There is a gentile and
respectful ambience to Welsh politics these days and that has been the case
since the Assembly came into existence. This encompasses not only our political
parties and politicians but also the majority of the media and academia. It is
rare for the ‘political waters’ to be disturbed too much. Is it because
politics in Wales has become so lethargic that, in consequence, the people have
got disinterested and feel nothing will change? If so, it is a very sad
state of affairs. I watched a television item last night on the vibrancy of
Scottish politics and it made me so envious of its people—reflecting that how
Wales once was and should be today ...
I do recall past years when
Wales’s political life was vibrant. Passionate debate, even arguments and yes,
inspirational visions of change—they
were radical times! I am old enough to remember The Parliament for Wales
Campaign in the mid 1950s; to witness Aneurin Bevan and Jim Griffiths at their
most powerful; to experience the emergence of Gwynfor Evans and Plaid Cymru
putting the fear of God into Labour during the second half of the 1960s; and to
have been part of the heated and often unpleasant debates inside the Labour
Party over devolution and the language. And, of course, let's not forget the even more
distasteful 'shenanigans' between Labour and Plaid during those two decades. When
referring to campaigns, one has to acknowledge the impact of Cymdeithas yr
Iaith in those years, campaigning for equal status for the Welsh Language. On
the industrial front, there was also the miners’ strike and the three day working
week during 1973/4.
In the 1980s, further
industrial disputes—more
specifically two miners’ strikes—remain in the memory along with the subsequent devastation of many mining communities
thereafter. Politically it was a quiet decade, although the SDP/Liberal
Alliance did trouble the Welsh political scene where it had the support of some
20 to 23 percent of the people. Other than that, devolution was on the back burner thanks to Neil Kinnock as Labour leader and Plaid spoke
in hushed tones too, though Gwynfor did rattle the establishment with his own personal
stand to secure S4C.
Politics and Wales livened
up somewhat in the 1990s after another Tory victory in 1992—we were heading towards 17
years of Tory rule over Wales and it began to look never-ending. So the issue
of devolution quickly came back onto the agenda with a vengeance. John Smith,
an ardent pro-devolutionist became Labour leader and the party’s perspective
altered. I knew John well in the 1970s and we both served together on the
Council of Europe.
I will indulge in one
personal story about John Smith. Over a meal in Strasbourg one evening with him
and Andrew Faulds—the MP/actor—we were discussing the next
morning’s debate in the Council where I was going to make my maiden speech. Andrew suggested ‘why don’t you speak in Welsh’
and, not needing much convincing, I agreed to that course of action—even though Welsh was not
considered an official language in the Council at the time. So come the debate,
as I got up to speak, John sitting next to me whispered ‘do you want the
standing ovation now or at the end?’ His comment threw me somewhat but I
managed to speak in Welsh for two minutes before the President stopped me—all I could hear in my
earpiece was the interpreter repeatedly saying ‘we think Mr Jones is speaking
in Welsh’. The negative reaction back in Wales from Labour activists took me by
surprise—‘what are you,
a nationalist?’ However, on the flight back to Heathrow the pilot emerged from
the cockpit and presented me with a bottle of champagne—he had heard about it on the radio as it had made
UK news, and he was from Llanelli!
John Smith’s unexpected and untimely
death was a very sad time for the Labour party. Fortunately, he had already set in
motion, inside Labour, proposals for devolution to Scotland and Wales. He was followed
by Tony Blair as leader and then Prime Minister. By the way, I have said many
times that Wales owes a lot to Blair. To get any major constitutional reform on
the statute book requires the unfailing and wholehearted support of the Prime
Minister at the time. There had been years of agitation over the creation of a Welsh
Office in the 1950s but it required the support of the then Prime Minister Harold
Wilson to ensure its establishment in 1964. Jim Callaghan, on the other hand
was extremely anti-devolution, hence Labour’s divisive and lack-lustre campaign
during the 1979 Referendum when he was Prime Minister.
Ultimately, there came the
dawn of what the majority in Wales had been waiting for a long time indeed.
I often recall the then Secretary of Wales’s (Ron Davies) greeting the morning
after the referendum victory—appropriately
achieved with the final decisive vote from Carmarthenshire. He opened by saying
‘good morning and it is a very good morning in Wales’. Right, I thought, we are
now on the road. Game on ... Welsh democracy will soon become vibrant, debate
will flourish, decisions will be made in a more open environment—with proper accountability—and our public services will
improve noticeably with the Assembly’s governance and investment decisions encompassing
the whole of Wales.
When I reflect over the
seventeen years of the Assembly’s and now Senedd’s existence, very little of what
I had expected and hoped for has materialised. This is where I will most definitely
annoy the political and establishment classes of today’s Wales. It has always
been a source of bewilderment, mirth and, at times, sadness to me that the very
people who loudly pray in aid when presenting proposals, initiatives and so on,
refer to the importance of ‘democracy’,
‘equal treatment’, ‘transparency’ and of course ‘freedom of speech’ in support of
their cause. But such fine words and sentiments are never applied by them when their
decisions, actions and policies are under the microscope.
I don’t know whether it is
the size of our country—it
being so small that the whole body politic operates more akin to a local community,
village or family. Controlling
influences prevail and people are expected to be careful of what is said and,
most certainly, take care not to step out of line. So when someone is as bold
as to openly criticise or challenge, they are quickly gossiped about, attacked,
damned, ostracised and, at times, vilified for their opinions. The accepted
wisdom, these days, is that one must not deign to challenge ‘The Party’, or
point out where a leader is going wrong or that the Senedd is not governing effectively
and our AMs are failing in their duty to adequately and rigorously challenge the
Welsh government. Quite unlike the Wales in which I grew up and honed my
politics—plain speaking
and deviation from the bureaucratic party norm are to be actively discouraged. The
outcome is less accountability in government and boring politics, leading to
a disinterested public—until
something new like UKIP turns up on the scene ...
So to understand why there
is such disillusionment inherent in our politics and consider whether Labour and Plaid can claim
to be the natural parties of Wales—whilst electorally both are at a standstill—let us briefly examine how four particular issues have been dealt with
recently. These proposals and
announcements have left me with a strong impression that much is left to be
desired about the present way of conducting business.
Taking the easy one first. The proposal to increase
AMs salaries by 18% was an inappropriate recommendation to put forward during
such difficult financial times. It displayed a lack of perspective or sense of
reality. So it was that ‘the great and the good’ viewed it just and fair for nurses
and other public servants to make do with 1% until 2017/18, but our politicians
deserved an 18% next May. I tried to get the matter more openly debated—but it was difficult to get
a response despite endless communications to the First Minister and Leader of
the Opposition. Interestingly, other posts on this Blog, have had good media
coverage—covering topics such
as reducing the number of councils, the tragic death of Charles Kennedy,
Plaid’s 'no deal' with the Tories and reflections on the recent Welsh opinion
poll. But on this issue, there has been total silence—indeed, a case of ‘close the ranks’ time and don’t ‘upset
the family!’ I could not even get the
Labour and Conservative parties in Wales to respond as to their intentions. Unfortunately, the
tactics of government throughout the decades has often been to ‘lie low’, ‘ride
any storm’, ‘let the summer come and the public won’t care’ ... and, who knows,
‘we might even get away with it!’ It’s
just cynical and arrogant politics.
Then the next major issue was
Leighton Andrews’s proposal regarding the Council shake up— something that is urgently
needed because the existing arrangements for twenty two councils are way over
the top for such a small country as Wales. Well, that should be no problem you
would have thought—wrong!
All the difficulties, potential uncertainties, accusations over the Welsh government’s
motives, the need for more consultation etc were put forward, as delaying tactics, by opponents. On such a major issue as how efficiently and best to govern Wales—the Senedd, AMs and local
government displayed a lack of leadership that repeats itself far too often. Where
is the strategic vision and direction?
The third topic that arose was
Huw Lewis’s announcement of a new Schools’ Curriculum. Of course, it is obvious
that changes are needed. The current curriculum has been in place for some twenty
years and the world has moved on, particularly in this fast moving digital age
as I am finding out! Mr Lewis, when
commenting on Wales’s poor position in the PISA international league table of
performance in core subjects—where we are the lowest of the four UK nations in
43rd position with Scotland 25th—said that there had been ‘too much denial, drift
and dither’ over our performance. I agree, his predecessor had also said there
are ‘systemic weaknesses in the education system.’ It is well known that Estyn
is concerned over pupils’ standards and schools’ performance. For instance, last
year, four out of every ten primary schools inspected were deemed as being
‘satisfactory’ only. Teacher assessment
has been a controversial issue over the past decade, standards in Welsh second
language are broadly inadequate and the levels of achievement in numeracy are not
improving satisfactorily. So let’s get something done? Ah well, hang on, our politicians think that it will take up to seven or eight years before changes can come
into effect fully—practically
two more Assembly administrations. Where’s the urgency? Why is there such a
lack of perspective when trying to address the deficiencies in our education
system?
Finally, there is today’s
announcement, which frankly beggars belief and makes one want to shout ‘just stop
playing politics and get on and do something’. A Green Paper to strengthen NHS
Wales has been announced with a range of proposals and ideas for consultation.
Bearing in mind all the historical and recent headlines relating to hospital waiting
times; difficulties in the ambulance service; lack of adequate treatment for
certain illnesses; concerns over some residential arrangements; quality of care and
unacceptable management practices, we are all sadly too familiar with the
standard response to these issues and failure to meet targets—in unison, ‘lessons will be
learnt’. Well, I can assure you there is no need to worry anymore because the ‘idea’
is to establish a new legal duty for health providers to be transparent when
admitting mistakes. Then there are proposals that will help ensure that the NHS
has the right powers and structures to act in the best interests of patients
and the wider public.
All the ‘ideas’ highlighted are good and valid ones,
but not only do they need to be implemented as soon as possible, they should
have already been in existence from at least a few of years ago. So once again why has
the Welsh government been so long in even publishing a Green Paper? It gives an impression of action being taken
but, in reality, it is once more a classic example of a failure to deliver, absent
leadership, lack of urgency and complacent governance.
Which takes me back to my initial question ... have we become complacent
or are things really far too cosy in the Senedd?