Thursday 16 July 2020

So we can't even vote for Independence or not.

Last nights call by Plaid to seek the right for the Senedd to legislate for an independence referendum has been rejected by the Welsh Parliament was rejected .

Not it was not about Independence but the right to seek Independence , which was at stak Unionist e but stillit was  rejected by 43 Senedd members, with nine in favour of it and one abstention.

Plaid Cymu's Rhun ap Iorwerth said Wales could have dealt better with Covid-19 if it was self-governing.

But Tory Darren Millar said independence would "make us less resilient to global events".

Labour minister Jane Hutt said Wales was "best served by a strong devolution settlement within a strong UK".

Constitutionally, an independence referendum would require the agreement of the UK government, as was the case with the one in Scotland in 2014.

Opening the debate, Mr ap Iorwerth, Senedd member for Ynys Mon, said that if Wales had the "kinds of tools that independent countries have the ability to devise" it could have handled the pandemic better.

Independent small nations such as Norway, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Serbia and Lithuania "have death rates a tenth of Wales", he said.

"We are not asking the Senedd to support independence today, but asking the , but asking the Senedd to support the principle that the people of Wales should decide," he said.


During the debate Labour Welsh Government deputy minister Jane Hutt claimed
that Wales was   "best served by a strong devolution settlement within a strong UK and the United Kingdom is better and stronger for having Wales in it".

Although she described the "current model" of devolution as "outmoded and inappropriate".

There was a need to establish "inter-governmental mechanisms to ensure we can address the many challenges that lie ahead", Ms Hutt

How can any Labour politician claim that Wales is best served by a Tory government in Westminster under Boris Johnson and only rarely  sees a Labour Government and even then Wales remained as one of the poorest parts of Europe.

The too small  too poor argument carried on in various guises and yet Labour Unionists cannot explain why even with more than  20 years  devolution under their governance we remain so.

Other Unionist Parties like UKIP Senedd member Neil Hamilton said an independent Wales would see a

 

"massive contraction" of its economy and "all the poverty and deprivation which that would imply".

Though how much worse can it get in a modern European State , where even the former Baltic States  Lithuania (pop 3.5 mil ) Latvia (pop 2 mil)  and Estonia (pop 1.3) out preform uWales (pop 3.1 mil) and they gained their  Independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 only eight years before the Assembly/ first sat.

Surely they are to small to poor to govern themselves.

Mr Hamilton may have a point ehen he said

"But I think what we have seen in the last 20 years is the comprehensive failure of devolution to deliver on the promises that were made for it."
Though it's strange that those on the right do not believe they can do better than Labour have in Cardiff Bay.

 Still it probably best they are not placed in such a position. 

Why are Unionists so sure that Wales cannot prosper as an Independent nation ?

It all goes back to the British Imperialism where every nation under the  British yoke where told they were not capable of governing themselves.

Indeed one of he argument against Irish Independence even when they were seeking Home Rule rather than Independence  was that 

" The fact that Irish did not want to be part of the greatest Empire in the World, proved that they were not ready for self-government.



1 comment:

Leigh Richards said...

Bitterly disappointing that 43 members of the Senedd yesterday voted against a motion proposing that our Welsh parliament should be able to introduce legislation which would permit a referendum on independence for Wales being held. Note Senedd members werent be asked to support independence - they were just being asked to support the principle that such a referendum could be staged. The right to self determination is the right of every nation on the earth - all those who voted against the motion yesterday clearly think the right of self determination doesnt apply to Wales.