A new poll has found that most people in Cymru support Wales having control over areas such as health, education and housing instead of Westminster. The poll shows that almost two thirds of people in Wales are happy with the level of devolution in Wales or want the transfer of powers from Westminster to Wales to go further.
Since 1999, the Senedd/Welsh Parliament has had control over key decision-making areas following the results of a referendum. This devolution of powers continued following 2011 which gave the then-Welsh Assembly law-making powers.
Devolution and the powers wielded in Wales has been a real talking point in recent years. Some, like First Minister Mark Drakeford, feel that the Welsh Government needs more powers to be able to properly serve the people of Wales, whereas politicians like Boris Johnson have described devolution in the UK as a "mistake." Some political parties in Wales are calling for the Welsh Parliament to be abolished (though these parties were wiped out in the last Senedd election in 2021) whereas there have also been increasing calls for Welsh independence since Brexit.
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A poll by Beaufort Research for WalesOnline asked a representative sample of 1,000 people in Wales 'Which of the following do you most agree with?'*
- The Senedd / Welsh Parliament should be abolished - 17%
- The Senedd / Welsh Parliament should have fewer powers - 6%
- We should leave things as they are now - 25%
- The Senedd / Welsh Parliament should have more powers - 23%
- Wales should become independent, separate from the UK - 16%
This chart shows the percentage of people who replied for each answer with the people who answered "don't know" (13%) not included:
Almost four in ten of those interviewed (39%) would like to see independence for Wales (16%) or more powers for the Senedd (23%). Conversely, around one in four (23%) would like to see the Senedd abolished (17%) or fewer powers for the Senedd (6%).
When you break down the results, one of the biggest differentiators between how people vote is age. Younger people are most likely to want independence or more powers (with 57% of 16-24s choosing these options, compared to 39% overall). Older people are most likely to want the Senedd abolished or fewer powers (with 38% of the 65+ age group choosing these, compared to 23% overall).
The figures for those supporting Welsh independence are relatively low compared to what we were seeing during the peak of the pandemic when support was nearer to 30%. Though this matches with other polls which suggest a fall in support for Welsh indy it is also worth noting that unlike most polls which are a binary choice for/against independence, in this one independence was just one of five options.
*The response scale was inverted in the survey, so that in around half of the interviews the option ‘Wales should be become independent, separate from the UK’ appeared at the top and ‘The Senedd/ Welsh Parliament should be abolished’ appeared at the bottom. This is done to avoid any bias arising from the same responses always appearing first.
Fieldwork took place between June 5–25, 2023, with 1,000 online interviews completed and analysed. The results were adjusted to ensure they accurately reflected the views of a cross-section of the adult Welsh population.
