Mark Drayford seems to want to take us on a different journey.

The UK must be open to Wales voting to quit the union, a Welsh Government report has said. Which has seen  a excellent analysis from Ifan Morgan Jones over at Nation Cymr though it's title    "Welsh Labour’s new plan to reform Westminster is either cynical or naive ." speaks volumes.

The unionist Welsh Government hopes voters would reject splitting the union - but it says the UK is best seen as a "voluntary association".

It seems appropriate  to repeat the VOW that  the three Unionist leaders  pledged to Scotland  in a successful bid to get the people to reject Independence.

Welsh Labour 2Vow"  follows a series of independence marches held across Wales in 2019.

First Minister and Welsh Labour leader Mark Drakeford called for an "entrenched and extended devolution settlement" to tackle what he sees as the challenges facing the union.

Mr Drakeford, who has been highly critical of the UK government's handling of Brexit, was delivering the Kier Hardie lecture in Merthyr Tydfil on Thursday.

"The continuation of the United Kingdom is, today, more at risk than at any moment in my political lifetime," he said.

Leader of pro-independence party Plaid Cymru Adam Price said there is now "no doubt that Wales should be able to hold an independence referendum".

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Mr Drakeford's lecture coincided with the publication of "Reforming Our Union", a Welsh Government paper that spells out constitutional reforms ministers in Cardiff believe the UK needs.

The document says that whatever the UK's historical origins, it is "best seen now as a voluntary associations of nations taking the form of a multi-national state".

It argues that in a voluntary association the union "must be open to any of its parts democratically to choose to withdraw from the Union".

"If this were not so, a nation could conceivably be bound into the UK against its will, a situation both undemocratic and inconsistent with the idea of a Union based on shared values and interests."

However if Labour in Scotland are anything to go by "Welsh" Labour will continue to cling to the Union like limpet , whilst thier London masters whover the leader is will lock down any moves in the Independence direction.


Prehaps  the real reason for Mark Drayfords's lecture was  his statement that Tt Plaid Cymru “blame the English for all our present discontents”, which Plaid’s Westminster leader Liz Saville-Roberts (born and bred in England) has called a “baseless smear”.

It is fear that Plaid Cymru will threaten their hegemony in Wales in the same manner the SNP have replaced them in Scotland , that rather than the constitutional pace we have in the UK that is behind his thinking.

How can rhe leader of a Welsh Government in Cardiff Bay who has resisted any idea of parity with Scotland  for the twnry years that Y Senedd has met  suddenly conclude that the Union as we know it is not fit the purpose.

Before a revolution many of the then leaders do not seek full independence abd that is true of even George Washington.

I have in the past state that  we are on a journey similar to the  have began to look at the journey as an analogy for devolution.

The first part of the journey Cardiff-Swansea was long and frustrating clearly my attention was to go North bur the Bus seemed to be making no progress in that direction.

This can be seen as the period from the election of the Plaid MP’s to the second Devolution referendum. The journey had begun (Though the bus had broken down in 1979) and it had become clear that we cold go further.

The Second part Swansea-Carmarthen. . Was a sign of real progress and you could feel the passengers spirits lift as they began to feel they were finally heading for they destination.

This can be seen the election of the first Assembly (Ironic that this would be Carmarthen after the referendum). Some felt the journey was over but others were now used to the difficulties of along journey and wished to go on.

The Third part Carmarthen-Lampeter was seen as some as unnecessary as they wished to go strait on to Aber. Buy some of the passengers wanted to stop there.

This is where we are at the moment some progress made but clearly this was not the end.

The forth part Lampeter- Aberystwyth was a real spurt for those heading to Aber there was a clear anticipation that their long journey would soon be over.

This where we are now after the result if the 2010 referendum is successful. For many it will seem unnecessary to travel any further.

For many the Fifth part Aberystwyth-Porthmadog was in reality be a new 
journey bur Porthmadog has many attractions and give you access to a Wales they had longed to see.

This will be the creation of a Welsh Parliament with full law making and Tax raising powers the final stage for some.

The final part of the journey Porthmadog-Bangor would have been taken by hardy soles some of who may have already broken their journey in Aberystwyth say. But you can imagine the joy they will feel when they see the outskirts of Bangor and realise the long journey.

it seems to me that events like Brexit and what is happening Scotland means for many that we should now move non stop to the Terminus.

Mark Drayford plan seems to be to divert the bus in a direction which has no clear end.