Welsh MP Jonathan Edwards will try to rally support for a Welsh referendum today, as he speaks to delegates at the second day of Plaid Cymru’s autumn conference. He is expected to say the Brexit referendum “drove a sledgehammer through the post-devolution period” and has caused a shift towards Welsh independence. The comments come after Plaid Cymru’s party leader, Adam Price, said he believed a referendum on Welsh independence would be held by 2030.

Mr Edwards predicts Brexit will do for independence what Thatcherism did for the devolution campaign.

He is expected to call on delegates to “finish the job started by devolution”.

The MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr will say: “I remember writing a university dissertation trying to explain the differences between the 1979 and 1997 Welsh referenda, and why Wales had gone from being overwhelmingly opposed to devolution to marginally voting in favour in the space of 18 years.

“The main reason was the Thatcherism inflicted upon Wales immediately after the first referendum. The people of our country yearned for a degree of protection via self-government.

“The Brexit referendum drove a sledgehammer through the post-devolution period in Welsh history and now the stakes in the game have been raised considerably.

“On the one hand Wales as a political nation will be re-subsumed by Westminster. On the other hand, we can finish the job started by devolution and become a normal independent European country.”

He will continue: “I am more convinced now than ever that Brexit, whatever happens from here in, will be for independence what Thatcher was for devolution.”

Mr Edwards’ comments come after the party’s leader, predicted a Welsh independence vote would be held by 2030.

He told BBC Radio Wales’ Breakfast programme a referendum would take place “definitely in the next decade”.

He said: “The UK as we know it could cease to exist in a short few years.”

Speaking at the conference in Swansea, Mr Price said Wales deserved £20billion in reconstruction funds paid for by Westminster.

He said his party’s mission is to convince Welsh voters “that independence is imperative if we are to solve our problems as a nation”.

Last month, a YouGov poll revealed support for breaking away from the UK is surging across Wales.

The survey of 1,039 voters found that nearly a quarter (24 percent) would vote for an independent Wales if there was a referendum tomorrow.

In a scenario in which the UK has left the EU but Wales has the option to become an independent state within the EU, support for Welsh independence grew to 33 percent.

The poll was conducted between September 6 and 10.

The figure is a significant rise from previous polls.

In December last year, a poll for Sky found that only 8 percent wanted Wales to be an independent state separate from the UK.

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