Monday 26 March 2018

Has Owen Smith spoken on Brexit's impact on Wales?

Labour’s Owen Smith says Jeremy Corbyn made a “mistake” by firing him from his shadow cabinet

The MP for Pontypridd was sacked from his role as shadow Northern Ireland Secretary on Friday following an article he wrote for the Guardian calling for a second referendum.

I am not sure as AAV indicates that this was a debilitate move  to undermine Corbyn and wreck Labour's chances in the May council elections in England,

Owen Smith coming out and defying the party line (which is that Labour will vote against Tory Brexit if it fails to meet the six conditions laid out by Kier Starmer) is the first blow in a internal wrecking campaign designed to reduce the Labour vote.

They know that in order for this strategy to work hundreds of Labour councillors will have to lose their jobs, and multiple local authorities will need to be ceded to the austerity fixated Tories. But they see these disastrous outcomes as a price worth paying in order to have another stab at getting rid of Corbyn and turning Labour back into a centre-right, pro-austerity, orthodox neoliberal party they want it to be, so that they can hover ever so slightly to the left of the barkingly right-wing Tories and deny the electorate any real economic choice.
I am not sure  Owen Smith has the Machiavellian skills to pul this off

Mr Smith said:

 “Given that it is increasingly obvious that the promises the Brexiters made to the voters – especially, but not only, their pledge of an additional £350m a week for the NHS – are never going to be honoured, we have the right to keep asking if Brexit remains the right choice for the country. And to ask, too, that the country has a vote on whether to accept the terms, and true costs of that choice, once they are clear. That is how Labour can properly serve our democracy and the interests of our people.
Making the case for staying in the single market, he said:

 “If we insist on leaving the EU then there is realistically only one way to honour our obligations under the Good Friday agreement and that is to remain members of both the customs union and the single market. I’m pleased my party has taken a big step in this direction by backing continued customs union membership, but we need to go further.”
Mr Smith, who was a special adviser to former Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy, argued a hard border in Northern Ireland must be avoided at all costs, stating:

 “The openness of the Irish border is a hugely important sign of the continuing successes – despite all the problems – of the peace process cemented into the Good Friday agreement. More than that, it demonstrates, every day, that different identities, histories and jurisdictions can coexist on the island without threatening each side’s integrity or legitimacy.
“Given the immense suffering, in Britain as well as in Northern Ireland and the Republic, during the Troubles, we mess with these symbols at our peril...
“More than that, when the British and Irish governments signed the Good Friday agreement we were entering into a contract with the people of Ireland, north and south. It is disgraceful that we think we can break that without their consent.”
I don't often disagree with  AAV  but i din't think this is part of a right wing plot though if Labour fail to make substantial gains in London in particular, then it will lead to further  accusations against Owen Smith 's actions.

The questions I would like to ask Mr Smith s that as a Welsh MP why hasn't he and indeed both left and right Labour members in Wales have spoken out on the impact f Brexit in Wales.

Are they so lost in their Unionist cause yhat it is only Northern Irerland  that concerns them?

A open, soft, or hard boarder between the Republic of Ireland and the Six Counties of the North will affect Wales particularly the port of Holyhead negatively in all cases. 

 
Whether they follow Jeremy Corbyn Hard Brexit line, Labour officalcompromise position that respects the result of the referendum, but which insists that the final Brexit deal is subjected to Keir Starmer's six tests or Owen Smith s call for a second referemnim it is time for Labour  to argue their case from a Welsh perceptive.

Of course the sensible answer is Wales to decide for itself as an Independent nation whether it wants to join the European  or carry on as annex of England  in their  xenophobic  Brexit.


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