To better understand the nature of the difference between Wales and England, I recommend the excellent podcast by Will Hayward: ‘For Wales, See Wales’. It’s available on YouTube. Will also has a newsletter on Welsh politics and culture.
The name of the podcast is a play on the legendary reference in the Encyclopaedia Britannica of 1888 in which the entry for Wales consisted of the four words ‘For Wales, See England’. This phrase reflects a historical perception of Wales being subsumed by or secondary to England, particularly in the context of British history and culture. Will Hayward has provided over the last year an essential insight on Wales for those who live outside its border; as if to drive home his point, Hayward inverts the trope.
Yet sadly, the attitude of Starmer’s cabinet and London Labour reflects a cultural mindset worthy of the Encyclopaedia in all its 19th century glory.
A recent exchange between the sole Welsh Lib-Dem Member of Parliament and a Starmerite Treasury Minister revealed that Wales should be glad for what it gets. Had this been Scotland a storm of anger would have broken across the media. Sadly, although it is 138 years since the claim of 1888 by the great Encyclopaedia the belief remains; the Oxford to Cambridge railway project is still listed as spending for ‘England and Wales’. The attitude of Welsh members of the PLP is very poor. Only five Welsh Members of Parliament voted against the Welfare Bill. By contrast most of the Labour’s Senedd members were quite aware of its damaging effect upon the people of Wales.
How can we account for the difference between the perceptions of London Labour and that of Wales? For one thing, it’s clear that Starmer and much of the Cabinet are little-English Unionists. To many of them the Senedd is unseen and misunderstood. It’s seen by many as no more significant than a large metropolitan council and Starmer’s own speeches refer often to it as a devolved region and assembly rather than a Parliament in its own right.
At the recent Welsh Labour conference Starmer was listed in the programme as speaking for 45 minutes. Yet the car taking him back had picked him up and was gone in a little over half an hour. Perhaps the greatest indicator of his attitude and that of his staff was his speech projected on a screen at the back of the hall; it was not on an autocue nor was it hidden in any way. There was, in large letters, an ‘idiot’s guide’ to pronouncing Welsh words, and an ironic revelation of how to pronounce the Welsh word for ‘thank you’. The word is ‘diolch’ but Keith’s busy team had placed a sub ‘phonetic’ guide to help him out. In large capital letters easily seen by everyone was the legendary crib: ‘DEE-OCK’.
Welsh Labour has held its last conference before the Senedd election of next May. There will be no Autumn or Spring conference. We have just seen the last Welsh Labour Conference as the dominant party of the last 104 years.
Will Hayward observed that the conference resembled the last days of the Tories under Truss and Sunak. Although Eluned Morgan is doing her utmost to make it otherwise, the zeitgeist is overwhelming both her and Welsh Labour. She has worked hard to create a clear Red Welsh Labour difference between herself and Starmer. She has been clear on Palestine, she has called for taxing the rich and has played on the theft by the English state of coal, water and of the threat to wind. But it’s over and Welsh Labour is facing the fate of the old Liberal Party. Labour has maintained its dominant role by reinventing itself repeatedly over the last century. After the disastrous rule of Vaughan Gething, the break-up of the understanding between Plaid and Labour and the disasters of Starmer’s government, Eluned Morgan stands to inherit the whirlwind of history.
In the Senedd elections of next year, Wales has been grouped into sixteen twinned constituencies of six members each. The electorate will then vote simply by party and not by candidates’ name. The order on each list will be a matter for the party and not the public at large. It’s a gift for Reform. Fortunately, though, they are unlikely to be voted into power as the proportional nature of the system will at best only give them 30% of the seats.
Labour, on 18% in the polls, will at best be a junior partner of a Plaid government. It’s going to be a vicious election. Reform bots and trolls are intimidating and bullying those who point out its ever-changing chameleon policies and positions. Welsh politics is growing ugly, intimidating and brutal. Wales is ill at ease.
In local council by elections Labour continues to lose seats to Reform. Plaid seems more successful in resisting them and by far the party with the greatest resistance to them is the Liberal Democrats in Mid and West Wales. There is still 10 months to go but the post-industrial Valleys of South Wales look ready to fall to Reform. A third of Labour’s vote has gone to Plaid. Reform is gathering those who have not voted for years, the Tories may get between three and five Senedd members. There may well be a Green elected next year but for Welsh Labour, it’s over. Après Drakeford, le déluge.
