Labour's sad Wales Bill

Yesterday, Carwyn Jones, the leader of the failed Welsh Government, unveiled an alternative Wales Bill, nattily named the Government and Laws in Wales Draft Bill

This was a hugely belated response to the Westminster Tories' own, risible Wales Bill, (published in March 2015) which aimed to give Wales control over taxis, harbours, voting ages and medium-sized power stations. This Bill is now being rejigged.

The main proposal in the Welsh Government's plan is to create a separate legal jurisdiction in Wales, thus ending 500 years of "EnglandandWales" lawmaking.

The Labour party had previously ruled out a Welsh legal jurisdiction but under the new plans policing and criminal justice would be devolved after 2026 - so no rush then.

With an Assembly election imminent, this move by Carwyn and co smacks of desperation. They surely hope that they can pull some votes from Plaid, and be seen to be influencing the rejigging of the Tories' own sad Bill.Why in the fuck, though, has it taken them 12 months to come up with a rehash of the Silk Commission's proposals?

Mike at Syniadau has the answer: now that Plaid Cymru have given up campaigning for Welsh independence, Carwyn has stolen their thunder on their USP - more devolution for Wales.

The real tools for creating an independent state, such as control over monetary, fiscal and tax policy, benefits, foreign policy and defence, have, it would seem, dropped entirely out of Plaid's purview. The party is so focused on social justice - they proudly announced last April that they were the first party in Wales to have a policy on transexual/transgender issues in their manifesto - that their very raison d'être has disappeared up Leanne Wood's fundament. 

Leanne herself seems way more bothered about maintaining the UK's position in the EU. Wales gets around £300 million a year (roughly 0.5% of GDP) from Brussels in convergence funding, but spunks it all on shitty third-sector projects like this. We could have spent those billions on building a north-south dual carriageway and a north-south railway, joining our nation and opening areas up for investment FROM Wales IN Wales. But we didn't.

Don't these clowns understand: part of the reason that support for independence is so low is that Plaid are not only failing to campaign for it, they are actively pooh-poohing it? Great way to consign your organisation to the dustbin of history, ass-hats.

So Labour's sad Wales Bill will probably represent a consensus. AMs of every party will pat themselves on the back once Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb returns with a new, slightly less risible Bill. The AMs will tell themselves that their party has won the battle for a "lasting devolution settlement for Wales".

I say to these jokers, "what has Wales won?" And the answer will be "only slightly more than FUCK ALL, you self-serving wankers"

Rant over, and out.