Now’s the time, Mr Drakeford

This is the advantage of being a Liberal rather than a progressive/SocDem/socialist: I try to see the merits in other ideological positions, and where they go wrong. to that, I believe Mr. Wildsmith fundamentally misunderstands the motivations of the more populist right wing. It isn't that they fear progressivism, or diversity for that measure. In fact, the grassroots of many populist right wing groups look increasingly more diverse than the incredibly white left wing think tanks. It's disgust. The Right, especially pronounced with the identarian far right, has always been motivated by disgust over fear, shame, profit, honour etc. Secondarily, they tend to really hate bottom-up collectivism. This is borne from a belief in elite theory. Big Government = bad... except when it blasts out messages about cultural/national/ethnic unity, then the government/the dictator/the Doge can be as grossly gargantuan as you like. Both far Left and far Right have a rather warped view of the concept of freedom. The Left changes the definitions of terms and adds so many qualifiers (not out loud of course - The "Democratic" Republic of Korea etc manages to dupe more people into believing that they have established real democracy than one should be comfortable considering) that their claims can be taken at face value or, when challenged, sophistry can do the heavy lifting until Utopia (never) comes. The Right are a good deal more simple: they see freedom as the final gift bestowed upon society if you follow all their rules and don't ask any questions. Even then they may conclude that you do not deserve it, peasants. Sometimes, if your food smells a bit different or your God has too many arms, the rules don't apply to you. Or rights. Without due consideration of the primary motivations of the Right, the left, moderates and Liberals run the risk of allowing the extreme edge to dominate again. Tolerance is one thing, ignorance is far more dangerous. On the issue of Drakeford's relative silence on our "constitutional" situation: he doesn't want to keep pulling at that thread, especially considering that Labour have established what amounts to one party rule in Wales. He may risk unravelling the flimsy ball of yarn to reveal that a free and independent Wales lies at the end of it. The slippery slope ceases to be a fallacy when it's simply true. Most pro-devo, pro-federalism, Devo-max Labourites need to be asked 1 question: Would you rather your preferred form of governance in Wales be won only if you knew 100% that it'd lead to indy, or to revoke the 1998 Government of Wales act altogether and return to being simply a constituent part of the UK? I hope Drakeford would choose the former. His positions, policies and utterances over the last few years would point to the latter.

Nobody in possession of self-respect, regardless of loyalty to the UK, should accept that matters like transport should be remotely decided. We live here; therefore, we know what type of train line we need, right? Yep we need a train that goes to Shrewsbury.

Contrary to the article's view, Welsh Labour and the Senedd's policies have rattled some of the London media and it needs to happen far more often. The differences between Westminster politicians, no matter what colour, and the politicians from Wales and Scotland are wide. Westminster is stuck in the 19th century, progressive ideals are just not part of its colonial outlook. As independent countries Wales and Scotland can fully show the people of England what they'll be missing. Progressive politics is what we desperately need to drag us out of poverty.

you can't compare. Scotland has its own laws and was given a deeper devolution to start with. We are still playing catch up to that, without our own laws, we suffer English interference alot. Wasted Senedd time you might say.

Hear, hear! However, I won't be holding my breath.

I sometimes think our Gov are afraid to call Westminster out on things like rail funding , take them to court, if England Scotland and N Ireland are getting money, why not us? It does not help when Labour MP's speak out against us, re devolution of justice, Labour here should be autonomous and tell the MP's to back them or shut up when it comes to devolving more to the Senedd, afterall the people have voted more than once for more devolution.

The FM's in a very difficult position. The contempt with which he, and the Senedd, indeed Wales itself, are treated by the UK Government, suggests that the tanks would be on his lawn quickly if he adopted a more rigorous defence of the country's interests. The. 'national' press would be giving him a good kicking. He can expect nothing good from these people. He might have more success by threatening to make Welsh Labour independent of UK/English Labour, giving no guarantee of support for a future Westminster Labour government unless Starmer gives him a written guarantee of something approaching devo max.

I find with Mark Drakeford he cries foul then sits on his hands and does absolutely nothing assuming his Labour master in London Keir Starmer will draw up on his donkey like Z-list Zorro to save the day. He won't. But this question needs answering? Is Mark Drakeford having discussions with Starmer to get reassurance that if & when he PM Labour will devolve powers denied to Wales that could transform Welsh society democratically and economically All Starmer craves is absolute power. England will be his prority not creating a more fair inclusive Britain where all four constituent parts are treated as equals. Not in his or Labour's interest. Recently Starmer stated if prime minister he would continue with Conservative policies if elected. So it's highly likely he will continue with their Wales-only policy of denying devolution already enjoyed by Scotland, England & Northern Ireland. After all, didn't Keir Starmer say that he'd return Welsh Government administration rights over our structural funding that was taken by the Tories when they introduced their Shared Prosperity & Levelling up bills cynically done to interfer with devolution. That all we are worth? Having control over our begging bowl. It seems that all Starmer cares about is ensuring Wales remains forever a poor relation to Scotland, Northern Ireland and England. Personally, I see no real democratic change to our fortunes under UK Labour rule at Westminster. Welsh Labour can be fantasists, and believe Starmer will save the day, but less we forget we only have a Senedd Cymru because Plaid Cymru forced Welsh Labour & UK Labour's arm in coalition to hold a legislative referenda in 2011 that returned Welsh Law after a 619 year hiatus . UK Labour at the time of agreeing the legislative a referendum were months from being evicted from office. And it's highly likely that they only agreed to give the Senedd the greenlight to the referenda due to the incoming Conservative government hostile to devolution. The problem we have in Wales is that we vote for parties that don't have our interests at heart. We elect self-servative Labour & Conservatives MPs to represent our interests at Westminster but they often end up feathering England's nest and screwing the Welsh public purse. That's the reality we face as a people & nation. What Wales desperately needs besides more powers devolved over policing , criminal & youth justice, benefits , crown estate and control over our water resource ... but as important is having politicians elected that serve our needs first not their own..

I think we may need just to draw breath a little … The Tory party Welsh Branch under Nic Bourne and guided by the likes of Johnathan Evans, Johnathan Morgan and David Melding moved so far forward on Wales issues it shocked and delighted so many of us. But what happened next ? Nothing but back sliding and reversal of pro Wales positions. Mark D certainly has a well deserved track record on progressive and pro Wales stances on a range of matters but what is around the corner for the Wales section of Blaid Lafur ? Vaughan G ? I think not - no interest in rural, cultural , language issues or anything indeed outside the Cardiff Bay Metro Bubble let alone the Valleys, Dyfed or northern areas ( where ever he thinks we are )

In my experience the WG has not provided the services Wales needs to provide well paying jobs and better roads. We do not have a proper north to south road. We are not very good at attracting new businesses or supporting the existing ones . The local councils are now a branch of the political parties and they do not represent the community. History has always blamed the innocent and control is the only need.

I really thought this very punchy.. We should have more of this kind of article, witty but also strong in political belief. I think the call for authentic devolution is right. Transport and economic resources and powers. Westminster must broken up into self-governing regions in England to release devolutionary energy and resources first. That will then ensure Welsh and Scots Devolution really means something. I contributed to a 2022 book on this written by 3 Welsh and 4 English. Reforming UK Public Policy Through Elected Regional Government https://amzn.eu/d/3ne9MRv