Welsh Journals

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Wales as an Economic Entity GWYNFOR EVANS President, Plaid Cymru It is all very well for them (Plaid Cymru) to talk glibly about economic separation from England, but they should be fair to the people of Wales and admit that it must mean a fall in their standard of living. Mr J Idwal Jones, MP (Labour), 12 June 1959. The Welsh nationalist policy spells economic ruin for Wales. If they had their way in cutting the ties with England, that would drive the Welsh standard of living down, like the Gadarene swine, not into the Sea of Galilee but into the Dead Sea of dire poverty Conservatives are large-minded we have done more for Wales in these last seven years than any other party in history.- Rt Hon Henry Brooke, M P (Conservative), 23 May 1959. The greatest tragedy which has happened in Wales in the twentieth century has been the establish- ment of the Welsh Nationalist Party dedicated to obtaining Dominion Status The economic life of Wales is linked to those of England and Scotland. The Welsh Nationalist policy for economic separation was one which would place Wales economically in the backwaters The Welsh Nationalist Party are splitting the Welsh nation. The Liberal Party has done more for Wales than any other. Mr Emlyn Hooson (Liberal), 23 May 1959. The IDEAS of our professional politicians as to what can be done for Wales are vague, obscure and tentative. Their views upon what cannot be done for her are clear and strong. They are agreed in parti- cular that the economic life of Wales cannot be organised on a national basis, and their descriptions of the dire effects of doing in Wales what other people do so well are always extravagant, to the point of fantasy. They picture the Welsh people, compelled by the wild nationalists to live on their own resources, sitting hopeless and hollow-eyed before their empty cupboards. They implore us to face, as a hard fact, that Wales is of necessity, now and forever, an integral and undifferentiated part of England (usually called 'the country as a whole'). Up to now the politicians do not seem to have been able to think of any other hard facts to support their thesis. No effort has been made factually to show why Wales cannot be administered as a national entity, relying on her own resources at least as much as any other country. The appeal of the anti-freedom politicians is not to reason but to the emotions, particularly the emotion of fear. They assume