Why does Plaid Cymru choose Crown Estate over Sovereign State as a campaign?
Llew Gruffudd
Plaid Cymru are on a mission. Another mission. The devolution of the Crown Estate to Wales.
It is true, other parties are in support. But none with the fervour of Plaid Cymru.
So why? Why are they placing such importance on this issue?
Questions in the Senedd. Motions in Westminster. At the forefront of all public utterances. It has almost overwhelmed them.
Their rhetoric has even got to some local authorities, who believe (mistakenly) that it will lead to removal of their Crown Estate obligations.
Supporters of Plaid are almost euphoric at Plaid leading this latest crusade (at last a star to follow).
The rhetoric appears to revolve around
– Fairness
– Transformational income
– Parity with Scotland (they never seem to seek parity with England).
The substance is very different.
Fairness
There are numerous examples of Wales being treated unfairly.
Take the argument for the consequential from HS2.
A lot of money is involved here. On a population share basis, about £4.5 billion should come to Wales, so it is argued.
Scotland and N. Ireland gets their share, so why not Wales.
Well Wales being Wales have given the UK government the stick to beat us.
There is no comparison with Scotland and N.Ireland, it is argued, as they have responsibility for their rail infrastructure, whereas the Welsh government turned it down as being too much of a cost risk (or lack of ambition, take your pick)
Therefore, the argument goes, the rail network is England and Wales and so is therefore HS2.
A dubious argument, but one that Wales itself helped validate.
There is the argument that the Barnet Formula shortchanges Wales to the tune of about half a billion pounds. That Welsh school children get significantly less per head spent on them than the UK average.
That water from Wales, A Welsh national resource, worth multimillions, is transported to England at no cost and no financial benefit to Wales.
Renewable energy generated in Wales, valued at billions of pounds, is exported from Wales with no economic gain to Wales.
Lack of help with coal spoil removal
Lack of help with flood defence
Electrification of rail
Swansea lagoon rejection
And the financial smoke and mirrors around Covid.
Wales cannot borrow, so the UK does it.
To deal with the effects of Covid, the UK government borrowed £430 billion (Office for National Statistics)
Wales pays its population share to service this borrowing.
Wales’ population share of the Covid borrowing should have been £20 billion. It received £8.5 billion (ONS)
Now that’s unfair.
So although they have ranted over some of these other issues, why amongst all this unfairness has Plaid made the Crown Estate such a crusade?
Income
Income vital to Wales, transformational, it is argued. Scotland gets £103 million, money. Money Wales needs.
While accepting that Wales needs all the money it can get, the frequent pronouncements of £103 million is a little misleading. It gives the impression of greater value.
The £103 million is what Scotland has received over the nine years of Crown Estate devolution. An average of £11.5 million per year.
What also fails to be mentioned is that due to this devolution, Scotland’s block grant is reduced accordingly. Reduced on an increasing scale to £40 million per year until 2028 when it is then capped at that level.
But at least the Welsh government will have control of the Crown Estate in Wales.
Well not quite. As in Scotland, the Crown Estate will be managed by Crown Estate Wales, an independent body.
Although the profits will go to the Welsh government and nominally it would be answerable to the Welsh government. Its terms of reference and policy are decided by statute laid out by the Westminster government.
Policy and terms that are not necessarily the same as the Welsh government.
So, although, as the saying goes, every little helps. The income generated is not in the control of the Wales government and the incomes generated are hardly transformational.
So why is the Crown Estate such a campaign as a generator of finance?
Parity with Scotland
It is only right we should have parity with Scotland.
So why wasn’t this issue addressed a decade ago?
That is when the agreement between Scotland and Westminster was made. 2016
It was introduced into the Scotland Act 2017.
This followed a campaign by the SNP, a real campaign, when in 2011 the SNP declared they wished to see the Crown Estates devolved. Five years later it was.
While they were campaigning for devolution, the Welsh government was arguing for cooperation.
Scotland got their devolution. The Welsh government didn’t get their cooperation.
Scotland did have a significant persuader. The threat of Independence.
At the same time the Wales Act 2017 was being agreed, so it appears that Wales didn’t see devolution of the Crown Estate as so important at that time as it was no part of the Wales Act.
A settlement that the Welsh government declared was ‘a good and long lasting settlement’.
Nor did this omission from the Wales settlement seem such an issue for the Plaid opposition.
No motions in Westminster then.
The 2016 Plaid Cymru manifesto had no mention of the Crown Estate.
Nor did the following Westminster election manifesto.
The Plaid Cymru 2021 manifesto was noticeable, in that, in 126 pages devolution of the Crown Estate was probably the only issue not mentioned.
So not the vital, transformational issue at that time.
Scotland has powers over:
– The legal system, only answerable to the Supreme Court.
– Policing.
– Taxes and benefits.
– The rail network.
– Drink drive laws
– Air passenger duty.
– Abortion.
– The right to declare a national day bank holiday.
Powers which Wales does not have.
A very long way to go for parity in the present constitution arrangements.
So why the Crown Estate?
It’s a diversion
If Plaid Cymru was really serious about fair treatment of Wales and its people. If it was really serious about Wales having the financial gain from its resources If it was really serious about parity.
If it was serious about these, it’s on Independence it would focus its campaign. For it is only as a sovereign state that it can have them.
That’s if they are serious, otherwise they are just political slogans and there must be an election imminent.
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Hard not to agree with this. It’s focusing the movements energies in a specific direction and while there’s perceived momentum there many of the faithful wont question it. It spends those energies in ways which don’t deliver results. It’s the same with the EU stuff. It’s got no powers or influence over this situation – it is in fact potentially divisive amongst the disillusioned voters that Farage hopes to win the the south next year. It’s rhetoric has devolved into emotionless corporate buzzwords. It’s not exciting anyone while supporters and candidates are told to charge the guns while simultaneously being… Read more »
Alas, not so transformational as independence.
Let’s not continue with this bickering. But no need to end on bad terms.
Just let’s do it.
Annibyniaeth is the only option.
We can do it better.
“Just let’s do it. Annibyniaeth is the only option”…. 100% agreed! And the only way we’ll ‘do it’ is by electing a Plaid govt in the Senedd (who can then bring forward legislation on holding a referendum on the independence our nation so desperately needs).
I can’t decide whether I find such comments as irrelevant or simply sad. For Plaid Cymru to form a government (stop, too much noise from pigs flying) it must do something really silly – win elections. There is a byelection pending for a seat on Swansea City Council, voting at the end of this month. Six candidates, the four usual suspects (including Reform), Gwlad and a strong independent. Anyone spot anything missing? The ward is in the heart of the Gower constituency where P C always attracted (past tense) good support. So tell me – and the people of Wales… Read more »
Correct. There are no answers in reality. The Party of Wales (except Torfaen, Swansea and who knows where else)!? A Plaid government is a pipe dream.
“If it was serious about these, it’s on Independence it would focus its campaign. For it is only as a sovereign state that it can have them”. Er presumably the author of this crude ill researched attack on plaid cymru missed the entirety of the 2021 senedd election campaign? Where plaid’s manifesto included a promise to hold a referendum on welsh independence within 5 years of a plaid govt. And presumably he’s unawares that plaid’s standing orders include the aim of securing a seat at the United Nations for Wales – hard to be more explicit on independence than that.
I’ll bite. I understand why you’d see Plaids promise of a referendum and commitment to gaining a seat at the UN as a commitment to Independence. On paper it certainly seemed that way but the promise of a referendum seemed more like a reactive move to growing support for Independence rather than a strategic move to achieving it. The promise was quite sudden and I remember I was concerned as it didn’t feel like the party had really laid groundwork to make it a credible and winnable proposition which made the promise feel like little more than a campaign tool.… Read more »
A crude ill researched attack on Plaid Cymru. A bit harsh I think. A sense of realism rather. Better by far to recognise the shortcomings rather than the rose tinted and utterly false idea that Independence would appear if we all voted for Plaid Cymru.. Where is this campaign you speak of, When a promise of a referendum is made, you need to be pretty sure that the public will support it. So where was the campaign to tell them that their pensions would be safe, that their wages would be enhanced, that their environment and social welfare would be… Read more »
It’s just another example of begging-bowl politics, which is the only type of politics that Plaid seems to know how to do. The Crown Estate revenues equate to ~3% of Wales’s fiscal deficit, according to the best available estimates. Unless Plaid can come up with a plan for the other 97%, they’re just playing around. Unlike Plaid, Gwlad are focused on the sort of structural economic reforms, many of which can be enacted using current devolved powers, which would deliver real economic growth. 5-10 years of GDP growth at the rate that ‘normal’ small countries typically achieve and the fiscal… Read more »
Plaid can’t even clean the fluff out of its own belly button because there’s a begging bowl blocking access. Getting hung up on issues in remote places while the grim realities at home are ignored. As much use as a wet paper bag.
So Gwlad would join Reform and want to turn Cymru into a slightly more prosperous part of England then? What joy! How could the Labour Governments find fault with that? Except it’s a grey future, not a green one. It’s not sustainable – economic growth based on the consumption of non-renewable resources (like fresh air, clean water and healthy soil, never mind the raw materials) must decline rapidly (and the longer we leave it, the more rapid it’ll have to be) if we are to survive as a species. The people of Cymru have a clearer idea of what the… Read more »
Aside form your inevitable negativism, what’s your plan?
Lots of green pots and subsistence living.
I’m pretty sure Gwlad don’t want Wales to be part of England. Yes the Crown Estate should be devolved and I will always argue for further devolution, but if as Stephen Morris suggests Wales is able to exercise economic growth within the powers it already has then why isn’t Welsh Labour doing so? Why waste millions of taxpayers money on a statute of a Welsh Dragon in Ebbw Vale when that money could have been spent on much needed investment? We need a Welsh Government that strives for ambition, that is willing to bring in real inward investment proper white… Read more »
For once in your life stop advertising your three member climate denying fringe party and wake up. Plaid is the only option for Wales, whether you like it or not.
It is the exact opposite of begging bowl politics. They are demanding we have control over what is ours, so that we can benefit from our own resources *instead* of having to beg Westminster to fund us. Granted, it is small fry in the grand scheme of things but that’s not an argument against devolving the crown estate!
Agree. Independence for Wales is clearly the answer but, as yet, the idea has not seeped into the collective Welsh consciousness. The Crown Estates, in contrast, is tangible and straight forward. The exercise shows how the Labour party and its Welsh Labour MP’s , in voting against it, dont represent the interests of Wales and Welsh people but Plaid do.
Exactly this, I thought this point would be obvious to most but it seems not! This is currently achievable, or rather should be if it weren’t for the unionist parties.
The fact that Independence hasn’t ‘ seeped ‘ into the consciousness of the public is surely a failure of Plaid Cymru, The Party of Wales, the so-called party of Independence. The point of the article is just that. They have failed to campaign, to persuade, instead expending their energy on the peripheral. Over the 25 years of devolution Plaid are no closer to achieving what is in its own constitution, than it was in the beginning. It is bad enough hearing excuses from its leaders, now it seems to be that the members are also getting into the habit. As… Read more »
The current voting system works against Plaid, so too the media/press. There’s no such thing as a free press in the UK, thats why Nation Cymru is much needed.
What really works against Plaid is that they have no significant support in the population centres. 2 out of 70 odd Councillors in Cardiff and none at all in Swansea and Newport I believe. They have had 25 years to articulate an alternative to Labour and have utterly failed. Unfortunately the voters have now find that alternative by the look of it.
Perhaps it is because Plaid, under Rhun ap Iowerth, are determined to win an election, in order to establish a foothold from which they can continue to build, rather than keep doing what they’ve been doing for decades and failing. They have finally managed to gain some traction on a devolution issue – I applaud them. The more puzzling question to me, is why on earth Labour haven’t nipped this in the bud already. As the article says, the block grant would reduce to offset the losses, so it would cost the treasury nothing, while removing one of Plaid’s most… Read more »
Your argument suggests that Plaid has developed a credible plan and that under Rhun ap Iowerth have suddenly found some political nous. If only that were the case. In the 2024 manifesto there was a claim to develop thousands of green technology jobs. And how were they going to pay for them, they would ask the Westminster government for £6 billion. A Westminster government that is prepared to see pensioners freeze to save less than £1 billion is going to give Plaid £6 billion. And that is the economic thinking of your future Plaid government. As for the Crown Estate.… Read more »
The government are enabled by the press and media to ignore Plaid and the needs of Wales. The problems and issues hardly get reported either UK wide or in Wales. BBC Wales is inept at reporting the ways in which Wales and Welsh people are kept poor. The many many ways in which wealth is sucked up from Wales to the already rich Westminster, London and the King is ignored. BBC Wales news is like a skip through la la land. Thank goodness for Nation Cymru.
That is the excuse repeatedly made by Plaid. The media isn’t against Plaid, I, as a member of the public, am fully aware that Wales was shortchanged on HS2 and. on the Barnet formula. Fully aware that Wales had suffered on electrification of rail. The failings of Westminster regarding coal spoil removal and I didn’t get any of that from Nation Cymru. The leadership of Plaid in particular gets coverage. They don’t use it. Plaids leader is a media person, should know how to exploit it. No,It’s not that they can’t get their message across, it’s that they don’t have… Read more »
Independence should be a long term strategy and I doubt that a referendum on the matter could be winnable anytime soon. Not until at least Scotland achieves it.
What argument is much more winnable is “parity with everyone else”. Not just Scotland, but also Northern Ireland or even England for that matter. That is very hard to be against.
They can just ignore it like they have for the last 25 years. What all this comes down to is leverage and Plaid directly asking for powers does more to let the state know that they have none.
Scotland has gained more powers as a result of its Independence campaign so the way forward seems pretty obvious. It’s not just about a referendum; it’s about the groundwork that goes up to building to that point which doesn’t exist because the party doesn’t know how to run a national campaign.
The UK and the Welsh media and press have a role to play here, they mostly ignore Plaid and the real issues in Wales.
SNP had the same issue. It overcame it. The media is only a barrier for those who are more content to work within the system rather than against it.
There is no chance of a referendum being granted in scotland or wales to that matter, due to the supreme court ruling against the SNP a few years ago.
SNP policy for years, campaign for independence, destroy and replace Labour. Plaid Cymru for years wobble about any commitment to independence and prop up Labour. Plaid Cymru lost the 2026 election in 2021 when they broke their pre-election promise and got into bed with Labour. In 2026 vote Propel or Gwlad it is time to get rid of unionist parties from the Senedd.