Foreign Intervention in Afghanistan

The British Army is relying heavily upon foreign countries to supply troops to the frontline, recent figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show.

Ministry of Defence figures show that 1420 people from overseas joined up in 2008/09 compared to just 30 in 2001/02. This represents a 50 fold increase during the Iraq and Afghanistan years.

The dramatic rise in the number of foreign recruits; from 60 to 800 between 2005/06 and 2006/07, coincided with a period in which the British Army struggled to attract new soldiers from within the UK.

The relaxation of strict rules governing the Body Mass Index (a measure of somebody’s weight in relation to their height) of new applicants saw the threshold rise from 28 to 32. The previous limit was seen as a bar to many, naturally heavy, aspiring soldiers from former empire countries such as Fuji.

Latest figures show 950 people from overseas were recruited in 2009/10, showing there is still a heavy reliance on overseas applicants who must either have a dual British nationality, be a citizen of the Irish Republic or come from a Commonwealth country, to qualify for consideration for the British Army.

The British Army has always used more soldiers from former-empire countries in times of conflict, but the recent rate of increase in such a short space of time is stark. It paints a picture of an army being extended beyond its means with the war in Iraq initially, and then the conflict in Afghanistan which has escalated out of control in recent years.

Do these foreign fighters see the British Army as the only way out of poverty? And if so, is this desperation being exploited? The UK Government recently had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into providing fair treatment for Ghurkha soldiers. Historically, soldiers from abroad have tended to be cheaper to employ, cheaper to compensate and generally enjoying fewer rights than their counterparts with a British passport, even though the risks they face are no different. There is no justifiable reason to not treat all armed forces personel equally.

In 1921, when unveiling a memorial to Sikh and Hindu soldiers who had fought for the British Army, the Prince of Wales said ‘future generations should not forget that our Indian comrades gave their lives in ... a conflict of which the issues were to most of them strange and impersonal.’ Those words could equally apply today to those non-British recruits who find themselves in extremely dangerous situations in the unforgiving climate and terrain of the Afghanistan desert.

Plaid Cymru consistently opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from the very start and we continue to maintain that troops should be brought home. The forthcoming Strategic Defence Review of is an opportunity for a reassessment of the role of the UK in world affairs and an opportunity for the Westminster Government to cut its cloth to fit the army’s capabilities.

While in opposition, Nick Clegg questioned the strategy in Afghanistan and said ‘young men and women’s lives are being thrown away because our politicians won’t get their act together.’ Will he make such vocal representations post-election? Watching him easily ditch his party’s manifesto pledges on immigration and Trident, I am not confident he will put his head above the parapet on this.

Plaid Cymru has also campaigned for a network of support for serving soldiers, ex-soldiers and their families to be provided. Without such support, people risk falling out of society – as is borne out by the figures on the numbers of ex-service personnel in prison and living homeless on the streets.

Having seen fit to send their armed forces to Afghanistan, the UK Labour Government had a duty of care to ensure they were properly equipped and that they and their families were well cared for both while in service and afterwards. They failed on both counts.

Let's see if the ConDem coalition in Westminster is able to avoid making the same mistakes.

Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

Few can dispute that Labour’s negotiations with the Lib Dems were undermined at a very crucial stage by a succession of the party’s backbenchers and former big hitters. David Blunkett and John Reid did their utmost to strike a hammer blow to the coalition before it even had chance to take flight. Similarly, north of the English border there was an outright rebellion to any notion that Labour MPs could be part of any alliance featuring representatives of the Scottish Nationalist Party.

The Parliamentary Labour Party failed those of us who are against having a Tory government. They failed to protect ordinary people against the wave of big cuts that are on their way. Yes, a Labour-led government would have had to cut too, but people in Wales remember what Tory cuts feel like, and that's why 74% of people voted against them.

After seeing Tuesday's Newsnight, I hear that the negotiating team from the Labour Party only went through the motions in their meetings with the Liberal Democrats and failed to engage in any meaningful way that was ever going to result in success. Take a look at the Jeremy Paxman interview with Shirley Williams , about 33 minutes in. Labour refused to make concessions, but the Tories were prepared to compromise enough to satisfy the Liberal Democrats. The deal was done.

Labour never had the appetite to oppose the Tories.

May they hang their heads in shame.

Broken promises and the lust for power

Plaid may not have increased our number of MPs at this election, but it was good to see significant gains made in the Rhondda and next door in Cynon. The two constituencies saw significant swings to Plaid and cuts to the Labour majority. We saw our vote improve in many other valleys seats too.

The results show that in Wales people did not embrace the Tories, despite the instructions from the London papers. UK-wide, they failed to secure the majority they needed to form a government. Despite this lack of public confidence, we have ended up with an old Etonian at number 10 due, in part, to the opportunism of the Liberal Democrats who ditched their principles in their lust for power.

All this will make for interesting Assembly elections next year. In the first post-election debate at the Senedd, Kirsty Williams and her party colleagues were noticeably squirming about the policies they’ve had to ditch for this deal. Despite warning of the dangers of Tory public sector cuts before May 6, Liberal Democrat AMs will now have to remain silent while we take slash and burn cuts which they will no doubt try to spin as 'efficiency savings'.

Plaid Cymru has calculated that cuts of £220 million will be made to the Assembly budget this year alone, despite previous assurances from Tories that the Welsh budget would be protected for 12 months under their government. If we don’t see those cuts this year, we expect them to be doubled next year.

Grass roots Liberal Democrats must be left wondering if selling out on cuts and PR for a handful of cabinet seats is worth it. Disgruntled left-leaning Liberal Democrats have been invited to switch their allegiance to Plaid.

As for Labour, their scaremongering tactics which aimed to get people to vote for Labour in order to keep the Tories out, turned out to be rubbish. When they had an opportunity to stop Cameron and his cronies by forming a 'progressive alliance', they blew it. They must therefore take a share of the blame for what happens over the next five years.

I only hope that people remember that the election promises of Labour and Liberal Democrats were broken so, so quickly.

Labour's missed opportunity

New Plaid MP Jonathan Edwards has blogged on Labour's missed opportunity:

“This was a once in a lifetime opportunity that would not only have changed the face of politics as we know it in the UK but also allowed Welsh communities to have been protected from savage cuts. Instead, and totally against what they had promised during the election, Labour chose the easy option of going into hiding, sending David Cameron into power in the process."

and

"...Labour politicians, who on the doorstep said they were the only people who could keep the Tories out, chose instead to step aside and inflict these cuts on us.”

Expect to hear good things from Jonathan. Llongyfarchiadau brawd!

Vote Different, Vote Plaid

After months of campaigning, the end is finally in sight. Today is decision day. Whether it has been pounding the steep streets of the Rhondda Fach and Fawr, phone canvassing voters in Aberconwy, or travelling across to Llanelli or Ceredigion to help my party colleagues there, a tangible appetite for change has been detectable.

It could be down to the expenses scandal, the continuing bloody war in Afghanistan that sees so many men, women and children killed every year or the fact that the gap between rich and poor has actually widened in the last 13 years under a Labour Government. Whatever the reason, people seem ready for change.

Can people bring themselves to break the habit, sometimes fostered over a lifetime of voting? Will they mark an ‘X’ in one of the other boxes. Will they think different this time? There is an alternative for people in Wales in Plaid Cymru MPs. Our three MPs built up a reputation in the last Parliament for punching well above their weight and were said by one political commentator to have achieved more than the entire Liberal Democrat party. He may have grabbed the headlines in the leadership debates with his casual, hands in the pocket approach, but Nick Clegg’s record as a Parliamentarian is not great. With Plaid Cymru, you can be assured to have someone who will answer to his constituents rather than his political masters in London. What other candidates in this election can say that?

TCeltic bloc we have formed with the Scottish Nationalist Party has a real chance of gaining for Wales and Scotland in the event of a hung Parliament, which is looking more and more likely as the polls nearer their close. Our combined tally of MPs could hold the crucial balance of power. In return for our support on an issue-by issue basis, we would gain concessions for from a coalition Government. Our manifesto pledges are wide and varying, but are linked by a common thread of ensuring the most vulnerable in society are not made to pick up the tab for the mistakes of the greedy bankers that have recklessly plunged the UK into a financial crisis. To do otherwise is neither fair nor moral, yet none of the other main UK political parties are pressing for this basic principle. For all their talk of fairness, none of the main UK political parties are walking the walk with their policies. All will slash and burn the public sector if they form the government.

So if you are sick of the same old politics and want genuine change, and not some party masquerading as an alternative simply because their leader’s tie is not blue or red, then please vote Plaid.

Home Truths

We're finally in to the the last week of election campaigning, after a week of some interesting revelations. Cleverly disguised appearances have been stripped and exposed by the intense glare of scrutiny.

It was not just Gordon Brown who showed his disdain for voters and their opinions.
The Tories, who have somehow branded themselves as an all-inclusive, caring and sharing party while operating under the stewardship of these men have admitted public spending under their watch will be cut in the areas which need it the most.

Then we had a Tory candidate deviating from the official party line, saying what he really thought about gay people. Still not convinced? Then check out what this Tory idiot was saying earlier this month on Fox television in the USA. Are his views privately shared by a significant number of his party colleagues? It should at least make people question that pledge to protect health spending.

Then - Nick Clegg showed he didn’t have all the answers when under pressure. Will people see through the man who has seen his main profits coming from not being Cameron or Brown? There also remain questions to be asked about his party’s policies on restricting immigrants to certain regions and their anti-trade union attitudes.

Plaid Cymru policies have withstood scrutiny from the fiercest of television interviewers. We were denied the opportunity to show we could more than handle our own when it comes to debating the content of our manifesto pledges and their credibility on a primetime platform with the three stooges of Clegg, Cameron and Brown. This view is borne out by the reaction I am finding on the doorsteps when out knocking doors and talking people.

I only hope plaid campaigners everywhere can reach enough houses in time to bridge the gap left by the poor hand the broadcasters have dealt us.