- One direction - 16th July 2020
- What’s in a word? - 11th July 2020
- Time not on your side - 22nd June 2020
Here our columnist The Commentator looks at the vital role of devolution now, and that parties should be named correctly.
Don’t listen to those who think direct rule from England is our best route!
The names of their parties are outdated and we need to find someone or something else to make the current system work better for us!
If you look at the recent polls, abolition of the Senedd and a return to direct rule from England is a more popular option than Welsh independence, with almost a quarter of Welsh voters in a June poll by ITV Cymru Wales and You Gov showing that people supported this option, as opposed to 16 per cent wanting full independence from England.
Jumping on the band wagon to gain these votes have been the Abolish the Assembly Party (sic) (mainly staffed by pro-Brexiters) and the actual Brexit Party. Readers who are clued up on Welsh politics will be aware that both parties have outdated names. The Assembly disappeared in May this year to be replaced by the Welsh Parliament/Senedd Cymru, so there is no longer an Assembly to abolish.
Following this theme of having a name that is no longer relevant is the Brexit Party. Brexit has already occurred and will be a historical event by the time of the Senedd Cymru elections next year, so that party’s name as well as its main aim has to change if its members are to continue earning a salary and expenses from the Welsh tax payer through political office.
When the UK Independence Party (UKIP) gained seven seats in 2016 it looked for a short while as if we might have an anti-establishment party, not derived from the Welsh political bubble which could shake up the Welsh Assembly/Parliament, and act as a probing as well as a corruption-busting group on behalf of the many that lack an effective voice in Welsh governance.
There have been some instances where they have been a visible counter-voice to dominant political opinion in the Senedd, such as recently calling for an earlier end to lockdown.
Overall, though, they have NOT been an effective inquiring force that looks into Welsh political cronyism. It was only a short while after the elections before UKIP fell apart, amid recriminations, leadership disputes, defections and all of the other problems normal to populist parties.
Their members drifted between UKIP, independents, quasi-Conservatives and even Abolish the Welsh Assembly party, to the extent that six out of seven UKIP members elected in 2016 had left the party within a few years of being elected on the manifesto!
The Brexit Party may now even follow the path of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland, in that they wish the country to be governed now directly from another country.
Sinn Fein, though, do not take up their Westminster seats, yet it is very unlikely that the Brexit Party or the Abolish the Assembly party would do likewise. But, like UKIP and Brexit MEPs in the European Parliament, they continued to milk the very institution they sought to abolish for all its expenses, salaries and other related perks.
Only by refusing to take up their seats or claiming none of the expenses or salaries could they be taken seriously by voters, otherwise it looks like pure electoral opportunism! They are unlikely to commit to do this before the elections.
Yet, as previous stories on The Eye have indicated, all is not well in Welsh government and politics. Too often cronyism replaces proper electoral scrutiny and accountability. The Welsh media is weak in its ability to hold to account those elected politicians. Wales is effectively a one-party state in the shape of Labour’s dominance. The party is now running the Welsh Government (WG) (sometimes in coalition) for a fourth decade, and there is little prospect of a change in 2021.
All the problems of one-party dominance have to be challenged if Wales is to have a prosperous political and economic future.
Too often political connections favour those who wear the same party badge and there is outright nepotism and personal patronage (crony government). These things hold sway over honest government.
But despite all this the Senedd doesn’t need ABOLISHING it needs REFORMING. Things weren’t better before 1999 – they were just as bad if not worse.
The next Senedd elections therefore need an anti-corruption party not a party that wants Wales to return to the old corrupt practices of direct rule from London that we had before.
When we have a party that stands on this ticket, it will get my vote, both for the constituency and on the list.
And it has to have the right name too!
Also – why a controversial ‘digital co-ordinator’ who claims he is going to set up a new Welsh media service yet who has made public ‘jokes’ about a murdering gunman and has abused prominent politicians, has been banned from a social media site.
Our Editor Phil Parry’s memories of his extraordinary 36-year award-winning career in journalism as he was gripped by the rare neurological disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order the book now!