A Year In Review, Part Three
A positive development in devolution has been the seperation between the Welsh and English Labour Parties. Neo-liberal New Labour, deliberately unrecognisable as a socialist party, does not suit the more traditional Left in Wales. Rhodri Morgan, leader of Welsh Labour, has himself on occassion underlined the difference in philosophies between the two branches. This difference is more important than ever now, as they seek to distance themselves from Westminster’s recent foreign policy and civil liberty disasters.
2007 gave Plaid Cymru the chance to define themselves. The choice was to pursue a rainbow coalition and form a government, accommodating not only the Conservatives but also the Right wing of the party, or to choose to govern with Labour, and cement their position as a party of the Left.
If you’d asked me a couple of years ago that the two parties would reach an agreement, I’d never have believed you. The history between the two is somewhat antagonistic, to say the least. Many Parliamentary and Assembly seats in recent history have come down to close races between the parties, with all the fallout that comes with such a situation.
But reach an agreement they did, and for the first time in its history, Plaid Cymru formed part of the Government of Wales.
This isn’t just a simple political win for me. It’s not just the case that the party I support will now influence government, or even that it has aligned more closely to my own Left wing views. It’s that despite acrimony and history, the two parties were willing to work with each other in a manner that the people they represent wanted. After all, polls on election night suggested that a Labour-Plaid coalition was something the Welsh favoured. It has brought a stability and consistency to Welsh politics, and better reflects the views and beliefs of the Welsh than the minimal representation we get in Westminster. And it shows that devolution is beginning to deliver on the promise of self-governance.
