Press Release - 8th August 2016 Secretary of State for Wales destroys United UK concept for the Olympics

Press Release 8^th August 2016 Secretary of State for Wales destroys United UK concept for the Olympics On the 6^th August the Secretary of State for Wales, Rt Hon Alun Cairns MP released a statement that destroyed the concept that ‘team GB’ is united. He separated his national identity ‘Welsh’ out from the collective British one.  He stated:   As the 2016 Rio Olympics get under way today, I want to wish all of our Welsh competitors the very best of luck. As a team of 24, this is the highest number of athletes that has represented Wales for an overseas Olympics. It’s also the first time that there are more women than men in the squad. These men and women will be ambassadors for athletics and Wales and are going to fill us with pride in the same way that Ashley Williams and the Welsh football team did during the Euro 2016 tournament. The whole nation is behind our athletes, and I’m confident their hard work and dedication will deliver results. Pob lwc i gyd. The reason why his words are so damaging to the Olympics GB team is because the Olympics are meant to be where the United Kingdom stands together. The separate national identities within the UK are meant to be put aside for the greater good of UK unity. However it appears that we are no longer as united as we were for example, during the 2012 London Olympics. Now even the so called ‘most staunch’ of British politician, a British government cabinet member, has put his first identity ‘Welsh’ above his British one. He hasn’t wished the whole GB team luck he only wished the 24 Welsh athletes luck. He used the Euro 2016 tournament where Wales played completely independently and under their own national anthem to clarify his point. His pride is for Wales not the UK! Eddie Bone, Campaign Director for the Campaign for an English Parliament stated: It is becoming increasingly obvious that the English urgently need their own Secretary of State for England so they can talk about their athletes in the same way as the Welsh are allowed to. If they did have a Secretary of State for England then the Right Honourable, Alan Cairns MP words would not be so damaging to the UK. It looks as if he believes that the 24 Welsh athletes should follow Welsh football and stand as an independent Wales at the Olympics. Maybe, England should be treated equally. Eddie Bone Campaign Director Campaign for an English Parliament