As Westminster attacks the laws made by our Senedd, and Welsh Labour tries to paper over the cracks with angry letters, there is a simple solution that will defend of democracy. Luke Fletcher MS, Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson on the economy, writes about the need for the people of Wales to be able to decide on the future of their country.
This week the UK Government, without a word to Welsh Government, marked their intention to repeal the Trade Union (Wales) Act 2017 passed by our Senedd. Amongst other things, the Act prohibits devolved Welsh public bodies from using agency workers to provide cover during industrial action. Without this in place, the rights of our workers are severely undermined.
The timing is telling – it came within days of RMT rail workers taking industrial action over jobs, pay and conditions, and in the same week that other Unions started balloting their members, signalling their intention that they, too, may strike in the near future. Against the backdrop of a so called “Summer of Discontent”, the UK government’s answer was to show contempt not just for workers, not just for Wales, but for our democracy as well.
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In many respects, this latest act is one more in a long list of power grabs from a Westminster government that’s apparently hellbent on riding roughshod over our democracy. But this particular act feels like a turning point. If each rolled back right is like a brick in a dam, then at some point, removing one of those bricks will break the dam.
This intention to repeal the Trade Union Act could be that critical brick, and could mark that breaking point in devolution and the go-to response of the First Minister of Wales is to write a letter but you can’t shore up a dam with letters, no matter how angry they are.
In her book on how to deal with adversity, the author Karen Salmansohn suggests “Write a complaint letter. Then answer it.” The First Minister has outlined his complaint, but his suggestion on how to answer it lies in the hope that UK Labour will win the next General Election.
There are three problems with this answer. Firstly, what if Sir Keir Starmer does not lead his party to victory against a Prime Minister who has just declared his intention to lead for three terms? Secondly, what if Wales does not fare better under Labour in London? Rather, it turns out it doesn’t matter whether the Unionist party in Westminster is red or blue, it is possible that Wales won’t be granted more power to safeguard its own democracy in either scenario. Thirdly, let’s assume Labour is able to appoint the next Prime Minister, and they are able to put back the rights taken away by the Tories – what happens when the Tories inevitably get back in to power again? So the wheel turns, without us having hands on it, without us having control in the direction our nation is taken.
Plaid Cymru has a very simple answer to this situation which would permanently shore up the dam of our democracy, and not just in the brief interludes of a Labour Government once every twenty years, that is independence.
Once considered a fringe issue, it’s very much moved to the mainstream. Just this week, the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, has laid out her plans to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence, which she hopes will be on Thursday 19 October 2023, asking the question “Should Scotland be an independent country?”
Then on Saturday, there will be a march for independence in Wrexham and let’s not forget Wales Online’s own Will Hayward has announced the launch of his book: Independent Nation: Should Wales leave the UK?
Now, the First Minister may not want to come that far, but it’s really important that Wales sends a clear message to Westminster that will make them sit up and listen. That’s why Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price called on the First Minister to make it clear that his unionism is not unlimited.
If Labour is not prepared to back independence now, then surely they can back a consultative referendum on Wales’ constitutional future. If it’s framed as Wales versus Westminster then surely it’s a referendum that we can win?
After all, at Wrexham’s march for independence will be swelled both by the ranks of Plaid Cymru supporters and ranks of Welsh Labour supporters as well. Just as Welsh Labour supporters are prepared to march for Welsh democracy, Welsh Labour must take a stand and create a self-determination bill for Wales and hold a referendum on Wales’ future.
We already have an Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales, which will put forward proposals for defending and extending our Welsh democracy – the consultative referendum should be based on what the Commission proposes.
Put simply, this will give the people of Wales the right to decide on the future of their democracy, and we shouldn’t have to wait on the whim of London based parties, while we watch the Tories roll back our hard fought rights.
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