Wednesday 21 November 2012

Should Plaid concentrate on looking beyond Silk

Are Plaid preparing to temper enthusiasm for the Silk report and leave it to the Unionist to fight out?

Commenting on yesterday First Minister Question veteran BBC reporter Vaughan Roderick pointed out that Plaid Leader  Leanne Wood yesterday  concentrated on calling on the Welsh Government to spearhead legal action against banks and energy companies over market rigging. leaving the Silk commission call  on Tax varying powers to the Libdems La Pasionaria.

Vaughn  thought it was odd

But was it?

As I said yesterday Plaid should be arguing for parity with Scotland not this drip feed devolution where heaven the current proposal talk about them being implemented in 2020 after a referendum.

And even if  the Scottish Independence referendum  fails it is highly probable that will be granted further Autonomy measures after  the next General election.

At this rate it will  take 50 years to  catch Scotland and in the meantime  we fall further behind .

Also the Silk proposals are not the gift of the Assembly but Westminster and will depend on it being in the Manifesto for the 2015 or 2020 General Election.

Already ED Balls is lukewarm so there's no guarantee  it will be in Labour's manifesto.The Tories will be lukewarm and the only enthusiasts will be the LibDems who face extinction.

So should Plaid, really be wasting their energies on this rather then concentrating on calling for a whole package of powers to be devolved including Justice and Policing to achieve parity with Scotland  and openly state that this is only a prelude to independence.

Well yes . There's nothing in Silk for Plaid except to point out its limitations and the length of the process.

It may not be a Dead End but it is narrow and twisted passageway where the destination is unclear.

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