Friday, October 05, 2018
More ambivalence from Plaid Cymru's leader on Brexit
He may have said that he wants the UK to remain within the EU and that he supports a People's Vote to enable that to happen, but one cannot help but feel that the new Plaid Cymru Leader remains ambivalent towards Brexit, and is secretly hoping that we leave so that he can advance his Independence agenda.
This latest interview with Adam Price certainly reinforces that impression, as he tells the BBC that if there is a "hard" Irish border and the UK leaves the EU single market and customs union "the appetite for Scottish independence and Irish unity" would be "insatiable". The broadcaster adds that Price warned of a Wales "swallowed into an 'England and Wales' entity where we are at the mercy of Westminster":
Mr Price said Brexit was threatening a "constitutional crisis - with or without a deal".
"If the Brexiteers in Westminster have their way we will be out of the single market and customs union and with a hard border on the island of Ireland," he said.
"The appetite for Scottish independence and Irish unity will become insatiable."
Welsh independence, Mr Price said, "must be on the table" as "only by taking our future into our own hands can we ensure that our country isn't swallowed into an 'England and Wales' entity where we are at the mercy of Westminster".
The Plaid Cymru leader said that if his party was in government after the 2021 election in Wales, it would "put a Welsh Independence Referendum Act on the statute book at the earliest possible opportunity".
This would allow a referendum "by the end of the decade at the latest, or earlier should there be a material change in the UK's constitutional landscape", he said.
Price's clarity about Plaid Cymru's ultimate aim of independence within ten years is welcome as it at least allows the party's friends and foes to define the entity they are working for or against. However, his emphasis on what he views as at least one positive outcome of Brexit, as a phoenix rising from the ashes, does continue to raise questions about his commitment to stopping it.
This latest interview with Adam Price certainly reinforces that impression, as he tells the BBC that if there is a "hard" Irish border and the UK leaves the EU single market and customs union "the appetite for Scottish independence and Irish unity" would be "insatiable". The broadcaster adds that Price warned of a Wales "swallowed into an 'England and Wales' entity where we are at the mercy of Westminster":
Mr Price said Brexit was threatening a "constitutional crisis - with or without a deal".
"If the Brexiteers in Westminster have their way we will be out of the single market and customs union and with a hard border on the island of Ireland," he said.
"The appetite for Scottish independence and Irish unity will become insatiable."
Welsh independence, Mr Price said, "must be on the table" as "only by taking our future into our own hands can we ensure that our country isn't swallowed into an 'England and Wales' entity where we are at the mercy of Westminster".
The Plaid Cymru leader said that if his party was in government after the 2021 election in Wales, it would "put a Welsh Independence Referendum Act on the statute book at the earliest possible opportunity".
This would allow a referendum "by the end of the decade at the latest, or earlier should there be a material change in the UK's constitutional landscape", he said.
Price's clarity about Plaid Cymru's ultimate aim of independence within ten years is welcome as it at least allows the party's friends and foes to define the entity they are working for or against. However, his emphasis on what he views as at least one positive outcome of Brexit, as a phoenix rising from the ashes, does continue to raise questions about his commitment to stopping it.
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Adam Price says he is in favour of a second vote. He voted for a second vote in the Senedd recently. There was no mention of the only Liberal in the Assembly making a discussion point or voting in the record of the debate. Echoes of Vince Cable when he missed the Westminster vote on Europe?
SNP, PLAID they are using Brexit for their own ends. The Tories who started this disaster also will not really be bothered if the UK splits apart cos it gives them their own fiefdom to rule. Brexit is already a disaster by the UK,s loss of influence and declining industry. No surprise that Cameron is crawling under a stone. Only the poor will lose.
Any difference between Adam's position and The Lib Dems obvious hope that as Brex It continues they will benefit from remainers, turning to them?
Oh dear, GPB talk about scraping the barrel. Unlike the vote at Westminster, that in the Senedd was just a debating point and had no chance of changing anything. Perhaps that is why four of the Plaid Cymru group were also missing from the vote. Kirsty by the way, was in North Wales talking to teachers and pupils as part of her ministerial duties.
Glyn, the Liberal Democrats are acting in a principled way to try and stop Brexit altogether. We are a long-standing pro-European Party and are not acting purely for electoral purposes as you allege. Adam Price however seems to view Brexit as a stepping stone to bigger political goals.
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Glyn, the Liberal Democrats are acting in a principled way to try and stop Brexit altogether. We are a long-standing pro-European Party and are not acting purely for electoral purposes as you allege. Adam Price however seems to view Brexit as a stepping stone to bigger political goals.
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