On the 19th July 2016, Owen Smith, the Labour MP for Pontypridd and a man proud of his Welsh roots, declared that he will stand against Jeremy Corbyn for leadership of the Labour Party. However, Labour bloggers and the Guardian have now made it of vital importance that he declares his intentions regarding the governance of England very quickly.
Labour Party supporters even wondered whether Owen Smith would be
“the ‘Swift’ and courageous man of true leadership to put Wales firmly upon the Westminster map and rise up to become leader of the Labour Party and possibly future Prime Minister?”
Meanwhile, The Guardian described him as
‘a fully paid-up member of the “Taffia,” the Welsh political and media establishment’.
The concern in England has to be whether the Labour Party is on the verge of shooting itself in the foot once again by ignoring English concerns. To be clear how important it is for Owen Smith MP to want equality for England, you should examine his recent statement made a couple of days ago
‘We have a wider gap between the haves and have-nots in this country than any of us have known in our lifetimes. And it is for the Labour Party, our party, to fight to reduce that gap.
Eddie Bone from the Campaign for an English Parliament stated in response,
“I agree there are have and have nots. The people of England don’t have their own Labour Party, the Welsh do. The English don’t have a First Minster, the Welsh do. And the English don’t have an their own government while again, the Welsh do. Will he correct that injustice?
Owen Smith must now commit himself to creating an English Labour Party and an English Government if he believes in equality for all. If he doesn’t, it would mean 55 million English could be governed by an individual who is able to implement tough austerity laws on England, knowing full well that his own constituency will be unaffected.
The Campaign for an English Parliament is available for interviews
Eddie Bone, Campaign Director Campaign for an English Parliament
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Owen Smith says he will provide additional funding for the English NHS yet as an Welsh MP he has no influence on the Welsh NHS because it is a devolved matter.
The present constitutional imbroglio demonstrates his position is not credible.Of course there needs to be an English Labour Party but more importantly an English Parliament.
Why not just scrap devolution and replace it with regional devolution and proper constitutional reform where it has always been needed ie AT WESTMINSTER? It is the fact that Westminster is still unreformed by Tory and Labour that caused us to go down this country-wrecking path in the first place.
Barry that would be the SNP’s dream ticket!
After being promised that it has the most super dooper, devo-max, extra sprinkles on top, devolved parliament in the planet by none other than David “Fluffy” Mundell sole Tory MP in Scotland..
The drive for Independence, if what you suggested came about, would be unstoppable.