A MAJOR cross-party report into the constitutional future  of Wales has concluded that independence is a viable option.

The final report of the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales was published on Thursday and concluded the status quo and current devolution settlement are “not sustainable”.

It recommends a range of measures to strengthen the current settlement, including the devolution of justice and policing.

But it equally stresses the status quo is unsustainable and that three options – independence, entrenched devolution, and federalism – are viable.

Entrenched devolution would fix and expand the Senedd’s powers and make sure the powers Wales has are protected.

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The commission was established under the co-operation agreement between Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Government.

It has spent the past two years considering options for reform, in what has been dubbed the biggest national conversation Wales has had about its constitutional future since devolution.

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said the report was “ground-breaking” and called it a “very significant step forward in terms of the constitutional debate in Wales”.

He added steps need to be taken “immediately” to build on the current devolution settlement.

“This is a very significant piece of work and sets the tone for the discussion to come on the constitutional future of Wales and I’m excited about the possibilities that are explored in this ground-breaking report,” he said.

“It is crystal clear that the status quo and the limited devolution we have is not sustainable. Steps need to be taken immediately to build on the current settlement and as a party we will be urging the implementation of the series of recommendations on strengthening Welsh democracy settlement with immediate effect.

“As somebody who has always believed in our ability to take all the levers of change into our hands, to have a report of this stature spelling out unambiguously that independence is a genuine option for us as a means to realise our potential is a very significant step forward in terms of the constitutional debate in Wales.”

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Ap Iorwerth added the report paints a “clear picture” that neither enhanced devolution nor federalism will provide the “long-term answers” Wales needs.

It comes after Ap Iorwerth told The National that the Barnett Formula needed to be scrapped.

He suggested he would like to work with Plaid Cymru’s “sister” party, the SNP, to make funding for devolved nations fairer across the UK through a needs-based model entrenched in legislation.

Made up of representatives from across and beyond all of Wales’ major political parties, the Commission has spent two years considering and delivering options for fundamental reform of constitutional structures in Wales and strengthening Welsh democracy.

In its interim report in December 2022, the Commission – made up of representatives from across and beyond all of Wales’s major political parties – determined that the current devolution settlement is unstable as a result of Brexit, Covid, and the preceding decade of Tory-imposed austerity.

It also determined that there were three realistic options for Wales’ constitutional future – entrenched devolution, federalism and independence.