The other week I was fortunate to be called to put a question in Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs).
My question was short and to the point. This is what I said: “The Secretary of State for Wales has said that she is prepared to be sacked because of her opposition to Government policy on high speed rail. Will the Prime Minister take her up on that very kind offer?”
The question attracted huge cheers and laughter from the Labour benches and the question was referred to as the “quote of the week” by the House of Commons in-house magazine.
Unfortunately, the Prime Minister chose not to take up Cheryl Gillan’s offer and she remains in post.
The serious point to all of this is that the Secretary of State for Wales represents Chesham and Amersham in Buckinghamshire. She visits Wales from time to time, but the issue she feels strongly about is the Government’s plan to allow a high speed railway line through her picturesque constituency. With some justification, the Government argue that a high speed rail link between London and Birmingham – Britain’s first and second cities – is needed so that Britain begins to have the necessary transport infrastructure for us to meet the economic challenges we face. It is a matter for Cheryl Gillan to decide whether to put her constituency interests before the national interest.
But from a Welsh point of view, the really interesting thing is that the Secretary of State for Wales is clearly much more concerned about her Buckinghamshire seat, rather than the interests of Wales. We have all welcomed the commitment of this Government to the earlier promise by Labour to electrify the railway line from Paddington to South Wales. Although we were disappointed that the Tory-led Government did not adopt all of Labour’s plan and promise an electrified line down to Swansea.
As a Welsh MP I have to say that it would have been nice to have seen the Secretary of State for Wales offering to resign, or be sacked, over the Government’s failure to electrify the South Wales line to Swansea. But, although it may sound a little cruel, the word in Westminster is that Cheryl Gillan has been such a poor Secretary of State for Wales, her time in that job is very limited. Perhaps the high speed rail proposal through her constituency will allow her cover to leave frontline politics.
Wayne David
Labour MP for Caerphilly
Not so much wrong type of snow, but wrong type of Minister !
bring back john redwood at least you could laaf at him,
Its staggering that Tory governments always seem to choose English MPs representing English constituencies to take on the position as secretary of state for Wales. At the last election the Conservatives came away with eight out of the forty welsh seats. Surely there must be one person representing a Welsh seat that is competent enough to do a decent job. Its either a huge smack in the face for Welsh Tory MPs or it shows that the government couldn't care less about Wales. By imposing a secretary of state who resides in Buckinghamshire surely raises legitimate questions about how much time she would be able to spend in Wales. The same could not be said if a Welsh MP were to take over the post.
It is interesting to note the previous three Tory secretary of states both from the Major and Cameron governments. They all have one striking thing in common, they all represent rock solid Tory seats. Chesham and Amersham whom Cheyll Gillan represents is one of the safest Tory seats in Britain, Wokingham and Richmond of whom are the constituencies of John Redwood and William Hague are not far behind. I cant help thinking that selecting MPs who represent such safe Tory heartlands would only work against the people of Wales of which have constantly rejected the policies of the Conservative Party.