UK: Labour set to look anew at policies on Welsh language

[Harold Schiffman]

Labour set to look anew at policies on Welsh language

Sep 23 2008 by Tomos Livingstone, Western Mail

LABOUR is to launch a "long overdue" rethink of its policies on the
Welsh language this week, stressing a back-to-basics approach focused
on fostering the economy in Welsh-speaking areas.

The party has lost ground in Mid and West Wales to Plaid Cymru in
recent elections, and knows it needs to regain votes in those areas if
it is ever to regain a majority in the Assembly.

In a joint essay, Llanelli MP Nia Griffith and Mid and West Wales AM
Alun Davies suggest a three-pronged approach, investing in economic
development to help Welsh-speakers to stay in their communities, more
opportunities for adults to learn the language and a review of
Welsh-medium education.

The party should look at whether "what works in South-East Wales is
what will work in east Carmarthenshire or west Denbighshire" when
arranging Welsh-language education, the two suggest.

They write: "We are going back to our roots – Dim gwaith: dim iaith
(no jobs: no language) should once more be the building block on which
future Welsh Labour policy is built.

"It is time to offer and articulate not only this message that places
the needs of ordinary, Welsh-speaking communities at the forefront of
our thinking – but to also remake and drive forward Labour's
commitment to a new future for our language.

"This message is long overdue. All too often the debate on the
language has been hijacked by lawyers and lecturers – with the
ordinary Welsh-speaking communities left out of the debate and the
vision."

They argue that people can "see for themselves" that the prosperity of
communities is linked to the vitality of the language.

The Labour-Plaid government in Cardiff Bay is committed to introducing
a Legislative Competence Order asking for powers over the language to
be transferred from Westminster. The exact wording of the transfer of
power has been the subject of intensive back-room debate, with Labour
MPs in particular keen to avoid opening the door to a wide-ranging new
Welsh Language Act covering the private sector.

Read the essay by Nia Griffith and Alun Davies:

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/columnists/

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/09/23/labour-set-to-look-anew-at-policies-on-welsh-language-91466-21877774/

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