Tory MS joins condemnation of Reform threat to scrap Welsh language targets

Emily Price 

A Conservative Senedd Member has joined condemnation of Reform UK’s threat to scrap Welsh language targets if they win the next Senedd election.

Earlier this week, language campaigners accused Nigel Farage of having no interest in Welsh communities after he pledged to abolish Labour’s one million Welsh speakers by 2050 target.

The Clacton MP argued that learning Wales’ language should be encouraged but that targets are “meaningless”.

The Welsh Government’s ‘Cymraeg 2050’ strategy has a target of one million Welsh speakers by the year 2050 – along with a doubling of the daily use of the language by then.

The goal is part of the government’s broader plan to increase the use of the Welsh language and promote its vitality.

‘Short sighted’

In the Senedd on Wednesday (June 25) the Conservative’s Welsh language spokesperson, Tom Giffard, described Farage’s comments as “short sighted”.

The South Wales West MS is a second language Welsh learner who honed his skills through a service provided by the Senedd.

In an exchange in the Chamber in Welsh, he called on the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language, Mark Drakeford, to explain the importance of the Cymraeg 2050 target.

He said: “I’m sure you saw on Monday the comments made by the leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, saying that he wanted to scrap the target of 1 million Welsh speakers in Wales, although the party says that they do want to see the language grow in Wales.

“We, as Welsh Conservatives, believe that those comments are short-sighted, if you do want to reach 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050.

“So, can you tell us, in your experience both as Cabinet Secretary and First Minister, about the importance of having this target in the middle of everything that Government does, across departments, and your view on the comments made by Nigel Farage?”

‘Vital’

Responding, Mark Drakeford slammed some of Farage’s recent policy pledges.

Addressing the Chamber in Welsh also, Mr Drakeford said: “We don’t need people from outside Wales coming in and being critical of everything that we are doing to protect the Welsh language.

“It just shows that the Reform Party here in Wales has no leadership. It depends on people who aren’t familiar with us in Wales.

“Every time Nigel Farage comes over the border, he has something else to say that doesn’t strike a chord with people here in Wales.

“Last time he came, he wanted to see young people in Wales going back underground in coal mines.

“Well, that isn’t part of the future that we want to see for Wales.

“When he said what he said about the Welsh language, it just showed, once again, that if they’re going to rely on people who aren’t familiar at all with us here in Wales, that’s going to be apparent to people in Wales.

“I’m sure that that is going to have an impact on the choices that they have to make in the next year.”

Deline

Concern over the decline in the number of people who can speak the language has been a key political issue in Wales for decades.

The 2021 census showed the lower proportion of Welsh speakers ever.

It’s estimated that around 538,000 people (17.8% of the population) in Wales can speak Welsh compared to 562,000 in 2011 (19% of the population).

A 2024 YouGov poll found that two-thirds of people approve of efforts to increase the language’s usage.