I read with interest (Western Mail 2nd April) that certain ‘eminent’ ex-pats want a vote in any future referendum on full law making powers for the Welsh Assembly. They say that anyone of Welsh birth or parentage living outside Wales should be allowed to determine how those still living inside Wales are governed. Interesting.
Amongst these patriotic ‘exiles’ are Lord Garel-Jones (Tory), Lord Howe (Tory), Lord Cranbourne (Tory) and Lord Kinnock of Bedwellty (Labour). Their lordships all hinted that they would not go along with granting more powers to Wales as it might endanger “the Union”. It is quite understandable that they would oppose any such moves in that direction – “the Union” has served them well and they don’t want the natives to rock the boat.
But this notion could backfire. Unlike these wealthy establishment careerists, who left Wales through choice, many ordinary working people were forced to leave Wales through no fault of their own. They had to move in order to find employment elsewhere because the London government had failed to provide decent jobs for them in their own country.
I’m sure that, if given the choice, many of these economic migrants would vote for a positive change in their homeland. The status quo let them down and a new approach is desperately needed and should be welcomed. If we have sufficient self-confidence and determination, we will eventually find our own answers to our own problems. We need to take on this responsibility and start making important decisions ourselves.
And what about all the ‘exiles’ from other countries now living here, such as students from outside Wales, holiday home owners, temporary residents and those that don’t intend to settle here or consider themselves to be in any way Welsh? Will they have a vote in a referendum? Will they be allowed to decide the future governance of the indigenous population?
It’s a fair question. If only certain people outside Wales are granted a referendum vote, (because they are “Welsh”), then, using the same criteria, it follows that only certain people inside Wales should be granted one too. What’s sauce for the goose …
Byline: Rhobert ap Steffan, Llangadog.
only people who live in Wales – tax-payers- should decide how those taxes are spent.
Garel-Jones and of course Kinnock, see Welsh as an ethnic identity.
If they want to play a part in Wales’s future – then get out of London and move back to Wales … hmm, I thought not!
We should have our own House of Lords, with My Lords Garel-Jones, Howe, Kinnock, Elystan Morgan, Murphy, and Touhig, as the founding members. Obviously, in order to avoid wasting the public’s money, membership would be hereditary rather than by election.
All that remains is to decide what would be the better way of dealing with them once we’ve got them all together … Quatorze juillet, anyone?
“because the London government had failed to provide decent jobs for them in their own country”
What planet are you on?
Governments don’t find jobs for people; people find them for themselves. Except, of course, in the people’s Nirvana of a Plaid Wales, where everyone would be working for the Government, doing meaningless non-jobs and producing absolutely nothing.
Why not let the Welsh speakers of Patagonia vote ? They have kept the language alive and still have deep affection for the old country. Is it because they know that they will vote ‘Yes’. Imagine if like the 1997 vote instead of Carmarthen it was the vote from Trelew that carried the day !
Lord Garel-Jones, who held the position of Minister of State for Europe from 1990 to 1993, said it would be a matter for the assembly government how the Welsh connection could be interpreted or defined.
He said: “Clearly one wouldn’t want to reach the point where a couple of hundred thousand people in Southern Argentina, who left Wales in 1850 were voting, but I think if the principle of Welshness is accepted then I think it would be good.”
Remember however unlike Kinnock who kept Thatcher in office by clearly being an unsuitable alternative – it was Garel-Jones that hatched the conspiracy against her. We must thank him for that.
Gareth – “because the London government had failed to provide decent jobs for them in their own country”
Not “government jobs” but a government that actually endeavours to create/make decent jobs and protect/save the ones already here. See what Nicolas Sarkosy has recently done in France.
Your “Brit Nirvana” has never made employment in Wales a priority and consequently Wales today is the poorest part of the “UK” because of the mismanagement of London and their timeserving acolytes this side of the dyke.
Would you let your next door neighbour run your affairs or would you rather run them yourself?
We’re on Planet Reality Gareth bychan. OF COURSE governments create jobs for people: either in the public sector, or, more usefully, by creating an economic environment through sensible fiscal policies such as low taxation so that the private sector can thrive. If you don’t create wealth, you can’t raise money through taxes, d’you see? No money, no taxes…. (…erm…I won’t go on at the risk of boring the visitors). And, you see, small countries can do this much more easily than big ones – for fairly obvious reasons.
Every man, woman and child (and possibly sheep, cow, dog and cat) in Wales is now saddled with the failing-state of England’s debt, as the result of the gross mismanagement of the economy by Gordon Brown et al. Yes there’s a global recession, but Brown’s incompetence and arrogance means that we’re the worst-off country in Europe to face the downturn). As a little country with massive natural resources, a large proportion of which (but thank God we’ve some left) have already been plundered by English robber barons and rapacious money-grabbers. It could have been so different. But it still can be. The solution? A simple word, and a simple concept with a whole lot of promise: I N D E P E N D E N C E!
But it will only happen if we’ve got the backbone and guts to go for it.
Sori Editor! Typo in last posting. Should have read:
“As a little country with massive natural resources, a large proportion of which (thank God we’ve some left) have already been plundered by English robber barons and rapacious money-grabbers, Wales could have avoided the worst affects of the coming depression.”