I've just been looking through Hansard, and found this from yesterday's debate.
Peter Hain was asked by the Conservative MP Philip Hollobone whether or not he was representing Wales to the best of his ability considering that of late he has prioritised work in Northern Ireland, and his race to become Deputy PM. This was Hain's response:
'In the future, if his Front-Bench colleagues got their way and we saw second-class status for Welsh MPs, with English MPs restricted to dealing with English legislation, he would not be able even to ask such a question, and we would see the Balkanisation of Parliament, which would be a disaster for the United Kingdom that would lead to constitutional chaos'.
So, Hain the hypocrite is firmly against the possibility of Welsh MP's having 'second-class status' at Westminster, yet when it comes to the Welsh Assembly, he bleats that Regional AM's have 'abused' the system, and that they are 'undermining the (local) elected member'. This has led to Labour systematically pushing through an undemocratic policy that stops candidates standing on both the Regional list and in the Constituency.
Anyone who dares undermine the role of Welsh MP's are under attack from Hain, but when this criticism is targeted towards the Assembly, he is the first to jump in to the ring to target Regional AM's. Would this have anything to do with the fact that they are all opposition AM's, and that they pose a threat to Labour dominance in Wales?
2 comments:
Preventing list members from also standing in constituencies always seemed to be rather petty.
True it produces some strange events. In the last assembly elections every single candidate in Clwyd West (except for UKIP) ended up sitting in the Assembly, and it reduced the possibility of "decapitating" a big name, if they are also number 1 on the regional list.
But I would be prepared to bet that if Labour relied on the list system, then they would be double entering candidates and wouldn't have changed the rules.
What it will do is stop the opposition parties from putting their big guns into marginal seats, and that may be at the heart of it.
I'm delighted that you're standing for South Wales West. At last I've got someone young and enthusiastic who I can vote for !
You are totally right Bethan. Hain as always is looking after the narrow interests of the Labour party in Wales. Has anybody told him that the Secretary of State post is to represent everyone in Wales fairly, not be the General Secretary of the Labour party.
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