Friday 4 January 2013

Devolution 2013 Labour Unionist gets it wrong.


The Blog Left Foot Forward’s Devolution Correspondent Ed Jacobs  (a Leeds based Labour Party member) looks ahead to what 2013 has in store for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

In a  category   "A Britain we all call home"  (says it all really it mostly a dissing of the SNP  referendum proposals

 On Wales ,Jacobs  seems to be just rehashing a Labour  press release.
After a period of what could be described as a decline – including failure in 2011 to win an outright majority in elections to the Assembly – local elections last May were undoubtedly a clear and unambiguous sign Labour in Wales is back, and back in a big way.Education is set in 2013 to be a major battleground in Welsh politics. With an education minister, Leighton Andrews – who is not shy about spoiling for a fight, particularly with Westminster - expect the Welsh government’s review of qualifications in Wales to suggest some fairly radical changes to the path being trodden by the Tory/Liberal coalition at the other end of the  M4.In the same vein, Wales can expect to become a trailblazer for the rest of the UK, using its full law-making powers to, amongst other things, legislate for a system of presumed consent for organ donation.

No mention of the complete lethargy over last year from the Labour Government  here, or Labours disaster in the  Police Commissioners  election. Where they were expected to win all four and managed one victory.

There's also no mention of England and its surely time so called progressives in the Labour Party came up with what they are going to do about the English Question as devolution progresses

There's no mention of Cornwall either and as one commentator  of Mebyon Kernow  and since there's no election in Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland this year for a devolution correspondent it would be advisable to lok at MK's chances of increasing their number on the County Council . I predict Dick Cole's merry band will increase to double numbers even make a significant break through.

For a Devolution Correspondent Ed Jacobs piece is hardly an indepth analysis and looks more like  a cut and paste from  Labour HQ

Pit Left Foot Foward can be very god but alas it losses its progressive tag when it defends the Union in the way it does.


2 comments:

Robin Tilbrook said...

In the 2011 Census result just published, in the duchy of Cornwall, those that claimed Cornish only national identity were just 58,969 (9.9% of the population of Cornwall). Is this a result which leaves Cornish nationalism holed below the waterline?

glynbeddau said...

The figures for Cornish Identity are not very acurate because
those identified as Cornish only.as a national identity was an option although a write in one rather than a tick box.

5,185 Cornish and British.
15,242 Cornish and another identity e.g. English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish (with or without British).
(total 73,220)

459,053 Gave no Cornish identity.

But those counted as having giving No Cornish identity are misleading because they did not identify as such. They simply ticked an available box.

If a Box was available then the figure would be much higher.