Tories criticise Welsh Gov for ‘demanding more powers’ for Wales
The Tories have criticised the Welsh Government for “demanding more powers” for Wales.
The Conservative Shadow Minister for the Constitution at the Senedd, Darren Millar MS, has hit out at a plan for a commission to look at Wales’ future relationship with the UK.
Millar criticised Mick Antoniw, the Minister for the Constitution, after he shared the intention to establish a Constitutional Convention at the Wales Governance Centre.
He also accused the Welsh Government of “picking fights” with the UK Government.
In his speech, Antoniw accused the UK Government of an “unprecedented assault” on the powers of the Senedd.
He told his audience that a “top-down unionism that believes that the problem will simply go away if it shouts loudly enough and waves a few flags around” was evidence of a government in “denial”.
‘Real issues’
In response to the speech, Millar said: “Once again Labour ministers are talking to the bubble, rather than tackling the real issues affecting the lives of people every day across Wales.
“Families, workers and businesses in Wales want the Welsh Government to focus on our recovery from the pandemic, not spend time and energy on an unnecessary constitutional convention.
“Instead of picking fights with the UK Government and demanding more powers, the Welsh Government should be using the powers it already has to protect jobs, tackle unacceptably long waiting lists and improve our education system in Wales.”
According to Antoniw, the Welsh Government’s “commission of citizens, which he intends to formally launch in the autumn, “will “facilitate a genuinely national conversation about the future of Wales within the UK”.
An “expert panel” will also be set up to “assist” the commissioners, by providing “expertise and the hard data and information”.
The commissions will be tasked with producing a report with its “recommendations and conclusions” within 18-24 months.
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Tories criticise ….. I stopped reading after that. Nothing new here.
18-24 months may be too late.
If you want to save some time, Mick, the second edition of just such a report was published on 26 Feb this year 😉
No future for us in the YUK. Their empire is in a fag end state. Push them out of our land.
Millar said “the Welsh Government should be using the powers it already has to protect jobs, tackle unacceptably long waiting lists and improve our education system in Wales.” Wales already does that. Shame England doesn’t because of Millar’s party. The Tory way, flags not food.
Unfortunately the UK Tory Government’s attack on the powers that the we already have makes this a matter of urgency. We cannot revert to “for England see Wales”. Unfortunately the Welsh Tories don’
t get this.
I think you meant “We cannot revert to “for Wales, see England””, Sian. Johnson won’t dare legislate to try to bring an end to devolution, but he will try during the entire time he remains in office to continue sidelining and belittling the devolved administrations. The WG must continue in turn to resist this throughout the current Senedd session. They need to learn that the Sturgeon approach is more effective than the Carwyn Jones approach when it comes to resisting Johnson’s anti devolution project; he will go easier on Scotland because half the country wants independence, and in fact some… Read more »
Antoniw’s plan WILL come to nothing. For radical federalism to be remotely optional, everyone in the UK must agree to it. It is said some individual Tories would be prepared to consider it to shut down the independence debate if not the Johnson administration itself, but Scotland won’t agree to it and neither will the Sinn Fein members of the NI power-sharing agreement. Radical federalism has been a “no go” area from the start and perhaps Labour know that given the fact they are not pushing particularly hard for it. The difficulty is determining what Labour will do next when… Read more »
OK Millar – please tell me why its better that those powers remain under English control
?
Go on please convince me why its better that powers that we want are retained by a body that :
a. Most of time barely knows we exist; and
b. Then, when it does….. actively puts us behind English interests when they deem it necessary e.g. no devolution of air passenger duty as it would disadvantage Bristol airport. Even though that same duty is devolved to Scotland and N.I.!
Go on ‘Welsh’ tories – try to explain your way out of that…!