Labour planned to discriminate against Senedd candidates who wanted to write to party members in Welsh
Martin Shipton
Would-be Labour candidates for next year’s Senedd election were told their messages to the party’s members could only be half as long if they insisted on having a statement in Welsh as well as in English, we can reveal.
The discriminatory instruction was sent to the party’s Senedd hopefuls by a Welsh Labour official involved in organising the selection of candidates.
Shortlisted candidates will be put on the party’s closed lists in each of 16 super constituencies covering the whole of Wales. Under the Senedd’s new electoral system, people will vote for a party and six MSs will be elected from every super constituency, with the allocation of seats dependent on the proportion of votes gained by the parties.
Local party members will decide by secret ballot on the order in which candidates will be elected if the party gets sufficient votes.
Each would-be candidate has been invited to supply a statement for an email that will be circulated to all Labour members participating in the local selection contests.”
‘Disadvantaging candidates’
A Labour source contacted Nation.Cymru and said: “From a few conversations with candidates, it sounds like Welsh Labour is disadvantaging candidates who wish to produce bilingual content in their selection campaigns.
“Candidates are currently being asked for email copy to send to members as part of the selections. If a candidate wants to use English only, they get 500 words, but if they wish to use Welsh, they only get 250 words for each.
“This goes against the Welsh language standards introduced by Welsh Labour in the public sector.
“I can’t say who, but someone has had this confirmed to them by Welsh Labour in writing.”
Although as a political party Welsh Labour is under no legal obligation to provide literature in both English and Welsh, the source is correct that through its control of the Welsh Government the party has imposed such legal obligations on public sector bodies.
The Code of Practice for the Welsh Language Standards (No. 1) Regulations 2015 makes it clear that English and Welsh should be treated equally. This includes, for example, the size of any written material put into the public domain.
‘Alienate Welsh speakers’
A Welsh Labour source told us: “This is unbelievable. Does the party want to alienate Welsh speakers further than it has already. Eluned Morgan will be standing for election in Ceredigion Penfro, a new super constituency covering Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire in which there is a high number of Welsh speakers. If they want to ensure her defeat, this is a good way to go about it.”
Sian Howys, deputy chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg [the Welsh Language Society], with responsibility for campaigns, said: “Such practice is obviously completely unacceptable. If the reports are true in this case, Welsh Labour will surely decide to immediately change such a regressive policy once it becomes public knowledge.”
Welsh Labour did indeed back down. The party didn’t respond to a request for comment we sent on the morning of Wednesday September 25.
Parity
However, at around 4pm on Wednesday September 24, would-be Labour candidates were sent a message from the party that said: “Dear Candidates and Procedures Secretaries, Following additional guidance, in order to provide parity of opportunity for those without a confident knowledge of the Welsh language and the resources to pay for a Welsh translator, Welsh Labour will provide the use of a professional translator for your emails.
“This means that you will be able to provide 500 words in English, and we will add the equivalent words in Welsh on your email. If you wish to provide your own translation, please do so.
“The deadline remains Thursday September 25. However, if you have already provided us with 250 words in English and 250 words in Welsh, I will be in touch shortly to discuss an alternative deadline to accommodate the time needed to rewrite your emails.
“If I do not receive your email by tomorrow, I can not [sic] guarantee your email being sent out.”
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…but, alas, the votes were gone.
This sounds like a ‘whoops’ moment, clearly someone was trying to manage translator costs and Welsh got the short end of the stick, which is not a great look.
Glad it has been remedied in the end and hopefully won’t happen again in the future.
Imagine if this was Reform or the tories? There would – rightly – be outrage. Some of us are old enough to remember prominent labour figures in Wales dog whistling over the welsh language – like making up stories during a devolution referendum campaign about children not being allowed to go to the toilet in school unless they asked in Welsh. Looks like there’s still a lingering hostility to the language among some in Labour in Wales.
Well what a surprise. They’re a unionist party.
A silly policy. Though not sure the accusation of discrimination is obviously justified. Just an excessively rigid 500 word limit. There’s nothing in the ‘reported’ fact pattern to say that someone couldn’t have submitted 500 words just in Welsh ( just I’m guessing no one chose to do that). So the language wasn’t worse of by comparison as anyone getting 250 words in Welsh was also getting the same in English.
An English party being anti Welsh?? Well I never!!
Discrimination against the Welsh Language (and the teaching of Welsh history) is deep in the Labour party’s DNA.
Ni ddylai fod unrhyw gyfyngiadau o ran cyfathrebu yn Gymraeg. Mae gan bob dinesydd yng Nghymru yr hawl cyfreithiol i ddefnyddio’r Gymraeg mewn sefydliadau cyhoeddus yng Nghymru.