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Our local nationalists have been keeping their heads down over the Gurkha issue.We know that there is a long-standing anti-British Army streak in Plaid Cymru, evidenced recently in Neath at the ceremonial march through the town centre by the Royal Welsh Regiment, when only the leader of the Plaid Cymru group and one other councillor represented the nationalists. There was no sign of the Plaid Cymru AM nor of the candidate for the Neath parliamentary seat. They also criticised Charles Kennedy for supporting our forces in Iraq, even going so far in some quarters as to call for a mutiny.
The nationalists want to dismantle the very thing that the Gurkhas fought for and
hold so dear - the British state! Where would an independent Wales leave the Gurkhas, and their hopes for settling in "Britain"? We remind Plaid that the Gurkhas have strong links with Wales, especially with Brecon and the Neath valley. There is mutual respect between Welsh and Gurkha soldiers.
At least the Scottish Nationalists backed the call for settlement.
What happens if nationalists have their way over independence, and what is left of the "UK state" (i.e., England) continues to follow a restrictive policy? Does this mean that Gurkhas in Wales and England can rely on settlement in Scotland?
3 comments:
Plaid Cymru voted unanimously in favour of the Gurkhas being allowed to settle in the UK.
http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2009-04-29&number=104
On the other hand, two of the Lib Dem members for Wales - Lembit Opik and Roger Williams failed to attend for their own party's vote.
http://onewalesgovernment.blogspot.com/2009/05/john-smith-mp-vale-of-glamorgan-and.html
If you can't hear, maybe it's because you have your fingers in your ears.
What, all three?
Ian,
Might I suggest that the Plaid MPs voted for Nick Clegg's motion because they saw it as a means of inflicting a defeat on Gordon Brown?
There have been no ringing declarations of principle on this issue from Plaid as there have from the SNP. I listen regularly to BBC-Wales and read the Evening Post & the Neath Guardian. I believe my fellow-contributors to this blog do the same, and also watch Welsh news on TV.
It is not as if Plaid Cymru views were suppressed by the media. We are all well aware of Adam Price's views on student fees as well as a range of other issues.
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