Jobs aren't everything

Tweet The new Plaid MP for Meirionnydd, Liz Saville Roberts, is certainly making her mark early in the parliamentary session.  I was always confident that she would.  Yesterday’s Western Mail carried a report of her speech marking the anniversary of Tryweryn.  The speech was powerful and robust.

I particularly liked the way in which a comparison was drawn with what we still see happening in Wales, with a particular reference to the “super-prison” in Wrecsam.  I thought that she was absolutely right when she said that “Almost any atrocity can be justified in Wales on the ground that it creates employment.  This justification is still used today…”.

I entirely agree that we should not allow people to get away with using that justification to inflict developments on Wales which are inconsistent with the way that we want to shape our own future.  It would be a great pity if other members of her party were to undermine fatally such a clear and resolute position by arguing that jobs are so important that there are some things that we just have to accept.  Like a new nuclear power station on Ynys Môn, for instance.