STANDING UP FOR WALES… NOT

Fracking? On our doorstep or perhaps under it

It may literally be a case of talking the talk but not walking the walk when it comes to the Labour in Wales Welsh governments claim to be standing up for Wales. A recent Parliamentary Question by Jonathan Edwards MP has revealed that the Labour in Wales Welsh Government has failed to press the Westminster Government on devolving powers over fracking to Wales.

Plaid Cymru tabled amendments to devolve powers over fracking to Wales and our country’s Labour in Wales elected representatives in Westminster sat on their hands or like the old News of the World made their excuses and left.  Perhaps it is simply a case of talking the talk at home and then hopping than no one will notice when their colleagues continue to do little for Wales at Westminster.

There are real and serious concerns about the environmental impact of fracking, which is why a number of countries in Europe and several US states have introduced moratoriums on fracking. The way things are at present; Wales will have no power to do so, with the Westminster Government yet again dominating Wales in relation to the licensing or prohibition of fracking.

Now what is interesting is that Scotland is set to have full powers over licensing fracking as set out in the Smith Commission proposals which all Westminster parties support following Gordo’s Vow made to the people of Scotland during the independence referendum campaign, the Labour Government in Cardiff has not been pushing for Wales to have the same powers.

Last Tuesday the UK Westminster government agreed to exclude Scotland from laws making it easier for fracking firms to drill for shale gas. The Infrastructure Bill, which is currently passing through Westminster, is set to allow underground access in England, Wales and Northern Ireland but not Scotland.

In Scotland, the SNP Scottish government, the Scottish Labour Party and the Scottish Green Party have all opposed the bill provisions of which would apply to residential areas. Scottish MP’s in Westminster had lodged amendments to the bill – the question might be asked is where were our Labour in Westminster elected representatives?

Jonathan Edwards MP said:

“It is absolutely astonishing that despite constantly claiming to be standing up for Wales, and that Wales should have the same powers as Scotland, Labour have yet again revealed that they talk a good game but do precious little to make it happen.

“As part of the devolution of powers promised to the people as part of the vow in the independence referendum, Scotland will have full powers over the planning and licensing of fracking. What is good enough for Scotland is also good enough for Wales, and we should also have the same powers.

“Yet Labour has been shambolic in its approach to delivering this for Wales. Last year, the Labour First Minister said that Wales should have the same powers as Scotland, yet parliamentary questions reveal that away from the press headlines, Labour are not even pushing for those powers, perhaps obeying the commands of their London masters. They are just rolling over and allowing Welsh resources to be plundered for Westminster and City of London profit.

“Wales should have full powers over the licensing of fracking. Plaid Cymru tabled amendments to the Infrastructure Bill in Parliament towards the end of last year seeking to enable Wales to have those powers, yet Labour refused to vote in favour.  

"Plaid Cymru consistently works for Wales in Westminster, pushing for more powers, investment and control over natural resources, and against damaging austerity cuts.”

WAITING FOR A TRAIN!

I now regularly sees the sun come up whilst trundling rapidly across the Gwent levels and regularly stand on Cardiff (Central) Station waiting for connections amidst the tantalising smells wafting across from the Brain brewery (at least when there is a South West or West wind). I find that I have become a regular rail user, joining the many thousands of people commuting to (and from work) in the south.

As a regular rail user (Arriva Trains)I find that to be honest, aside from the occasional glitch (over running maintenance from weekends, periodic broken down trains, point’s failures and cable thefts, etc) most of the time the system seems to function. Having lived, worked and commuted in London (for some seven and half years) I find myself commuting by train again. On a good day I can make it from station to station (Treforest to Newport, etc) in around 50 mins (and that with one change) which is not too bad.

A simple choice: People before Profits

Other rail travellers are not so lucky, with rail franchise operators running services that ensure certain connections literally cannot be made, which is one way to avoid getting fined. This is not a satisfactory way to run a rail service, the key word here being ‘Service’. Obviously this state of affairs speaks volumes,especially as it fails to impact on the Westminster elite (I use the term loosely) as they tend not to travel by train very much (save when cultivating votes).

In much of our country trains a once cheap and reasonably reliable form of public transport is conspicuous by its absence, that not to mention costs and infrequent services deter actual and potential rail passengers. When you factor in the legacy of the Conservative and Labour rail service rundown and cuts in the 1960 and early 1970’s and excessive profiteering on the part of the privatised passenger franchise holders and much is explained.

Our country suffered particularly badly from rail cuts in the late 1960’s when Labour was in office under Harold Wilson, that and the pit closure programme that hit hard in the south and north east. The privatisation of British Rail, something that New Labour loudly boasted that they themselves would have done if the Conservatives had not already done it, was one of the latter significant more questionable ideologically driven batch of privatisations (between 1994 and 1997).

For the best part of ten years prior to privatisation British Rail could best perhaps have been described as starved of funds. The passenger arm was initially broken up upon privatisation into 25 seperate passenger franchises. Our country’s rail region Wales and West ended up as Wessex Trains and Wales and Borders which at one point included the Cardiff Railway Company services which operated as Valley Lines. This franchise was then split into two separate franchises, which are currently run by First Great Western and Arriva Trains Wales.

Our current franchise was awarded to Arriva Trains Wales in 2003 and runs for 15 years, and is due to end in 2018. There have been many persistent calls for the rail franchise to be run as a not-for-profit operation – with profits being feed back into the system, rather than vanishing to pay shareholders dividends. The Welsh Government has been considering this option for when the deal ends. Arriva Trains Wales is the only train firm covered by the Welsh Government’s transport remit. Any longer-distance services e.g. Swansea or Cardiff to Paddington are currently operated by First Great Western who have their fares regulated by the Westminster Department for Transport.

Now while this may well be ancient history, but it has implications for the way the railway franchises run how their profits are made and where they go. Despite the best efforts of New Labour and the Con Dems to reduce it, the franchise companies still receive a significant chunk of public (state) funding. Basically this has to be repaid to the Government before any profits can be made on top – hence the regular (and painful) rise in rail fares. It would make more sense for profits made to stay in the system rather than get hovered up to pay shareholders dividends and senior mangers fat bonuses.

The service we currently get reflects the disinterested priorities of the franchise holder rather than our national priorities when it comes to our railways and the services we need. A couple of weeks ago, I used the Arriva trains service from Betws-y-Coed to Llandudno junction (my actual destination was Conwy) but connecting trains (that stop) could best be described as infrequent. The friendly advice was to walk across the bridge to the town rather than wait a few hours for the connecting service (as Conwy appears to be an infrequent request stop).

For those people who don’t know about it, the Conwy Valley line is one of our country’s most beautiful rail journeys (at least in my opinion) it runs from Llandudno (via Llandudno Junction) to Blaenau Festiniog is single track and served by a series of unstaffed  stations (some of which are request stops). If I am being honest the service provided could best be described as minimal and inconvenient for potential passengers, possibly far less of service runs on the line than at any time since the railway was built with a train every three hours on weekdays and Saturdays, with six departures per day each way in total.

The electrification of the local lines into Cardiff, Bridgend, Newport and Swansea is long overdue as is the tram system to link the Bay properly with the rest of Cardiff. The Transport (Wales) Act which came into effect in February 2006 gave the National Assembly the powers to plan and co-ordinate an integrated transport system, how much longer do we have to wait to see some vision? In the meantime the rail companies have been busy ramping up rail fares, attempting to reduce rail services, all with the tacit co-operation of the Westminster Labour Government and the Department for transport (in London).

Such duplicity has never been acceptable - it’s time for our government in Cardiff to take the long term view, to bite the bullet and actually put its money where its mouth is and work to redevelop our rail services, boost the development of rail freight and to co-ordinate rail and bus services across the whole of Wales. To do this effectively Wales needs to have full control of its transport policy and transport budget devolved as quickly as possible and the franchise when it is renewed in 2017 needs to be run on a not for dividend profit basis. That day cannot come soon enough!