Plaid’s leader calls for more Welsh powers
Plaid Cymru’s leader has used his conference address to sharply attack the Labour Party’s vision for Wales, and call for the Assembly to be granted greater legislative powers.
In a strongly worded attack, Ieuan Wyn Jones accused Welsh Labour MPs of being “outright hostile” to a legislative parliament and sabotaging its establishment.
The Richard Commission was established in July 2002 to examine the scope of the Assembly’s powers and its electoral process. It recommended that the powers of the Welsh Assembly should be extended, with more legislative power, a rise in the number of AMs, and a formal separation between the executive and legislature.
Mr Wyn Jones said that the report “deployed very powerful arguments in favour of a proper parliament in Wales” and that it was widely supported, apart from Labour MPs, whose opposition he slammed as “selfish self-interest” because “a proper Parliament would mean fewer MPs for Wales in Westminster and of course fewer Welsh Labour MPs.”
First Minister Rhodri Morgan, he said, “buckled under the pressure” and ditched the plans in favour of a compromise that was “so bland and meaningless that so called arch devolutionists like Carwyn Jones and arch sceptics like Don Touig could vote for it”.
“He has lost the respect of the people of Wales and of his own colleagues and his credibility is in tatters.”
Labour announced its solution to the situation in September. Welsh Secretary Peter Hain said that the Assembly could get more powers in two stages through legislation at Westminster, firstly the power to vary Westminster laws more widely, and secondly, subject to a referendum, the Assembly could get more law-making powers. The Richard Commission’s recommendations of a move towards a single transferable vote system and more AMs were rejected.
The Plaid Cymru leader categorised this as a step back for Wales, arguing “it leaves the Labour Party once again with London holding the whip hand over Wales.”
Rejecting the notion that now the Richard recommendations are dead, Mr Wyn Jones called on the conference to “reject the notion that Wales can only move forward when Labour decides.”
Winding up the speech, he called for unity, a push on the next general election to ensure Plaid Cymru MPs in Westminster, declaiming: “We have a responsibility to rid Wales of New Labour and replace them with a government that will put the interests of our people first.”
