I don't think Dominion Status for Wales is the answer.

I am not sure about Plaid's Adam Price t that “Wales needs an ante-room to independence”.

Describing what this could look like, he said: 

“It’s not the Assembly, but it’s something like the Irish Free State 100 years ago, the Dominion status floated recently by Elystan Morgan within Labour and the ‘free association’ suggested a decade ago within Plaid by Rhodri Glyn Thomas.“A free Wales now, independence next could be an idea that gathers momentum.”

Not withstanding that the Free State "solution in Ireland  was followed bu a civil war that led to more deaths than the War of Independence it seems a cop out

I don'r reject the idea right out and his argument that Wales needs a “

plan”and must not end up as “the sad one at the end of the party who doesn’t know when to leave”.

Is spot on  but when we order the Taxi I think we should intend to go straight home

He attacked “a particularly Welsh complex – the inverted self-confidence of a nation that is convinced that it cannot be a success”.

he former MP said:

 “This is so deeply ingrained that beliefs – that we are too small or too poor to be independent – appear to us self-evident facts even when contradicted by the world we see around us.”

In his essay, Mr Price rejects the arguments that Welsh independence will be “easy”, but also dismisses claims it is “impossible”.

He said: “[There] are some really difficult, thorny issues which we will need to solve, both on our journey towards independence and in the years following. But although they are significant, and must not be underestimated, they should not be exaggerated either.”

Adamant that small countries can thrive, he said:

 “Of the top 20 richest countries in the world today, 14 of them are small countries. Far from being too poor to be independent, doesn’t the logic point in the opposite direction – it’s our very lack of independence and the ability to be agile and innovative, using the full range of tools and policy levers that only the independent nation has at its disposal – that has condemned our people to inter-generational poverty.”

He pointed out 

“This is so deeply ingrained that beliefs – that we are too small or too poor to be independent – appear to us self-evident facts even when contradicted by the world we see around us.”

If a conversation in the pub after yesterdays  match is anything to go on its even more depressing. One person not only pushed the too small too poor and worriedly seem more than happy to accept it.

Indeed it seemed that this was a majority  opinion of those around me it reminded me of an abuse victim who has lost all self esteem and seem to accept their abuse even believing it  is their fault .

Perhaps Plaid should send someone to Scotland to observe the changing attitude there among particularly those who believed the  small or too poor to be independent scenario and shared the sad acceptance of this.

I for one do not want Dominion Status or Independence with one of the Windsors as head of state.

I want full Independence in Europe. some would argue that we should not be part of the EU but we can still for now move forward together.

One of my very firs Blogs was to compare Devolution with the Old Trans Cambria Bus root here and commented that not every may want to go the entire distance of the journey but they can share the Bus for a while.

I just hope most will join me on the journey all the way.

Someone give Andrew RT Davies a Map

Probably in order to make sure he gets a mention at the Welsh Conservative Conference Andrew RT Davies came up with this soundbite

Not bad comparing for a soundbite and interesting to see a Tory  comparing Nicola Sturgeon with Trump as if they disapprove of him.

Except Hadrian's Wall is no where near the Scotland England Border.



 Someone may pointed this out to our very own Homer Simpson   as the above image with soundbite has seemed to disappear.



Because in his speech he says

I do understand why the media get excited every time Nicola Sturgeon opens up her mouth and she talks about independence but at the end of the day she’s a nationalist and she will talk about independence because that’s why she went into politics...“In a perverse way, Nicola Sturgeon will be building her own Trump-type wall between England, and between the United Kingdom and the rest of Scotland but it will be the Scottish people who will be paying for that wall if she gets her way and that will be a tragedy for the Scottish people and it will be a tragedy for the United Kingdom if it breaks up.”

Considering it is his Party and its headlong rush a Hard Brexit  who are contemplating  a Hard Boarder between Northern Ireland and the Irish Boarder let alone the rest of Europe such hypocrisy is breathtaking,

How to stop Scotland leaving the Union.

 Maybe its just me but this sprang to mind when The UK  and English Prime Moister said she wasn't going to allow a Scottish Independence Referendum until after BREXIT

She probably thinks that this would make it difficult for Scotland to Remain or Rejoin the EU and make a YES vote lesslikely

She is probably right. 

There have been some encouraging  signs coming from Brussels and maybe there might be a mood in some quarters there that a Scottish YES vote while the UK was still nominally part of the EU would allow them to really piss London off if they announced that Scotland could remain after a YES vote or at least given a temporary stay while it is fast tracked as anew member.

The Scottish Government already had detailed plans drawn up in the event of a YES vote last time and probably find no difficulties in  adapting  it to meet teh ramifications of BREXIt

Which makes Mrs May who still has not told us what is happening in the BREXIT  negotiations even more ridiculous.

She said

“I think it wouldn’t be fair to the people of Scotland because they’d be being asked to make a crucial decision without the necessary information – without knowing what the future partnership would be or what the alternative of an independent Scotland would look like.”

I hope Scotland persevered we in Wales are like Mushrooms who are kept in the dark where any light is a door opening so someone can throw a bucket of shit over us.

New Zealand show Cymru how to protect heritage and beliefs.

There were to stories Yesterday ine from Wales and the other from the opposite end of the Wprld which are somewhat connected.

A New Zealand river revered by Maori has been recognised by parliament as a "legal person", in a move believed to be a world first.

Under legislation passed Wednesday that combines Western legal precedent with Maori mysticism, the Whanganui river has been formally declared a living entity.

"(It) will have its own legal identity with all the corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a legal person," Attorney-General Chris Finlayson said.

"The approach of granting legal personality to a river is unique."

The river, known by Maori as Te Awa Tupua, is the third longest in New Zealand.

Finlayson said the local Maori iwi, or tribe, had been fighting to assert their rights over the river since the 1870s, in New Zealand's longest-running legal dispute.

"This legislation recognises the deep spiritual connection between the Whanganui iwi and its ancestral river," he said.

It deems the river a single living being "from the mountains to the sea, incorporating its tributaries and all its physical and metaphysical elements".

In practical terms, it means the river can be represented at legal proceedings with two lawyers protecting its interests, one from the iwi the other from the government.

The iwi also received an NZ$80 million ($56 million) settlement from the government after their marathon legal battle, as well as $30 million to improve the river's health.

So a Parliament  largely composed of Non-Indigenous  members recognized  the ancient culture and belief of the Maori and acted accordingly.

However A bid in the assembly to protect historic place names in planning law has failed after AMs voted against it.

It follows a row where the Grade I-listed Plas Glynllifon near Caernarfon was referred to as Wynnborn mansion in online marketing material.

Welsh ministers had refused to support Plaid Cymru AM Dai Lloyd's attempt to introduce a bill that would protect the names of houses and farms, fields, natural features and landscapes.

Mr Lloyd said there had been strong support for his proposed bill from external organisations.

But the Welsh Government's Ken Skates said the proposals were not feasible.

All the opposition groups - Plaid Cymru, UKIP and the Conservatives - supported the proposal, but with Labour opposed AMs voted 28 against to 25 for.

Mr Lloyd's bill would have deployed a range of measures to protect names, including establishing a system where people who want to change a historic name must seek consent to do so, and a general prohibition on changing a historical place name.

The proposal had followed a series of rows over changes to names over the years, including a dispute where the Grade I-listed Plas Glynllifon near Caernarfon was referred to as Wynnborn mansion in online marketing material.

Mr Lloyd had won an assembly ballot to introduce the law earlier this year.

During a debate on the bill Mr Skates, Welsh Government culture secretary, told AMs: 

"I do not see how any system of general consent or control for changes can be feasible or affordable."

He explained that, from May, Wales will have the only "statutory list of historic place names" and that in guidance set to be issued, public bodies will be directed to take account of the list when considering the name of streets, properties and other places.

"I struggle to see what the legislation that the member proposes will achieve beyond the actions that we are already taking," he said.
"Although I cannot support this motion I believe the ground breaking measures that we are about to introduce are vital steps in appreciating and valuing this precious inheritance", he said, adding this was where "our energies and our resources should be directed".

 Mr Skates's intervention prompted an angry response from Mr Lloyd, who told the minister that it was Plaid Cymru amendments to a previous assembly law that had "got you to the position of having the register that you have today".

"The fact is there is no statutory protection for our historic place names, be they of any language - English, Anglo Saxon, Viking, Latin, Old Welsh, New Welsh, Norse, Flemish, the rich smorgasbord of our history is going down the tube."
He added: "We're talking history of nation here. Pride in the history of that nation, pride that deserves to be enshrined in law."

Former Plaid Cymru leader and independent AM Dafydd Elis-Thomas voted with Labour and against the bill in Wednesday's vote.

Why did Labour block this? I suspect it simply that they could not bear to give "The Nats" a victory,

This was a golden chance to recognise our History and Culture by preserving  the  ancient names of places in Wales and "Welsh" Labour stopped it.

How shameful is it that the Legislature  in New Zealand recognises the cultural beliefs of its Indigenous people whilst our own seems content to see the historic place names of Cymru disappear.

We need a more extensive investigation into Parties electoral spending.

I'm sure that in many marginal Constituencies  peoples  recycle bags are overflowing with  leaflets (often unread) from at least two parties .

The same people may have received  numerous canvassers  at the door or by phone and wonder just what it is costing the parties involved

So the news that a Conservative MP has been interviewed under caution over his election expenses, comes as a surprise only in that there aren't a lot more.

Craig Mackinlay, the MP for South Thanet, is being investigated over alleged overspending in the 2015 general election campaign.

Mr Mackinlay defeated the then UKIP leader Nigel Farage in the ballot.

Karl McCartney, whose bid to retain his Lincoln seat is also being probed, says a draft report into the controversy has been withheld by Tory central office.

Seventeen police forces across the country are looking into whether some MPs' agents should have filed costs associated with battle bus visits to their constituencies in their local expenses.

The Tories said they had been campaigning "across the country for the return of a Conservative government" and, as a result, associated costs were regarded as national not local expenditure.

Mr McCartney has accused Conservative Central Office (CCHQ) of keeping back from MPs a draft report from the Electoral Commission on the investigation.

In an email leaked to Sky News, he wrote to the party chairman, Patrick McLoughlin saying MPs felt "completely cast adrift" and "left to fend for themselves".

The message continued: 

"We didn't create this mess, the clever dicks at CCHQ did, and I don't see their professional reputations being trashed in the media much."

In a statement Mr McCartney said: "

The Conservative Party advised us that the so-called campaign 'battle buses' were, as at previous general elections and in keeping with the practice of both the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats, a national campaign expense.
"This meant that they were not to be declared in our own election expenses."

The office of Craig Mackinlay, who was questioned on Saturday, said it would not be commenting.

A Channel 4 News investigation obtained further undeclared receipts showing more than £38,000 was spent accommodating activists at hotels across the country, as part of the BattleBus2015 campaign. The spending was not declared to the Electoral Commission in accordance with the law.

The investigation has also obtained evidence that the BattleBus campaign was focused on local candidates, suggesting the accommodation costs incurred should have been declared on local candidate spending returns, if so this could constitute a criminal offence.

If local campaigning had taken place, 24 of the 29 constituencies visited by BattleBus would have exceeded the legal spending limits set out by law. 22 of these seats were won by the Conservative

The campaign focused on 9 key seats in the South West, a Liberal Democrat stronghold, 10 seats in the Midlands and 10 in the North, both targeted at holding or taking seats from Labour.

The BattleBus campaign was conceived by the now infamous Party operative Mark Clarke, the so-called “Tatler Tory” who is accused of bullying a young Tory activist Elliott Johnson, who committed suicide. Mr Clarke denies the allegations.

In documents obtained by Channel 4 News, Clarke conceived a plan to bus an army of activists to key marginal seats in the last 10 days of the election campaign. The plan was signed off by Conservative chiefs.

According to a document seen by Channel 4 News, the operation would be “solely persuasion-based targeted door to door campaigning” and would be “used to stimulate further local campaign support. The resource can be centrally controlled and move.. to meet local or national immediate need.”

The Conservative Party hired four coaches, which were wrapped in special BattleBus2015 livery, at a total cost of £34,937.The coaches were deployed in the key battlegrounds across the country.Activists were offered a five-day trip, including free accommodation, food and transport in return for a contribution of just £50.The volunteers were to be accommodated in hotels in three regional “hubs” – Taunton and Glastonbury in the South West, Tamworth in the Midlands and Bolton in the North.From each base, the activists were deployed to a different key marginal each day.

This however is really the tip of the iceberg and I wonder how much the returning officer or the Electoral Commision in many consituencies probes the electoral expenses that Parties claim they spent.

The Electoral Commission state that

Rules on spending and donations
There are limits on candidate spending at elections and controls on the sources of funding for that spending. After the election, candidates’ agents must account for the costs of campaigning and donations to the campaign in a spending return.
Returning Officers must receive spending returns from all candidates by a certain date, which varies depending on the election. The Returning Officer is then responsible for making the returns available for public inspection.
At major contests, such as UK Parliamentary elections, Returning Officers send copies of the spending returns to us. We can then use these returns to monitor compliance with the rules and publish headline spending and donations data from these returns on our website.

The Parties know that this a mammoth task but , there are probably times when there are glaring examples of Parties seeming to be paying for elections on the cheap.

Maybe the Returning Officer role should be strengthened where they see all electoral communications in both the run up to a election and the campaign.

I wonder how many elected candidates would survive such probing.?

Wales has no other choice but to folow Scotland.

The BBC in  Wales seem to  to be intent on directing any response from us ,when it comes to what we should do as we face another Scottish Referendum

 Its website has the headline 

Scottish independence: UK stronger together, says Jones

However it was not Carwyn (where is he by the Way?) but a spokesman  who said

"The constitutional future of Scotland is a matter for the people of Scotland.
"However the First Minister is clear that the four nations of the UK are stronger together than apart."

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said the stakes for Wales "could not be any higher", as the prime minister prepares to trigger the Article 50 process for Brexit.

Her party has called for continued access to the single market.

"Any failure by the UK Government to recognise Scotland's interests could lead to the end of the UK as a state,"."In that situation, Wales would need to decide its own future."She added: "Plaid Cymru believes that decisions about Wales are best made in Wales and the way in which this hard Brexit is being pursued highlights exactly why."If the UK Government's Brexit negotiation also leads to the Welsh national interest being overlooked, support will grow for greater control of our own affairs in Wales."

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said: 

"Despite her assertions that she is speaking in the interests of the Scottish public, Nicola Sturgeon is in reality speaking in the interests of the SNP.
"Like their fellow nationalists Plaid Cymru, the SNP only want one thing: independence.
"Everything they say or do is to that end - this despite the majority of people saying time and time again that they do not want a return to the brutal divisions of a referendum.
"It's time that the SNP put the national interest ahead of their own nationalist interest, and started delivering for the Scottish people."

When Mr Davies talks about the National Interest  which Nation Is he talking about ?

However, UKIP's leader in the assembly Neil Hamilton said:

 "We welcome a referendum on Scottish independence."It is never wrong to consult the people. I give Nicola Sturgeon my wholehearted support in having another referendum in order to put this issue to bed once and for all."I also challenge Leanne Wood to call for a referendum on Welsh independence."This would show how little support Plaid Cymru have for their policy of being ruled from Brussels, and not by Cardiff/Westminster."

 Mr Hamilton probably believes that the combined UK Media will as it did in the first referendum will be hostile and that  a Project Fear 2 will ensure the defeat of Scottish Aspirations.

 Nick Servini, BBC Wales political editor seems to be putting the line that Wales has already decided it future is as an anexxe of England.

He wtites

Get ready for the constitutional arguments to be dusted down as another attempt is set to be made to take Scotland into independence.

The concerns from many about the loss of influence for Wales if Scotland leaves the UK will not have disappeared but the context is now so different than in 2014.The Brexit process will set the terms of the debate, and for the SNP government in Holyrood that is exactly the point.While Plaid Cymru in Wales say Nicola Sturgeon's comments should spark a national debate about the country's future, opponents will say that debate was settled in the Brexit referendum when the Leave vote in Wales virtually mirrored that in England.If we did not know before, the break-up of the UK is now firmly on the agenda as the Prime Minister prepares to trigger the ficial Brexit negotiations.

Admittedly the chance of Wales  following Scotland in leaving the UK any time soon , but that does not mean we should not attempt to use Indyref2 to press our own claim

To quote the french philosopher Régis Debray

"The condition don't have to there for a revolution, the revolution will create the conditions".

 We are one of the poorest parts of the UK something the Labour MP from Pontypridd is fond of pointing out



@RhianLlewelyn No, the reality is that we would simply be poorer. Wales raises £16bn pa and spends £32bn.


At least we in the Independence movement have at least a Plan to change this All the Unionists like Smith  can say is that we carry on  being poor West Britons that we have been for centuries.

Brexit: Have Labour handed defending Wales's interest to Plaid?

There something rather peculiar about today's Wasting Mule article which says

The Welsh Government has demanded it is consulted before Theresa May writes to the European Council to trigger the two-year Brexit process.

Because nowhere in the article is there a mention that it is a Labour Government

A Welsh Government spokesman  may have said:

 “We want an Article 50 process which reflects the interests of Wales within the wider United Kingdom negotiating framework.
"The Welsh Government position is set out comprehensively in our white paper, Securing Wales’ Future, around six key points including continued participation in the Single Market, linking migration to jobs and ensuring Wales does not lose out on a penny of funding as a result of leaving the EU.
“We certainly want and expect to be consulted on any Article 50 letter before it [is issued] and the First Minister has made it clear to the UK Government that anything less would be totally incompatible with the approach they agreed at the Joint Ministerial Committee after the referendum result.
“We have already sent a copy of our White Paper to the European Commission.”

But it seems that it is Plaid who are making the running and no one from the Labour Party was available to comment in person.

Plaid leader Leanne Wood insisted that the contents of the letter (triggering Article 50) should be made public – and that it should include a reference to the White Paper her party produced with the Welsh Government.

She said:

“Plaid Cymru wants the UK Government’s Article 50 letter to represent the demands of the nations, rather than a made in London approach. The key Welsh demands have been made clear: Single market participation without tariffs; the retention of environmental protections which have made our country a better place to live; and a guarantee of ongoing support for Welsh agriculture, the lifeblood of so much of our nation.“We don’t want tariffs on Welsh manufactured goods like car engines and aviation parts. We don’t want to go backwards on clean seas and clean beaches.“We don’t want to open up the Welsh lamb market to unfair competition which ignores the cultural and social role of farming. A reference to the joint Welsh White Paper, which we worked hard to secure, is essential for this negotiation to be acceptable to Plaid Cymru.” “The Prime Minister must make her letter public, and it should include mention of the Welsh and Scottish positions, both of which have the buy-in of large majorities in our parliaments. Northern Ireland doesn’t have an executive at this stage, but the need for a reference to that territory’s peace process and Good Friday Agreement is obvious...
“If the UK Government’s Article 50 letter contains only a simple reference to its own White Paper, it will likely not be sufficient to secure the buy-in of the devolved governments. A recognition from the UK that we are a multi-national state is long overdue.
“There must be a four countries approach. We are in an evolving situation, and Plaid Cymru will continue to advocate and uphold the Welsh national interest as the debate continues.
“People in Wales should not tolerate a Westminster-knows-best mentality. All of us should demand that Wales is neither ignored nor left behind.”

A spokesman for the Welsh Conservatives also struck an optimistic note, saying: 

“Article 50 is the bold first step on the path towards establishing a new and equal relationship – between an independent self-governing, global Britain and our friends and allies in the EU – and Wales will have its say in those negotiations. The Prime Minister has made it clear that the UK Government will be guided by a simple set of principles: to provide as much certainty and clarity as possible at every stage, and to take this opportunity to make the whole of the UK stronger and fairer.”

As I said its very odd to see the Labour Party which is the governing Party in Wales and which  published the jjoint white paper with Plaid it beginning  to seem having done s so, Labour seem happy to let Plaid take the lead on this.

It may be that Plaid got their press release in early, but it may well be indicative of Carwyn Jones lethargic form of Government that admittedly they realise unlike Scotland they have no cards to play seem to have surrender  their role as defenders of our Nations interest.