Whenever a Welsh nationalist complains about the Labour party not giving due support to Wales, one can always guarantee that one of the party's rent-a-gobs will come up with the line that it was Labour that delivered the Welsh Assembly. One has to accept that it was a Labour Government that passed the Government of Wales Act 1998, but that doesn't make Labour the heroes of Welsh self determination. One of my main reasons for hating the Labour party is the fact that they have had to be dragged kicking and screaming for almost 100 years before allowing Wales to have a second rate elected chamber.
When he was elected as the first Welsh Labour MP in 1900 Keir Hardy promised a legislative parliament for Wales. The fact that Labour have failed to keep up with this 109 year old policy form my next 15 reasons for not voting Labour
11) 77 years latter, the Labour party introduced a bill to allow the weakest possible form of devolution for Wales.
12) The Labour Government didn't support devolution for Wales out of principal, it promised a bill in order to gain Plaid and SNP votes in a hung parliament, in order to hang on to power for a few more desperate years.
13) Labour renaged on its promies to the national parties by insisting on a referendum
14) It skewed the referendum by ensuring that dead people who couldn't vote were considered to be opponents of devolution
15) It allowed members of the party to campaign against government policy without fear or hindrance. Indeed it allowed the likes of Neil Kinnock to base their future careers in the Labour Party hierarchy on the basis of opposing the Governments supposed support for devolution
16) Labour realized that it had to secure it's Scottish heartlands in order to form a government, so agreed a policy of Scottish devolution fort the sake of self preservation. A weakened form of Welsh devolution was thrown into the pot for good measure.
17) Wales was offered a parish council, rather than the parliament that Scotland was given.
18) Despite the good offices of some Welsh Labour politicians, Labour party members were the most vociferous opponents of devolution, yet again, in 1998
19) After electing a new Assembly for Wales, Westminster Labour decided who the First secretary should be
20) Realizing that devolution to wales wasn't working, Labour decide not to change things, but to employ a commission, the Richards Commission to investigate the devolution settlement
21) One million pounds latter Labour ignore the findings of the Richards commission
22) The Government of Wales Act 2006 invents LCO's
23) LCO's prove unworkable but Labour refuses to back down on the system
24) Despite the findings of the Killbrandon Commission and the Richards Commission, Labour employs yet another commission, the Emyr Jones Commission to look again at devolution.
25) Labour politicians (and most Plaid AM's) can't see that it is elected members who are employed to make decisions - not unelected commissioners!
26) Welsh Labour MPs with the support of English Tories make the ELCO system unworkable
27) The GoW Act 2006 contains yet another referendum clause. And Labour's anti Welsh brigade join in with die-hard Tories to form "True Wales" to oppose further right for Wales
What happened to number 28?
ReplyDeleteGreat feature by the way.
According to Tony Blair, it was Scotland that got the parish council, so god knows what you guys got.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the struggle, the empire decays!!