LABOUR STANDS UP?

It may come down to a desperate search for votes perhaps motivated by a growing fear that Labour may blow its chance of returning to office at the next Westminster general election, that and the knowledge that their leader has effectively vanished without trace.  Whatever the reasons the Labour's immigration spokesman’s latest blunder won’t do much to help create the impression that Labour is standing up for ‘the Workers’. 

In a speech, Chris Bryant said Tesco had planned to provide "reassurance", while Next was cited for using a recruitment site "entirely in Polish". The planned speech contained strong criticisms of two of the UK's biggest retailers over claims that they favoured Eastern European workers over Britons. Yet Citizen Bryant rapidly removed other critical excerpts which referred to both companies, unfortunately in true New Labour style the speech had been widely reported the press over the weekend.

Apparently Tesco and Next apparently ‘raised concerns’ (that’s spin for kicking off big time) about the criticisms. In extracts from the speech published in the advance in Sunday Telegraph, Mr Bryant claimed Tesco had moved a distribution centre to Kent where "a large percentage" of staff were "from Eastern bloc" countries. Staff at an original site, "most of them British, were told that they could only move to the new centre if they took a cut in pay", he was reportedly due to say. After complaints from the company, these passages were rapidly removed.

Standing up for Welsh jobs - perhaps not?

Now when it comes to standing up for indigenous workers jobs, Labour is not only late to arrive but also has a pretty poor record from its time in Government at Westminster. In Monmouth constituency, in Chepstow, when Tesco threw its weight around with an ultimatum to its workers at the Tesco Distribution Centre at Newhouse Farm Industrial Estate in Chepstow – Labour (at pretty much all levels) were on the whole conspicuous by their absence (and they were in government then).

Staff at the Tesco Distribution Centre in Chepstow faced a stark choice redundancy or an eight year pay freezes as part of the transfer deal to a new distribution centre at Piling near Bristol (Severn Bridge tolls were to be paid for two years up until 2011). The former workers at Tesco would have been in a much better position to defend their jobs had former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown signed the European Social Chapter, then the workers would have had better protection, sadly the party then known as New Labour choose not to. 

Labour’s silence over the demise of the Tesco distribution centre at Chepstow, and so many other things was odd? I mean they were the party that was supposed to stand up for workers rights. At the end of the day Tesco upped sticks from Chepstow and relocated to Piling near Bristol and union representatives had noted that new contracts for the Pilning site offered less pay and fewer benefits. 

Any Welsh Government or WDA funding that Tesco may have received to help expand and develop its former distribution centre at Chepstow over the years should have been reclaimed. Yet, by strange coincidence Tesco was listed by the Electoral Commission as a small but regular donator of cash / funds to the Labour Party, between 11th March 2003 and 30th October 2008, Tesco donated £73,664 pounds in cash to the Labour Party. In the same period the Liberal Democrats got around £28,000 from Tesco. 

THE WELSH CONNECTION?

Isn't it a little odd that the UK Westminster Government has not so quietly committed itself to spending the best part of £500 million pounds on providing tunnelling for the proposed new High Speed (HS2) railway from London to Birmingham, which happens to go through the constituency of a Cabinet minister. Specifically that of case Cheryl Gillan MP (the Welsh Secretary) and who according to David Cornock (the BBC Parliamentary correspondent for Wales) may well be the bookies favourite for the chop come the next cabinet reshuffle.

Perhaps we should not speak harshly of this Welsh Secretary, who has after all done such a fine job fighting hard to get the electrification of the Great Western Line through the south of our country all the way to Swansea, or was she too busy fighting against the £32 billion pound HS2 in England to fight for railways in Wales? Mind its nice of HMG to spend the best part of £500m on a tunnel to help someone keep their job. An extra £500 million might go a long way on the railways here in Wales. Mind what's £500 million between colleagues?

If the UK is going to seriously spend big money on railways there were some slightly better options than this; they could have plugged HS2 into St Pancras which would have enabled through trains to and from the European mainland. To be honest St Pancras is actually part of the problem, a visible symbol of the so called Metropolitan mindset – it would have made more sense to develop HST capable railways to the south and west of London – that way it might (with some vision) have been possible to run through trains from the rest of these islands to and from the mainland both directly and overnight, now there's a thought?

The HS2 plan intends initially to connect London and Birmingham, with potentially further options for additional connections to Leeds and Manchester and even a possible spur to Heathrow – this should perhaps be considered to be the phase 2 of the current scheme. The question is whether or not we will ever see a Phase 3 or HS3? If so and if the Governments of these islands are serious about high speed rail then any such plan should be for the new network to continue north to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and there should also be an option to build westward past Heathrow to Cardiff and Bristol.

Wales (and Scotland to a lesser degree) runs the real risk of being left behind at a time when developing reliable high speed rail transport is becoming increasingly seen as the norm and as a real green alternative to short haul flights. Perhaps leaving Wales behind (and Scotland independent?) is indirectly part of the plan, if you step back and take the long view, working on the assumption that HS2 is actually built, what we are talking about (potentially for the first time) is significantly improving the rail network on an England level rather than at a UK level.

FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT

A well deserved pat on the back is due for the members of the Severn Tunnel Action Group who’s long term fight to save and develop Severn Tunnel Junction Railway Station is delivering real results for local rail users, with retained rail services, better passenger waiting areas, new electronic information boards, improved parking facilities and the restoration of platform 4 (open as of Monday 4^th January 2009) which means that there should be less delays to train services. They have over the years successfully fought (alleged irreversible and permanent) cuts in services which would have made passengers journeying to Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and beyond lives a great deal more difficult. They are carrying on the fight to get the foot bridge and the provision of lifts for easy access for disabled and elderly passengers.

Caldicot Town Councillor David Ashwin and myself (frozen by dawns early light at Severn Tunnel)

For those of you who don't know it, Severn Tunnel Rail Junction Railway station is pretty often exposed to a particularly bitter east wind of the Severn estuary - there have been long term issues with secure parking, decent facilities (including shelter) and access to the from the 'island' platforms int he middle for the station. On a number of occasions outside and during election campaigns I and colleagues have been seriously frozen at Severn Tunnel on a number of times whilst campaigning for better rail services.

The railway station provides a vital link for rail passengers to and from work in Bristol, Bath, Newport, Cardiff and beyond - with passengers travelling from as far a field a Monmouth and the Wye Valley, the Forest of Dean and eastern Newport to catch the train to work. I am convinced that but for the on going fight made by the Severn tunnel Action Group that the station would have been quietly run down following proposed cuts in services, now it has more than a fighting chance of acting as useful transport hub for local rail passengers and residents.

Severn Tunnel Action Group's fight for better services, better facilities for passengers and better access to the 'island' platforms continues and provides a working example of what it is possible to achieve when people set their minds to an objective. Well done!