11/04/2011

Is A Labour Vote in the Assembly Election a Vote for Middle England?

Will Paterson has an interesting post that highlights the fact that there are evident similarities between the Labour Party's Election Broadcast for the Scottish Parliament, The English Counties and the National Assembly.

The PEB's are not the only things that are similar between the campaigns in the three countries.

The main thrust of debate from Labour in the three elections is that a vote for Labour is a means to protect the Local Authority / Scotland / Wales from Westminster cuts; which is nonsense of course. County Council have little ability to protect their constituents from Central Government cuts, and it is scarcely possible for the Scottish and Welsh Governments to protect their residents from the cuts either, without the fiscal powers to do so.

The Welsh Assembly Government's record of protecting Wales from the Westminster cuts so far has been an abysmal list of failure: S4C, The Passport Office, St Athan etc. etc. Not that I'm blaming the Labour/PC coalition Government in the Bay for these failures - the Assembly, as it is, just doesn't have the power to resist the central ConDem attacks on Wales. But it is a dirty rotten lie to build peoples hopes up by claiming that a vote for Labour in the Assembly Elections is going to change the situation!

The third thing that is similar in the three campaigns is the decision to treat the three elections as a mid-term referendum on the failures of the Westminster Government.

Labour in all three countries attacks the Hairy Arsed Tory Monster and the Ogre of Thatcherism (whilst forgetting to mention that Labour continued to pursue Thatcherite policies and even praised Mrs Thatcher during its recent term of British Government). They also try to link all of their opponents to the Tories.

Linking Liberal Democrats to The Beast is an obvious tactic. The policy of linking the SNP also makes some sense; many of the successes of the SNP minority government have derived from the support of the Conservative Party in Parliament (although many of their failures to pass measures derive from the fact that Labour voted with the Conservatives to defeat them). But to follow the same narrative in Wales is ridiculous.

Okay Plaid doesn't say No! No! Never! to a coalition with the Conservatives, but the majority of its spokesmen have said that it is highly unlikely! And which party has Plaid actually been propping up in Welsh Government for the past four years?

It is perfectly obvious that Labour is not campaigning in this series of elections in order to benefit any English County, nor in order to benefit Scotland nor to be of benefit to Wales.

The whole thrust of The Labour Campaign seems to be in the interest of the British Labour Party. The only purpose of a Labour Government in Wales will be to rehabilitate the UK Labour party at a Westminster level, not for the best governance of Wales for the benefit of Wales - a situation that is rotten enough in itself!

The frightening reality is, that if the main purpose of a Labour Government in the Bay is to restore some credulity to British Labour, it won't govern Wales in the interest of Wales - it will govern Wales in a way that appeals to those voters that Labour lost in Middle England in 2010, and that will be bad for Wales.

15 comments:

  1. I and my family would usually give my vote to the Conservative Party, this time we are lending our vote to the Labour Party to help keep out Ron Davies, he has changed his coat 4 times to many, it sticks in the throat, but needs must ....

    AV in Wales would be welcome, the current First Minister suggested it would be welcome, as it would be possible to vote for our preferred party to show support in the hope ..... , then lend our vote as an obstacle to the aspirations of Davies....

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  2. @John. Alas the Tories don't have the proverbial snowball's chance in Caerffili anyway.

    So yes, vote Labour once if you really detest the little pipsqueak that much, but, for goodness sake, make sure you keep the blue flag flying in the regional ballot!

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  3. I think that would be a bad mistake, John. The Assembly urgently needs more politicians with the intelligence and political experience of Ron Davies.

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  4. Funny how Labour's campaign in Wales and Scotland says nothing about Wales and scotland. it's all 'against the cuts'. In this respect the continious news about the NHS on London news means many people in Wales will actually vote Labour so as to show a protest against the Tory policies for the NHS ... when Andrew Lansdsley's policies on the NHS are for England only and nothing to do with Wales.

    Of course, Labour in Wales won't point that out as they're happy to think that a vote for Labour in Wales is a vote against NHS reform in England.

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  5. tory, labour, spot the differance. without ron davies devolution would never have occurred, and many dinasours in that party never forgave him.

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  6. Interesting that a Tory like John could happily vote Labour to keep out a genuine progressive voice for the Assembly. Says a lot about how similar Lab and Tory are in reality.

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  7. It's almost a colonisation of the mind- they want a completely British mindset to dominate our elections in Wales. Governing alone, the same mindset would be translated into policies, exactly as MOF suggests.

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  8. I am hugely disappointed by the Unionist parties - this was a great chance for their Welsh chapters so show independence of thought, and they have blown it!

    'Cut Waste', 'More money to front line services', blah, blah, blah. When are they going to realises that in order to survive in the long term, they are going to have to start thinking Welsh?

    The only radical idea we have seen so far is the Build for Wales policy, which the other three have rubbished without even understanding it. I'm sure that whoever gets in, it will be introduced within the first assembly, probably presented as a Labour idea.

    It appears we voted YES in March, but the London Parties are still not ready to actually think about what that means.

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  9. Sometimes, your opponents define your position better than your supporters do!

    If I was a member of Ron's campaign team I would send leaflets out stating in big bold letters that John the Stonemason is voting Labour because he hates Ron.

    With enemies like John who needs friends?

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  10. I've retired Alwyn ...

    ... it is his coat that turns so consistently, plus of course he describes himself, or is described, as the architect of the dogs dinner in Cardiff Bay; hate is very harsh, vilipended would be prefered ...

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  11. Ron Davies may have changed parties but he himself hasn't changed. He was always a good Welshman; the mistake he made was in believing that he could do the best for Wales from within the Labour Party.

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  12. ... it is his coat that turns so consistently

    He's not in the same class in Winston Churchill though

    Hendre

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  13. Probably not Hendre, Churchill was a dab hand at the political hop skip and jump, a friend of that great man David Lloyd George, it must be a trait of politicians ... being all things to all people, when they need election.

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  14. ... that should be ...

    ... when they need electing.

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  15. I'm a musician with strong conservative views, and I saw some rather tasteless and controversial videos of this 'punk' band (the King Blues) where a policemen gets hanged and another glorifying the anarchical side of the protests in London. I hope these hooligans sell out!

    what's with all this new found republicanism??!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lD8gey7HYI

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJu647r7MXE

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