Tuesday 20 September 2016

When only one answer is permissible

Not for the first time, I’m struggling to make any sort of sense out of a statement by the First Minister on Brexit.  What seems indisputable is that he has said all of the following:
a.    all four of the UK's parliaments and assemblies should have to "agree to any deal the UK government comes to"
b.    he could not "envisage consent being given by Wales" [without access to the single market]
c.    he "never called for a veto" [for the Assembly]
Whilst all three of these statements make some sort of sense individually, when put together they are self-evidently contradictory - unless… 
The one explanation that does make sense is if it were to be a requirement that the Assembly has to agree the deal, but with the condition that the Assembly has no right not to agree it.  It’s just a question of placing the correct interpretation on the words ‘the Assembly should have to agree’; it’s not a pre-condition for the outcome being accepted, it’s a statement of fact about the option being given to the Assembly.  It’s democracy, Henry Ford style: ‘You can vote however you like, as long as you vote the way Westminster tells you to vote’.
The sad thing is that it seems to fit quite well with the Labour Party’s notion of what home rule should look like.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Under normal circumstances Carwyn’s woolly, incoherent statements would be bad enough, but on Brexit where Wales has hardly any negotiating cards the First Minister’s backtracking is damming and will have severe consequences for Wales when we end up in an England and Wales entity after a hard Brexit with visa access to Europe and tariff only access to the EU market which will cost thousands of jobs.

Leigh Richards said...

Im afraid the reality is carwyn jones - or whoever was wales first minister - can say whatever they like on brexit but it wil make no difference. The senedd has no powers to block whatever brexit 'deal' is eventually cobbled together by the May government. And the fact - however unpalatable to some of us it is - wales voted for brexit on june 23rd means we in wales will almost certainly end up with a like it or lump approach from the british government with regards to their brexit negotiations.

In many senses the vote in wales on june 23rd can be compared to the vote against devolution in 1979 in the harm it will likely inflict on wales - on both occasions grievous self inflicted wounds.

Anonymous said...

Leigh Richards 14:00

Like it or not it might just be that the electorate of Wales is telling us something, that same something it has been trying to tell us since 1979.

A scary thought!

Leigh Richards said...

I cant argue with what you say there anon.

Spirit of BME said...

If I recall my constitutional history correctly, there is only one place that agrees a deal and under the oath taken in the coronation and that is what is called the “Queen in Parliament” that is where sovereignty lies. – like it or not and that rests in Westminster.
As long as HMG has the confidence of the monarch, and she in her first minister, there is no need to ask for and election or further referendums in this matter – both of which are only consultative anyway.