Thousands attend Welsh independence march
Thousands of people have attended a march to call for an independent Wales.
The event, organised by Yes Cymru and All Under One Banner Cymru, was held in Barry on Saturday.
South Wales Police estimated that between 6,000-7,000 people attended the march.
Phyl Griffiths, YesCymru chair, said the event was a "reflection of the mood across Wales".
Since 2019, thousands have taken part in independence marches across Wales - including in Cardiff, Carmarthen, Bangor, Swansea, Wrexham and Merthyr Tydfil.
Following the march, a rally in King Square featured speeches, which included former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood and Wales Green Party spokesperson Tessa Marshall.
The event included live music from Emma Winter, known from Y Llais, the Welsh version of The Voice.
Ms Wood said it was "time to end our dependence", adding there was an "opportunity to build an alternative to the failed economic model that serves the City of London while leaving crumbs for communities in Wales".
Mr Griffiths said: "People are ready for change, and independence is no longer a fringe idea. It's a serious, hopeful response to a broken system.
"We're seeing growing support, especially among younger generations who've had enough of being told Wales is too small or too poor.
"We know better - and today, thousands of people showed that we're ready to take our future into our own hands.
Kiera Marshall, 27, travelled from Swansea to join the parade.
"How can we afford not to be independent? The UK system keeps us poor, while our children go hungry and cold. We are the generation bearing the brunt of this system, but we are also the generation who will change it."
Rhun ap Iorwerth MS, Plaid Cymru leader joined the march and said recent independence polls were moving in a "positive direction".
"As disillusionment with Westminster grows in Welsh communities, we are also seeing a growing confidence that Wales should have the right and resources to decide its own future," he said.
Thousands join march for an independent Wales
Independence for Wales is viable, says report
YesCymru best performing group - axed chief
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Could Merthyr Tydfil be set for an electoral revolution?
"Come check the streets where normal people live. "Kids are smoking, drugs available 24/7. "When you got time check my area condition. "My invitation to the politician." Daljit Singh is the owner of Gurnos sports and social club and also a part-time songwriter - that one is destined for YouTube. "I want to express the situation from here to any leader out there. Please come and have a look," he said. Spend new defence billions in Wales, companies say Miners' strike designs help Welsh fashion find voice Senedd election could be seismic, expert says Last year he put words into action and brought Nigel Farage to Merthyr Tydfil to launch Reform's general election manifesto. Mr Singh wanted to get politicians out of their bubble and speak to people who felt left behind and neglected. The club is the sort of place Nigel Farage would have had in mind, albeit not geographically, when he recently challenged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to a debate in a northern working men's club. When we visited, Mr Singh and his colleagues were preparing the venue for actual, not verbal, fisticuffs - a 300-seat sell out white collar boxing night. While Reform did not win any Welsh seats in last year's general election, it did come second in 13 of the 32 constituencies. Mr Singh thinks Reform will do well at next year's Senedd election because "people have had enough of being let down on so many things. Why not try something new?" He added people who were struggling to get by found it "unfair" to see money being spent on migrants who had crossed the English Channel. Outside the club, in front of a parade of shops, we met Steve Collins, a builder from Troedyrhiw, who had been at the Farage speech. He said he wanted change. "We've had too many promises and nothing coming forward - Labour and the Conservatives are both the same in my opinion," he said. "This has always been a Labour town, but people are getting fed up now... the state of Merthyr," he added. Another woman told us Farage was "straight", that she had voted for him in the past, but that she would probably stick with Labour next year. Recent polling suggests Reform has a chance of becoming the biggest party in the Senedd, although it might struggle to find someone willing to do a post-election deal to form a government. It still does not have a Welsh leader and has not named any candidates. Polling also suggests that Plaid Cymru could be the party to end 27 years of Labour dominance in Cardiff Bay. A local Labour source admitted the party faced a fight but said it needed to shout more loudly about its achievements, mentioning the completed Heads of the Valleys road, the new Metro and improvements at Prince Charles Hospital. Merthyr has long been one of Labour's heartlands and has had a long history of political change and controversy. It returned the first Labour MP in a Welsh constituency, Keir Hardie, in 1900. It was scene of a Jeremy Corbyn leadership rally in 2016, a Yes Cymru pro-independence March in 2019 and has had its share of recent controversies, including delays over armoured vehicles for the Army which are built in the town and issues with an opencast coal mine. It is also one of the areas with the highest benefits claimant rate so is likely to be disproportionately hit by UK Labour government welfare reforms. Most famously Merthyr was where workers rose up against appalling conditions and poor pay in 1831 - a rebellion which became known as the Merthyr Rising. As next May approaches are we looking at another revolution at the ballot box? Across town at Merthyr Tydfil College, a lively politics and governance class left you in little doubt that more political upheaval could be on the way. "We are seeing the overturn of that sort of Labour Welsh order of this guarantee that Wales will always be Labour until the cows come home," said 17-year-old Zack. "I do think Labour takes it for granted with their traditional safe seats. These aren't iron strongholds anymore of Labour," he added. Aaron, also 17, agreed. "We've seen the start of Labour's downfall," he said. "They've become too comfortable with the fact that they've always been voted in in Wales and we're now getting to the point where we're seeing other parties gain support like Plaid Cymru." He added: "I'm seeing a lot of people who have been lifelong Labour supporters and they've now decided that they're going to vote Reform or Plaid because Labour's not in the best interests for people anymore in Wales." While not necessarily supporting Farage, 16-year-old Isobelle and 17-year-old Amber-Rose recognised the Reform leader's appeal. "Whatever Reform say people might gravitate towards them because it is so new and Nigel Farage is so 'in his own way' that it will appeal to people. "We do have strong Labour and Conservative leaders but Nigel Farage does seem to be more prominent," they said. Other topics that cropped up included the "betrayal" of the working class over benefits reform, and the question of fairness. Why did Scotland have powers over the Crown Estate, justice and policing when Wales did not? For these young voters the principle rather than the policy area appeared to count for more. Wales had moved with the times, they argued, and politicians needed to move too. They also thought that Plaid Cymru and Reform were better at getting through to younger voters on social media than Labour. The students agreed that you could sum up next year's election with one word - change. The slogan that propelled UK Labour to a landslide win at the general election last year could be exactly what costs its Welsh colleagues at the Senedd in 2026. In two very different parts of town, predictions for next year were very much the same. What's your Senedd constituency? What does the Senedd do? How do you vote in the Senedd election?
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Rail plan 'reclassified', denying Wales funding
Plans for a £6.6bn Oxford-Cambridge rail line were previously classified as an England-only project, a politician has claimed. Wales would benefit from millions of pounds of consequential funding from the project if this was the case. This week however, the Treasury announced it would be classified as an England and Wales project, meaning Wales would not receive any extra funding, but documents show that the project was originally classified as England-only. The Treasury said it was a "publishing error" in a 2020 document and the project has and always was an England and Wales development. Plaid Cymru MP, Ben Lake said the explanation was "completely implausible". On Tuesday, the UK government told BBC News the East-West project was being financed through its "rail network enhancements pipeline", which it said was also funding schemes in Wales. Lake, the MP for Ceredigion Preseli, accused the UK government of reclassifying the project and "moving the goalposts". Funding is allocated for Wales through the Barnett formula, so if the UK government spends on a project in England, then a formula is used to calculate how much money Wales gets to spend as a consequence. Leading academic Guto Ifan, from Cardiff University's Wales Governance Centre, said Wales had in fact already received approximately £1.1m of consequential funding from the Oxford-Cambridge project. He said: "This is not a correction of a typographical error, it is a reclassification of the project and a material change in the formula being used to calculate changes to the Welsh government's block grant. "This change, without transparent rationale or consultation, would again underline the arbitrary nature of how the Barnett formula is applied to Wales with respect to rail infrastructure." Anger as Oxford rail line classed as England and Wales project Why does Wales not receive money from HS2? What is the Barnett formula? In a statement, the Treasury said: "This was a publishing error which will be amended when an update is published at the Spending Review." The line has also been deemed to be an England and Wales project, so Wales gets no extra cash, which would have been the case if it was England-only due to the way in which Wales receives some funding. It meant that while Scotland and Northern Ireland received extra cash from the UK government to make up for the spending, Wales did not. Labour took over from the Conservatives in Westminster last year, prompting politicians in the Labour-run Welsh government to ask their UK counterparts to reclassify HS2 - without success. Ben Lake told BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement: "How is it that they can quite easily now, at the stroke of a pen, reclassify a project when Wales loses out from doing so, where, just in January this year, they claimed that in the context of HS2, it was impossible for them to fix the injustice of the classification that they inherited from the Conservatives? "When it comes to East-West rail they've found it very easy to reclassify it, but sadly, in moving the goalposts as they've done, Wales has actually lost out rather than gained." In First Minister's Questions on Tuesday, Eluned Morgan defended the classification of the project as England and Wales, telling Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth that he needed a "lesson on how the Welsh devolution settlement works". "Rail infrastructure is not devolved to Wales. You might want it devolved, but that is the situation it is in at the moment. "What we have is a situation where there is a pipeline of projects for England and Wales. Are we getting our fair share? Absolutely not." She said she hoped for some acknowledgement of that via Wednesday's forthcoming spending review, adding that the railway line in question was "very different to HS2". The Welsh government has been asked to comment. East West Rail Wales Governance Centre Five new Welsh stations could get Westminster money Welsh railways underfunded, UK government admits Wales has 'entitlement' to HS2 cash - ex-minister
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Labour's approach to maths just doesn't add up, says Newport's Asghar
Newport MS Natasha Asghar says young people in Wales are being failed by poor standards of maths in schools. The Welsh Conservatives have raised concerns after a report by Estyn inspectors highlighted significant variation in teaching quality, inadequate training and a lack of understanding of the curriculum. Shadow cabinet secretary for education, Ms Asghar, said: "This report lays bare the systemic failings of the Welsh Labour Government. "After 26 years in charge, Labour continues to let students down by poor teaching standards and a lack of support for teachers. "These are not just statistics; they represent real opportunities lost for our young people." Earlier this week the Welsh Conservatives criticised Labour's announcement of £44million in grants for schools, stating that they were failing to prioritise core subjects. Ms Asghar said: "Labour's track record on education in Wales highlights their continued failure to make the right calls." She continued: "Maths is the backbone of our future economy, from AI to engineering, and we cannot afford to undermine it. "Yet Labour's weak guidance, chronic underfunding, and lack of support for teachers are failing our schools and jeopardising the future prospects of our children.'
