Gweriniaeth Pobl Cymru?

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Leo has just pointed out that there's some interesting stuff buried in Guardian Online and the BBC Online this morning, relating to an agreement reached by the Welsh Labour Government and the minority opposition party, Plaid Cymru. That this news hasn't surfaced in print or on TV is significant: it's either an attempt to bury the piece, or as is more likely, the usual English attitude that not much of significance happens on this side of Offa's Dyke. Whatever, we don't give much of a toss for metropolitan England for our part either.

The agreement is an operational and voting one, rather than a coalition, per se: with no government appointments for Plaid envisaged. However it means in practice that Labour will have a practical working majority over the official opposition, the Welsh Tories. The significance of this arrangement can be seen in the proposed raft of policies outlined in the buried news articles:

  • The establishment of rent controls
  • Free childcare for all two-year-olds
  • Free school meals to all primary schoolchildren
  • Limits on second-home ownership
  • A replacement for Council Tax
  • The creation of a National Construction Company
  • The creation of a National Power Company
  • Changes to the size of The Senedd and its electoral system, including guaranteed gender balance
  • Measures to promote the Welsh language
A lot of this looks to me like a welcome return to the core values of a Labour government and takes me back to my birth into a properly-functioning Welfare State in 1950's Britain. What the articles fail to mention are any proposals for Welsh NHS reform - which is sorely needed - something over which The Senedd has jurisdiction and needs to address as part of any wider reforms under the new arrangement.

Of course the best part of this news is that it is one in the eye for the Welsh Tories in particular and The Conservative & Unionist Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland generally. It serves as a welcome Celtic riposte to the current, woefully underperforming and corrupt UK government and its absurd popinjay of a Prime Minister. It also places the excellent Adam Price [Leader, Plaid Cymru] at the centre of Welsh politics in a very real sense. If this arrangement has the legs it should have, we could see some long overdue reforms in our country; potentially offering an example to the shower in Westminster as to how you really get things done if you care for, and take care of, your electorate.

Recent events and the current social 'care' debate have shown the Tories in their truest light, demonstrating clearly that they care not a whit for the very people who voted them into power last time. Let's hope the changes on our side of the border can initiate a sea-change in political and economic thinking in England. These arrangements certainly don't mean we will exactly get the Peoples' Republic of the title, but they should ensure safe distancing from the current insanity of Westminster and give us a bigger say in the the proper running of our country. Hwyl!

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