmental, legal, and social systems in place for a fair & sustainable country" * "building a national framework fit for the 21st Century, containing all the constitutional, environmental, legal, and social systems necessary for a fair & sustainable country" * Oath of allegiance to the people of Wales, rather than the monarch and nationalising the crown estate of Wales * To become an sovereign nation state with a Welsh central bank * "putting people and the environment first, not profit" * "changes to the constitution of Wales should be part of a nation-wide consultation" * "Strengthening and developing the Welsh language"

References

{{Welsh Labour Politics of Wales Labour Party (UK)

Background

Support for independence in Welsh Labour

Vision

See also

References