Wales Shows There’s an Alternative to Right-Wing Government
Welsh Labour's governing agreement with Plaid Cymru includes plans to expand free school meals, work toward a National Care Service and fight the housing crisis – proof that there is an alternative to Tory misrule.
First Minister Mark Drakeford met with Plaid leader Adam Price on Wednesday 1 December to sign the agreement. Credit: Getty Images
‘Almost a quarter of a century ago, people in Wales voted for self-government for Wales with a promise of a new type of politics.’ So reads the introductory declaration to a ground-breaking co-operation agreement made between Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru, which will set part of the political framework for the Welsh government during the next three years.
The introduction to the agreement continues: ‘They placed their trust in a new democracy with an instruction to work differently—inclusively and co-operatively.’
Devolution in Wales is nearly a quarter of a century old. It has been a remarkable political journey for Welsh Labour, who have formed every government during that time. It is an astounding record of political success, which highlights Welsh Labour’s position as one of the most successful election-winning operations anywhere in the United Kingdom.
Coalitions and partnerships of one form or another are nothing new to Welsh Labour government and Welsh politics. The electoral system—First Past the Post in 40 constituencies, with a top-up proportional system of a further 20 seats—has meant that every government has depended on some form of coalition or partnership: with the Liberal Democrats in 1999, with Plaid Cymru in 2007 to form the One Wales Government, through a collaboration arrangement in 2016, and now, in 2021, in a formal co-operation agreement. Working collaboratively with another partner or partners has become an institutional part of Welsh Parliamentary politics, although one predominantly borne out of necessity rather than desire.
This latest agreement is different, because it marks a watershed in Welsh politics, reflecting a far deeper and more radical form of inclusion and collaboration. It comes at a crucial time: in the midst of a global pandemic, with all the economic and health pressures that brings, and when devolution and our political institutions and democracy are under direct attack from the most right-wing Conservative government in Westminster since the second world war.
The assault on devolution marks a determined belief among that Westminster government that centralisation of power and financial control over devolved government is the only way to secure the future of the United Kingdom. It is an approach that fails to recognise that the decentralisation of power across the UK and constitutional subsidiarity are the only foundations that can create a long-term, stable future for the United Kingdom.
In other ways, it is also a radical break with the tradition of previous arrangements for minority governments in the Senedd. Welsh Labour, on the back of the equal best-ever election results in May 2021, won exactly half the 60 seats, including regaining the Rhondda seat from Plaid Cymru’s former leader Leanne Wood. It has re-elected a Labour First Minister, who has appointed a full Labour cabinet and published a programme for government.
There was every possibility that the government could have carried on without any formal agreement on a case-by-case basis, negotiating a budget on an annual basis. The decision to enter into a co-operation agreement clearly has practical advantages, but it is more than that. It is a leap into a future of centre-left political co-operation and into the delivery of a radical socialist policy agenda.
As the agreement continues: ‘The UK has now left the European Union, but we are still dealing with the aftermath of this decision and we are faced daily with the actions of a Conservative UK Government determined to consolidate power in Westminster and turn back the clock on devolution… It is more important than ever that we have a strong Welsh Parliament able to work together and respond effectively to these challenges and make real and lasting change for people in Wales… The commitments outlined in this agreement build on a number of shared values—social solidarity, a sustainable planet and a vibrant democracy.’
The agreement sets the scene for a different type of politics in Wales for years to come. It offers an example for a more progressive style of political co-operation not just in Wales, but across a United Kingdom which desperately needs to embrace radical reform of our outdated and irrational electoral system.
The Agreement
Despite being endorsed overwhelmingly by the Welsh Labour Executive Committee and supported by all the trade unions and affiliated socialist societies, to some the agreement remains a challenging initiative. In Wales, the response from individual citizens, party members, and organisations has been very positive. The overwhelming commentary has been supportive of the principle that governments and political parties should work together for the common benefit.
However, some things do need to be made clear. It is not a coalition. Plaid Cymru will have no government positions and ministers retain control of their individual portfolios. Instead, they will be given access to civil service support and allowed two special advisers to assist them, and there will be co-operative working in 46 policy areas.
Beyond this they will be free, as with any opposition, to challenge, scrutinise, and criticise the government, as Welsh Labour Senedd members will be free to criticise and challenge Plaid Cymru. This is essential to the quality and vibrancy of Welsh parliamentary democracy.
There is little policy, if any, in the agreement that any Labour Party member could disagree with. It facilitates the delivery of a Welsh Labour radical socialist agenda.
Many policy decisions could not be easily taken in an environment where a budget can only be agreed on a 12-month basis, or where legislation has to be negotiated on a line-by-line basis, item-by-item, because of the lack of an overall majority. The agreement enables a programme of radical socialist policies to become a reality, sooner and with more certainty than might otherwise be possible.
We need only look at what it enables the Welsh Labour government to deliver:
- Free school meals extended to all primary school pupils, and a shared ambition that no child should go hungry—a transformational intervention in terms of child hunger and child poverty which will support educational attainment, child nutrition, and local food production and distribution, benefiting local economies;
- An expansion of childcare to all two-year-olds, and a focus on strengthening Welsh medium childcare provision;
- Work toward creating a National Care Service, free at the point of need and continuing as a public service;
- Radical action to address the proliferation of second homes and unaffordable housing;
- An examination of potential pathways to net zero by 2035, the creation of a publicly owned energy company for Wales, and the expansion of public transport;
- And other policies relating to equality, justice, and anti-racism.
These are just the policies incorporated into the co-operation agreement, which build on the existing Welsh Labour manifesto commitments. They are supplementary to the remainder of the manifesto which proved so successful in the Welsh elections.
The government will therefore continue with the introduction of a Social Partnership and Procurement Bill, which will put the partnership of trade unions, business, and government on a statutory basis with a commitment to using public procurement to achieve socio-economic objectives and ethical standards of employment. The same applies to commitments to electoral reform, environmental legislation, a clean air act, legislation to ban snares, legislation to ban single-use plastics, and other policies.
The momentum for political reform in Wales is enhanced by the agreement. Proportional voting is already a part of Senedd elections. This is likely to be reformed by an agreement to legislate to increase the size of the Senedd, and to reform the current voting system.
After the May Council elections in 2022, Welsh councils will already have the option in the first two years of introducing proportional voting for the next set of elections by virtue of the Local Government (Wales) Act 2019. At the same time, in those May elections, the Welsh government will be carrying out four pilot projects to look at different ways of voting over longer periods of time, in a central location and in schools, as well as improving existing electoral systems.
These pilots will be the precursor to legislation aimed at radically reforming the electoral system for Council and Senedd elections, including digitisation of the electoral register, which will open up many more opportunities for a more accessible and inclusive twenty-first-century voting system.
The co-operation agreement is not just an arrangement of convenience or an experiment: it is a move to a more mature and progressive politics—one which is focused on the importance of delivery of political changes which improve the lives of the people of Wales. Across the United Kingdom, it also offers the opportunity to appreciate that in government, Labour can do things differently, and do them better—without sacrificing the political principles on which our movement is founded.