SHOW TRIAL IN SPAIN

British Government must stand up to Spain’s human rights abuses in Catalonia

Spanish Supreme Court ‘show trials’ of Catalan leaders begin

The Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Catalonia, Hywel Williams MP, has said the Westminster Government is implicitly supporting the Spanish state’s human rights abuses of Catalan political prisoners.

The Plaid Cymru MP made the comments on the day the Spanish Supreme Court trial of 12 Catalan leaders begins. The Catalan former civic leaders and politicians face charges of rebellion and sedition for their role in organising the referendum on Catalan independence in October 2017. They could face up to 25 years in prison.

Hywel Williams MP was part of a cross-party delegation of MPs that acted as observers during the referendum. Mr Williams witnessed paramilitary police raiding a school-turned-polling station and seizing ballot papers, whilst other observers and journalists saw violence being used against those attempting to cast their vote.

The British Government has consistently backed the Spanish Government, despite their use of police violence, claiming that “the situation in Catalonia is a matter for Spain to resolve, in accordance with Spanish law and democratic principles.”

The referendum, which took place on the 1 October 2017, offered the choice of independence for the Catalan part of north-eastern Spain, which includes Barcelona. The referendum was approved by the Catalan Parliament – which is autonomous and established in the Spanish constitution – but was deemed illegal by the Constitutional Court of Spain following a referral by the Spanish Government.

Catalan voters were asked "do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?". The "Yes" side won, with 2,044,038 (92.01%) voting for independence and 177,547 (7.99%) voting against, on a turnout of 43.03%. The Catalan Government estimated that up to 770,000 votes were not cast due to polling stations being closed off during the police crackdown.

In the run-up to and following the referendum, Spanish state police arrested a number of politicians, officials and civil society leaders for their part in organising the ballot. Other politicians, including the former leader of the Catalan Government, Carles Puigdemont, now live in exile. 

Twelve of those arrested will today go on trial, including the former Catalan Foreign Minister and Speaker of the Catalan Parliament.

Commenting ahead of the beginning of the trial, Hywel Williams MP, said:

“Today 12 Catalan leaders go on trial in Spain’s Supreme Court, facing the medieval-sounding charges of rebellion and sedition. Their supposed crime – organising a democratic referendum on Catalan independence in October 2017.

“Outrageously, the Speaker of the Catalan Parliament, Carmen Forcadell, is behind bars charged with the crime of allowing a debate to take place – in a democratically elected parliament.

“It is impossible for us not to see this referendum through the lens of the UK’s current political context. But, for a moment, imagine being one of the 12 political prisoners. Today, they will head into a dock, face a hostile set of judges, knowing that they will likely grow old behind bars for simply following the wishes of those who elected them.

“These jailed men and women are not hooligans or rabble rousers. These resolutely peaceful people are political prisoners, held against their human rights, for believing in democratic self-determination.

“Political differences cannot be resolved by these show-trials. That can only further poison relations between Spain and Catalonia. Dialogue is required and that is what the British Government should be urging its Spanish counter-parts to begin. Instead through their support for the Spanish state, the British Government are complicit in the prosecution of the 12 political prisoners.

“I accept that the British Government has already burned many of its diplomatic bridges with our European neighbours. But I urge them to use whatever influence they have left to encourage a democratic and peaceful solution to this crisis in Catalonia.”

ENDS

TAKING BACK CONTROL

Plaid Cymru has responded to a report from the IPPR, which shows that Wales and the north east of England will be hit hardest by Brexit, as a result of price rises exposure to EU export market. Responding to the report, Plaid Cymru’s Brexit spokesperson in Westminster, Hywel Williams MP said:

“The real impact of the  Westminster parties’ needlessly hard Brexit is beginning to reveal itself across the UK and as this report shows – more so in Wales than the other UK countries.

“Families are already £900 a year poorer than they would have been had the referendum result gone the other way, and if we follow the policies of both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn and leave the Single Market and Customs Union, we will fall further significantly further behind as the cost of living soars.

“Just over a week ago one of Wales’s most important employers warned they would have to consider leaving Wales as a result of Tory and Labour Brexit policies, and since then the Tory Westminster Government has broken its promise to invest in the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon. They are refusing to create jobs and boost wages in Wales while at the same time threatening the jobs that already exist.

“The key lesson for Wales is that we cannot continue to allow Westminster to make all our decisions on our behalf. We have to take control over our own future or families will continue to get poorer, and more and more businesses will need to look elsewhere.

“It’s time we took control over our own country.”

The full report, ‘An equal exit? The distributional consequences of leaving the EU’ is online  at: https://www.ippr.org/research/publications/an-equal-exit

SECRET TRADE TALKS EXPOSE DESPERATE WESTMINSTER GOVERNMENT

Plaid Cymru urges Westminster U-turn on Customs Union membership

Details from secret trade talks between the Westminster Government and 14 other trade groups have exposed the desperation inside Whitehall and the impact that leaving the Customs Union will have on the economy and consumers.

The details emerged after a Freedom of Information request in the United States revealed details of the UK-USA talks.

The information reveals a desperate Westminster Government sent 27 members of staff from the Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) with no experience of negotiating trade deals to Washington to negotiate with a 77-strong US delegation which included seasoned trade officials with decades of negotiations under their belts. 

Details from the agenda reveal that the so-called trade working group with the USA discussed trade strategy, textiles and apparels, regulatory issues, industrial tariffs and agriculture. Despite the Westminster Government down-playing the significance of the controversy over chlorine-washed chicken, the working group spent two hours discussing "agriculture and SPS" (SPS referring to sanitary and phytosanitary trade issues - such as the controversies over chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-reared beef) - longer than any other sector.

The information will cause particular concern for the agriculture sector in the UK, and Welsh farmers in particular, whose market face being flooded with cheap, lower quality imports, undercutting their prices.

Plaid Cymru says the information confirms the importance of the Customs Union and has urged the Conservatives and the Labour Party to support continued membership of the existing Customs Union.

The UK's membership of the Customs Union gives all UK countries access to free trade agreements with more than 60 other countries around the world - the other Customs Union members and other countries with whom the Customs Union has a free trade agreement - negotiated collectively to improve terms. Leaving the Customs Union means losing all current free trade arrangements and negotiating new deals without the benefit of doing so jointly with our partners, inevitably meaning poorer terms for the UK.

The Government's own analysis shows that every country in the UK will be worse off if we leave the Customs Union, even if free trade agreements are signed.

Commenting, Plaid Cymru's Brexit spokesperson in Westminster, Hywel Williams MP, said:

"This perfectly illustrates why staying in the Customs Union is so important. We already have free trade arrangements with more than 60 countries thanks to our place in the Customs Union - trade agreements that were negotiated collectively, strengthening our hand and maximising the benefits for us from those trade deals.

"These details from the American trade group give us a glimpse of our future outside the Customs Union. A weak, inexperienced and desperate group of civil servants trying to strike a trade deal with markets five times bigger than ours, with experienced trade negotiators. It is simply not possible to replicate what we are able to do as part of the Customs Union, on our own.

"Clearly some sectors will be sacrificed to ensure others are protected and we need only look at Westminster's every-day priorities to see which sectors are set to lose and which will be protected. Particularly concerning is the Westminster Government's insistence on holding these talks in secret - not just in the USA but with the 14 other trade groups across the world. What are they hiding from us?

"This is why Plaid Cymru is adamant that every country in the UK should be involved in these talks, not just England, and that every country should have to sign any deals off before they are implemented, to ensure our own key sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture are protected, not just the City of London.

"Westminster's flat out refusal to treat Wales and Scotland as equals alongside England means there is only one option - for the whole of the UK to stay in the Customs Union and to maintain our strong position as a global trading bloc. 

"Both the Conservatives and the Labour Party must reverse their position and make it clear that we will stay in the existing Customs Union."

ENDS

The Westminster Government had previously admitted to holding secret trade talks with the following 14 groups but had refused to share any information:

• Andean Community (Peru, Colombia and Ecuador)
• Australia
• Canada
• China
• Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE)
• Israel
• India
• Japan
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• Norway
• South Korea
• Turkey
• USA

Details from the American Freedom of Information request are available here: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4106923-US-UK-Trade-Meeting-FOIA-Redacted-1.html

Letters sent between the UK and the US agreeing to keep the talks secret are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/arrangement-for-exchanging-information-during-the-uk-us-trade-and-investment-working-group

CONSEQUENCES...

Whether people voted remain or leave last year there are going to be real and significant post brexit consequences for Wales. After yesterday's vote the Westminster Conservative / DUP Coalition Government, ably supported by Jeremy Corbyn's Labour MP’s (who abstained), will pretty much be able to force through the Withdrawal Bill even if Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all vote against it, after a Plaid Cymru amendment was defeated in the House of Commons.

Plaid Cymru were supported by the Scottish National Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party but were opposed by the Tories and the DUP, with Labour failing to vote at all. The amendment would have required the Prime Minister to secure the agreement of each of the devolved countries in the UK before repealing the European Communities Act 1972.

Plaid Cymru has written to the First Minister of Wales, and leader of the Labour Group in the National Assembly, asking for an explanation as to why the Labour Party changed position on giving Wales a meaningful say in the Assembly on the final Brexit deal.

In the letter, Plaid Cymru’s External Affairs spokesperson, Steffan Lewis AM, has accused Labour MPs of undermining the National Assembly’s ability to act in the interests of Wales and of providing the British Government will a mandate to “ride roughshod over the democratically-expressed wishes of the people”.

  

After the vote, Plaid Cymru’s Brexit spokesperson in Westminster, Hywel Williams MP, said:

“Tonight, the people of Wales were told that their opinion does not matter on Brexit.

“The Westminster parties have once again teamed up to make sure Wales’s voice counts for nothing when it comes to our own economy, our people’s wages and our children’s standard of living.

“The UK consists of four countries, not just one, but tonight MPs from the Westminster parties ensured that Brexit will be dictated by just one of those countries.

“Our amendment was not an attempt to derail Brexit – it was an attempt to make sure Wales and the other UK countries have an equal say on our future. Every national Parliament should be involved in this process, not just Westminster.

“Plaid Cymru MPs will continue to do all we can to make sure Wales’s interests are protected and voiced in Westminster, despite Labour’s apathy.”

Plaid Cymru’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for External Affairs and Brexit spokesperson in the Assembly, Steffan Lewis AM, added:

“That our own government in Wales, run by the Labour Party, chose to deny the people of Wales an opportunity to have a say on Brexit, is the single greatest act of harm inflicted upon the Welsh national interest since Article 50 was triggered.

“The Labour Party has repeatedly told Welsh citizens that they believe Wales should have a meaningful say on the terms of Brexit but tonight they went against their word and instead have ensured Wales’s future lies in the hands of the Tories and the DUP in Westminster.

“There is no doubt that the ability of our National Assembly to act in the interests of Wales have been greatly undermined by the actions of Labour MPs tonight. Labour has failed the people of Wales and has provided a mandate for the Tories in London to ride roughshod over the democratically-expressed wishes of the people of Wales in two referenda.

“Once again it falls to Plaid Cymru to fight for our citizens’ interests – the future of our NHS, Welsh jobs and wages and standard of living. Plaid Cymru will be doing all we can at both the Westminster Parliament and our own Parliament in Wales to make sure Wales’ interests are heard and protected. We will start by calling the First Minister to the Assembly tomorrow with a topical question, asking for an explanation of his party’s abstention.”

FORCED TO RELY ON JOBSEEKERS ALLOWANCE

Responding to the Institute for Fiscal Studies' report showing that 1.1 million women are worse off by £32 a week, Plaid Cymru's Work and Pensions spokesperson, Hywel Williams MP said:

“The problem is not that raising the state pension age for women is unfair – most of us agree that the state pension age should be equal for both men and women. The problem is the irresponsible and damaging way in which it is being raised.

“Women born in the 1950s have faced significant changes to the age at which they can receive the state pension without appropriate notification, with very little notice and much faster than expected.

“These women will have planned their retirement based on long-standing government policy which was changed at the last minute. As a result, some of these women are suffering financial hardship. Finding work at last minute, and at such proximity to retirement age is next to impossible and some are forced to rely instead on Job Seekers’ Allowance.

“The government’s contempt and disregard for their plight was betrayed in a recent debate in which I took part. When pressed the Minister remarked that these women could always take advantage of the government’s wonderful apprenticeship provision. 

“While I’m sure the British Government is pleased that it has delivered billions of pounds for them to spend elsewhere, they must recognise the injustice of their actions and the financial hardship it is causing. Plaid Cymru stands with the women affected by this irresponsible change and we will continue to fight for justice.”

STANDING UP FOR WALES

Mae @BenMLake wedi ennill #Ceredigion i Blaid Cymru / Ben Lake has won Ceredigion for Plaid Cymru #Plaid17 pic.twitter.com/bjRQvEj5L1

— Plaid Cymru (@Plaid_Cymru) June 9, 2017

Congratulations to @LSRPlaid on being re-elected MP with Plaid Cymru's highest ever vote in #DwyforMeirionnydd #Plaid17 pic.twitter.com/aQVZO5GwoH

— Plaid Cymru (@Plaid_Cymru) June 9, 2017

Llongyfarchiadau i @HywelPlaidCymru ar gael ei ailethol / Congratulations to Hywel Williams re-elected as MP #Plaid17 pic.twitter.com/XJ6CNyrfu8

— Plaid Cymru (@Plaid_Cymru) June 9, 2017

Llongyfarchiadau i @JonathanPlaid ar gael ei ailethol / Congratulations to Jonathan Edwards re-elected as MP #Plaid17 #GE2017 pic.twitter.com/UImxnXzW1z

— Plaid Cymru (@Plaid_Cymru) June 9, 2017