UK Labour seems ashamed of Welsh Labour – but shouldn’t it be the other way round?
Martin Shipton
Is UK Labour ashamed of Welsh Labour? Should it be?
The next general election is getting closer by the day, and there’s little doubt that the Conservative Party will seek to undermine Labour’s credibility across Britain by condemning the Welsh Government’s record on public service delivery.
We had a hint of what can be expected the other day, when Andrew Gwynne, the Shadow Minister for Public Health, was interviewed on Times Radio. After promising that an incoming Labour government at Westminster would decrease waiting times for ambulances, seeing a GP, A&E and specialist health care, Gwynne was challenged by presenter Aasmah Mir, who put to him: “There are people who will be casting their eyes towards Wales and saying, ‘Hang on a second – if you were serious about fixing the NHS, you would have sorted things in Wales, where Labour are in power and waiting lists are higher’.”
Gwynne responded: “Yes – and of course I’m a Shadow Minister for the health service in England. If I am elected, I will be responsible for the health service in England. Devolution means we do things differently and that was true under the last Labour government, when there was a Labour government in Wales and the NHS in England under a Labour government far out-performed any of the NHSs elsewhere in the UK.
“So look – don’t judge the next Labour government on what’s happening in Wales. Judge the next Labour government on what we achieve here in England, as we did in 1997 to 2010 when we inherited an NHS that was similarly on its knees after a long period of Tory government. The NHS was far from perfect in 2010, but when we left office we had the lowest waiting times in history, the lowest waiting lists in history and we had the highest patient satisfaction in history. That is the record of Labour in the NHS here in England.”
It’s clear that Gwynne was distancing himself, and by extension UK Labour, from Welsh Labour. Surely there’s no doubt that if NHS waiting times in Wales were shorter than those in England, Gwynne would have sought to bathe in the reflected glory, praising the Welsh Government for its successful stewardship of the health service.
Given the figures he can’t do that, but equally he doesn’t want to openly criticise Welsh Labour, knowing that would be seized on by the Tories and their right-wing friends in the media. Instead he takes a middle course, using devolution as a cover for ideological divergence that may lead to different outcomes.
Gwynne doesn’t mention UK Labour’s explicit intention, already articulated by his boss, Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting, to bring waiting times down with the help of the private sector.
But for those who can read between the lines, there is little doubt that he, and by extension UK Labour, has no time for the virtues of public sector purity espoused – at least in theory – by Welsh Labour. From such a position it’s not a huge leap to the conclusion that yes, UK Labour is ashamed of Welsh Labour.
How should Welsh Labour react? Ask any Labour MS or party member in Wales whether they want the party to win the next general election, and they’d all say yes.
Their mitigation for longer NHS waiting times here would be that Wales has higher proportions of people who are old, sick and poor, that more money is needed and that the health service is understaffed.
Some would go further and rail against some of the positions the party is taking under Starmer.
Alun Davies
Blaenau Gwent MS Alun Davies has, for example, consistently criticised Starmer’s refusal to countenance a return of the UK to the European single market and customs union – moves that would undoubtedly benefit the Welsh and wider British economies.
As a politician who argued enthusiastically for another EU referendum in the last, hung, parliament, Starmer knows that the hard Brexit we have been lumbered with makes no sense. But instead of showing leadership and vowing to include a return to the single market and customs union in the general election, he’s decided on the advice of focus group moguls to run a mile from anything to do with Brexit.
The thinking is that swing voters in the former red wall seats that Labour needs to win back don’t want the issue resurrected. Yet there is ample polling evidence to show that the allure of Brexit has evaporated for most people who are now grappling with the cost of living crisis.
Starmer’s – and hence UK Labour’s – unwillingness to rock the boat is taking him into territory that should make anyone who considers themselves to be on the left feel uneasy, to say the least. The introduction of draconian measures by the right-wing Tory government aimed at curtailing public protest was opposed by Labour at Westminster, but Starmer has now said the legislation should be allowed to “bed in” before there is any question of repealing it.
Just as egregiously, Starmer has jumped on the “bash the migrants” bandwagon, signing up to the Tory agenda of cutting the numbers of those allowed to enter the UK legally on work visas.
The highly regarded economist Jonathan Portes issued the Labour leader with an appropriate challenge via Twitter: “If Starmer is going to complain about the number of work visas issued, the honest thing to do would be to tell us which of these occupations he wants to cut numbers in.”
Portes continued by listing the top Tier 2 and Skilled Worker visas by occupation issued in 2021-22: Band 5 nurses, 53,820; Care workers, 35,494; Programmers / software developers, 29,061; Senior care workers, 26,880; Medical practitioners (speciality registrar), 25,087; Business analysts / architects, 18,563; Management consultants, 15,471; Natural / social science professionals, 11,427; Chartered / certified accountants, 9,147; Finance analysts, 8,294; Sales / business development managers, 6,393; IT professionals, 5,931; Band 3 nurses, 5,393; Chefs, 5,368; HE teaching professionals, 4,948.
These 15 categories of professionals total 261,277 individuals who were issued with work visas because their presence in the UK was seen as economically advantageous, and in many cases essential.
Nauseating
I’m sure I’m not the only person who finds UK Labour’s decision to be complicit in the demonisation of such workers by newspapers like the Daily Mail nauseating. Britain is only importing them because they are needed. And there are other, lesser skilled workers who are also required to make our economy and supply chains function effectively.
Suggesting otherwise is no more than pandering to racism and it should not be tolerated, least of all in a party that purports to have progressive values.
This article began by questioning whether UK Labour was ashamed of Welsh Labour, and asking whether it should be.
It seems to me that a more pertinent point of debate is whether Welsh Labour should be ashamed of UK Labour. As things stand, I’m edging towards the affirmative.
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
I notice that Fat Shanks and his Covid profiteers are going to fight the Covid inquiry to keep their sordid secrets of criminality and the contempt for the people of these islands they all shared from the public. This comes as no surprise to me but perhaps the First Minister could comment, given his ‘trust’ in the Tory Government’s truth telling abilities…
It is obvious that both sides of the house are keen to see the population under what amounts to martial law for the foreseeable future until we all ‘bed in’ to the idea of living in an overt police state…
It is quite revivifying when left-wing commentators get things so damned right. Eto, bravo. Cywir, cythrauledig a codi’r braw arnai reit lan o bydew dyfnaf uffern. S’dim un grwp o wleidyddon ym Mhrydain yn warae gem wahanol reit nawr. You are the carbon they seek to reduce. Your culture is not of significant utility for the brave new world. There is a left and a right of the people, then a unified, word-chopping, logic-bending, perverse and perverted faux politics of our current governments. Either that, or repressive dictatorships. That’s our choice? Cymru rhydd should be the de facto position of… Read more »
Funny you should say that about the glue factory, we will have to learn a new word…caste and all that entails, our new leaders know all about it. There is an interesting piece in the ‘Guardian’ at the moment about the subject and it’s ability to travel from continent to continent. There is a confusion on the Tory front bench, racism or religionism? Not to mention old animosities, we ‘Brits’ will very likely find ourselves at the mercy of those we wronged in the past. Civilisations rise and fall, Empires come and go and some return. We are likely to… Read more »
Neocon Keir Starmer and UK Labour are effectively England’s defacto government. They’ve admitted that. Their main priority will not be devolving powers over Water that could rejuvenate our economy to Wales but continuing in the same vein as the Tories by treating Wales with contempt. They will reject giving us the right to control our own policing , criminal & youth Justice systems like Scotland England & Northern Ireland take for granted, or the right to create a national bank holiday to celebrate Saint’ David’s Day requested by Welsh Labour over the years but shoring up the democratic deficit where… Read more »
100% agree, surely the time is now for independence because english Labour will treat Wales with the same contempt as the horrendous tories treat Wales.
I think we’re being a bit harsh on Labour. Give them a chance. They’ve only been in gov’t for 26 years…
Uk politics is a clown show if we are being honest with ourselves. The fact that a man running a country can be seen as lesser than a man not is ridiculous. It shines a spotlight on how we are seen and treated! Third class citizens on our own island.
There needs to be some solid independent analysis to explain the waiting lists before the Torygraph successfully weaponises it next year. Presumably funding from central government isn’t needs based so Wales, given its older and sicker population than southeast England, is relatively underfunded compared to the healthier younger parts of the UK where the average person needs less healthcare. Because clearly the cost of looking after 1m over 65’s dwarfs the costs for 1m under 65’s. If the per capita funding is similar, the first group will have a hugely worse experience than the second. Just compare the number of… Read more »
The membership, supporters and voters of Welsh Labour should demand that that policies effecting Wales should be made in Wales and only in Wales. Why haven’t Welsh Labour separated from the larger UK party? Let the English and Scottish Labour Parties make policies for their respective countries. The respective parties can still show solidarity between them on the international scene and in the EU when we clear away this Brexit disaster to our countries. There is no equal union in the UK, just a centralised top-down dictatorship across the whole UK politics meaning that Wales and Welsh interests will never… Read more »
Keir Starmer used to be a good barrister years ago and fought for the under dog, however he soon changed his position when he became head of the Crown Prosecution Service and turned to the dark side. He was in a position to hold those to account who was involved in framing innocent people in Wales ie the police and CPS. he let us all down and turned his back on us. He’s a turn coat and should be held accountable for his own false promises.