We are all letting Wales down
Plus Vaughan Gething's sneaky move
As I write this it is almost exactly 16 years ago to the day I first came to Cardiff from the West Midlands.
I always had an attachment to the city because it was where my mum and dad met and it wasn’t long until I started to call Wales home.
While I loved Wales from the moment I arrived, it wasn’t until I started reporting on it as a journalist that I really felt I got to know it.
The beginning was like the start of a relationship, you become obsessed. The first parts of Cymru I fell in love with were those parts that everyone crossing Offa’’s Dyke notices. You love the mountains, the wildness and the coast. You love getting to know this country which appears so different, confident in who it is and well defined. The people are proud, kind and welcoming. You have a bustling capital that somehow manages to feel like a big city but also feels so intimate.
Then in time, like any relationship you see below the surface, the imperfections, the warts, the idiosyncrasies and hope you still feel the same afterwards. And I did.
The more time you spend in Wales the more you see that, though most people in Wales are unequivocal in stating their Welshness, it has limitations. Meet a Welsh person abroad and you will know within minutes where they are from. Not because of any accent, but because they will tell you as soon as possible. This stems from pride and because of how being Welsh holds such a key part of their identity.
But the longer I have spent covering Wales the more I realise that for many, that identity doesn’t necessarily extend to standing up for Wales. Now don’t get me wrong, if someone was to “slag off” Wales the outrage is immediate and furious. The people of Wales are really quick to retort to perceived slights to the point that I think we can be pretty over sensitive sometimes - though who doesn’t get a bit touchy when defending something they love?
When I say “standing up for Wales” I don’t really mean calling out people who speak negatively about it. In my opinion, that is a very superficial way of being in Wales’ corner. When it comes to demanding better for Cymru, both inside and outside our country, I think we collectively let ourselves down. We allow ourselves to be shortchanged in London and at home. We willingly elect representatives lacking in ambition and accountability. We simply have really low standards for Wales and we collectively suffer for it.
The year I spent researching for my book on Welsh independence was eye opening. Not because it turned me into a English hating furious Welsh nationalist (a caricature that I think only applies to a small percentage of the Indy movement anyway) but because it really brought home to me two truths:
Wales has a huge range of complicated challenges and issues which, though in part mirrored in other parts of the UK, are worse/more complicated that what we see elsewhere on this island.
There is no foreseeable way in which these things are going to get better under the system we currently have.
If you accept the two points above it is hard not to conclude that what we are currently doing isn’t working. The most depressing thing about this is that this isn’t even really acknowledged in Cardiff Bay or Westminster.
If you look at the respective pitches of both candidates in the Welsh Labour leadership race there was almost no real difference - either between each other, and what had gone before. The real changes in direction were minimal. I am not saying that they should have poo-pooed their own party’s record but the lack of any real vision for anything that will make Wales a notably different place in 10 years time when things are, objectively, pretty poor, gives no hope that things are going to improve.
The worst thing about this is that Wales is just stuck in a perpetual holding pattern. Like planes slowly but surely circling closer to the ground. Our own government in Cardiff Bay really does wield huge amounts of power to make things better for the people of Wales. Of course the argument can (and should) be made that their ability to make a difference is limited by what they receive from Westminster and that the uncertain nature of what they will be getting financially year on year makes it hard for them to plan.
But you can’t look at successive Welsh Government’s and believe that they have left no stone unturned when it comes to bettering the lives of the people they were elected to govern. It is impossible to argue they have explored all ingenuity to make Wales better run, more efficient and prosperous. For crying out loud, the largest public sector organisation in Wales, Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board, has been in and out of special measures for years and is acknowledged by the Welsh Government themselves as a basket case when it comes to governance - though obviously it can’t possibly be their fault.
They don’t even use all their tax raising powers that they have available to them. We still have 22 local authorities and seven health boards when our population is the size of Greater Manchester. Ask yourself why that is? Because it is easier not to make tough decisions. In my view the driving force ultimately underpinning Welsh Government decision making isn’t “what’s best for Wales”, it is “how do we stay in power in Wales”.
Why have they not raised tax despite relentless complaining about a lack of funds and Welsh services being on their knees? Because it is a tough decision that would be used against them by political opponents.
Why do we have so many local authorities? Because they are, in the main, run by the same party who runs the Welsh Government. It is a fight that they don’t want to have.
Welsh Labour LOVE to tell us that they are the most successful democratic party in history having been the largest party in Wales for over 100 years. But I would much rather they were able to trumpet their success in making Wales better as opposed to simply being in office. Success isn’t being elected, it is what you build after you’re elected.
Lying about what children are being taught isn’t a credible electoral strategy.
But what is the alternative to Welsh Labour? The next largest party is the Welsh Conservatives. This week their leader Andrew RT Davies decided to lie on Twitter. He said that in Wales “they teach sex education to 3 year-olds”.
Just to be clear, this isn’t true.
Mr Davies is referring to the new Welsh curriculum being taught in schools. In it there is a section called the "Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) Code" which lays out the mandatory curriculum that schools in Wales need to follow.
I go through the entire RSE curriculum in this article to debunk Mr Davies’ untruths so feel free to take a look if you wish. But I raise it now to illustrate just how poor and lacking in decency Mr Davies’ lie is and what it says about Welsh politics.
Realistically, this curriculum is geared to help children identify when they are being exposed to things that make them feel unsafe rather than teaching them something that is inappropriate.
Here are some examples of what teaching three-year-olds about “sex” really means:
Recognising trusted adults who can help them and whom they can talk to and ask questions of, especially when they feel unhappy or unsafe.
A recognition that everyone’s body is unique and special to them.
An awareness that everyone has the right to be safe and no one is allowed to harm anyone else.
An awareness of everyone’s right to privacy, personal boundaries and which parts of the body are private.
What Mr Davies is doing is trying to suggest that children in Wales are being sexualised. What you can see from the above points is that, in fact, the curriculum is doing the opposite. It is trying to safeguard children from abuse and teaching them what is not appropriate as well as what to do if they are exposed to it.
Mr Davies must know that children are not being sexualised by this curriculum yet he is still spreading this misinformation under the guise of trying to protect them. In my view there is something despicable about this.
But this is what we have as the main alternative in Wales to Labour. I have spoken to several members of the Welsh Tories and there is a feeling that Andrew has phoned it in when it comes to really defeating Labour. He has a nice comfortable gig as Leader of the Opposition and is happy to just let his senior advisor spout bile on his behalf on social media. There is no way whatsoever that this tactic will lead to credible opposition to Labour. It isn’t working for the Tories in England so what would it work in Wales?
So what’s to be done?
So what we have is a Welsh Labour Government mired in a chronic lack of ambition, content just to do the bare minimum to remain the largest party and not rock the boat before the General Election and an largest opposition party who are content to just let them do that.
Meanwhile the people of Cymru continue to live in the shadow of their politicians' collective inadequacies.
What surprises me still, even after spending my entire adult life in Wales, is how accepting we are of this situation.
I am part of both the Welsh and UK Government political journalism lobbies. It gives you a real insight into both how Wales is seen in the wider UK context - an afterthought, if indeed it is considered at all.
When you are living in a country, reporting on its issues and planning for this to be where you spend the rest of your life it is hard not to take this immensely personally.
At the start of this newsletter I talked about how we in Wales fail to stand up for our country in a meaningful way. By that I mean that we are, on average, so disengaged or unaware of the governance in our nation that we allow this miserable holding pattern to perpetuate indefinitely.
We have the government we deserve. I am not saying this to criticise the people of Wales. I could write a book on why people are so disengaged. History, identity, where people get their news, the relative youth of Welsh democracy, social media and education are just some of the reasons. Nor am I suggesting this is a uniquely Welsh thing.
But if we really care about Wales, we need to collectively have higher expectations and demands for it. We can't just keep accepting that poor services, long waiting lists, creaking infrastructure, lower standards of living, below average education, shorter life expectancy and unambitious governance are the price we have to pay for living in this great nation.
Vaughan Gething’s sneaky move
Yesterday Vaughan Gething attempted to do something sneaky. On the day that Keir Starmer announced some “key pledges” to UK wide media attention, the First Minister clearly saw it as an opportunity to bury bad news.
Firstly it was confirmed that he had £31,000 left over from his campaign. This means:
That money raised, in part from a criminal, is going to the Labour Party.
He spent 3 times more than his opponent and only one by 1.7 percentage points (I have been told there were only 300 votes in it).
In total he spent £220,000 on his campaign.
Secondly he decided to sack his minister of social partnerships Hannah Blythyn. How he announced this was somewhat bizarre. First he issued a statement saying he had dismissed her.
Then he issued a second saying he had dismissed her for leaking information to the media:
"I’d like to record my gratitude for the work the Member has done to date, including her leadership through the fire and rescue services review, outstanding work leading the LGBTQ+ Action Plan for Wales and invaluable work on the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act.
“It is of vital importance we are able to maintain confidence amongst government colleagues so that we work as one to focus on improving the lives of the people in Wales.”
He finished by seemingly trying to offer an olive branch saying:
“Given Hannah’s talents and experience, I have been clear there is a route back for her to take up a government position again in future. The government has offered ongoing support to the member.”
Then Ms Blythyn issued a statement saying:
“I am deeply shocked and saddened by what has happened today. I am clear and have been clear that I did not, nor have I ever leaked anything. Integrity is all in politics and I retain mine. For a kid from Connah’s Quay it is an immense privilege to serve the community that shaped me, let alone to have served in my country’s government. I will say no more at present."
So what does this all mean?
Well the first thing to say is I have no idea if Hannah Blythyn did leak information. While I always find her really friendly and personable, she is also frustratingly closed lipped when you try and get info from her regarding the party so I was surprised when I heard the accusation.
Let’s look at this from Vaughan Gething’s perspective. If he genuinely believes she did leak the information he has two options - sack her, or don’t.
If he keeps someone who he thinks is leaking information, he looks incredibly weak and it is a green light for everyone in his cabinet who is frustrated (which is about half of them) to start leaking. It massively erodes his credibility.
Or he sacks her. She is a really popular member and there were rumours she was planning to run in the leadership election herself but ended up being talked into backing Miles. This move is likely to alienate both Hannah herself (obviously) but also members who back Mr Miles. Plus she is now on the back benches and, having been in a lot of Whatsapp groups, could do a lot of damage if she was so inclined.
Mr Gething is in a really tricky postion. Whichever way he turns he is likely to look weak - because he is. He has burned through his political capital like I do with biscuits after Lent, most of his own party now dislike him and he has just gone to India to speak to Tata and achieved nothing.
There is a chance that this will end up being Vaughan Gething’s Humza Yousaf moment. A decision that he felt he had to do which ultimately led to him having to step down. The Welsh Conservatives have said that it is odds-on that a no-confidence motion to force the first minister's resignation will be brought forward. If just a few Labour members vote against him, he is done.
But I just can’t see any of them doing it. They may vent frustrations in private and a few have put their head about the parapet to speak publicly but I think when it comes to it, none of them will dare vote against their own leader and party to support a vote brought by a man who lied about children being sexualised in school.
That’s all for this week. Sorry for the absolute essay. I got annoyed and mounted my high horse.
Take care
Will