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A House of Commons motion by several senior Welsh Labour Party members of the Westminster Parliament, on making railway announcements in English have precendence over the Welsh language, could mark the beginning of a Labour strategy among Welsh Members of Parliament (MP's) to 'derail' the new Labour-Plaid coalition by proxy.
The Labour Party MP's, led by Rhondda MP Chris Bryant, have signed a House of Commons motion calling for railway announcements to be made in the English language first followed by Welsh, in contrast to the current policy where Welsh precedes English. The motion has been signed by seven Welsh backbench MP's, including two former secretaries of State for Wales, says that in Welsh cities and towns, where the language is used by the majority of the population, the announcements should be made in English first, because of the length of time the announcements take.
This would mean that the train stations at Caerdydd/Cardiff, Casnewydd/Newport and Wrecsam/Wrexham would have announcements in English first. Mr Bryant said:
"If you stand at Cardiff station and a lengthy announcement about a platform change is made firstn Welsh then there is a risk by the time it is repeated in English that the train you want has come and gone."
The Early Day Motion on 16th July states
"That this House notes that the announcements at all railway stations in Wales are made in Welsh first and then in English; wholly supports the policy of bilingual announcements; but believes that it would be far more sensible and far more convenient for passengers, whether regular commuters or local visitors, if announcements at each station were made first in the language used by the majority of the population."
Some Labour MP's, who were unhappy with the Labour-Plaid coalition in Wales, fear that the Welsh language will be given too high a priority by the new Government. Mr Bryant MP argued that his constituents in the Rhondda did not want to be forced to live their life through the Welsh language.
Plaid Cymru have said that the motion in unpractical and unworkable.
Whether the MP's have been influenced by the article journalist and ex Conservative MP Matthew Parris wrote about missing his train connection in Casnewydd/Newport on May 31 st in The Times newspaper, because he could not understand Welsh, is open to debate.
The Early Day Motion can be found by following the link below:
(This article for Celtic News compiled by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot)
J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League
28/07/07
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