What the EU has done for us

It’s an unfortunate aspect of Welsh life that only about 10 per cent of our people buy an indigenous daily newspaper. It speaks volumes for the difficulty of conducting a serious debate about matters that affect Wales, and not least the debate on the European Union.

Most people in Wales read newspapers published in London and these give scant attention to Welsh interests. More than 80 per cent of them are owned by right wing anti-EU billionaires: the Sun, Times, and Sunday Times by Rupert Murdoch, an Australian living in New York; the Telegraph by the Barclay brothers who live in tax havens in Monaco and Guernsey; the Mail by Lord Rothermere who lives in France; and the Express and Star by Richard Desmond who built his empire on the foundation of the soft porn business.

 

Media baron Rupert Murdoch campaigning for Brexit from New York

In the coming months all these papers will be conducting a noisy and strident campaign in favour of our leaving the EU. You can bet your life that none of them will give close attention to the following benefits that have resulted from our EU membership:

• Providing 57 per cent of the UK’s trade with the rest of the world
• The structural funds that have been vital in the regeneration of west Wales and the Valleys.
• Regulations that have underpinned our clean beaches and rivers in Pembrokeshire.
• Cleaner air.
• Lead free petrol.
• Restrictions on landfill dumping.
• Promotion of a recycling culture.
• Cheaper mobile charges.
• Cheaper air travel.
• Improved consumer protection and food labelling.
• A ban on growth hormones and other harmful food additives.
• Better product safety.
• Single market competition bringing quality improvements and better industrial performance;
• The break up of monopolies.
• Europe-wide patent and copyright protection.
• No paperwork or customs for exports throughout the single market.
• Price transparency and removal of commission on currency exchanges across the Eurozone.
• Freedom to travel, live and work across Europe.
• Funded opportunities for young people to undertake study or work placements abroad.
• Access to European health services.
• Labour protection and enhanced social welfare.
• Smoke-free workplaces.
• Equal pay legislation.
• Holiday entitlement.
• The right not to work more than a 48-hour week without overtime.
• Strongest wildlife protection in the world.
• Improved animal welfare in food production.
• EU-funded research and industrial collaboration.
• EU representation in international forums.
• EU diplomatic efforts to uphold the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
• European arrest warrant.
• Cross border policing to combat human trafficking, arms and drug smuggling; counter terrorism intelligence.
• European civil and military co-operation in post-conflict zones in Europe and Africa.
• Support for democracy and human rights across Europe and beyond.

But for me all this is as nothing compared with the EU’s role in providing more than 60 years of peace between European neighbours after centuries of bloodshed. Not only that the EU has assisted the extraordinary political, social and economic transformation of 13 former dictatorships, now EU members, since 1980. But, as I say, we can expect to hear none of this from the mainly foreign-owned London press.

Wales needs a hydrogen highway

It is extraordinary to think that Wales was most connected internally and with the wider world a century ago, in the years leading up to World War I. In those days it was possible to travel from virtually any point in Wales to anywhere else of significant size by the main means of transport at the time – the railways. And as far as the wider world was concerned our major ports were connected with all points on the globe, with stocks of Welsh coal piled high in South America, Cape Town, China, Japan, and all points in between.

This was the high point of Welsh engagement with the wider world and it was no coincidence either that this was the most prosperous period in our history. It was also a high point for Welsh identity as well. The railways contributed significantly to the developing sense of Welsh nationhood in the golden Edwardian age.

Since then our communications have retreated to such an extent that we are now the most disconnected part of Britain, both within Wales as well as externally to the rest of the world. There is no doubt that this is contributing significantly to our economic problems.

This weekend I shall be speaking about this at Plaid Cymru’s conference in Aberystwyth. I will be seconding a motion being proposed by Cynog Dafis, the former AM and MP for Ceredigion and North Pembrokeshire, calling for a raft of policies to improve communications for Wales.

At present there is a tendency to link the north-east of Wales to Merseyside, mid Wales to the English Midlands, and the south-east to Bristol. Of course, we need good transport links with England to access the markets there for Welsh products. But we also need fast and effective links within Wales to counterbalance the pull to the east.

A glance at the Welsh road network reveals a ‘figure-of-eight’ pattern that links the four corners of the country. Improvements have been made to much of this network, though there remain significant gaps, for instance between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth. In any equivalent European country the network would be dual carriageway throughout. However, in Wales this is only the case along the east-west sections – the A55 across the northern coast, the M4 in the south and its extension to Carmarthen and St Clears– together with the A470 from Cardiff to Merthyr.

We should develop the ‘figure-of-eight’ spinal network by widening the roads to provide hard shoulders to give passing opportunities for faster moving traffic. These hard shoulders would also allow provision of a regular coach public transport service throughout the route. It should become known as a ‘Hydrogen Highway’ service with depots at regular intervals allowing the coaches to use this carbon friendly fuel.

Such innovative, practical and affordable policy thinking follows naturally from applying a national, one Wales perspective to our economic circumstances. That’s what we need, but it has been sadly lacking in Labour’s London-centric approach in the 16 long years it has been in charge of the Welsh Government.