Welsh Labour shy away from the Independence debate and yet it is an important constitutional issue,
They appear wedded to the Union.
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| Please can I have some more |
Why?
Who do we mean by Welsh Labour in this context. Is it the Welsh Labour government, or the members.?
One of the problems is that Welsh Labour is too often defined by the actions of their AMs, or even UK Labour.
According to the public opinion polls, for what they are worth, between 250,000 and 650,000 people in Wales would support Independence, according to whichever poll you choose. it is therefore feasible that many of Welsh Labours members are among that number. However except for a few activists their views are not heard on the matter. Why don't they speak up, well perhaps it's because they never have.
Why are Labour AMs, The Welsh Labour government, afraid of Independence, or even raising the Independence debate?
Perhaps its the fear of Government, proper, real Government.
Presently the Government of Wales is a distribution centre. It has a lump of money given to it and it doles it out.
Wales is a passive recipient of an allocation of money. the money is to provide public services. Whether it is a fair allocation the Wales Government cannot decide. It cannot increase the total or control the amount, it just distributes it according to perceived priorities. Wales has no other income. They cannot borrow to invest, all major projects in Wales are at the discretion of Westminster. The Welsh Government's help to business in the Covid crisis, was at the expense of other services. The dependence on Westminster has not been helpful to the Wales economy, think of the failure to invest in the Swansea bay lagoon and electrification of the rail system to West Wales as two examples. Recent reports have also highlighted that Wales has only received 75% of the UK average investment in Transport infrastructure and Research and Development.
The Wales Labour supports the status quo, indeed agreed the financial settlement.
Twenty years of devolution, under this system and with a Wales Labour government, has led to a Wales, the poorest not only of the UK nations, but of the UK regions. With wages in Wales significantly less than the UK average and business productivity lower. Education standards below average, 200,000 children in poverty and the Wales NHS in a mess (workers excepted.) Roads need fixing, public services cut and insufficient money to deal with increasing flood risks.
Welsh governments answer is to rely on the " benevolence" of Westminster to hand over the means to solve these problems. The First Minister of Wales like Oliver Twist, holding out the bowl begging for more.
It is too comfortable for them not to have to make the economic and social decisions that other governments throughout the world make daily. Decisions on taxes, investment, borrowing and growing the economy etc. To always have someone else to blame.
it is also dishonest. They know full well that with the present constitutional constraints and economic and legislative powers they cannot deliver meaningful change.
They also insult the Welsh people, by suggesting, by this approach, that with planning and leadership, they do not have the skills, resourcefulness and resolution, to stand on our own feet.
When will Welsh Labour learn that Wales is insignificant to Westminster and that there is a reckoning for this fence sitting. Welsh Labour is increasingly losing public support. Not only is it being blamed for its own failings, but also for things outside its control. The Mr Micawber approach that something will turn up, will no longer do. the consequence is handing the initiative to the Tories whose only ambition is power.
The nearest that Welsh Labour has come to addressing Independence, is the pronouncement of the First Minister, Mark Drakeford, that "Wales support for the Union is not unconditional".
Perhaps he should enter the Independence debate by telling the Welsh public what those conditions are.
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