There was a review
last week on Nation.Cymru of a book telling the story of the foundation of the
new political party, Ein
Gwlad. In principle, having
more than one political party in Wales advocating independence is to be
welcomed; independence isn’t a concept owned by one particular part of the
political spectrum, and having a range of parties arguing for different visions
of what an independent Wales might be like would be considered entirely normal
in most of the other European nations where there is an independence
movement. The reason why it hasn’t
happened here is, first and foremost, an electoral system which favours unity
rather than disunity, and I suspect that will be the rock on which Ein Gwlad
eventually founders. Electoral reform is
long overdue and would probably be a game-changer for political debate in Wales,
but things are as they are.
Having said that,
I’m highly sceptical of any party which claims to be ‘syncretic’, not occupying
any particular place on the political spectrum but able to pick policies, a la carte, from all parts of that
spectrum, selecting whatever is best for Wales.
There are, as I see it, two main problems with that approach.
The first is that
it assumes that the ‘spectrum’ is actually quite narrow. If it is possible to mix and match policies
from, say, Labour, Tory, Lib Dems and Plaid, then that is because, in essence
(and perhaps excluding the constitutional question), the policy differences
between them are, by and large, much smaller than any of them would have us
believe. It’s true that the degree of
consensus which seemed to be growing in the post-war years has reduced, but
broadly the mainstream politicians of all those parties differ mostly in
emphasis and degree rather than in principle.
There are people with rather more radical views in all parties, but mainstream
debate in UK politics revolves around a fairly narrow axis.
The second
problem is how and who decides what is ‘best for Wales’. The idea that anyone can make such a
judgement independently of their own priors is simply not credible, even if the
role of those priors is restricted to determining the criteria to be used in
making the decision. What is really
‘best for Wales’ is not something which is either self-evident nor objectively
determinable, it is open to a range of differing opinions based on different
criteria. I suspect that syncretism is
generally more of a euphemism for populism than a viable political philosophy and
amounts to selecting those policies which are most popular amongst the
electorate. But it can never be as easy
as that – low taxes and high-quality public services would both
be popular, but they don’t combine terribly well. Oh, and independence isn’t terribly ‘popular’
either.
I believe that it
would be ‘better for Wales’ to have multiple parties arguing for independence
from different political perspectives (entirely accepting that that belief is
based on my own priors rather than on demonstrable proof), but I’m not at all
convinced that pretending not to have a political perspective is the way of achieving
that.
Posts
5 comments:
That's a perfectly valid point against syncretism at one level.
But, think of it like this: if Wales is to finally rid itself of Welsh Labour after 20 years, the only realistic option is a coalition featuring probably the Conservatives, Plaid Cymru, and possibly Ein Gwlad or even YES Cymru, picking up some regional seats. Latest Welsh Political Barometer published by Roger Scully this week showed 11% votes for "smaller" parties.
Now that particular coalition would have to be by its very nature "syncretic", adopting policies from different directions which could benefit Wales. Would an out and out syncretic( which has a sense of non-ideological open-ness and flexibility built into its very nature from the start) party really be so out of sync in such a situation?
I agree that, at present, the only conceivable alternative to a Labour-led government in the Assembly is a government which (either explicitly or implicitly) depends on collaboration between Plaid and the Conservatives (however much Plaid's leadership may continue to deny or fudge that harsh truth). That could change - of course it could - but there are no signs of that sort of political sea-change amongst the electorate happening at present. But the very fact that both you and I can conceive of such a situation underlines the point that I made in the post, which is that the 'political spectrum' from within which policies are being mixed and matched is a very narrow one, and the differences aren't as large as they all say they are. Whether any other (new) parties have a meaningful role in arriving at that situation is another question and it would be more credible after electoral reform); the basic issue that those wanting to 'rid Wales of Labour' have (and I do include myself in that number) is that Labour continues to draw the support of the Welsh electorate. Trying to elect a government whose driving rationale is 'not being Labour', and seeking first and foremost to deprive the leading party of its leading place in Welsh politics by back-door deals rather than electoral defeat is avoiding that minor little problem that Labour is what Wales votes for.
I suspect the Welsh Assembly has rather had it's day and the election of Mark Drakeford as First Minister will hasten its decline into an institution of lesser national relevance.
Westminster is now back in fashion big time as highlighted by the performance of people like Liz Saville Roberts. It her and her ilk that will make the changes for Wales in the coming years. She needs to get together with her conservative colleagues and put forward a plan for Wales to roll out a form of independence in Wales that is controlled and protected until such time as it can be proven beyond doubt to be a proposition of sustaining reality.
The BREXIT referendum proved that England needs freedom to prosper just as much as we do in Wales. It should be a win win for everybody.
Anonymous writes "I suspect the Welsh Assembly has rather had it's day" - er on what evidence do you base that risible assertion? All the polling evidence shows people in wales want the senedd's powers to be enhanced, with only a tiny number hankering for a return to the days of direct rule by westminster when every decision affecting wales was taken by thatcherite rogues outside Wales like john redwood in woking.
Plaid 'get together with the conservatives'? plaid get together with representatives of a party whose raison detre is the preservation of the british 'union'? A party which fought tooth and nail against welsh devolution and would fight tooth and nail against welsh independence. A party that deployed the full might of the british state against independence for Scotland in 2014.
"Roll out a form of independence in Wales that is controlled and protected until such time as it can be proven beyond doubt to be a proposition of sustaining reality". Er well first off Wales is a nation and like every nation has a inalienable right to self determination should its peole choose to exercise that right. Secondly i would remind you that the UK presently has a national debt amounting to 84 percent of its GDP - it's the british state which is economically unsustainable and a unrealistic proposition, and wales would be much better off out of it - and the sooner the better.
Anon,
"I suspect the Welsh Assembly has rather had it's day and the election of Mark Drakeford as First Minister will hasten its decline into an institution of lesser national relevance." After the events of this week, I could probably write, with some justification, "I suspect the House of Commons has rather had its day and the failure to remove Theresa May as Prime Minister will hasten its decline into an institution of lesser national relevance." It would, though, be just as silly. Insofar as there is a problem with the Assembly, it's to do with the politicians and policies, not the institution itself.
The suggestion that any Plaid politician could conceivably "... get together with her conservative colleagues and put forward a plan for Wales to roll out a form of independence in Wales that is controlled and protected until such time as it can be proven beyond doubt to be a proposition of sustaining reality" is risible, given that ANY "form of independence" is anathema to the Conservative and Unionist Party (the clue is in its name).
Funnily enough, I actually agree with you that "England needs freedom to prosper just as much as we do in Wales", but I'm not sure in what way you believe that Brexit proves that. To be charitable, there are some steps missing in the logic there.
Post a Comment