A confident Wales should not frighten anyone
Nick Alcock
There is a tendency, whenever Wales talks seriously about its own future, for some people to reach too quickly for suspicion.
As if Welsh confidence must mean hostility. As if wanting more decisions made in Wales must mean turning away from others. As if a stronger sense of Welsh identity must somehow make the country narrower.
I do not see it that way.
At its best, the case for Plaid Cymru is not complicated. It is about Wales taking more responsibility for its own future.
That should not be a radical idea. In most areas of life, we accept that decisions are better when they are made closer to the people affected by them. Local knowledge matters. Accountability matters. Context matters. The same principle applies to a country.
Wales has its own communities, economy, public services, language, geography, strengths and challenges. It is not unreasonable to believe that more of the decisions shaping Welsh life should be made here, by people directly answerable to Wales.
That is not anti-English. It is not inward-looking. It is not about grievance. It is simply a democratic argument.
A stronger Wales can still be a good neighbour. A more confident Wales can still work closely with England, Scotland, Ireland and the wider world. Loving your own country does not require disliking anyone else’s.
This is where I think Plaid Cymru are often misunderstood. Their vision of Wales is not based on background, birthplace or whether someone fits a narrow idea of Welshness. It is civic. If you live here, contribute here, care about the country and want Wales to thrive, you are part of the story.
That matters.
Because the best version of Welsh identity is not something that pushes people out. It is something that draws people in. It says that Wales belongs to everyone who has made their life here and wants to help shape what comes next.
The Welsh language is part of that story too. Not as a test of belonging, but as one of the things that makes Wales distinct. It should be protected, shared and passed on with pride — but never used as a wall between people.
The wider point is bigger than language or party politics. It is about whether Wales is allowed to imagine itself as a serious country, capable of making serious choices.
For too long, Welsh politics has often felt like a debate about limits. What Wales cannot afford. What Wales cannot control. What Wales must wait for. What Wales should be grateful to receive.
Maturity
Perhaps this moment offers something different: not arrogance, not resentment, but maturity.
A Wales that is confident enough to take responsibility.
A Wales that is fair enough to include everyone.
A Wales that is ambitious enough to believe its future can be shaped here.
That should not worry reasonable people, whatever side of the political spectrum they sit on.
You do not have to agree with every Plaid Cymru policy to understand the principle behind it: decisions about Wales should be made in Wales, by people accountable to Wales.
That is not a threatening idea.
It is a democratic one.
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All of the above hits the nail perfectly, but it’s a shame that it needed to be said.
The only thing under threat, is the control that others have over us.
Nationalist government in all the elder nations on Sunken island is a sign that maybe the “UK” experiment will finally end in the next 20 years. I hope I live to see it. Not United. Not my kingdom, not my king. Confidence or rejection of failed anglocentricism, I don’t care. It’s the beginning if the next phase. London will start promising things. Pretending to listen. Don’t believe them. Even if they FINALLY give us OUR HS2 residuals back and release OUR crown estate funding back to us, these were ALWAYS ours. A burglar returning stolen property is not being generous.… Read more »
Rhun ap Iorwerth and Plaid Cymru offer Wales hope, while the unionist parties offer more of the same poverty rule.
It is no crime to have aspirations, to want better. Yet for Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives, and Reform, Wales wanting the same as every other independent nation is out of the question.
They want Wales to remain below stairs, to know its place. I reject that patronising, colonialist attitude. Wales has every right to aspire, to become the prosperous, forward-looking, inclusive country it could be. Do not dare deny us the rights enjoyed by others.
I agree that Wales needs to be confident and to that end, I’d like to see Rhun move away from the “standing up for Wales” rhetoric which immediately casts us as some sort of cowering underling. Labour begged Westminster for money but Rhun is going to demand money as if there’s much difference between those two approaches. I’d rather us focus on developing our economy, building our own wealth and needing to neither beg nor demand subsidy from England. Lets get the M4 improved, lets attract investment, lets get our nation off benefits and back into work. There is a… Read more »
Well argued piece. We have an opportunity now to improve things for all of us here in Wales. We need to make sure that all our politicians are behind this, and do not get away with disruption to sabotage and undermine change without offering constructive alternatives.
Who can argue with anything in this article? This is exactly how a genuinely progressive Wales should move forward. We need to focus on our economy to build our own wealth, our own business community and our own jobs. We have to move past the idea that we can only survive on English subsidy. Being confident and aspirational is the key here.
I agree with most of this but the phrase ‘decisions about Wales should be made in Wales’ must be interpreted carefully. On a shared island on an interconnected planet, many of the decisions that affect life in Wales are inherently broader than our nation: cross-border trade and movement, climate change, war and peace, technology … The list is endless.
Thinking only about those decisions that could be made just in Wales is too narrow and inward looking. To be successful and prosperous, Wales must be outward looking and engaged with the world.
We will decide how we interact with the world. Not at the behest of foreign political elites in London. (See what I did there?)
Yes, Wales should decide how we interact with others. But how we do that is so rarely addressed by those advocating independence that it shades into isolationism and we cannot afford that.
Great point. We have always been far too introspective whereas the best of us have moved mountains across the globe (US Declaration of Independence etc).
Absolutely. Simples!
Surely even the unionists can agree with this. How can the UK ever be confident if it’s regions and nations aren’t all brimming. There’s no way to solve the productivity puzzle without everyone punching above their weight. Expecting London to carry the rest isn’t a strategy for success.