In reply to the Leader of Plaid Cymru, Leanne Wood's The Huffington Post article published on the 28 January 2013 "what is best for Wales?...
Leanne Wood has talked about Wales being an Independent Country within the next decade or at least outside the British Union established in 1707. At last it would appear that the probable effects of a Yes vote in the Scottish Independence referendum are starting to sink in. Yet Leanne Wood is still not quite there as she continues to make fundamental mistakes which need to
be corrected. If Scotland does vote Yes to independence the UK will be automatically dissolved.
The Campaign for English Parliament (CEP) has for some time been expressing concern on behalf of the Welsh as we do not want to see the Welsh trapped in some 'botched state' as the British government finally panics, opens its eyes and acknowledges the UK might be no more. The CEP, realising this dilemma, has been calling for a clear dividing constitutional wall where an English Parliament sits next to a Welsh Parliament. Both thus ensuring the future democratic co-existence of each Nation. However for a federal system to work all the nations of the UK must recognise each other. Thus it was with great disappointment that I realised that Leanne had made another fundamental error as she automatically assumed that British dominance is English dominance. It is not, they are different. David Cameron doesn't speak on behalf of the English, he is the British Prime Minster.
I for one ( I am an Englishman) have no desire to see a parochial Anglo-centric future for the Welsh or indeed Scotland. So like my Welsh and Scottish cousins I am also filled with "horror". But my horror, as an Englishman, is based on a far more precarious position because the English do not even have a First Minister or an English government to protect English concerns. Leanne rightly talks about all the four nations of the UK having 'blindly obvious' differences when viewing their interactions with the EU '. However I have to assume she means the people living within the countries because when she talks of national interests she seems to forget that England as a nation is not recognised by the EU. She goes further and talks about each country needing to play its part on an equal basis in the negotiating team but how can English interests be represented equally or indeed at all when they are not recognised?
During the article Leanne describes herself as a democrat but I challenge her to define what she means by 'a political union of equals ' when one country in that union, a country with 1000 years as a unified state is England, now does not have the basic requirements to make it equal? In the name of being a democrat and nationalist will she call for an English Parliament for her English cousins?
Ms Wood mentions the size of our respective national populations and attempts to make the point that 3 million people should be listened to, for an Englishman that believes in parliamentary democracy with accountability it isn't hard to see the injustice of a forced policy by a British government. The English understand your concerns, I need only mention, prescription charges, tuition fees and foundation hospitals to show we understand what suppression means. However is it right that 5 million Scots can decide the future existence of the UK and dictate the future of 55 million English and 3 million Welsh without them both having their own referendums to see if they want to remain in a union with Scotland?
Blaming a 'political class in England' isn't helpful in finding a solution to the constitutional problems of the UK. The Welsh deserve a better response than that. The political class that Leanne talks about obviously includes Welsh MPs because its a British political class and it's based in Westminster and its called the UK parliament. Although this political class votes on British matters, to my 'horror' Welsh MPs also vote on "English Only" matters as well. They know full well that their vote has no democratic accountability yet they continue. I cannot help but wonder if Leanne is also filled with 'horror' at that? What is obvious is that the Welsh do have a different relationship with the EU because Leanne rightly points out the Welsh financially benefit from the EU whilst keeping their national identity. On the other hand England has been broken up into 9 "Regions" and is without a political voice. If Leanne wants a fair deal over the EU in / out referendum maybe she should support a fair deal for England first by openly supporting the calls for an English government. Yet she remains surprisingly quiet regarding this.