Glyndwr Jones stands for Merthyr

I thought I'd give some shameless publicity to my friend Glyndwr Jones, who is fighting Merthyr and Rhymni for Plaid in the General Election. Click the picture to get to his website.

     

If there's one part of Wales that can truly be said to have been dumped on over recent years, it must be Merthyr. Trecatti tip reeks to high heaven when the wind happens to swirl in one direction ... and on the lucky occasions when it swirls in the other it will be carrying the coal dust and noise from the huge Ffos y Fran opencast mine instead.

And, unbelievably, things are set to get worse. There are plans to bring domestic waste from all corners of Wales to burn in a huge incinerator at Bedlinog ... and the preferred operator is the American firm Covanta, which has been repeatedly fined for breaking environmental laws in its waste incineration plants over there. I've been told there are plans for another opencast coal mine too.

If I lived in Merthyr I'd be angry. How much can one town be expected to suffer?

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Much as I'd like to believe that voting Plaid will make everything better, it won't. But it might start to make things better. For the life of me, I can't see why continually being at or near the bottom of many indicators of deprivation results in the people of Merthyr returning Labour MPs like Dai Havard or AMs like Screwloose Lewis time after time.

Merthyr is now stuck with Ffos y Fran and Trecatti. So some of the more immediate priorities are to find better ways of dealing with waste than transport it to Merthyr, and to make sure that we don't use prevarication to circumvent the environmental safeguards that must be a requirement for opencast mining. These will bring surprisingly few jobs to the area for local people, but they come at a huge price for health and wellbeing of local people. We need to concentrate on getting better employment than this.

Other things that we should do include ensuring that the rail line from Ffos y Fran to Ystrad Mynach, which is used to transport the coal (and would be used for the new waste incinerator) is upgraded at least allow the people that live next to it to use it.

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It's encouraging to see that Glyndwr has got some high level campaign endorsements. Dafydd Wigley was very active in Merthyr and knows the place well, and Dafydd Iwan says some kind things. Meic Stephens, the author and journalist, too.

You would normally expect your dad to support you, but because Gwynoro Jones used to be a Labour MP, that isn't something that should be taken for granted. He has had to come to terms with the fact that Labour has now become something very different from what Labour once used to be. And one other former Labour MP has come out with a remarkable endorsement. This is what Ron Davies—the person to whom we probably owe most for delivering devolution to Wales in the face of elements in the Labour Party that fought against it all the way, and some that still haven't given up fighting against it—has said:

I endorse Glyndwr one hundred percent

Unfortunately the Labour Party has turned its back on working people and the needs of our communities in Wales. It has squandered the rich potential of 13 years of rule and now serves only its own interests as seen from London.

Faced with a choice of Labour cuts or Tory cuts, we in Wales will have to unify and fight anew for democracy and social justice.

The fight will be led by passionate, articulate and committed patriots like Glyndwr Jones the Plaid Cymru candidate for Merthyr in the General Election to whom I offer my 100% endorsement.

Good luck Glyndwr.

Ron Davies

Now that is interesting.

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5 comments:

Cambria Politico said...

Pob lwc, Glyndwr.

Anonymous said...

Sadly he doesnt stand a chance
The mess that Plaid made in Merthyr with councillors who were less than reliable,and some really bad internal fights has lost an opportunity
Dai Havard isnt liked or even known .His nick name of Dai Basra just shows how much time he spends out in Iraq qnd Afghanistan.Three weeks recently.He is never seen in Merthyr
There is a eal need for a good MP and an AM who does more than promote himself
May be glyndwr should court the Independants ,that may give him some chance

Anonymous said...

don't know what happened with Plaid in Merthyr in the 1970s but it's a bit rich to complain about Plaid who were in charge for some 4 years with Labour who've been in power for 80!

A bit like Labour complaining in Glasgow East about the mess the SNP has made after 18 months in Holyrood and nothing about the 80 year Labour have run Glasgow, nor 10 years in Westminister etc.

A bit like the so called 'tea party' anti Obama vote in Massachusetts, complaining about the Democrats after the mess which the Republicans left them in!

Illtyd Luke said...

How dare you criticise the opencast mining and vibrant waste incineration industries in Merthyr. It's economic growth and bringing "jobs to the area". Look at the huge employment benefits that such rampant industrialisation has brought to that boom town of Merthyr... ; )

Anonymous said...

Glyndwr Jones and Plaid do not stand a chance of winning Merthyr in this election, however what they should do is concentrate on giving Plaid a better name in Merthyr, gaining more publicity and achieving higher levels of support amongst the people of Merthyr so that they satand a better chance in the next election.

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