Archive for June 26th, 2008
26th June 2008
Digalondid Llafur
Mae ysbryd Aelodau Seneddol Llafur – o leiaf y rhai o Loegr sydd yn fodlon bod yn agored gyda fi – yn isel iawn. Mae rhai yn rhagweld y Blaid Lafur yn parhau ar 25% neu lai yn yr arolygon barn. Go brin, medde nhw, y bydd modd dod nôl wedyn o’r ymyl. Mae Frank Field, y ddraenen wnaeth dynnu gwaed dros y dreth 10 ceiniog, yn proffwydo dirywiad terfynol y blaid, ac yntau yn gwneud cymhariaethau gyda cwymp y Blaid Ryddfrydol wedi’r Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf.
Y tro diwethaf taflwyd y Blaid Lafur i’r anialwch gwleidyddol roedd yna dri math o ymateb gan eu haelodau blaenllaw: gadael (i ymuno a’r SDP), ymladd yn fewnol (yn erbyn Militant) neu cymreigio (a chefnogi datganoli). Ond nawr mae datganoli wedi digwydd mae senario newydd yn cynnig ei hun: Llafur allan o rym yn Lloegr ond mewn grym yng Nghymru diolch i genedlaetholdeb Cymreig. Yr ymtaeb mywaf synhwyrol fyddai croesawu bendithion y ddimensiwn cenedlaethol a datgan annibynniaeth fel Plaid Lafur Gymreig (yn debyg i’r Blaid Sosialaidd yng Nghatalunya neu’r SDLP yng ngogledd Iwerddon) ac ethol aelod o adain ‘cenedlaethol’y Blaid Lafur yn arweinydd. O dan y fath senario mae’n bosib gweld Cymru’n Un yn troi yn Cymru’n Un Dau a’r glymblaid yn arwain am genhedlaeth.
Mae’r opsiwn arall ond yn rhy amlwg – adain Unolaethol y Blaid yn glynu at y ffantasi o ail-gipio grym yn Llundain (fel rhyw fath o Duduriaid modern), yn ethol gwrth-genedlaetholwr i’w harwain a chytundeb Cymru’n Un yn cael ei hadnabod mewn hanes Cymreig fel rhyw fath o gytundeb Molotov-Ribbentrop wnaeth ond gohirio’r frwydr anochel rhwng gelynion pennaf.
Wrth fynd yn ddiobaith ac wrth geisio dal eu gafael ar rym mae pleidiau weithiau yn ffyrnigo. Felly yn y Rhondda yn 2004, felly yng Nghastell Nedd eleni. Yng Nghwmgwrach fe deanwyd celwyddau am gyngorhwyr cymuned Plaid Cymru yn dwyn arian. Bygythiwyd Carolyn Edwards, cynghorydd Sir egniol ac effeithiol y Blaid yn lleol, yn ei chartref ac ar y stryd. Mae Peter Hain wedi annog y Blaid Lafur i fabwysiadu tactegau ymgyrchol ymosodol. Llafur Cymru, wrth gwrs, oedd ar fai am drafferthion diweddar Llafur – nid fe na Gordon Brown, yn yr un modd nad Tony Blair na fe, fel y trefnydd ymgyrch, oedd yn gyfrifol am gyflafan 1999. Rhowch eich ffydd yn rhain, cymrodyr Llafur, a byddwch marw.
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The spirit of Labour MPs – at least the ones from England prepared to talk to me – is very low. Some foresee the Labour Party continuing on 25% or less in the opinion polls. There is hardly any way of coming back from the fringes, they say.
Frank Field, the thorn which drew blood over the 10 pence tax, predicts the Party’s terminal degeneration, making comparisons with the fall of the Liberal Party after the First World War.
The last time the Labour Party was thrown into the political wilderness, its prominent members had three kinds of responses: leave (to join the SDP), fight internally (against Militant) or become Welsh (and support devolution).
But now that devolution has happened there is a new scenario on offer: Labour out of power in England but in power in Wales thanks to Welsh nationalism.
The most sensible response would be to welcome the blessings of the national dimension and declare independence as the Welsh Labour Party (similar to the Socialist Party in Catalonia or the SDLP in Northern Ireland) and elect a member from the ‘national’ wing of the Labour Party as leader. Under such a scenario it’s possible to see One Wales turning into One Wales 2 and the coalition leading for a generation.
The other option is all too obvious – the Party’s Unionist wing clinging to the fantasy of regaining power in London (like some kind of modern Tudorists), electing an anti-nationalist to lead them and One Wales becoming known historically as some kind of Molotov-Ribbentrop pact which only delayed the inevitable struggle between major enemies.
By becoming desperate and by trying to hold onto power parties sometimes go mad. So it was in the Rhondda in 2004, so it was in Neath this year. In Cwmgwrach lies were spread about Plaid Cymru community councillors stealing money. Carolyn Edwards, the Party’s energetic and effective county councillor, was threatened in her home and on the street.
Peter Hain has urged the Labour Party to adopt confrontational campaign tactics. Welsh Labour, of course, was to blame for Labour’s recent troubles – not him or Gordon Brown. In the same way, neither he nor Tony Blair, as the campaign manager, were responsible for the 1999 massacre. Put your faith in these, Labour comrades, and you will die.
Go West
Just asked a question about Wales at “innovation, universities and skills” questions in Parliament which always confuses the Minister. But IUS as far as Wales is concerned is only partially devolved. I asked the Minister about the ’science gap’ in the UK with Wales having, per capita, less than half the number of scientists and engineers wworking in world-class university departments as England and less than a third of the comparable figure for Scotland. I didn’t get much of a reply but it’s vitally important we keep the pressure up as Wales gets a raw deal from the Government on Research Council funding, Government Research Establishment work, direct Government-funded R&D and much else besides. This has a huge knock-on effect on our economic performance as study after study has shown.
Where we are doing better is collaborative research with industry. Swansea University is powering ahead and was recently ranked third among all UK universities for private sector research income driven in large part by its world class Institute for Life Sciences. The exciting proposal for a new business-facing ‘innovation campus’ offers a great opportunity for Wales to create the National Science Academy envisaged in the One Wales Agreement. The university is already thinking of a formal link-up with Bangor University so Wales could follow the Danish Technological Institutes’s model of a twin-campus Academy with a base in the north and a base in the south. Though, for me, West is Best and the Academy has to be based in Carmarthenshire at Llanelli’s Delta Lakes development. Imagine the transformational effect this could have on the economy of this part of Wales.