Labour for an Independent Wales
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Labour for an Independent Wales (Welsh: Llafur dros Gymru Annibynnol) is a group of Labour Party members who "believe the best way to achieve a democratic socialist Wales is through independence".[1]
Labour for an Independent Wales was first formed by Ben Gwalchmai and Huw Lloyd-Williams in the cafe of the Senedd in February, 2017. They held their first event with Neville Southall, 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.[2]
In 2022, Chair of the group was Rachel Garrick. [1]
Support for independence in Welsh Labour
Elystan Morgan (1932-2021), a former Labour MP for Ceredigion and a life peer in the House of Lords,[3] was a lifelong supporter of devolution and, following the Brexit vote, for dominion status for Wales.[4][5]
Gwynoro Jones, a former Labour MP has argued for a constitutional convention that would explore a movement towards a sovereign Wales.[6]
In August 2020, a YouGov 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.[7]
Blaenavon council, with a Labour majority, voted in to support independence.[8]
In the 2021 Senedd election the co-founder of Labour for an Independent Wales, Ben Gwalchmai,[9] 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.[10]
It has been suggested by Labour for an Independent Wales that Welsh Labour could support Welsh independence in the future.[11]