On 17 January, following a two-year national conversation, the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales published their report. The publication outlined three potential options for Wales’s constitutional future: enhanced devolution, a federal UK and an independent Wales. WISERD Co-Director, Dr Anwen Elias, is a member of the Commission and part of the Centre for Welsh Politics and Society (CWPS) based at Aberystwyth University.
The release of the report was followed by an event, chaired by Dr Elias: ‘After the Constitutional Commission: Mapping the Road to Independence’. The event took place at the Norwegian Church Arts Centre in Cardiff and was well attended by policymakers and those of all political persuasions – offering an opportunity for discussion, in response to the report and also the implications for Plaid Cymru’s policy of independence for Wales.
As part of the event, leader of Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwerth MS, launched a new series of CWPS events on Constitutional Futures, which will consider the future governance of Wales from different perspectives and allow opportunities for further discussion of the different options presented by the new report.
WISERD co-director and Commission member, Dr Anwen Elias, said:
The Independent Commission started the national conversation on Wales’s constitutional future, but that also has to continue now that the Commission has finished its work. As a research centre, we want to play our part in helping that to happen.
People in Wales want to talk about how their country is governed; through our series of events on ‘Constitutional Futures’ we’re looking forward to creating opportunities for the discussion to continue.