Can you see Wales becoming an independent country?

[hyweldda]

Can you see Wales becoming an independent country in the future?

Say if Scotland were to become independent following Brexit; I think it's looking increasingly likely.
Especially amongst younger people, and with more being educated in Welsh, the murmurs are growing stronger.

Westminster has done nothing to improve the infrastructure either, then. Underinvestment again.

Maybe England should be an independent country. I wonder if England said that and proposed immediate devolution for Scotland, NI, Wales and any other bits that fancied their chances there would be outcry or joyous cheering in the streets.

bellinisurge
You may not be able to travel from the North of Wales to the South but plenty of people who are capable of reading a map can.

Another Scot here who can't see Scottish Independence happening. SNP split on Europe anyway. We had a clear vote and many yes voted leave. It's quite complicated.

Let's face it, no one fully agrees with anyone on anything at the moment.

Charming @Absolutepowercorrupts . I'm talking motorways and railway lines which a thriving economy needs. Without massive inward investment and, frankly, major spending on North/South routes that work for industry - which means working around and through some pretty substantial geography, that's not going to happen. The EU might have provided that investment eventually- like the road to Haverfordwest (West/east road btw), but it sure as hell ain't coming from Westminster.

I can read a map but it still takes longer to get from South Wales to North Wales than it does to get from South Wales to France!

bellinisurge

What about the fact that you can't really travel from North to South because of the geography
I was just explaining that people with map reading skills can. In your original comment you made no mention of motorways and railway lines. You just said you can't do it.

Exactly @poorbuthappy . It's because I can read a sodding map that I can see the sodding problem connecting North and South in Wales. Try it some time.

Perhaps you should have thought that maybe I am talking about economic independence before mouthing off that I can't read a map. Like I have been at several points in this thread.

Personally no I can't see it simply as I don't think there is the appetite for it. I grew up in Wales and still have relatives there and they never have mentioned hearing this debated.

Well it seems there possibly is an appetite after all.

Breaking up the U.K. into smaller, weaker units achieves what, exactly? Some outdated notion of nationalist pride? A sop to the racist minority among the Scots and Welsh who hate the English?
I’m English but have lived in Scotland for the last 45 years. My kids were born here. I loathe the SNP for sowing division and hatred among my fellow U.K. citizens, trying to make me a foreigner in my own country. There is no difference between a Scotsman, an Englishman and a Welshman, (despite the old jokes!) - we are all Brits.

No. It hasn't a sustainable economy and has been extensively subsidised by EU to which it has given two fingers.

Yes I don't really understand how it could possibly work economically. But the recent rally at Caernarfon and various town councils and Gwynedd Council have voted in favour.

The trouble is large pools of Wales have made themselves turkeys voting for Christmas with wanting to leave the EU.

Ex welsh mining towns are never going to be a Tory party priority. I can see a level of unrest when they come to the realisation that the money/development they were getting filter through from the Eu is not going to be replaced by Westminster.

So much of welsh politics is based on gimmicky nostalgia rather than considered improvements. The education system is shambolic, and going backwards by requiring more welsh language. Let’s teach the next generation how to read and write in Competently in English first.

Our only ‘industry’ is the nhs, civil service and tourism.

@Babdoc

Well, among other things, I do not agree with an archaic (and utterly pointless) system of monarchy. Nor do the House of Lords and hereditary peerage have a place in the 21st century. I have never, and will never, identity myself as British.

I have no inherent dislike to anyone just because of the country they were born in, certainly not those whom I count as neighbours and who will suffer the effects of state austerity alongside my family and I.

But do you think that political democracy is a remote possibility when Scotland is at the mercy of voters in other (far more populous) countries?

Yet, here we are, facing Brexst, BoJo for prime minister, footing the bill for unelected heads of state etc. none of which Scotland voted for.

I can assure you, if divisions have been sown, it has not been the doing of the SNP.

PotteringAlong
No. Wales couldn’t economically sustain itself as an independent country.

I totally agree.

No I can't see it either.
On the morning news this morning, they were saying Wales get back more money than they send to the govenment. It would financially cripple us.
Jobs are few and far between as it is. I'm in the North, The South forgets we are even here.

I live in Wales, and up until very recently it was just a pipe dream from very extreme nationalist and most people would have laughed at the idea of an indepedent Wales. However over the last year or so the cause suddenly seems to have taken off. There was a rally in Caernarfon over the weekend that thousands attended, and you see Corfiwch Dryweryn stickers and banners all over the place.

I think a lot of people have woken up to the fact that Westminster dont really give a shit about us and I really feel that if Scotland leaves the Union then that voice will get even stronger.

I saw the Caernarfon rally.
Wales voted Leave - I was gobsmacked - and may well have pushed the number over the line for Leave.
I don't think it can survive economically on its own without massive inward investment. Which won't come from Westminster and can't now come from the EU.
It's very different to Scotland in geography, population size and economy.

I can’t see Wales surviving on its own, no.

Scotland has more chance, they have some banking industry plus manufacturing - food & bev, oil & gas and tourism as well as several world class universities.

Wales hasn’t got the economic activity and their education sector is much smaller, plus transport infrastructure is not great.

I don’t think the whole nation would ever vote for it. But, I’m pleased it’s on the political agenda as a talking point.
We are going to be utterly shafted without the support we receive from the EU. Bojo and the tories do not give a fuck about our deprived areas.
British politics is fucked. Hopefully the next generation of voters will realise that they can affect change. It was fab to see so many young and hopeful faces at the March on Saturday. We need that kind of passion and engagement.

I can't see it happening either. Wales has been affiliated with England for a lot longer than Scotland has.

No. Wales hasn’t got the economy to be self supporting.

I really hope we don't gain independence. It would be catastrophic.

My mate works in a library and speaks a smattering of Welsh, like most of us in Swansea. She isn't allowed to use her basic Welsh for the compulsory bilingual posters. Instead, they have to be translated by a professional. It's a nonsense; surely the whole point of the Welsh language legislation is to encourage the use of Welsh, not make it the preserve of the educated academic welsh speakers?

Anyway. I have digressed. If we gain independence I shall hotfoot it to Bristol and won't look back. I am already worried about the prospect of Brexit. Hardly anything good in Wales happened without EU money.