Should Wales Leave the UK? Independent Nation with Will Hayward

Following his previous book ‘Lockdown Wales’, Will Hayward (Welsh Affairs Editor, WalesOnline) has taken on the challenge of writing about one of the most contested and salient topics that came to the fore just before and during the Covid pandemic - Welsh independence. Long considered a minority interest commanding only 10-15% support, with even only ⅔ of Plaid Cymru supporters showing support for independence, the topic burst onto wider public discussion after a series of well attended rallies across Wales in 2019. Combined with an increasingly fractious relationship between a unionist Welsh Government and a UK Government intent on re-centralising power post-Brexit, support for Welsh independence gained a surprising amount of support from within the ranks of Welsh Labour and became the official policy of the Green Party. But as with all constitutional questions, for each strongly held opinion, there are a whole raft of complicated, unsexy questions that rarely get the scrutiny or depth of discussion that they deserve. In his book, Will asks the difficult questions of those on all sides of the argument while carefully laying out the facts and the quandaries of those people whose opinions are not so entrenched. You can buy the book here: https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/independent-nation And find Will on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/WillHayCardiff For all the latest from Hiraeth, follow us on the socials @HiraethPod and if you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a rating or review on your podcast app of choice.