Sunday 19 February 2012

I wouldn't go home if I was a Labour supporter.

The Sort of Homes you get if you "Go home to Labour"


In his speech to the the Welsh Labour conference First Minister Caewynb Jones, told the assembled delegates that voters had "come home to Labour" at last May's assembly election.

Well that's true enough. I saw the evidence in my own village of Beddau where in sharp  contrast to 2010 General Election there were plenty of evidence of support as I stated at the time.

But this was largely  a result of the election of a ConLib coalition government and this give impetus to those traditional voters to return to a Party in which they  had been disillusioned with after 13 years of a Labour Government that done little to address the problems of working class families even to the extent that they hardly used the term Working Class any more  and even when the ConLibs began their onslaught on the poorest in our society . Preferred  to concentrate on what the new UK leader called the "Squeezed middle classes".

And yet Labour was to exploit the fact that the Consevatives represented something akin to the 'ffydd Saeson' - 'faith of Saxons which the Welsh were to label the Anglican Church during the Reformation and this was part of the reason they did not  accept the protestant religion until they were able through Nonconformity to create their own form of Christianity.

But Labour stance in Wales is a false one.Its Welsh Identity is base on it not being 'ffydd Saeson' . But it does not mean that they have not  betrayed the people who have supported them so loyally foe nearly a centenary in Wales.


In address to the conference Carwyn Jones reached out to Plaid Cymru supporters, saying they "deserve better. In this he has a point . Plaid Supporters do deserve better but they do need to back a political party that in 13 years of Government at Westminster behaved like pale-blue Tories or 13 years of inactivity in the Welsh Assembly have adopted a Laissez-Faire approach to government and even when the Welsh electorate give them the powers to make even moderate law changes in Wales, cannot even use these. 

The failure of Plaid to work on this and harness the votes of those who feel betrayed by Labour and yet in Carwyn's terms came Home last May because they saw them as the alternative to the ConLibs has except for a few By-elections been one that Plaid major problems.


In this they may just have began to make a change. The election of Leanne Wood  as Plaid Leader next Month just be the spark that unites those who seel Independence and those who also look to a new progressivism yet radical change to approach to needs of all of Wales but in particular those who have been ignored by the major parties.  

In this National Left urges Plaid Members to vote for Leanne as the best option for the Party but the Nation.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Carwyn is talking nonsense. He is pro devolution (to a point) but his UK masters are against devolution.

If he really wanted to support Wales then he would actively encourage Welsh people to vote Plaid in the UK election and Welsh Labour in the Welsh elections.

Anonymous said...

Good post Glyn. We face a battle in May to prevent even more of our urban and semi-rural voters going back to Labour. An effective Welsh stance is needed to stop Labour again outflanking Plaid from the left.