Candidate for outside of Wales
Shwmae? I’m David Hannington-Smith, better known as Daf Smith. I live outside of Cymru, near Warwick in the English West Midlands. My family are Welsh, but I grew up in England.
I took the first opportunity to move back to Wales by studying at Cardiff University. Sadly, after my 3 years there, I couldn’t stay, but since then, the hiraeth has grown constantly. I started supporting Welsh independence after conversations with my late best friend. He was from Ammanford in Carmarthenshire. We met at Cardiff University, and we started getting interested in indy in 2008.
Since we first opened our minds to the idea that Wales could be independent, our conviction grew to a point where we knew Wales should be independent. We both joined YesCymru back in 2019, and until his passing in 2021, we both worked as best we could to pass on what we had researched together, convincing as many people as possible.
I’m standing for a position on the board because now I believe even more strongly that Cymru should be independent, and I want to work with the rest of the board and YesCymru’s membership, past, present and future, to ensure it happens. I have experience with event organisation & coordination, communications, writing published articles, video content creation & editing, podcast hosting, interviewing, public speaking and education. I also have much experience in peer-reviewed research, including systems, engineering, energy, ecology, economics & history. I’m also a data and statistics nerd! I currently work as an engineer in the automotive sector and have experience as a project manager in the renewable energy sector. Dw i’n dysgu Cymraeg gyda Dewi Lingo, but I am currently most confident speaking English. I plan to improve my grasp of Cymraeg while serving on the board.
Cymru finally lost its independence 740 years ago. I aim to stop that from reaching 750 years. I am confident that the facts and the arguments are on our side, and I look forward to working with all members to bring Wales the independence it desperately needs to fix the issues the country is currently experiencing as a result of an involuntary and unfair union.
I’m hugely grateful to those who nominated me for this role, those who said they would nominate me, and everyone else in the movement who has supported me so far.
I also wish to declare that I was previously a member of the Green Party of England and Wales, but I am not currently a member of any other political organisation besides YesCymru.