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Okay so here are some thoughts on the Report of the Independence Commission. I'll add to this as I make my way through the whole report.
Dewch hefo fi
Dewch hefo fi
1 First of all, while the commission may have been independent, this is Plaid Cymru's vision. Anyone who is disappointed with with content of the report would do well to remember this - the recommendations aren't radical because Plaid isn't radical;
2 This isn't a road map. This is the opening salvo. Treat it as the answer and you'll likely be disappointed, but treat it as an initial sketch and you'll be more convinced that with some (actually, a lot of) work we'll be able to turn it into a blueprint;
3 It might not be comprehensive, far from it, but it is the most comprehensive document on how we might think about the practicalities of winning independence. Nothing like it has been produced before in Wales. Credit is due;
4 The lack of radicalism, the focus on process, might actually be it's greatest strength. Hear me out. It's unlikely Plaid will get a majority in 2021, so in reality it will have to convince a coalition partner to agree to some of these measures. Implementing the recommendations
of the Commission on Justice for Wales should be an easy(ish) sell, as should some amount of civil service reform. Setting up a National Commission is a reasonably neutral act. An non-binding exploratory referendum seems a sensible, conservative policy - who could disagree? Bear
in mind that their likely coalition partners are a nominally unionist Labour party looking for a way to appease the majority of its voters who support independence without rocking the boat too much. This looks to be an extremely savvy approach from Plaid;
5 The focus on rejoining the EU seems grounded in the handful of YouGov polls asking about our future constitutional settlement, which shows a rise in support for an indy Wales if it were to rejoin the EU. While this might be the obvious conclusion to draw from the polling, we
need to think about whether rejoining the EU is what is going to convince the current indy sceptics, or whether it only helps nudge the curious to be confident. The recommendation in the report to rejoin might be too strong,
but the suggestion of focus groups to better understand this dynamic is sensible. The report also recognises that any rejoining would likely occur decades in the future;
6 Devolution of justice and creating a separate legal jurisdiction for Wales might seem like old news (it is) but it should be done anyway, *now*, is an important foundation for independence, and more importantly might help people to think of Wales as a more "real" entity;
7 Civil service reform might not be sexy either, but when you read that "the current mindset puts delivery second best to maintenance of the status quo" you know reform will be needed if we're ever going to win independence;
8 For anyone further to the left of "social democrat" the material on addressing the fiscal gap is distinctive underwhelming. Economic orthodoxy - be like Ireland - is the name of the game. Maybe it's a sensible approach as it's easy to point across the sea and say
"don't you want to be more like Ireland" but the commission has missed a trick by not considering more radical measures such as jettisoning GDP, degrowth, a Green New Deal, UBI or a universal capital endowment etc. The foundational economy is only mentioned in passing;
9 I know there's a debate to be had but in my opinion Wales must have monetary sovereignty. The benefits of having your own currency far far far outweigh the negatives, even additional transaction costs due to the currently highly integrated Anglo-Welsh market;
And that's me done for tonight. Half way through. More to come tomorrow.
