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Third of Welsh public would support abolishing Senedd – New poll

18 Sep 2024 3 minute read
Senedd Siambr – Image Senedd Cymru

Emily Price

A new poll has revealed that almost a third of the Welsh public would support abolishing devolution altogether.

Results gathered by YouGov between 2 – 8 September from a weighted sample of 1207 adults in Wales found that 31% would prefer to reinstate direct rule from London.

In contrast, 21% of the Scottish public said they would back such a reversal of their own parliament’s powers.

46% of the Welsh public said they were opposed to ending devolution.

Distinction

The poll showed a noticeable distinction between Scotland and Wales on full independence with 41% of Scots in favour compared with only a quarter of Welsh people.

61% of Welsh people said they were opposed to the idea of full independence.

19% of Scottish people polled were in favour of watering down existing devolution arrangements – a result similar to the Welsh public at 23%.

However, devolution with current or more powers proved to be the most popular arrangements in both countries.

Four in ten Welsh people (39-40%) said they were in favour of ‘devolution with more powers’ and ‘devolution with the current level of powers’ with around half of Scots calling for the same.

Autonomy, whereby nations would remain within the UK but hold power over everything except foreign affairs and defence was supported by 32% in Wales and 42% in Scotland.

The most popular option among Plaid Cymru voters was devolution with more powers, with 77% in favour.

55% of Labour voters said they would support more powers – similar to the 56% who were in favour of the existing arrangements.

9% Plaid voters and 16% of Labour voters said they were in favour of abolishing or weakening devolution.

Reform

The Senedd which celebrated its 25th anniversary earlier this year is set to be expanded by more than a third with changes to how politicians are elected.

Backers says the plan is needed because the Welsh Parliament has more powers now than when it was first established in 1999.

The proposals put forward by the Welsh Government have been supported by Plaid Cymru but heavily opposed by the Senedd Tories because of the cost.

The YouGov poll found that only one in five Conservative or Reform voters would support any expansion of the powers of the Senedd and a quarter of Tory voters supported the existing political set-up.

This was in noticeable contrast with 41% of Scottish Tories who favour their status quo.

Single-issue party Abolish the Welsh Assembly won 4% of the vote in the last Senedd elections.

66% of Conservatives and 61% of Reform UK voters said they would be happy to see the devolved institutions in Cardiff Bay abolished – though 45-47% would settle for a devolved government with fewer powers.


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CapM
CapM
2 months ago

These polls never include a question on which nationality do you identify as.
the census includes options so it is not as though the question is taboo.

Such data would shine a light on which identities (self selected) are likely to want the Senedd and which ones want to hand over total control back to Westminster.

Lyn E
Lyn E
2 months ago
Reply to  CapM

Irrelevant. Anyone living in Wales should be eligible to decide on our future.

Algie
Algie
2 months ago

We in Wales voted brexit, that’s working out well …..mmmmmeh!

Aled Rees
Aled Rees
2 months ago
Reply to  Algie

The article does not mention brexit.Why bring it up?Move on for god’s sake.

Algie
Algie
2 months ago
Reply to  Aled Rees

Why? I would be happy to move on if it wasn’t affecting my life but it is and all because people who had very little idea of the consequences of what they voted for because they weren’t told the truth is exactly the same in this situation but hey rock on brother,

Tanwg
Tanwg
2 months ago

With over 30% of Cymru’s population Ingerlish immigrants, what do you expect!

Aled Rees
Aled Rees
2 months ago
Reply to  Tanwg

Exactly. The poll we all should take notice of is for people of the age of 15 to 35 year old’s.Around 70% of which support independance.it’s coming folks whether you want it or not.

Rob
Rob
2 months ago
Reply to  Tanwg

There are plenty of English people I know who are sympathetic to devolution or even independence and plenty of Welsh people (sadly) I’ve come across who would like to see the Senedd abolished. The issue here is the lack of media coverage on Welsh issues compared to Scotland or Northern Ireland. This confusion causes many voters to blame the Senedd as a whole rather than the Labour government. Don’t expect Labour to do anything to address this. They are more than happy to keep the status quo. Why? Well because blaming the institution rather than Labour gets them off the… Read more »

Garycymru
Garycymru
2 months ago
Reply to  Tanwg

I’d say that’s pretty inaccurate as most of my English freinds who live here actually support full independence.

Lyn E
Lyn E
2 months ago
Reply to  Tanwg

No apartheid. Everyone living in Cymru has the same right to determine our future.

End the UK
End the UK
2 months ago

These people who want to abolish the Senedd should be taught history and shown how bad the Welsh office and London’s rule was, they seem to have forgotten!

Billy James
Billy James
2 months ago
Reply to  End the UK

The Welsh development agency was very well run unlike the development bank of Wales…..

Rob
Rob
2 months ago
Reply to  Billy James

But was it held to a democratically elected body? The Welsh Office was accountable to London and not Wales.

Brian Coman
Brian Coman
2 months ago
Reply to  End the UK

Close call though ! The ruling party minnows in the Senedd never listen to the Welsh public. The 20 mph is a good example,still ignoring the 478,000 people who want it abolished.
All of them read from a script in front of them, showing a lack of conscious thought. How about a referendum ?

Mr Williams
Mr Williams
2 months ago

This is very worrying. Do something quick to improve people’s lives here, Welsh Government, or our democracy, and indeed our nation, could be at risk!

Nia James
Nia James
2 months ago

I’d be tempted to go one step further if the Senedd is abolished, and say that we should have direct rule not from Westminster but from Kensington Palace. After all, William and Kate are the ‘Prince and Princess of Wales’, so we could return to being a Principality once again. Hip! Hip! Hooray Henries!

Annibendod
Annibendod
2 months ago

How much of that is influenced by Welsh Labour’s performance as the Welsh Government?

Billy James
Billy James
2 months ago
Reply to  Annibendod

Its been a disaster with them lot..

Billy James
Billy James
2 months ago

Sorry I voted for this devolution but its been an unmitigated disaster with only Cardiff and the Valleys benefitted.
The standard & real life business experience is woeful, most are ex media, ex councillors ex third sector ex solicitors and ex university professors..
What experience or business knowledge do these above bring to the table..
The only experience of business these lot have would be how much expenses they can claim…
Absolutely none of them should be in a position of running a £20+ billion budget…..

Rob
Rob
2 months ago
Reply to  Billy James

You can make the same argument about Westminster. If you don’t like the current Welsh Government then vote them out.

CapM
CapM
2 months ago
Reply to  Rob

Even though support for devolution has risen from just over half to two thirds there seems to be a bottomless pit full of those who say they voted for devolution but now want to scrap it.

I suspect most voted no to devolution. However to give their opinion more weight they pretend they were once for it.
Another explanation as you point out is that they don’t understand the differences between Parliaments and governments.

Brian Coman
Brian Coman
2 months ago
Reply to  Rob

This could happen, with a bit of luck.

Garycymru
Garycymru
2 months ago

If someone doesn’t believe in a countries right to self govern themselves, then they have no business whatsoever being in that country.
I’d recommend not stealing what little democracy that Wales has.

Taffy g
Taffy g
2 months ago
Reply to  Garycymru

Where would Wales get the money from there’s not much business left in Wales now ,and not much chance of people wanting to invest in a country with useless infrastructure, stupid 20mph roads, businesses couldn’t move good about

Elaine
Elaine
2 months ago

I’d love to know who paid for the poll, what the question was and the sampling. Much of this directly contradicts the results of the Welsh Election Study poll which was published a couple of days before the general election vote. I’m sure it’s not a coincidence that it comes shortly after that supposedly casual straw poll done by ART Davies in the summer. I also wouldn’t be surprised to discover the former SoS Wales is behind it as he actively loathes Welsh devolution. I think he’s planning to top the Monmouthshire candidate list for 2026 and replace RT as… Read more »

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