Keir is taking the P**s now

Gwern Gwynfil

To my surprise and delight my family took me away for a few days this half term to celebrate my birthday.

We went to Belgium and did a little tour of Ostend, Bruges and Brussels (more on this later). To make the most of this lovely gift I chose to switch off from the news and election campaigns. It was great.

This morning I was incredibly dismayed to discover that whilst I was away, the already frustratingly safe seat in which I have my vote has had a new Labour candidate appointed from on high.

One of Keir Starmer’s inner circle, one of the enforcers of his new party discipline and one of the architects of the suppression and removal of those considered to be ‘too left-wing’.

No doubt the new Labour candidate for Cardiff West, Alex Barros-Curtis, is a bright chap with much to offer but he is not someone with the knowledge or understanding to represent Cardiff West or Wales in Westminster.

This is not someone who will speak up and fight for Welsh interests. He’s been gifted a safe seat so that he can put party first at all times.

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Suck it up, Buttercup

If you believe in democracy then safe seats and first past the post already suck.

If you believe in democracy, having someone who is unrepresentative, both of who you are and where you’re from, sucks.

If you’re a Labour activist in Cardiff West, having a random stranger parachuted in to be your appointed ‘local’ leader and representative sucks, big time.

If you’re an ambitious party member, who has given long years to representing that party in your area, with ambitions to do so at the highest level, who finds that the opportunity to merely ask for such a privilege has been abruptly snatched away, this sucks.

It sucks that regular voters won’t even know that they’re having a political stooge imposed from on high by those who apparently know best.

Media coverage and political engagement are so malnourished that the reality of the contempt with which party managers in London are treating the electorate of Cardiff West simply won’t cut through. This sucks too.

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Taking the P**s

I’m not a Labour party member, I’ve always been a politically engaged, open minded, floating voter, but I was furious when I realised that Keir Starmer and Labour central in London were taking the piss out of Wales so blatantly by imposing candidates on Cardiff West and Swansea West.

I cannot imagine how upset and angry I would be if I was a Welsh Labour activist.

Cardiff West was Rhodri Morgan’s seat until 2001. He was succeeded by the retiring MP, Kevin Brennan, who has always been very close to the Welsh Labour hierarchy and party machinery.

That close connection with the wider Welsh Labour movement will disappear for Cardiff West on Friday 5th July when the new MP’s election is confirmed.

The Wrong Person

It is almost certain that some guy from London, who barely knows anything about his constituency, has only the vaguest notions about Wales, doesn’t follow (let alone support) the Cymru national sides in Rugby, Football or any other sport, will be responsible for representing the interests of Wales and the people of Cardiff West in Parliament.

A job for which he is eminently unqualified no matter how bright and talented he may be in other ways.

This is equally true for the think tank director, Thorsten Bell, who has similarly been parachuted into Swansea West.

For Wales, Labour isn’t Working

I'm angry about all of this. If I was a member of the Labour party in Wales I would be incandescent with rage. How wide must the gulf between Welsh Labour and Labour HQ become before activists in Wales realise that this just isn’t working?

Putting the party first relentlessly simply isn’t adding any value for Wales politically, it isn’t adding any value for the people of Wales, it isn’t adding any value to the governance or government of Wales.

The lack of democracy, the taking for granted, the contempt, indifference and disinterest keep mounting up and yet, here in Wales, Labour keeps the faith. Blind to the reality that things won’t change, blind to the knowledge that they are being abused in service of an agenda which has no relevance to their actual interest and needs.

A Brighter, Better Wales

 I enjoyed my trip to Belgium but it reminded me visibly and forcefully of how far behind so much of the UK has fallen. As time passes we are becoming relatively poorer and more discontented than our European peers. They are outperforming us consistently on every single metric.

It doesn’t need to be this way.

It shouldn’t be this way.

But this is the way it is.

I agree with Starmer that what we need is change. But his Labour is not that change for Wales. It will be more of the same.

Muscular Unionism with scant regard for equitable treatment for Wales and indifference to the needs of the people of Wales. Exploitation of Welsh resources with scant reward for Wales and the people of Wales. Welsh priorities at the very bottom of every intray, ignored consistently.

There will be crumbs I’m sure, enough to keep us quiescent, enough to keep the pot simmering so that they can continue to take Wales for granted.

This will be the case until Labour in Wales wakes up and rediscovers Rhodri Morgan’s ‘clear red water’. Rediscovers it and takes it forward so that it becomes a clear red canyon. By all means have a bridge to UK Labour but get your own bank account and be your own party.

This will stop the parachutes, this will give you a voice for Wales, this will let you truly represent the people of Wales.