WALES AND THE NEW UNION

It is Interesting to note that Labour in Westminster initially said that they were going big on devolution in England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 but are remained fairly tight lipped if not literally silent on any further devolution for Wales e.g. The Crown Estates, Police and Criminal Justice, railways. etc 

Interestingly enough where this may get even more interesting is they one of the bills mooted in the Kings Speech - aims to bring the railways into state ownership. Now railways in Scotland are already effectively state owned - the state in question being Scotland.  And in Wales, as you would expect, only part of railways in Wales are devolved, and the rest of them run by three or four franchises.

I wonder if Labour in Westminster will simply ask for the devolved bit back? And if they do, I would suspect, based on Labour Wales’s timid behaviour towards the various former Conservative Westminster governments, simply expect the Labour in Wales branch office to quite happily hand the fairly limited control of railways in Wales back to Westminster. 

While policing is already devolved in some parts of England, and may well be devoted to new devoted regions in England there appears to be no chance of it being devolved in Wales by the current Labour in Westminster government - and it won’t even be asked for. While the creation of a council of the regions and nations is a welcome step up for the English regions, it’s clearly a step down for Cymru / Scotland and NI.  

Clearly Labour in Wales under its new leader has absolutely no intention of asking for even a portion of the revenue ( current and potential ) to be devolved to the Welsh Government in Cardiff. This may simply confirm that Labour in Wales has completed the transition from ideological to administrative and exits simply to administer rather than to innovate or even campaign beyond periodic rhetoric at election time. 

So much for making devolution work and kick starting our economy? Perhaps Labour in Wales’s lack of vision will lead to a new slogan different from the positively Orwellian “Stability is change” we may yet end up with “Shush! This is as good as it gets!”. It certainly does not have to be this way… Labour in Wales has run its course, bereft of any ideas or vision. Roll on 2026…