INDEPENDENCE campaigners hit back today at Welsh Conservative claims that devolution of the crown estates would not be in the best interests of Wales.

Plaid Cymru Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts was responding to Tory criticism of her demand for Wales’s devolved government to be given control of crown properties worth billions.

Shadow Welsh Conservative minister Janet Finch-Saunders had criticised the demand for devolution of the crown estates as causing uncertainty and said: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Ms Saville Roberts said: “As we saw over the coronation weekend, the extreme wealth of the British state contrasts starkly with the chronic poverty in our communities.

“She should ask herself whether a system that sees billions of pounds of profits generated by Welsh assets siphoned into the coffers of the UK Treasury, and, ultimately, the royal family, is a system that genuinely works.

“In Plaid Cymru’s view, that reflects a system that is utterly broken.”

Ahead of the weekend’s coronation the Plaid Cymru parliamentary leader had said devolving control over crown estate properties in Wales could help end a begging-bowl culture and give the country more say over financial decision-making. She suggested it could be used to provide better energy security and ease the rising cost of living in Wales.

The crown estate is an independent company that belongs to the monarch for the duration of their reign, though the revenue from its £16 billion property portfolio flows directly to the Treasury.

The estate’s holdings north of the border were devolved to Scotland in 2016, and its revenue now goes to the Scottish government.

The estate owns the UK seabed out to 12 nautical miles and Plaid Cymru said a similar arrangement to Scotland would give Wales a direct say in how the profits from new floating wind farms off the coast would be spent.

Plaid said attempts to raise the issue with the Conservative government had been a non-starter — but the party would push Sir Keir Starmer if Labour were to win the general election.

The sovereign grant pays for the King’s official duties as head of state and is currently set at 25 per cent of the crown estate’s annual profits. 

A Welsh government spokesperson said: “Devolving control over the crown estate would give us greater flexibility to choose how far and fast we deploy renewables in Wales. The benefits will go beyond meeting our climate targets. We have outstanding natural resources to generate renewable energy — we want to be able to use those to benefit people in Wales by investing in communities and green skilled jobs.”