Welsh Government minister slams ‘arrogance’ of ‘Anglo-British imperialism’
A Welsh Government minister has slammed the “arrogance” of “Anglo-British imperialism”.
Mick Antoniw, the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution, was reacting to the news that the UK Government plans to tell staff to stop referring to Wales as its own country, in order to strengthen the union.
Under the proposals diplomats will be instructed to change the way they speak about the UK, referring to it as one country rather than talking about “the four nations of the UK,” according to the Sunday Times.
Antoniw described the plans as “stupidity” and said they were “doomed to failure”, while Deputy Minister for Climate Change Lee Waters said they would be “counter-productive”.
According to the Sunday Times, the plan includes investing more money in transport links between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
It comes as Whitehall officials have been told to stop ignoring the Union and put its preservation at the heart of policymaking.
Boris Johnson hosted a meeting on Thursday with the leaders of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in a bid to attempt to cement the links between different parts of the UK.
The UK Government also wants to use the widely-criticised Turing university exchange scheme as part of its plan. The scheme replaces the EU Erasmus scheme, and will offer exchanges for students between parts of the UK as well as with foreign universities.
‘Doomed’
Mick Antoniw, said: “This is what #Putin is trying in the East. Stupidity, arrogance and good old Anglo-British imperialism. These tactics are for dictators and ultimately doomed to failure!”
Deputy Minister for Climate Change Lee Waters, said: “If true this will be counter-productive.”
Labour Senedd member Dawn Bowden, said: “Well this won’t work will it.”
It has also been reported that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will also spend more time in Scotland in an attempt to boost affinity for the bonds holding Scotland and England together – although there is no indication yet whether this plan extends to Wales.
“The feeling is that successive governments have let this drift and that the politicians are irreparably divided,” a source told the Sunday Times.
A source close to the Royal Household told the newspaper that the Royals “think of it as their Union. It was originally a union of crowns.”
This is true in Scotland although in Wales the ruling Prince was executed and Wales annexed.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the plan.
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Is the annexation of Cymru by a bellicose and clumsy neighbour the same as the annexation of Crimea and other parts of Ukraine by a bellicose and clumsy neighbour?
Yes it is.
No. Estonia would be a more plausible case. Most Russians left after the 57% Indy vote.
Estonia is now doing quite well.
Not sure that any international comparison to our current situation holds much water. Even Scotland and catalonia don’t fit well. Now, aiming at Ireland or Estonia or Slovenia or New Zealand, given surface-level comparison is OK (look at them, we could aim at that), but claiming kinship with others seeking emancipation inevitably leads to a game of ‘oppression top trumps’, a game Cymru loses vs the myriad war torn territories. Aim for a unique, free Cymru, don’t seek to compare with others. The community of nations are waiting to welcome us, we just need to play our cards right.
I’ll go along with that. I was more interested in the 57% to be honest.
The sooner Cymru is Independent the better 😊
Are we still hearing about independence?
Plaid cymru lost the election remember.
It’s way more than iust Plaid now, Smiffy!
Oh sorry. I forgot about the Greens who have no elected MP’s or AM’s in wales
Plaid gained a seat. Support for YesCymru is continuing to increase. Labour Party members now turning to indy as a viable position. Posit a reasonable opposing position, cut out the single line trolly responses or get back to the kiddies table let the adults talk.
Keep it up matey, it’s this sort of dismissiveness that’s actually feeding the independence movement. The genie is out of the bottle – deal with it.
The sooner Mr Antoniw, who seems to be a genuinely intelligent public servant with the best interests of Cymru and his local constituents at the centre of his reasoning, realise he is dead wrong on federalisation the better. I get it, we all get it, but when you realise that 3 federal members have a combined population that would be less than a quarter of the largest member state, the idea is dead on arrival. If the English establishment (and many regular people) believe that the celtic fringe are a drain now, imagine how we’d be (rightly) perceived in a… Read more »
Every article here seems to be someone getting “slammed”
Who is doing the slamming apart from this site?
What is needed is a British Isles of independent countries working closely together. The Tories won’t like it but who cares – it’s what’s best for Cymru that counts and that’s not by being under their control, in this neglectful Union.
Just imagine! A close-knit bloc of nations with some shared history, culrural ties and democratic institutions trading together, working for shared goals and acting as a check on their respective actions internationally.
The Baltics and Scandinavia have formed a modern day hanseatic league, the low countries, aus/nz, Canada/USA. Imagine Cymru, Scotland, England and whatever Ireland decides emerging onto the world stage! Rhyddid i dyfu, i Gymru ac i Loegr
New Counsel-General, still waiting for the promised legal challenge to Internal Market Act and lack of due process over Prosperity Fund. Still waiting to hear anyone from Plaid say anything.
There seems to be a growing cohort of people on the Labour team who are willing to flirt with a more cambrocentric approach, setting Welsh interests at odds with the UK narrative. Flirting, in political terms, is usually a means to a very different end than the nature of flirtation. Drakeford et al, I fear, are flirting with further autonomy for some other goal – given their political ideology, it’s probably more to do with that. Given that they believe their socialist values are best for Wales, this comes above our possible emancipation in their value judgements (to clarify, this… Read more »
Labour4Indy need to actually do something because if London Labour should win Westminster Wales will be ignored again…. more politely perhaps but ignored nonetheless.