THE Morning Star organised a fringe event in Nefyn on the Llŷn peninsular as part of this year’s National Eisteddfod celebrations. 

On Thursday evening people left the Maes (the Eisteddfod field) in Boduan and made their way to Y Ganolfan, a community-run centre in the heart of Nefyn, to hear the debate. 

On one side, Robert Griffiths, general secretary of the Communist Party of Britain and Meic Birtwistle, a Labour Party member and a journalist of the left (and contributor to the Morning Star) argued for a progressive federalism for Britain. 

Liz Saville-Roberts, Plaid Cymru MP for Llŷn and Eifionydd, and Elin Hywel, Plaid Cymru councillor for Pwllheli North, debated for an independent Wales. The evening was chaired by Selwyn Jones.

The setting itself was an interesting backdrop, with the sea on one side and the mountains of Eryri in the near distance. Once your eyes adjust, among the banners, bunting and Welsh flags typical of the welcome given to visitors at each Eisteddfod, you also start to notice on walls and fences and street signs, the slogan: “Nid yw Cymru Ar Werth” (Wales is Not For Sale) and even some Free Wales Army signage.

This is an area that has seen the local population struggle for housing. In the seaside town of Abersoch there are so many second homes that there are not enough children left to fill the local school, which closed as a result. 

In this area, when the local community struggles to afford housing and is forced to disperse, it is more than just a local loss. As a nation we begin to lose our language in one of its strongholds: there is a lot at stake here.

Griffiths argued that whatever happens in the future the first step must be towards a progressive federal Britain. 

Britain is the sixth-wealthiest country in the world and federalism is the only way to guarantee the return of wealth that was Wales’s in the first place. It is a way of securing solidarity between the working class in Britain as a whole. 

We must recognise that the working class of each nation is fighting for the same thing. Saville-Roberts insisted that Westminster does not work for Wales and never would; federalism with such a dominant neighbour could not work. 

Even if federalism were the easiest outcome to aim for, it does not mean that it’s the best one, she said. It has a transitory quality — the threat of having powers withdrawn again would remain in a way that wouldn’t be possible if independence were won.

In this part of Wales, perhaps because of the influx of tourists buying second homes and the devastating effect this has, the local community has taken matters into its own hands with community-run projects. 

Y Ganolfan in Nefyn is one example alongside a community-run pub with accommodation, a hotel and a shop: all in all around 400 people are employed in this way. 

Elin Hywel stressed that for her it is the community that is important and which can make the most difference in our future. Whether our country is run from Cardiff or Westminster, what is needed is more power to local communities so that people can make their own decisions and democracy is handed to the people themselves.

Meic Birtwistle argued that this cannot be the only answer: there is an overarching structure that must be addressed. In his home area of rural west Wales, local farmers with land and property also tend to hold power on local councils and generally within the local population.

Interesting questions were raised by audience members: what would the Communist Party have said to James Connolly in 1916, just before the Easter Rising, when Britain was not the sixth-wealthiest country in the world, but the wealthiest. Would it have told him to wait for the wealth to be distributed evenly? 

Another audience member said that if we want an independent Wales we will need to persuade our own people. With federalism, it is not only the Welsh that we need to persuade but the English and the Scottish too, and what right do we have to try to convince the English and the Scottish of what is best for their country? They should decide for themselves. And the Welsh, who have had enough of Westminster’s rule, should also decide for themselves.

On the ground in Wales, there are many groups and cross-party alliances campaigning for a socialist future within an independent Wales. 

Whether federalism comes first, whether it will be the end point or whether independence is won, each panel member could agree that the status quo does not work. As Wales grapples with future possibilities, this is surely a debate that will continue.