Back to the future: a return to Ceredigion and Pembroke North? — Ceri Davies
When I first started writing this piece I wasn’t sure where it would go, I just new I wanted a focus on a near forgotten political partnership of the 90s, a partnership that has always resonated with me. Yesterday the piece finally got some direction. On Saturday 24th October 2020, a little piece of Welsh history was made which, in the current crisis, may seem small and insignificant, but the vote by the Wales Green Party at its annual conference to support a motion to campaign in favour of an Independent Wales in the event of a referendum is significant. This marks the first pro-independence shift by any Welsh political party apart from Plaid Cymru.
The Green Party of England and Wales has been an obvious target for Welsh nationalists, and the party’s new, pro-independence stance seems to have come as a shock to some. However, it should not have been. The Greens’ policy to support devolution of powers is a long-held position. Their organisation on “England and Wales” lines has always been one of technical and financial convenience, rather than principal of an autonomous Wales Green Party in itself.
Of course, not every Green Party member in Wales (let alone England) will support the approach. However, is this not one of the beauties of the Green Party? That it does not whip its membership and allows differences of opinions and thought. Should a referendum emerge on independence for Wales, then I am personally comfortable with Green Party members who do not campaign for, or even choose to campaign against, the official party policy.
So where does that take us to now?
Maybe it is a time to go back to the future, and revisit one of the most notable radical moments in Welsh politics now largely forgotten, the alliance between Plaid Cymru and the Green Party in the early 1990s. This alliance succeeded in taking the parliamentary seat of Ceredigion and Pembroke North at the 1992 General Election and delivering Cynog Dafis, to Westminster on a joint ticket. In effect, Cynog Dafis can claim to be the UK’s first Green Party MP, although (as was typical of his generosity) he later conceded this accolade to Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion.
In an article for the IWA Ken Jones recalled a rally in Aberystwyth where “ people rejoiced at what was an historic coming together of the ‘Welsh’ and ‘English’ communities, as well as the formal alliance of ‘greens’ and ‘nationalists’ “. It wasn’t an easy pact and John Morrissey in his reflections in How green was my party details the difficulties around this position — the wider Wales Green Party were not overly supportive:
But this enthusiasm was not shared by the rest of the Wales Green Party. Although Dafis has green credentials, such are not shared by the whole of Plaid Cymru. Green Parties locked in electoral combat with Plaid in their localities found the Ceredigion arrangements profoundly damaging. They questioned whether nationalism, Plaid Cymru’s raison d’etre, could be reconciled with green politics. The issue grumbled on for years, paralyzing the Green Party in Wales.
The partnership ended with the somewhat farcical position of two competing green parties in Aberystwyth!
Although this particular partnership came to an end, the experience of devolution has brought politics in Wales and Scotland slightly closer to the European mainstream. Already, we can point to various progressive coalitions and partnerships in both countries: between Labour and the Liberal Democrats (Scotland and Wales); Labour and Plaid Cymru (Wales) and, perhaps most significantly for this piece, between the SNP and the Greens in Scotland. Is it possible that the experience of COVID-19 in post-devolution era will force political parties to shed their traditional antipathy and work closer together?
Things have changed since Cynog Dafis was elected so successfully and surprisingly in the 90s. However, the need to bring disparate groups of Welsh voters together remains sorely needed considering the human crises that we all face.
Can Plaid Cymru expand in Wales from where they are now? The current polls suggest that this is uncertain, even under their talismanic figure Adam Price. Despite their initial “political earthquake” of 1999, Plaid’s general level of support has remained unchanged after twenty years of devolution — even as the Liberal Democrats have withered. The high point in terms of voting figures remains those Assembly Elections. I am not trying to score a party-political point here: it is an uncomfortable truth that I am sure the strategists in the party know all too well.
Is now the time for 21st century politics? Can Plaid and the Greens take the mantle of traditional radicalism that Welsh Labour once wore and work together for more than just an Independence referendum? Society after all faces so many more challenges. In my view, independence would simply be a step towards addressing those bigger societal issues.
The vote yesterday was about a potential referendum, but the issues that the current focus on independence often mask are those around the climate crisis, poverty and of course we are currently living through a pandemic emergency. These issues will not be solved alone and cooperation and compromise amongst parties will be needed.
I believe that Plaid and the Greens can work together, taking the best of both parties to work towards these solutions, much like Cynog Dafis and his supporters did nearly four decades ago.
So where do we go from here? The movers and shakers in the parties need to talk and make things happen, with a view towards next year’s assembly elections. In general, my view is that Plaid Cymru and the Green Party should compete against each other. However, where appropriate, democracy demands that where circumstances favour a Plaid-Green alliance, then local parties should be free to explore the possibility of an alliance.
YesCymru have driven the independence agenda in Wales in recent years, taking it to where it is now. In doing this they have created an inclusive approach accepting all and I thought it was telling that as the jibes about “Green Party Head Office” and “Wales Branch” appeared after the Green conference vote last weekend, YesCymru rose above it and tweeted a positive and welcoming response. Similarly, they have welcomed Labour4Indywales building one of the most inclusive movements in Wales in recent years.
This is important for me, not just on the “Indy argument”, but if the bigger ticket societal aspirations we need to address are to be achieved they will need to come from that same inclusive position; one where parties work together.
For all of Yes Cymru’s success in sustaining attention in Welsh politics, it should be noted that opposition to devolution seems to be consolidating around an organised Abolish the Assembly Party. An increasingly confrontational Conservative party is a worrying development for all of us who believe in devolution, and the problems in being governed by Westminster.
In these troubled times, progressive politicians, and activists of all shades need to break down traditional barriers to working together as a matter of urgency.
Ceri Davies is a host of the Hiraeth podcast and a member of the Green Party.
