After five years of savage cuts, the tripling of tuition fees, poverty pay and rising rents, after insecure work or no work at all, after a UK government that willfully ignored tax avoidance whilst dismantling our hard-won welfare state who could have predicted the outcome we awoke to on May 8th? From the SNP sweeping 56 of Scotland’s 59 seats in Westminster, to the dramatic fall of the Liberal Democrats, and for the first time, Wales, Scotland and England all voted for different parties and yet we awoke to a Conservative majority after a paltry swing of 0.8%.
Once again we were betrayed by Westminster’s broken electoral system - one that enshrines the cosy Labour/Tory duopoly. Under First Past the Post the establishment parties no longer seek to inspire our support with a vision of a better tomorrow. Under FPP, their job is much simpler. They seek to bribe, trick and scare people into believing that only a vote for them can stop the bogeyman. For the Tories, Labour was an economic bogeyman, intent on more borrowing and higher taxes. For Labour, the Tories were, as ever, cruel, uncaring and ambivalent to the needs of ordinary working people. This joint-enterprise of fear was simply a veil - Punch & Judy politics that distracted us from the real monster, an establishment who has taken ownership of the Westminster parties and with them, ownership of our lives.
Understandably, Wales voted to ‘keep the Tories out’ with Labour receiving the highest share of votes at 37%. But like in 2010, 1992, 1987 and 1983, what good did it do us? Now we find ourselves in the eye of the storm. A nation held ransom by scare-stories. Rather than an end to the Con/Dem coalition, we face another five years of a government with no mandate in Wales, intent on slashing public spending and with them our vital public services. Despite the media talking-up Tory gains and the Secretary of State for Wales’ declaring “Home Rule parties” are going backwards in Wales, the reality is that the new UK Government has the lowest ever mandate in Wales since 1945. Their mandate is in fact lower than the Thatcher government of 1983, which was one of the key factors which created momentum behind resurrecting Welsh devolution.
Sadly, our best chance of sheltering from the impending storm lies in the hands of a tired and un-ambitious government in Cardiff Bay. Over the last four years the focus of the Welsh Labour government hasn’t been on improving Wales’ homegrown economy as one might expect - instead it has focused on ensuring a Labour win in Westminster. Their role hasn’t been to offer an inspired vision but to score as many political-points as possible. They have adopted an administrative role, they have limited their losses, sat on their hands and avoided rocking the boat; they have ignored ambitious projects for fear of failing, for failure might have brought repercussions to their party’s prospects in Westminster. Take the bedroom tax for example, Labour refused to abolish the tax in Wales, using it instead as a key campaign pledge for the Westminster election; leaving us dependent on how the election played out in England. Despite a majority of Welsh voters opting for anti-bedroom tax parties, Wales is now the only devolved nation where the tax is still applied. Their tactic, ‘wait five years for a Labour win in Westminster,’ is not only discredited it is wholly dangerous.
Not only has this tactic failed to deliver a Labour victory in London, it has failed devolved services in Wales too. After 16 years at the helm, Labour must be held to account for their woeful record on health, education and the economy. It is a record which leaves Wales languishing at the bottom of educational league tables, with the longest NHS waiting times and the worst economy in the UK. Labour in Wales are quick to trumpet higher inward investment figures as a sign of their economic record; but these figures are highly volatile and besides, our focus needs to be on home-grown Welsh businesses. Their record is one which cannot stand to scrutiny. The election in 2016 is a huge opportunity to deliver real change in Wales, we mustn’t allow it to be used as an opinion poll on the Westminster government. The election next year must be about using the powers available to us in Wales to put our NHS, our schools and our economy on to a sustainable footing.
To achieve that we need a government in Cardiff Bay that is unafraid. A bold government that is willing to put the needs of our communities ahead of the prospects of its party, one that argues for Wales to have parity with Scotland whilst using the powers we do have to improve people’s lives. We need a transformational government that will put us on the path toward ending our financial dependence, and with it free us from the democratic deficit that leaves us unable to protect ourselves from the Tories - regardless of how we vote.
Because if we’re truly serious about protecting ourselves from the Tories in the long-term then the organised Left in Wales, trade unions, campaign groups and progressive voters, need to adopt a fresh approach, one which everyone- from whichever party- can get behind. A united and positive campaign for self-government, for genuine Home Rule. Without it, Wales will always be haunted by the prospect of another unelected Tory government.
Next year we have an opportunity to bring about real change, to free our democracy from the stranglehold of fear and elect a government with a new vision for Wales. It is time to stop hiding beneath the duvet. It is time to face-up to our monsters and deliver a better future for us all.
Are you with us?
Glenn Page.
