GB News criticised over claim petition seeks to ‘ban’ Wales
Nation.Cymru Staff
A petition calling for Wales to be known officially as Cymru has been wrongly described by GB News as seeking to “ban” the name Wales.
The article, ‘by Peter Stevens, was published to the GB News website on 3 July. It states that “calls to ban ‘Wales’ as the country’s name are rising.”
However, claims that the petition, created by John Price, seeks to “ban” the name Wales are not reflected in the petition itself, which instead calls for the country to adopt Cymru as its official name to “reset, rebrand and renew our nation”.
The petition’s description reads: “With an outward looking Government, now is the time for us to assert our own intention for how we are seen across the world, in the language of our nation using the name chosen by our nation…”
“Hardly anyone has heard of Cymru or realises that we have our own unique language and culture which is totally different from the other countries within the United Kingdom.”
It follows an earlier petition, which secured the 10,000 signatures needed for Senedd debate consideration, but was not taken forward by the previous Welsh Labour government.
The petition also calls for only the Welsh-language versions of place names to be used. Or as GB News put it, “for cities, towns and villages in Wales to ditch their English names.”
Stevens also writes that the petition “accuses England of ‘imposing’ the name Wales on Wales.”
Etymologically, ‘Wales’ is understood to derive from ‘Wēalas’, an Old English word used by the Anglo-Saxons to describe the Britons and, more generally, foreign peoples.
As the petition explains: “Wales is not the name of our nation – meaning ‘foreigners’ it was imposed on us, and poorly reflects who we as a people are.”
While it does call for a replacement of the official name Wales with Cymru, the petition does not seek that people be prohibited from saying or writing ‘Wales’, or that using ‘Wales’ become illegal.
It points to countries such as Türkiye and Czechia, which have adopted different official names in English, as examples Wales might follow.
In neither of those countries were the previous names banned from public use, with the change relating instead to names used officially by governments and international bodies such as the UN and UEFA.
John Price told Nation Cymru: “No one is calling to ‘ban’ the term Wales. Just as we can call Norway ‘Norway’ and not Norge as the Norwegians do, or Spanish people call their land España.
“England can continue to do as they wish, but the petition importantly calls for us to use our self-designated term.
“All the petition asks is that Wales confidently uses an endonym (the native name used by locals to describe their own place, language, or group) rather than an exonym (an external, translated, or borrowed name used by outsiders).
“Quite frankly, GB News needn’t worry about what Welsh people decide for our nation’s future.”
The GB News article also details an incident which took place in June, when activists from Mudiad Eryr Wen, a “grassroots youth movement for an independent Cymru”, removed a Union Jack, the St George Cross and an Ulster loyalist flag from lampposts in Wrecsam.
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Members of the group told Daily Post: “It is an absolute embarrassment and a stain on the town to have [the flags] on display, especially just up the road from the Cae Ras.”
Linking to the GB News article in a social media post, Reform MS Iain McIntosh wrote: “There is no place for this in our society, our country’s identity should be protected.
“I have therefore just asked the First Minister for Wales: “Following recent reports of Union Flags being removed in Wales and calls to replace the name “Wales”, will the First Minister condemn such actions and confirm that the Welsh Government supports the continued use of Wales’ established national identity.”
“I hope to receive a response soon.”
There is no place for this in our society, our country’s identity should be protected.
I have therefore just asked the First Minister for Wales;
“Following recent reports of Union Flags being removed in Wales and calls to replace the name “Wales”, will the First Minister… https://t.co/FRfL6VlBKt
— Iain McIntosh MS (@IainCMcIntosh) July 3, 2026
View the Senedd petition calling to ‘use Cymru not Wales as the official name for our nation, and one name only for our place names’ here.
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More ignorant cack-handed journalism from GB News.
Journalism?
More like misleading the hard of thinking.
Need a petition to drop the superfluous “Great” in GB which was only added by the French to distinguish the big island from Little Britain, the area in France populated by Britons fleeing the Germanic invasion.
‘As far as we’re concerned, if you’re not English then you’re barely a human being.’ That’s what they really want to say.
Iain Mcintosh needs to worry more about his owner, in the US at the moment but details dropping of more undeclared payments from a convicted criminal. Times article.
The issue of being called by the proper name extends to them but there are a number to choose from. HeebeeGeebeeKGBeebies, The Disinformation Station, Hate Station Zero.
Petition signed. Why not celebrate our language and culture to the world by using the native name for our land, language and people? It seems to have paid off when Eryri and y Bannau Brycheiniog national parks did this, and elsewhere in the world such as India (Mumbai instead of Bombay), Australia (Uluru instead of Ayrs rock), and more recently with Türkiye and Czechia. Time to remove the colonial shackles and stand up and be proud of who we are.
Os posib i newid ‘drop down list’ gwledydd yn deiseb o Wales i Cymru??
Petition signed.
Wales, Cymru, who cares? People are gonna use either and that’s fine , why the fuss? I’m not suprised though that GB News are twisting this and putting a spin on it. When I speak English , I’ve always said ‘ Wales’ without thinking. Though I have noticed over the past year or two that it’s becoming the thing to say ‘Cymru’ when speaking English. Which is fine , but I don’t ( and I wouldn’t be surprised) that some strong Welsh Nats will go round ‘correcting’ people for saying ‘Wales’ instead of ‘Cymru’. If they did , I mean… Read more »
Most of your post was well put together until the last two sentences. You make quite a strong reaction for your own hypothetical case. Why? Seems to say more about your attitude to Welsh nationalists rather than the topic itself.
As a people, in general we are pretty ignorant of the meanings of ‘Wales’ and ‘Cymru’ .
A public discussion about our country being officially known as Cymru would be good for us.
Of course in unofficial use people could still choose which to use and when
But importantly it would be an informed and deliberate choice something that for most of us is not currently the situation.
You know for certain if a course of action is the correct one when it upsets geebeebies.
Would not expect anything more from the Fascist propaganda prog GB news,me, being a 77yr old born in Wales,lived here all my life,not a proficient Welsh speaker,am all for Cymru,and very very much,want Independence for our Beautiful Land .
I see no reason not to have Cymru as the official name for our country. Wales is an offensive label that we have, over time, come to adopt and love etc etc. Wales, Cornwall, Walloon, Wallachia, Valais… all labels from Germanics. If an English speaking person wants to say Wales in common speech, no problem. I wouldn’t expect the French to suddenly switch from Pays de Galles. Having an official name is not the same as being forced to say something in a specific language.