PLAID Cymru’s leader Rhun ap Iorwerth has said that a referendum on Welsh independence could “absolutely” be held within “our lifetime” after a poll predicted it will have the largest vote share in the 2026 Senedd elections.

A survey by YouGov on Tuesday said that the party would get around 30 per cent of votes and 35 seats in the Siambr, with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK coming second with 25 per cent of votes.

The Plaid leader ruled out holding a referendum on Wales leaving the UK in the first term of a Plaid-led Welsh government, when speaking to the BBC’s Walescast this week.

He has previously declined to put a timeline on a referendum, after Plaid’s last leader Adam Price promised such a vote within five years.

But Mr ap Iorwerth has since said that a referendum could form part of a Plaid government’s platform for the future, once it has built trust with the Welsh electorate