DWP attitude to Irish resembles that of Labour in Wales.

The problems facing the devolved legislature  in Northern Ireland possibly mystifies many here in Wales but there  is an element of Déjà vu   when it comes to the argument for a Welsh language Act

.

Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster has said there will be no free-standing Irish Language act.

She told BBC News NI she wanted to "clarify matters," because some speculation had been "off the mark".

 On Tuesday, the DUP leader said there would be no compulsory Irish language in schools, no one would be forced to learn Irish, there would be no quotas for Irish speakers in the civil service and there would be no bilingual road signs.

 According to the BBC

Mrs Foster would not be drawn on reports that the package under discussion includes three separate bills or acts dealing with Irish, Ulster Scots and other cultural matters.
She said the parties were trying to find an accommodation in which one language is not valued over another in a way which amounts to cultural or language supremacy.Mrs Foster was asked on several occasions whether the package she is discussing includes an Irish language act or bill, but did not directly answer the question.

The DUP leader said her test for any proposal is whether it impinges on the rights of those who are British or in any way weakens the union.
Her message was reinforced by a standard letter issued to DUP elected representatives to use if they receive any criticism.
The letter, a copy of which has been obtained by the BBC, says the party's manifesto makes it "absolutely clear" that the DUP "won't sign up to any deal that diminishes Northern Ireland as a part of the United Kingdom".
It elaborates on some of the aspects touched on by Mrs Foster, saying that "if that's the price of a deal, then there will be no deal".
Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy said the DUP needed to "make up their mind" about whether they are "up for a deal or not".
"They [the DUP] know that the agreement requires an Acht Gaeilge."
"There is a responsibility on all involved not to react to some of the noise from people who simply don't want an agreement," he added.

Supporters of an Irish Language  Act  point to the 1993 Welsh language Act of 1993which put the Welsh language on an equal footing with the English language in Wales with regard to the public sector.

However it was hard fought for with decades of campaigning  and civil disobedience , with opposition from senior Welsh Polticians including many in the Labour  Party.

The reason for this opposition was the same as the DUP's  to Irish in that they saw  it giving in to the Nationalist (Plaid Cymru) and the fear that   it would foster a Welsh rather than British Identity.

 It unfortunately carries on, usually on a local level  especially where Labour see a growth in support for Welsh language education leading to sypport for Plaid Cymru.

In 2001 Lanour Newport West MP Paul Flynn attacked his own party for for "shamefully" ignoring the state of the Welsh language in order to further the party's electoral position.
  Sspeaking in the Welsh language current affairs magazine Barn, said greater efforts had to be made to protect the Welsh language.


Mr Flynn said some Labour politicians were guilty of joining a tabloid "witchhunt" against the language "in the belief that it is politically advantageous". He said there was hesititation by officials in their efforts to preserve Welsh-speaking areas of Wales. 

 Sadly, most of the party leadership is content to stand aside and collect the electoral dividend of Plaid Cymru's divisions," Mr Flynn said in the article.
"Shamefully, some Labour representatives have joined the (tabloid) witchhunt in the belief that it is politically advantageous."

 Back in  2007 a he Daily Post reported that 

A LABOUR Party election candidate has sneered at the Welsh language as “brain dead” in a 600-word rant posted on an internet message board.
David Collins, 33, also a researcher for Vale of Clwyd Assembly Member Ann Jones, has since tried to claim it was a typing error and meant simply to say the language was “dead”.
The man with ambitions to become a local Labour Party councillor in Cardiff next May was last night dubbed a “bigot” by Welsh pressure group Cymuned.

Recently  the hostility  that remains with a minority of Labour members to Cymraeg surfaced in the row a row over the move to change a primary school to Welsh-medium education. in Llangenach with some Labour members there opposing it and allegedly linking with Ukup and even far right groups.

Unionist in Northern Ireland are aping those in Wales in their opposition to Irish language equality measures .

Here we have made progress and there are many in Party's other than Plaid Cymru who support  Welsh Language  equality, but we should be wary.

If Plaid start gaining support the Anti-Welsh rhetoric of Neil Kinnock and George Thomas will surely emerge once more.

 

Land Tax,Tourist tax , Plastic tax what's best for Wales?

The Welsh Government is proposing to introduce a vacant land tax aimed at kickstarting regeneration by stopping the hoarding of sites by developers.

Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford will put forward the idea to test new powers that came to the National Assembly following the passing of the Wales Act 2014


Explaining why the vacant land tax had been chosen, Mr Drakeford said: 

“Housing is a priority for the Welsh Government.
A tax on vacant land could prevent the practice of land banking and land not being developed within the expected timescales.
“The Republic of Ireland vacant sites levy provides a useful starting point for how a vacant land tax could work in Wales.
"The existing model in the Republic of Ireland and the relatively narrow focus of the tax make this the most suitable of the four shortlisted ideas to test the Wales Act.”

 The levy, which came into force in January, allows local authorities in Ireland to charge 3% of the market value of vacant sites not developed in 2018, with the rate rising to 7% in 2019.

A Welsh Government spokesman said: 

“This is the very start of the process of developing a new tax.
"The policy objective of a vacant land tax would be to bring idle land into productive use – this could include land which already has permissions associated with it or is within the local development plan, but is not being developed.
"The idea is not primarily focused on revenue raising. Rather, it would focus on incentivising more timely development by making it more expensive to hold on to vacant land, which has been identified as suitable for development.”

 .

The proposal to tax undeveloped plan has unsurprisingly been described as “absolutely bonkers” by a property consultant.
Stephen Wade, director of property consultancy Legat Owen, said it was “ridiculous” to believe that developers pay for land and then deliberately hold back from developing it.

But Mr Wade said the rate of house building in Wales was already falling behind England and the new tax would only act to deter developers from investing in Wales.
He said:

 “There may be the occasional case where for commercial or market led reasons that a scheme stalls but in most cases it’s down to delays with planning or utility connections. Ask any house builder and they will tell you that utility connections are a nightmare. This is where Welsh Government should be targeting improvements.
“If the Welsh Government are really serious about increasing house building in Wales then they need to start to listen to the people building the houses. This tax won’t help the case it will make it worse by deterring more developers from looking in the first place.”

Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth said it was to early to say whether there was value to the proposed land tax and a tax on disposable plastics was his party's preferred option.
He said Plaid was "not against or in favour" of the land tax.

So criticism of  Mr Iorwerth   for apparently sitting on the fence may be premature.

I don't expect them to say "we will have that", every time the Welsh Government come up with a new preferred  proposal for Tax 

The four shortlisted  proposal are 

• A levy to support social care
• Vacant land tax
• A disposable plastic tax
• Tourism tax

All seem to have argument in favour and against, but  Mr Drakeford claimed  the Irish example and the "relatively narrow focus" of the tax made it the "most suitable" of the four shortlisted ideas to test Wales' ability to introduce new taxes

But it does seem that the Welsh Government  are seeking to find away that sees a new Tax that is not too unpopular by the electorate.

There will be those   who will object to any "Welsh" taxes but I see no problem with any of the proposals, but  we should make sure that.

• It is easily collected and the cost of a bureaucracy to so will not be excessive.
• It changes behaviour.
• It leads to a long term benefit for the Welsh economy.
• It may well see a visible change in Wales.

For that my favourite is A disposable plastic tax, but I am open to argument and so should our AMs.

If we are going to do this it should not be left entirely  to the manipulations of the Labour cabinet in Cardiff Bay. 

Semantics and the politics of Welsh Nationalism

I do like  Nation Cymru it provides more than one viewpoint though sometimes  seems seems bent on carry such openness to a ridiculous leve.

 Take the recent article 

How does Plaid Cymru appeal to an incomer like me?

by  Nathan Abrams who writes 

I have made Arfon my home. I have lived in Wales for 11 years. I have researched into and written about its history.
I am raising two kids here both of whom will be fully bilingual. My wife and I are endeavouring to learn Welsh. I have no objection to Welsh independence.
So I’m a natural Plaid Cymru voter, right?
I’m not sure. I have flirted on and off with them for years, at a local, national and Westminster level but I’m far from committing. Why?
Firstly, I don’t like its name. It shouldn’t the ‘Party of Wales’ but the ‘Party for Wales’. This is a crucial difference and one which I will outline below.
The Party of Wales implies an ethnic or cultural nationalism. Such nationalisms are never simply benign, no matter how oppressed those nationalists might feel and be.
At some point, as recent history testifies, this kind of nationalism will turn on those who somehow don’t belong.
Secondly, such nationalisms tend to be – and here Wales is no exception – backward looking. They look to a mythic pre-industrial, pre-modern idyll, uncorrupted by the forces of modernisation which itself is just a code word for immigration.

I don't want to be bogged down in semantics but you can argue the reverse for Wales being insular  and of Wales seeing  Plaid as being prepared to look at what is happening beyond our boarder.

The reality of course is the main reason Plaid registered the Party of Wales is to prevent others (Labour in particular) from claiming that title.

Nathan then goes on 

Look at Jerusalem – ironically a reference to a city full of the sort of people that most Little Englanders would loathe having in their own country – with its references to ‘England’s green and pleasant land’ tainted by those ‘dark satanic mills’.
Wales’ national anthem is also illustrative on this front. ‘The Ancient Land of My Fathers’ looks backwards to a past of bards, singers, fighters and famous men.
Gender politics aside, it mourns a time when Wales was not crushed by the foreign foe, one in which the Welsh language survives and thrives.

Firstly Blake's poem  which many would like to be England's National anthem is a socialist hymn stressing the importance of people taking responsibility for change and building a better society 'in Englands green and pleasant land.

Nathan continues,

Wales’ national anthem is also illustrative on this front. ‘The Ancient Land of My Fathers’ looks backwards to a past of bards, singers, fighters and famous men.
Gender politics aside, it mourns a time when Wales was not crushed by the foreign foe, one in which the Welsh language survives and thrives.
I certainly support the latter points but how does that anthem speak to an incomer like me? Where am I, as a Jew from north London, to fit into this picture, one which probably doesn’t include me anyway? (Historical note: we were excluded from Wales before the expulsion from England in 1290.)

 Well Yes  Canada has changed the second line of its national anthem from “in all thy sons” to “in all of us” to be gender-neutral. but it may be easier to no this for hen wlad fy nahadau when it comes to scanning.



While we are at it

The official text of the national anthem of Isarel runs as followsand English translation are listed below.

Hebrew	Transliteration	English translation	Poetic English translation
כֹּל עוֹד בַּלֵּבָב פְּנִימָה‬	Kol ‘od baleivav penimah	As long as in the heart, within,	O while within a Jewish breast,
נֶפֶשׁ יְהוּדִי הוֹמִיָּה‬	Nefesh Yehudi homiyah,	A Jewish soul still yearns,	Beats true a Jewish heart,
וּלְפַאֲתֵי מִזְרָח, קָדִימָה,‬	Ul(e)fa’atei mizrach kadimah,	And onward, towards the ends of the east,	And Jewish glances turning East,
עַיִן לְצִיּוֹן צוֹפִיָּה,‬	‘Ayin leTziyon tzofiyah;	an eye still gazes toward Zion;	To Zion fondly dart;
עוֹד לֹא אָבְדָה תִּקְוָתֵנוּ,‬	‘Od lo avdah tikvateinu,	Our hope is not yet lost,	O then our Hope—it is not dead,
הַתִּקְוָה בַּת שְׁנוֹת אַלְפַּיִם‬	Hatikvah bat sh(e)not ’alpayim,	The hope two thousand years old,	Our ancient Hope and true,
לִהְיוֹת עַם חָפְשִׁי בְּאַרְצֵנוּ,‬	Lihyot ‘am chofshi b(e)’artzeinu,	To be a free nation in our land,	To be a nation free forevermore
אֶרֶץ צִיּוֹן וִירוּשָׁלַיִם.‬	’Eretz-Tziyon virushalayim.	The land of Zion and Jerusalem.	Zion and Jerusalem at our core.

 I don't know how Nathan feels about it, or if it is really relevant, but it arguably  fails his test .

 (Historical note it was Edward 1 who expelled the Jews from Wales (ironically probably because he owed them money for the building of Castles ) after the conquest).

Though Wales cannot escape the shame of anti-Semitism  and has had its share of such vile attitudes.

Many Nations especially ones that one their freedom from others  take the Republic of Ireland 's Amhrán na bhFiann" (Irish pronunciation: [ˈəuɾˠaːn̪ˠ n̪ˠə ˈvʲiːən̪ˠ]), called "The Soldier's Song" and maybe Flower of Scotland  will not be the National Anthem of an Independent Scotland.

But the main problem in Nathan's argument is  that  you can argue that loads of parties names do not match their current philosophy. Socialist ,Labour  and Liberal parties Parties who are conservative and even despotic and Democratic parties who are elitist and dictatorships.

Nathan should judge Plaid not on semantics but what it fights form and what it does he would be mare than welcome to contribute to this within the party.

Abuse in politics is not new.

No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.

Aneurin Bevan 1948

No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin. Aneurin Bevan
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/aneurin_bevan_408938

No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin. Aneurin Bevan
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/aneurin_bevan_408938

BBC Wales website carries a report  two Welsh MPs have said abuse against politicians has "definitely got worse", both online and in person. 

It says 

David Davies, Conservative MP for Monmouth and Carolyn Harris, Labour MP for Swansea East, said they had received "threatening" personal abuse.
It comes after a cross party committee called for a new code of conduct for MPs, Peers and workers in parliament.
They said members of the public were launching personal attacks rather than debating them on politics.
Speaking on BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement, Mr Davies said abuse against politicians was on the rise.

"It's definitely getting worse," he said. "I noticed at the last election there was a level of unpleasantness I haven't seen before.
"I was involved in a row this week which is on YouTube and people said I was aggressive but I'm not going to sit and take a load of rubbish.
"The first thing you see on the video is a protestor saying to me 'you are the worst piece of scum I've ever met'. If I went up to somebody in the street and said 'you are the worst piece of scum' I would expect a fairly robust response.

"People think because he's an MP they can do that and get away with it...we shouldn't have to put up with stuff that nobody else would put up with."

A Conservative LGBT group recently  apologised over a tweet which criticised a Mr Davies  views on transgender rights.

LGBT+ Conservatives objected after the MP for Monmouth said someone with male genitalia is "definitely not a woman".
The group's Twitter account said David Davies's views were "abhorrent" and also appeared to imply a swear word in the same message.
Mr Davies called the language "appalling".


 
Ms Harris, also on the programme, said much of the abuse came from social media.

She said was particularly targeted after the death of her eight-year-old son in 1989, but also after shadow home secretary Dianne Abbott wished her husband a happy birthday earlier this year.
"I've had it online and I've had in in person. I find people who have got nothing valuable to say or haven't got a good argument will just turn it into aggression to try and make a point.
"I think social media's played a big part in it. Keyboard warriors are now a lot braver because they have avenue to channel their hate."

 Whilst I sympathise  with Ms Harris and other abused politicians. I wonder why they do not point  out that many on the right taking the lead from the likes of the Sun and Daily Mail.

Why is such language from members of the public deemed unacceptable  on social media whilst newspaper Editors are allowed   to put this crap on the front page.



 


As Another Angry Voice points out

Yes some noisy protesters turned up to interrupt a Jacob Rees-Mogg speech, but Rees-Mogg went over to talk to them and they certainly didn't "attack" him as claimed by desperately dishonest outlets like the (Daily Mail owned) Metro in their coverage of the incident.

As Rees-Mogg was talking to the protesters, one of his supporters waded in violently, striking a young woman twice in the face, escalating the scene from unruly but peaceful protest to a violent melee. 

The mainstream media and a whole bunch of politicians (including a load of clueless Labour Politicians) mindlessly regurgitated the hard-right Guido Fawkes/Breitbart propaganda line that the violence was instigated by the left, when the video evidence proved that it was instigated by the white-shirted Jacob Rees-Mogg supporting goon.

The outrageous Tory opportunist Brandon Lewis even used the Orwellian misrepresentations of this incident smear Jeremy Corbyn and launch a new government crackdown on political protest to supposedly protect free speech.

 Bevan's "vermin" remark - one of the most famous jibes in politics - was adroitly turned against the Attlee government by Tory speakers, who pretended it insulted their voters rather than policy makers. 

David Davies is no shrinking violet and i find his views on a whole range of subjects  to be appalling,   but those of us who oppose him should not give him, the opportunity to  play the victim, but we should also not reduce ourselves to the level of the gutter press and the far right ,.

 

We must continue to protest against those in power vigorously, but  take care that it does not play into thier hands.

Poor infrastructure divides Wales but do Unionist want this ?

In a recent Blog I asked the question

Are Labour and Tories planning to divide Wales economically?

I wrote that .

"This follows  plans by influential business leaders and politicians from across both sides of the Welsh border have met to discuss how economic opportunities from the Northern Powerhouse Region can be maximised for North Wales".

This has been followed by  claims that 

A "western powerhouse" between Cardiff, Newport and Bristol can boost job prospects across the whole region,and  the Welsh secretary has said. Alun Cairns has set up a Severn Growth Summit in Newport, with 350 delegates.
He believes it has the potential to rival the Northern Powerhouse or "Midlands Engine".

Compare this with the claims that the drive time between north and south Wales is a "barrier" to increasing international tourism, according to a UK travel trade body.-  

As the BBC reports.

UK Inbound chief executive Deirdre Wells believes Wales attracts one million foreign tourists a year, spending an estimated £330m annually.
But she said authorities "should do more" to improve south to north links, which is currently a four-hour drive.
The Welsh Government said it was investing in the road and rail network.
Sean Taylor, the founder of Zip World in Snowdonia, told UK Inbound's tourism trade conference in Cardiff that travelling between the south coast cities of Cardiff and Swansea to north Wales was difficult.

 They point out

The A470, which is largely a single-carriageway road between Cardiff and Llandudno, is the most frequent route for travellers between Wales' two most populated coastal areas - but Ms Wells wants infrastructure to be improved.

"I think we can be doing more to make these transport links as good as they possibly can be," she said.
"We do have a default setting on promoting commuter lines but actually the leisure business [does] a huge amount to bolster the sustainability of transport."

She said that the reliance on east to west road connections makes the entry points particularly important.
"There are some fantastic new routes into Cardiff [airport] and that always helps when you have the ability to fly people into the destination directly," she added.
The Welsh Government said it was marketing three road trip routes to tourists to showcase Wales.
An official added:

"This is… alongside the investment we continue to see across our trunk road network, the procurement of an improved rail service and our ongoing offer of free weekend bus travel across the TrawsCymru bus network."

What a pathetic statement  but it is also indicative  of a policy by both Labour and Tories who cannot envisage a Wales united by infrastructure  to boost nit only tourism  but our economy,y  and let's face it our sense of unity.

How can a government of any Nation  think that dividing it  into economic regions and annexing it to parts of another one is sound practice.

Could it be that both Labour and Tories are conspiring to prevent any rise in the sense  of a economically united Wales by dividing it?

I think the truth probably is  it simply a lazy attitude and lack of vision in that they think that more or less allowing parts of Wales to become part of "English Power Houses". means the hard work can be conducted by those across the border running their versions.

So it may not be some Machiavellian  plot to further colonise Wales, but it does not make it any more poor planing of our future.

 

 

Alyn and Deeside:Why did media not cover Labour row?

Why has the Wasting Mule waited until now to come up with the scoop that Welsh Labour’s campaign in Alyn and Deeside was marred by an internal dispute between national officials and people loyal to Carl Sargeant and his son, Jack, 

They report just days after the result that 

Welsh Labour imposed Louise Magee, the general secretary of Welsh Labour who had a role in handing the complaints against Carl Sargeant over to UK Labour, as Jack Sargeant’s election agent.
Speaking after his election as the constituency’s Labour AM yesterday, Jack Sargeant himself said he would have preferred a local person as his agent.
Several sources have told us that negotiations took place between solicitors acting for the Sargeant family and solicitors acting for the Labour Party.
While the party would not budge from its insistence that Ms Magee, as general secretary of Welsh Labour, should be the election agent, a compromise was reached under which she was mainly based outside the constituency in Labour’s Wrexham office, coming to Alyn and Deeside as and when required to fulfil her duties as Jack Sargeant’s election agent.
One Labour politician close to the Sargeant family accused Welsh Labour of “riding roughshod” over their wishes.
Flintshire deputy leader Bernie Attridge said:

“I’m aware that Jack and his legal team made it quite clear to Welsh Labour that he didn’t want Louise Magee as his agent.
“Jack wanted to have his own agent but they wouldn’t allow that.
“I’m aware that they told him he had to have Louise Magee as his agent and there was a hint that if he didn’t go along with that he would not get endorsed by the WEC (Welsh Executive Committee) as the by-election candidate.
“Welsh Labour rode roughshod over the wishes of Jack and his family. I will never forgive them for that.”

Carl Sargeant is believed to have taken his own life four days after he was removed from his post as Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children.
A Labour Party spokesman said:

“As is always the case in by-elections, the Welsh Labour General Secretary acted as the agent for the Alyn and Deeside by-election.
“As the Labour Party made clear at the time, there was no reason why this should not be the case.
“The Welsh Labour campaign for Jack Sargeant’s election was a huge success, increasing the majority in the seat. It was a positive, engaging campaign that enjoyed the support of local members and supporters from across the UK.”

Asked whether he was disappointed that he had not been allowed to have a local agent, Mr Sargeant said:

“I think the campaign would have been nicer with a local agent. The local members wanted that.”

Told about Mr Attridge’s comments, he said:

“I think we’ve had a fantastic campaign. The Labour colleagues we’ve had have done a great job in helping us out.

 “The expertise of Bernie and others meant we could run a campaign that was as locally focused as possible.”

 Surely the Mules reporters were aware of this , or as the staffing levels fallen so low, they are unable to give even reasonable coverage if a Byelection outside Cardiff?

Indeed the media coverage of the By-election was so low that it possibly only Party members and those sad individuals like myself , who take an interest in such things were aware of it happening.

 It certainly suited the Labour Party that any sense of disharmony in the campaign  was not covered , whether this was by design, incompetence  or lack of manpower is a question we should ask, but don't expect an answer.

So that's why we are in the dark over Brexit forecasts

It seems that there is a very good reason why the Tories (and maybe Jeremy Corbyn) are reluctant to let Parliament and the rest of us know  the impact of Brexit on the economy.

  The regional Brexit impact assessment figures that the Tory government were trying to hide have been leaked, and they spell disaster, especially for the North East, North West, West Midlands, and Northern Ireland.
The Brexit assessment looked at the regional impact of three different Brexit scenarios, a Single Market Brexit, a free trade deal, and a "no deal" reversion to World Trade Organisation rules.
In every single region it turns out that "no deal" is by far the most damaging option, ranging from a 3.5% fall in the London economy to an astounding 16% collapse in the North East.

Wales would suffer a 9.5% hit to GDP if the UK leaves the European Union without an exit deal, according to leaked figures from a UK Government analysis of the consequences of Brexit.
The nation would see a 5.5% reduction in GDP even if the UK leaves with a free trade deal under this assessment – and there would still be a 1.5% blow if the country stayed in the single market.


The predicted losses are understood to cover a 15-year period. That's another 15 years of Austerity.
The effect on jobs, businesses, livelihoods and property values of a 9.5%% drop in GDP would be immense.

The leak comes as Theresa May and senior cabinet ministers meet to hammer out an agreed end-goal for the Brexit negotiations.





Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams said the...

“These sobering statistics lay bare the devastating impact a hard Brexit would have on our economy. Just as Plaid Cymru has argued all along, remaining in the single market would be the most favourable option if we are to defend Welsh jobs and industries.
“Yet again, Wales is set to be worse off than the UK as a whole as a result of disastrous decisions taken by the Tories and unopposed by Labour in Westminster. Members of all parties should be uniting in the national interest to present the resounding case for Wales to remain in the single market and customs union.”

Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman Tom Brake said: 

“This is a damning outlook for Britain. The Tories are putting everything on the line because they do not care about the lives and livelihoods of the people of the UK.
“The Government need to start being clear what they are fighting for. They are still keeping no deal on the table despite how crippling it would be to the regional economy.
“People did not vote to make themselves poorer. They should be allowed a vote on the final deal and a chance to exit from Brexit.”

Swansea West Labour MP Geraint Davies said:

 “Wales has been hard hit by austerity – with public sector pay freezes, cuts in services and a benefit squeeze on the most vulnerable. Now Brexit, with reduced trade and us paying for the EU Divorce Bill, means vital infrastructure projects in South Wales like rail electrification and the Swansea Tidal Lagoon are being cut...
“These ground-breaking leaked documents show that the government know the true cost of Brexit, but have tried to keep us in the dark.”

Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew RT Davies, said: 

"We were told - in no uncertain terms - that the mere act of a vote to leave the European Union would lead to economic disaster so why should we take these forecasts any more literally?
"That's why it's time for the merchants of doom and gloom to give project fear its last rites and get on with the job of delivering the will of the people."

To some extent I sympathise with the Conservative viewpoint as someone who supports independence for Wales and if we were to have a referendum the UK government would produce statistics to claim that it would prove disastrous.

However I believe the very nature of Independence  will stimulate the Welsh economy. Indeed I believe it is the only way it is the only way that we can do so.

Though it will be far more difficult outside the  EU.

The difference between me and the Hard Brexit supporters   is that I envisage a progressive  outward looking Wales, whilst the likes of Jacob Rees Mogg seems to beleive it will end up with a new British Empire.




The truth however is that they are going to sell the UK to USA and Chinese   interest and we can only wonder which one of the two we will become little more than vassals states.

Any Chinese  Trade deal will see the total end of our steel industry , whilst the US are likely to demand access to health providers and the privatisation of at least part of the NHS,

Scotland and Wales both would seek to remain in the EU or join quickly after independence.

It would be ironic if the result of Brexit would ruin our economy to such an extent that we were considered too poor to join.