The enormous Dominance of England and the English Establishment over the rest of the UK.

by Cllr Gwyn Hopkins – Llanelli, Plaid Cymru

The enormous Dominance of England and the English Establishment over the rest of the UK.

The indisputable Conclusion while the UK exists.

Because of the extent of this massive, overwhelming dominance of England in all 5 groups shown, particularly population, there is no possibility whatever that this situation will change even in the very remote future.  England’s huge majorities in the UK will ensure that Scotland and Wales (and Northern Ireland) will – in essence – continue to be ruled and controlled indefinitely by the country very much in the driving seat – England.  England is in charge – without a doubt.  Labour, Tory, Lib-Dem and UKIP politicians and supporters are, of course, highly delighted with this situation.  The only way to end England’s vice-like grip on Wales is, of course, Independence for Wales.  Likewise for Scotland.

Comment.

In population terms, England is 10 times the size of Scotland (population 5313600) and over 17 times as big as Wales (population 3063456).  It is certainly not normal for any nation to be content with being in a political union with another nation that, by intimidation and violence or the threat of it, bullied it into the union without the consent of its people at the time it was formed (an England-induced shotgun marriage). This is particularly so when the controlling nation completely dominates the subjugated one – being many times its size.  There has to be extraordinary reasons to explain this very unnatural behaviour.  One doesn’t have to look far to discover them.

In the case of Wales the answer lies primarily in the continuous and cumulative indoctrination of its people by the English Establishment since the conquest of Wales by England almost 7½ centuries ago (in 1282).  In a nutshell, its consistent message was (and is) that the people of Wales are not really capable of governing themselves and managing their own affairs so that clinging to England is best for us, indeed it is really the only feasible option.  Moreover, no secret was made of the fact that England’s intention was to eradicate the Welsh nation altogether by assimilation into England.  This objective is clearly proclaimed in English Law in the Statute of Westminster 1284 and the so-called (imposed) Acts of Union 1536/43.  These Acts (repealed in 1993) also contained provisions designed to destroy the Welsh language.  This intention was reinforced by W E Foster’s Education Act of 1870 that introduced a compulsory entirely “English” primary education system into Wales that banned the language for 30 years (on pain of physical punishment).  Thereafter it was grudgingly permitted, but only as a very inferior subject (usually taught for some 30 minutes a week) – by far the lowest status subject in every school.  Even today, it remains so in a substantial majority of the schools in Wales.

Since the middle of the 19^th century the opportunities for the English Establishment (and its many fellow-travellers in Wales) to promote its pro-Unionist indoctrination and propaganda in Wales has greatly increased.  The advent of daily and Sunday newspapers (all 27 sold in Wales being pro-Unionist with some of the 21 published in London being obnoxiously, offensively and insultingly anti-Welsh), the pro-Unionist radio and TV – both largely emanating from London – greatly helped its cause.   This relentless, long-term indoctrination has persuaded many Welsh people to renounce their Welsh national identity – proclaiming themselves as “British” instead (often an euphemism for “English”) and to renounce their country’s indigenous language – Welsh.  Some deliberately suppress their Welsh accents and cultivate a posh “English” accent as part of the process of anglicizing themselves in outlook, thought and deed.  Thankfully, it is fairly clear that these trends are now declining.

In spite of this immense amount of brainwashing over the centuries (and the very large, uncontrolled influx of English people into Wales that progressively dilutes and erodes Welsh national identity and the Welsh language), it is absolutely amazing that some 10% of Wales’ people currently favour Independence for Wales.  In Scotland (where the people have been subjected to the same sort of pro-Unionist indoctrination for over 3 centuries) it was 45% in the September 2014 Independence Referendum which is even more amazing.  In promoting Independence for Wales Plaid Cymru clearly has a big mountain to climb and the inclement weather is unceasingly against us.  However, with the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales in 1999 we have already reached “base camp”.

Gwyn Hopkins