Secret ceremony to rename Severn Bridge as new poll shows public heavily opposed

The Westminster Government’s Wales Office held a secret ceremony to rename the Prince of Wales bridge, and not even Wales’ media was invited.

The secret ceremony was attended by Prince Charles, Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns and First Minister Carwyn Jones.

The Llywydd of the Welsh Assembly, Elin Jones, did not attend and tweeted “Long live the Severn Bridge!” from her personal account after the event.

The Western Mail said that they were not told there was a ceremony until after it was over. They were also told there was no place for one of their journalists to cover Prince Charles’ visit to the bridge.

The ceremony was held as a new poll conducted by YouGov for ITV Wales and Cardiff University showed that 54% of people in Wales opposed the name change to ‘Prince of Wales Bridge’, with only 27% supporting.

An opinion poll by YouGov for Nation.Cymru in May had showed that 34% opposed renaming the bridge, with only 17% in support.

The Westminster Government’s Welsh Secretary, Alun Cairns MP, had continued to insist that the “wider, silent majority is absolutely with us” on renaming the bridge, despite over 37,000 signing a petition calling on him to scrap the plans.

The renaming was planned to coincide with Prince Charles’ 70th birthday and the 60th year since he was ‘created’ the Prince of Wales by his mother, The Queen.