Plaid Cymru leadership candidate Leanne Wood has received official confirmation that Wales is being recognised as a country in the eyes of the international community.
In its latest newsletter, the International Standards Organization (ISO) correctly refers to Wales as a country within the United Kingdom. This follows successful lobbying of the influential body to stop referring to Wales as a ‘principality’ by Ms Wood, the AM for South Wales Central.
Ms Wood will tell supporters at a meeting in Blaenau Ffestiniog on Friday (Jan 20th) that it is now time for Wales to move forward as a confident nation.
The amendment by the ISO comes after the matter was first raised with Ms Wood by constituent Dai Barnaby from Llantrisant in 2010. This led to Ms Wood raising the anachronistic description of Wales with the Welsh Government’s Counsel General at the time, the First Minister, the ISO and the British Standards Institute (BSI), who are responsible for supplying information to the ISO.
The term principality refers to a monarchical feudatory or sovereign state whose ruling monarch is a prince or a princess with an executive role in administering the state. Since the Prince of Wales has no role in administrative control over Wales and has not done for centuries, the term is archaic in constitutional terms.
Up until recently, ISO Newsletters had described the United Kingdom as consisting of two countries; England and Scotland, with Northern Ireland described as a province and Wales a principality.
Ms Wood said she was pleased the matter was now finally resolved.
“It is debateable whether Wales was ever a principality as the territory that existed between 1216 and 1542 was significantly different to the boundaries of modern Wales,” said Ms Wood.
“Wales is a country and has been for many centuries. We have our own unique language and cultures and now a primary law-making legislature. References to Wales being a principality should remain firmly in the past.
“While the ISO Newsletter may be an esoteric publication, it is influential within the international community and a reference point for many important decision makers. Apart from being wrong, the information within the ISO newsletter may have perpetuated a notion of Wales as being somehow inferior.”
Ms Wood added: “I would like to pay tribute to Mr Barnaby for raising this issue with me in the first place and campaigning so vigorously for Wales to be rightly acknowledged as a country.”
