In his blog yesterday, David Cornock told us that "Call Me Dave" Cameron would now like to be known as "David W D Cameron" in Wales ... presumably so as not to be seen as less important than Andrew R T Davies.
But what does the W D mean?
Not quite what he thinks. For with the Tories' track record of refusing to allow us to make decisions on large energy projects, of refusing to let us decide a minimum price for alcohol, of refusing to devolve policing and justice and instead imposing elected police commissioners on us, and of refusing to let us set our own rate of corporation tax, there is only one thing it can mean:
David Withhold Devolution Cameron
8 comments:
"... For with the Tories' track record of refusing to allow us to make decisions on large energy projects, of refusing to let us decide a minimum price for alcohol, of refusing to devolve policing and justice and instead imposing elected police commissioners on us, and of refusing to let us set our own rate of corporation tax, there is only one thing it can mean:"
what about " ... Labour/Carwyn Jones track record of refusing to allow us to make decisions on large energy projects etc etc"
Please don't fall into the 1980s Labour trap of Tories = nasty. It just helps the Labour narrative.
Were Labour in Wales to join Plaid Cymru and campaign for more powers for Wales I'm sure they would be devolved. It's Labour that's holding us back not Cameron or the Tories. Carwyn Jones's Labour.
And there's me thinking that we've had Labour in Cardiff since the beginning of devolution and also Labour in government in London for all that time up until a year or so ago. And it was them nasty Tories all along! I must get out more often.
Ohhhhhh
This REALLY annoys me about some in Plaid. As soon as the Tories are elected we immediately get into the Labour trap of 'nasty tories'. E.g Simon Thomas tweeted:
Osborne rewriting history. Brown kept UK out of Euro when Libs would have gone in and how is Euro to blame for UK debt crisis?
Some in Plaid seem to turn all Labour when the Tories are in charge- it wasn't S.T's place to defend Brown.
This Blog raises similar annoyances. You say that the Tories refuse to devolve things. Lets just remember how much dragging of the feet Labour did. And in all fairness Cheryl did act far far far faster on the Referendum than Hain. And to give them credit- we will have a Commission on Finance, something that is MUCH more than what Labour did!
I just looked at what 17.19 reported re Simon Thomas. I'm not quite sure he knows who he's attacking/defending in that outburst. Anyway, Labour is the main enemy. Not many Tory voters will come over to Plaid. Some will but not many.
No danger of anyone taking a joke more seriously than indended, is there?
So let's be serious. Of course the Tories are "nasty". But so too are Labour. Just because I criticize one party, it doesn't mean that I'm supporting the other. Only people like Peter Hain think Wales has an either/or choice between the Tories and Labour.
But right now, it's the Tories and LibDems who are in power at Westminster. So they are the ones holding back the devolution of these powers to Wales. To take one obvious example, even though all four elected parties in Wales, including the Tories, want to see the 50MW limit for energy changed, the Tories in Westminster refuse to countenance it. So the idea that if only Labour came round we'd get all the devolution we want doesn't hold water.
"Were Labour in Wales to join Plaid Cymru and campaign for more powers for Wales I'm sure they would be devolved. It's Labour that's holding us back not Cameron or the Tories. Carwyn Jones's Labour."
It would certainly help the case, but where's the evidence for you being so sure?
Gillan is on record as saying "Wales should stop complainign about what they haven't got".
We need to not only complain but to turn up the volume.
"Please don't fall into the 1980s Labour trap of Tories = nasty. It just helps the Labour narrative."
It's real though. It's their actions that prove it. It might be "annoying" but there's no point pretending the Tories are Welsh or progressive just to annoy Peter Hain. Base analysis on real events and real policies. See the world as it is if you want to change it.
Anon
1222 Wales's problem isn't the Tories, it's the Labour party were Labour to join plaid for more power to the assembly we'd get it. We could have had a referendum vote with the assembly getting more powers but Labour stopped it. Labour is the problem. Every time Welsh nationalist complain about the 'Tory cuts' they let Labour off the hook. Labour has made us poor and campaigned against giving Wales the tools to defend and build itself. The Tories are an irrelevance. Labour has the power but prefere to keep Wales weak in the vague hope Ed Milliband will be PM
"Wales's problem isn't the Tories, it's the Labour party were Labour to join plaid for more power to the assembly we'd get it."
No we wouldn't. We made such a request in terms of energy powers. It was flatly denied because the Tories believe there should be a common energy policy between England and Wales.
"The Tories are an irrelevance."
Not true. They are the UK ruling party. Devolution is so limited in Wales that the Tories are in charge of alot of Welsh policy areas. They are in charge of deciding what powers Wales has or gets.
Labour doesn't "have the power".
It is necessary for Welsh nationalists to oppose both Labour and the Tories. If you want to be honest and truthful that is.
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