Plaid Cymru Leader, Ieuan Wyn Jones is absolutely right when he alleges that Gordon Brown has failed Wales on the issue of devolution, however there are wider issues to take account of as well.
In particular I am struggling with the idea that the Prime Minister would be able to actally ‘sort out his MPs over powers for the Assembly and making sure the [transfer of powers] system worked properly’ even if he really wanted to. Sometimes leaders just have to put the impossible to one side and try to achieve what they can do.
For the one feature of devolution debates from the 1970s right up to the present day is that no matter how much on board the Labour leadership is their MPs tend to go off and do their own thing anyway, and because the future of Wales is considered peripheral to the survival of a UK Government the whips turn a blind eye and let them get on with it.
I know that it is this lack of priority for Welsh issues that Ieuan Wyn is getting at, but frankly I cannot see how he can expect any better when the Welsh Government, of which he is a part, is also prevaricating over these matters. And how would voting Plaid Cymru make any difference when they don’t field enough candidates on a UK basis to change anything?
My point on prevarication is illustrated by a passage in this interview Ieuan Wyn Jones gave to Wales Home. In it he explains why Plaid Cymru are going to play along with the deferment of a major commitment in the One Wales Agreement to hold a referendum on doing away with the expensive and time-wasting LCO system before 2011, a measure that will do more than anything else to give the Welsh Assembly the power to get things done:
This leads on to the All Wales convention. There is some speculation that the coalition may wobble, at the very least, if the convention delivers back a recommendation that there should be no referendum on further powers. Mr Jones believes this emotive subject requires a pragmatic approach. “We’re not looking for a referendum for the sake of it. We’ll only go for it if we’re going to win it. What we’ve said is that we want to see a referendum on or before the next Assembly elections. I suspect, from what the opinion polls have suggested, that we won’t lose, because they are all saying that people want more powers for Wales. But, by then, we fully expect to be dealing with a Tory Government.
The chances of a referendum being held next year is receding every day because Plaid Cymru and their Labour allies allowed themselves to indulge in displacement activity by setting up the All Wales Convention instead of working with others to set up a proper ‘yes’ campaign. It may yet prove to be the biggest missed opportunity of the whole devolution saga.
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