Yes Cymru CEO Gwern Gwynfil insists the Welsh independence movement 'has considerable momentum'
The chief executive of Yes Cymru has denied that the movement for Welsh independence has lost momentum.
On Saturday thousands of people took to the streets of Swansea to show their support for an independent Wales but a new poll suggests they represent just 20% of the Welsh public.
The YouGov poll, commissioned by ITV Wales, found that in the event of a referendum on the subject, 54% would vote to remain part of the UK. An additional 26% either did not know how they would vote, would not vote at all or refused to answer.
Speaking to ITV Wales’s Sharp End programme, Yes Cymru CEO Gwern Gwynfil said: “We have come a very long way in a very short time and I like to remind myself and others of this.
"Nine years ago the polling just before the Scottish independence referendum for support for independence for Wales was at five per cent.”
He added: “Independence is alive and well and has considerable momentum in Wales and the challenge for us now is getting people in Wales to talk about it."
Yes Cymru is a campaign group which brings together people from across the political spectrum, who wish to see Wales leave the United Kingdom. Its membership grew rapidly during the Covid-19 pandemic but has since decreased to around 7,000 people.
In addition to Yes Cymru’s recent difficulties the main nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, is searching for a new leader after Adam Price resigned following the publication of a report into harassment and bullying within the party.
The Scottish National Party, long seen as an inspiration by many supporters of Welsh independence, is also facing difficulties thanks to an ongoing police investigation into the party’s finances.
Mr Gwynfil insists the Welsh independence movement has not lost momentum but believes there is a need to get out and speak to people about the issue, in order to bolster support.
He said: “From my part what we need to do right now is just get everybody having that conversation, people discussing the pros and cons of independence and more than that, questioning the arguments in favour of Unionism.
“We’re always asking the independence movement, ‘tell us why independence is better’ but we very rarely ask the Unionists, ‘tell us why the union works’ because the union clearly isn’t working and it hasn’t worked probably for a quarter of a century.”
He added: “I have yet to come across a unionist who’s willing to sit down with me and give me a strong argument in favour of the union and the perpetuation of the union. That’s partly because they don’t have strong arguments to perpetuate the union. We have 90,000 children in Wales in food poverty and that’s in a union.”
Assessing the latest polling, James Griffiths, Research Associate at the Welsh Governance Centre at Cardiff University, said: "At the moment very little has changed when it comes to constitutional preferences in Wales. Support hasn’t particularly moved since the last poll, and that might be because not much has happened since the last poll to move political will on this issue.
"At the moment in Wales the majority support is still for some form of devolution."