[lg policy] Welsh ban lifted 'only if MP can't speak English'

[Dave Sayers]

The leader of the House of Commons [Chris Grayling] has rejected calls from MPs to 
overturn a ban on speaking Welsh at Westminster.

Chris Grayling told MPs it wouldn't be "sensible" to spend taxpayers money on 
translation facilities but said the government might review the ban if a new MP 
couldn't speak English.

He was responding to a call from his Labour shadow, Chris Bryant, who suggested MPs 
could be allowed to speak Welsh during meetings of the Welsh grand committee.

Mr Bryant asked him: "I understand that the language of this House is English but 
Welsh is the mother tongue of many of my compatriots and constituents so is it not 
time we allowed Welsh in the Welsh grand committee?"

Mr Grayling replied: "I have given this careful thought. In my judgement, given the 
fact that English is the language of this House and given the fact it would cost 
taxpayers' money to make a change at this moment in time, if somebody arrives in this 
House who cannot speak English we may need to look at this issue again but I think we 
have considered this issue very carefully and we should retain the situation where 
English is the language of this House."

More here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-36490376

Dave

--
Dr. Dave Sayers, ORCID no. 0000-0003-1124-7132
Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University | www.shu.ac.uk
Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University & WISERD | www.wiserd.ac.uk
dave.sayers at cantab.net | http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers

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