Whither the Welsh Liberal Democrats?

As may be obvious to regular readers, I have not produced much original material over Advent and the early Christmas holidays, either raiding my sock-drawer of  previously discarded drafts or even leaving a blank page. The reason was a very heavy cold, which affected concentration on reading other people's blogs also. So I have only just got around to reading in full Peter Black's weighty piece from Christmas Eve.

One must bow to his analysis of what got us to here, though I wonder what he now thinks might have happened if the "rainbow alliance" had gone ahead. It is clear that if Welsh Liberal Democrats had been in government from 2007 on, the disastrous cuts to the NHS in Wales perpetrated by the "One Wales" government would not have been made. On the other hand, would we have achieved the local government gains in 2008 if Labour had been able to hit us early with the slogan "in bed with the Tories", or been so successful in Wales in the general election of 2010?

 I agree with him that the party is in good hands both here in Wales (with Jane Dodds) and on the UK stage (Vince Cable). However, it is going to be an uphill struggle. Not just England and Wales, but also the whole Western world, seems to be going through an illiberal phase, and public opinion in Wales is dominated by the London media as Peter points out:

Our other problem is one of identity. Unlike Scotland, Wales does not have a national media to speak of. The Western Mail, the so-called national newspaper of Wales is outsold by its more regional sister papers, the South Wales Evening Post and the South Wales Echo. There is no one Welsh newspaper that can be bought anywhere in Wales, whilst much of rural Wales relies on weeklies for their news and gossip. One of the biggest selling papers in Montgomeryshire is the Shropshire Star.

Most people rely on UK newspapers and UK TV and radio channels for their news. As with the rest of the world, these traditional news outlets are declining in favour of internet-based media. That is an area which the Federal Party is still playing catch-up on, the Welsh Party are decades behind them.

Part of the trouble is the lack of money. In Westminster, the party - as the only one on the national stage supporting staying in the EU - has been receiving contributions from business and can expect more as the Brexit deadline date looms. In Wales we are living off scraps, and have to rely on ingenuity and much voluntary action.

I should like to see us make much more of the fact that Liberal Democrats are not bound by sectional interests, by financial speculators, the trade unions or narrow nationalism. We should not be a party favouring only those with sharp elbows, as we were seen to be under Nick Clegg. Perhaps more contentiously, I suggest that our desire through the EU  for joint control of matters which no single nation can tackle alone is only a step towards greater international cooperation and away from the sort of isolationism espoused by Mrs May and the current president of the United States. It is worth restating the opening to the Liberal Democrat constitution, and perhaps some of our parliamentarians should re-read it:

The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity. We champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals, we acknowledge and respect their right to freedom of conscience and their right to develop their talents to the full. We aim to disperse power, to foster diversity and to nurture creativity. We believe that the role of the state is to enable all citizens to attain these ideals, to contribute fully to their communities and to take part in the decisions which affect their lives.

We look forward to a world in which all people share the same basic rights, in which they live together in peace and in which their different cultures will be able to develop freely. We believe that each generation is responsible for the fate of our planet and, by safeguarding the balance of nature and the environment, for the long term continuity of life in all its forms.