The near ubiquitous
presence of the Union Jack at the Tory gathering last week was little surprise.
They have long been Anglo-British nationalists, even if the stridency with
which that nationalism is expressed has increased dramatically over
the past decade or two. They don’t always seem to understand the difference
between British and English, but it really doesn’t matter – they don’t
participate in electoral politics in Northern Ireland and their appeal in Wales
and Scotland is largely limited to fellow British-identifiers.
In this week’s
gathering, Labour seem determined
to out-do the Tories’ union-jackery, with the flag appearing everywhere. The
wish to be seen to be every bit as patriotic as the Tories is perhaps understandable
given their obsession with pleasing the increasingly nationalistic media in
England, but given that we know here in Wales that a large proportion of Labour
voters support Welsh independence, and that in Scotland Labour see independence-supporting
SNP voters as a target group (a point expanded on by Mandelson
this morning), it’s reasonable to wonder whether they’ve thought through the
extent and potential implications of their union jack waving enthusiasm. From a
non-English perspective, it can look as though they have the same difficulty as
the Tories in distinguishing between British and English.
Legally and constitutionally,
of course, the union flag is ‘our’ flag whether we like it or not, but that
doesn’t mean that it’s a flag with which we all identify to the same degree, and it's not so very long ago that England fans would see the union flag as their symbol.
Clinging ever more tightly to it whilst actively seeking the support of those
least attached to it doesn’t look like the smartest of moves. And, solely in symbolic
terms, it somewhat undermines Labour’s claim to be seeking to reform the union
in a way which better reflects modern reality. It gives the appearance that
Starmer is every bit as much of an Anglo-British nationalist as Sunak. And it
isn’t always true that appearances are deceptive.
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2 comments:
Labour supporters in Wales do not support independence as such. They would support a Welsh Labour-ruled Senedd rather than a perpetual Tory-led Westminster. The question has never been put in the form 'Would you prefer an independent Wales to an UK Labour government', or suchlike. Now that the Conservatives are in free-fall, one would expect the 'Labour-for-indy' demographic to stagnate for a while.
I am a Welsh nationalist, a Plaid Cymru voter (though not always a supporter, if you get my meaning). I would be willing to see a Welsh Conservative government in an independent Wales, even if there were a Socialist government in London. The vast majority of RoI governments have been hugely reactionary, but Ireland is still held up as a free Celtic model for Wales and SWcotland.
Of course Starmer is just as much an Unionist as Sunak. People willing to seek comfort in the prospect of a Labour regime in Westminster have no vision for Wales beyond the present model of "region within Greater England". Anyone seeking to create an independent Wales should be very careful about the prospect of bonding even tentatively with any Unionist party and that goes just as much for the Greens too despite their recent warm words.
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