Choosing the right words is important, and
given that Jeremy Miles is a lawyer as well as a politician, I can’t believe
that he didn’t understand exactly what he was saying yesterday,
when he expressed the Welsh Government’s concern that the Westminster power
grab will “… accelerate the break-up of the Union”. ‘Accelerate’ conveys
a clear suggestion that he understands that the only thing which is still within
the power of unionist politicians is the rate at which the union disintegrates,
not whether or not it does so. Whether he consciously intended to betray that
belief is an open question, but an appeal not to accelerate a process is not at
all the same thing as an appeal to halt it.
I don’t expect him, or any other member of
the Welsh government, to suddenly become a full-on independentista, but
clearly there is a growing recognition in their ranks not only that Scottish
independence is being made increasingly likely by the actions of the English
nationalist government in Westminster, but also that the tone-deaf response of
Westminster, with its apparent belief that the antidote is ‘more Boris’ and
more union flags, is exacerbating the problem. Neither do I imminently expect
him or any other member of the Welsh government to start talking about what
Wales should do in what is now the probable scenario. But, given the words Miles
used yesterday, I cannot believe that they aren’t, in increasing numbers, at
least thinking about what it would mean if the UK were reduced to a rump Englandandwales.
There aren’t a whole load of steps between realising the consequences of that
and supporting the only logical alternative.
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