Over twice as many trust Welsh Parliament as trust Westminster to look after the interests of Wales

Over twice as many people trust the Welsh Parliament to look after the interests of Wales as trust Westminster, according to a new YouGov poll.

The poll shows that, with ‘don’t knows’ removed, 65% trust the Senedd to look after the interests of the people of Wales but only 28% trust the UK Parliament to do so.

Only 35% didn’t trust the Senedd while 72% didn’t trust Westminster.

The poll also asked respondents how well or badly they thought the Welsh and UK Governments were handling the coronavirus pandemic.

Over twice as many favoured the Welsh Government, with 78% saying they had handled the crisis well compared with only 36% who said the same about the UK Government.

Only 22% thought the Welsh Government had done badly while 64% thought the UK Government had done badly.

Reacting to the poll, political scientist, Dafydd Trystan, said that there were two striking aspects of the data.

“The Welsh Government is seen to have responded well to the Coronavirus pandemic by supporters of all parties,” he said.

“The contrast couldn’t be starker with the UK Government that is rated poorly generally, including by a significant minority of Conservative supporters.

“We also find that voters of all parties trust the Welsh Parliament generally to look after the interests of Wales – the same is far from true of the UK Parliament with Labour voters taking a particularly dim view of Westminster’s trustworthiness.”

‘Inept’

YesCymru who commissioned the poll said that it showed that nearly three quarters do not trust Westminster to look after the interests of Wales.

“Trust in politics in general is very low, but nearly two thirds trust the Welsh parliament to look after the interests of the people of Wales,” YesCymru chair, Sion Jobbins said.

“On the other hand only 28% trust the UK parliament. People in Wales are aghast at the shockingly inept British government and their callous incompetence.

“This crisis has really revealed the flaws in the British political system. Westminster governments don’t care about Wales. Why should they? No matter how we vote in Wales we end up with a government we didn’t vote for.

“People are more aware than ever of the benefits of having the people of Wales run their own affairs. We have seen with Covid-19 that small independent nations, such as New Zealand, and also our neighbours the Republic of Ireland, can react quickly and efficiently to an international crisis.

“It’s proven that being a small independent country isn’t a disadvantage at all. Wales has done well, but people are starting to think, how much better could we have done as an independent nation?

“Since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, membership of YesCymru has tripled. People have seen that the Senedd – the Welsh Parliament – dealt with the crisis better once they stopped deferring to Westminster, and many people are starting to ask themselves, what else could Wales have done better had it not bowed down and faithfully followed Westminster?

“Support for independence is on the rise, and Boris Johnson’s disastrous government in London is a big force in driving that.”