A 0.5 FROM THE EAST GERMAN JUDGE...

The Westminster governments commitment to the electrification of the Great Western mainline through to Swansea (along with the electrification of the valley lines) may represent one of the largest commitment of resources to Wales for a specific project by a Westminster government in most people in Wales’s lifetimes. While this is significant it’s a job that upon completion will be at best partially completed because of a failure to commit to the electrification of the Severn Tunnel diversionary route from Kemble, in Gloucestershire to Swindon and through Lydney to connect with the mainline at Severn Tunnel Junction via Chepstow. 

As regular rail users will know the regular closure of the Severn Tunnel for maintenance tends to be an issue when it comes to weekend travel. Historically the diversion added an hour to and from weekend journeys to Paddington – the line was only single track. This section was finally upgraded to double track (completed in August 2014) is the only diversionary rail route between South Wales and London so the next step should be to electrify the diversionary route in parallel to the planned electrification of the Great Western mainline to Swansea.

In the event of a major accident or incident in the tunnel, perhaps a crash, a fire or even flooding, we need a fully operational alternative so that passenger and freight services to London are not affected. Talk to anyone who works the rails (or anyone who has relatives who work on the rails) in the south and they will tell you that the ageing Severn Tunnel is going to require more and more maintenance as time passes, it remains a vital transport link, but it ranks pretty low on Network Rails or Westminster’s list of priorities. 

This is a vital rail link between Wales and London (and Europe) and the only alternative to using the Severn Tunnel. We need some original thinking to solve this potential block on our rail links; the construction of a railway bridge / tidal fence close to the Second Severn Crossing should be seriously considered as part of any plans to harness the enormous renewable energy potential of the Severn Estuary. This could carry the main rail link from South Wales, solving the problem of the Severn Tunnel, enhance rail services from Severn Tunnel Station and generate sustainable energy, which we will need in the very near future.

A BAD DECISION

The Con Dem Government is dead wrong to nearly halve employment at the Newport's Passport Office. Sadly this announcement has been long expected, the retention of the customer service centre and the complaints and correspondence parts of the Passport Office (which will save around 150 jobs) will do nothing to prevent the loss of the 120 jobs which are too be cut. A Newport City Council report which assessed the impact of the Passport Office on Newport stated that it was worth £25 million a year to the local economy.

Only last year, Newport was included in a list of cities most likely to take a big hit from the cuts being made in London by the Tories and Lib Dems - and this announcement of job loses only reinforces that. The jobs and services provided are critical to Newport's local economy. The real danger is that the Con Dem's see the partial closure as unfinished business, how much longer before they have another go? This bad decision was made in London, not by the people of Wales, who understandably want to see a fully functioning passport office in their own country. Unless responsibility for the passport office is devolved to Wales, we will continue to have no real defence against decisions made in London.

At one well attended public rally we were all treated to Newport's Labour MP's condemnation of what the Con Dem's were doing. Now what has remained unspoken throughout the long and well supported campaign to retain the passport office, is that the decision to reduce civil service numbers to save money was made in Westminster by a Labour Government, well before the Con Dem coalition was formed and well before the last Westminster election took place. The Civil Service does little without being told what to do, so who in the last Labour Government started the wheels turning, other than probably a Labour Minster?

NOT GOOD NEWS

Despite a well organised and well supported campaign to prevent the closure of Newport's Passport Office, PCS Union leaders say they expect confirmation this Monday that the passport office will close with the loss of 280 jobs. The PCS said indications from the UK Government were it would press ahead with its cost cutting measures.

Local people, local politicians and local press were united in their call to retain the Passport Office, the Westminster Welsh Affairs Select Committee has criticised the move warning that it will have a "significant" economic impact in Newport. An Identity and Passport Service spokesman said it had completed a collective consultation over the centre's future and that it would inform staff of the future of the office on Monday.

So much for a Conservative dominated Government listening to Wales and so much for the consultation and listening to local concerns. While I rarely agree with any sentiments expressed by the South Wales Argus in relation to Wales, The South Wales Argus, adequately described the news of the closure and its impact on Newport back in October 2010 in an editorial, which I post in full:


IGNORANCE OF WELSH IDENTITY


AS we have said all through our campaign to save Newport's passport office, the loss of 300 jobs would devastate each and every individual and their families and have a severe impact on the local economy. 


But at a time when the government is actively planning the loss of half a million public sector jobs the loss of 300 is not in itself likely to cause it to reverse the closure decision. 


What we have said all along is that it is morally and philosophically wrong for the Welsh nation to lose its only passport office - a powerful symbol of national identity. 


Now we discover what, in truth, we had suspected all along.


In reaching its decision to obliterate the passport office in Newport the home office did not for one moment consider the impact this may have on the national identity of the Welsh. 


At a time when officialdom goes way over the top not to upset various religious or lifestyle lobbying groups, and when it is rightly illegal to discriminate against anyone because of their racial or ethnic backgrounds the home office (upholder of the law) sees no difficulty in ignoring Welsh identity.


This takes us back to the days when the Encyclopaedia Britannica told its readers that to read about Wales they had to look under references to England. This is the work of Whitehall mandarins and ministers who see Wales as nothing more than an extension of England. 


This newspaper is not in any way an advocate of Welsh nationalism, but it does believe totally in the right to nationalistic Welshness.

Whitehall's failure to recognise the inalienable rights of Wales to equality with other nations smacks to us of institutionalised racism.


It is time to draw a line in the sand which central government thinks very carefully before crossing.

Criteria for crossing this line should not just consist simply of a business case but of a complete understanding that this is a different part of the United Kingdom, not a region of England, with a proud history and with proud traditions, which it is not going to surrender. 


The politicians need to acknowledge this fact and, as we have said before, deliver a much more sensitive strategy for saving money that does not deliver a kick in the teeth for Wales. 


[The South Wales Argus EDITORIAL COMMENT...on Wednesday 27th October 2010]