Lloyd George the first Prime Minister from a working class background and the only Welsh speaking PM ever.

'In his prime, his power, his influence, his initiative was unequalled in the land. He was the champion of the weak and the poor'.

‘He was the greatest Welshman which that unconquerable race has produced since the age of the Tudors’.

Yesterday was the birth day of David Lloyd George 153 years ago and soon it will be 71 years since his death. He has always been one of my political heroes so I went on social media yesterday to remind people about Lloyd George. Simultaneously I was in the process of preparing this post for my blog when I was contacted by someone from the area informing me that the magnificent and impressive Museum in Llanystumdwy that commemorates the life of Lloyd George and his achievements was included on a very long list of options to be considered as cuts that Gwynedd County Council.

The Council faces a shortfall of some £50m in the authority’s finances by 2017/18 and a comprehensive and long list of cost reduction options have been drawn up.  A public consultation document called ‘Her Gwynedd/Gwynedd Challenge' has been made available to ratepayers requesting their views and opinions - apparently the authority has received some 2000 observations.  

The reference to the option regarding the Museum has the following :-

Lloyd George Museum The Museum was established in 1947 and run by Trustees until it was transferred to the Council in 1987. The Council now runs the museum and Highgate, the childhood home of David Lloyd George, which has been restored to show people what it was like when it was a cobbler’s workshop in the 1860s.

The museum is one of just two museums throughout Britain dedicated to a former prime minister and attracts between 6,000 and 7,000 visitors a year.

Option to close the Museum to save £27,000

Closing the museum would mean: • less opportunities to promote the history and influence of David Lloyd George on Britain and the world during a key period of remembrance to mark the centenary of the First World War and his time as prime minister • implications for the collections and Highgate itself, which have been donated to the Council and the Frances Lloyd George Fund charity • an impact on the area’s economy in terms of tourism as it is a high-profile attraction • depriving schools, colleges and societies of education and research opportunities.

I earnestly hope that this historic place will be saved the axe because it so indelibly part of Wales’s heritage. Indeed there needs to be established a public fund to enable people to contribute towards the running of the Museum.   

I have several recollections of visiting the Museum over the years and I specially recall when in October 1985 to mark the launch of the Lloyd George Society members of the Alliance Committee for Wales and others led by Sir Winston Roddick held a ceremony at the great man's graveside.  It is a very peaceful and tranquil place and then his surviving daughter Lady Olwen was with us. Few brief speeches were made and we sang Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau. For me it was a very moving experience.

As we left the graveside I asked Lady Olwen what would her father had said to Steel and Owen who were at the time were having problems agreeing over Defence policy in particular and as a consequence the Alliance was being damaged in the polls. Her answer was ‘he would have told them to just get on with it’!

Lloyd George was a social reformer, probably the first social liberal, and he brought in reforms when Chancellor of the Exchequer that benefited the majority of society. Reforms such as the Old Age Pensions Act of 1908 and the National Insurance Act of 1911, both did much to aid the poorest in society and the most vulnerable. Indeed the forerunner of the Welfare State.

Without doubt Lloyd George and Churchill are the twin giants of 20th-century British history. Of course they had their differences. But the fact remains that the relationship of these two titans was indeed, as Lloyd George claimed in 1938, 'the longest friendship in British politics'. In fact it is hard to think of another that comes close.

For nearly 40 years Lloyd George was the only man to whom Churchill consistently deferred. Sometimes he did not like this subordination and apparently often he raged at Lloyd George behind his back; but he always acknowledged the older man's superiority. After a period of years had gone by without meeting up they did on one occasion and Churchill said 'Within five minutes the old relationship between us was completely re-established; the relationship between Master and Servant, and I was the Servant.'

Here is an extract of Winston Churchill’s memorable speech of tribute in the House of Commons March 28 1945 to David Lloyd George  :-

‘When I first became Lloyd George's friend and active associate, now more than 40 years ago, this deep love of the people, the profound knowledge of their lives and of the undue and needless pressures under which they lived, impressed itself indelibly upon my mind.

Then there was his dauntless courage, his untiring energy, his oratory, persuasive and provocative. His swift, penetrating, comprehensive mind was always grasping at the root, or what he thought to be the root, of any question. His eye ranged ahead of the obvious. He was always hunting in the field beyond. I have often heard people come to him with a plan, and he would say "That is all right, but what happens when we get over the bridge? What do we do then?"

In his prime, his power, his influence, his initiative were unequalled in the land. He was the champion of the weak and the poor. These were great days. Nearly two generations have passed.

Most people are unconscious of how much their lives have been shaped by the laws for which Lloyd George was responsible. Health insurance and old age pensions were the first large-scale State-conscious efforts to set a balustrade along the crowded causeway of the people's life and, without pulling down the structures of society, to fasten a lid over the abyss into which vast numbers used to fall, generation after generation, uncared for and indeed unnoticed.


Now we move forward confidently into larger and more far-reaching applications of these ideas. I was his lieutenant in those bygone days, and shared in a minor way in the work. I have lived to see long strides taken, and being taken, and going to be taken, on this path of insurance by which the vultures of utter ruin are driven from the dwellings of the nations.

The stamps we lick, the roads we travel, the system of progressive taxation, the principal remedies that have yet been used against unemployment—all these to a very great extent were part not only of the mission but of the actual achievement of Lloyd George.

His long life was, from almost the beginning to almost the end, spent in political strife and controversy. He aroused intense and sometimes needless antagonisms. He had fierce and bitter quarrels at various times with all the parties. He faced undismayed the storms of criticism and hostility. In spite of all obstacles, including those he raised himself, he achieved his main purposes.

As a man of action, resource and creative energy he stood, when at his zenith, without a rival. His name is a household word throughout our Commonwealth of Nations. He was the greatest Welshman which that unconquerable race has produced since the age of the Tudors.

Note:

The italicised section of Churchill’s tribute was something I used in a speech in Blackpool 1988 when addressing the first conference of the Social and Liberal Democrats on the occasion of Paddy Ashdown’s first speech as leader.

So Farage ‘Is in Town’

Time for him to start answering questions and provide Facts not bland statements

Leaving the EU will be the biggest 'gamble' in my lifetime.  

UKIP is rather effective at using scaremongering tactics, pointing out the problems within the European Union (EU) and merely exploiting peoples’ unhappiness with the current state of British politics. But when challenged as to what life would be like for Wales, its people, industries and communities outside the EU they have no answer.

So we must constantly challenge UKIP and the Tory euro-sceptics to tell the Welsh people what is their future outside the EU going to be when it comes to investment, economic growth, the future for businesses such as agriculture, the rural economy and so on all not just give us platitudes and vague generalities. 

With so much uncertainty why take such a leap in the dark? Why risk and place in jeapordy what we know and have now? Come the day after the Referendum if the vote will be a Yes to stay in the EU then we know where we are.  Life goes on and some changes to our relationship might have been secured through negotiations. But should the vote be No and thereby leave the EU what then? There will be no going back.  Not like leaving a golf club, a political party or a relationship.

For sure it would be a messy and protracted exit. The Lisbon Treaty allows some 2 years or so for such an eventuality but the EU is not noted for arriving at quick decisions. Certainly in this situation and with 28 members states involved and a very wide range of agreements, protocols, trade agreements and other international relationships to sort out the exit negotiations between Britain and the EU are likely to go on for longer than that.

Consider the uncertainty and impact on investment, the financial markets, the value of sterling, business and commerce, the outflows of capital and labour and much more.

So what do we know?

The UK is part of a market of 500 million people and we have Free Trade Agreements with 50 other countries. Half of what we sell some £226bn goes to the EU and 3 million jobs are linked to the trade with the 28 countries. In return over £26bn per year is invested in the UK by the EU countries.

In Wales between 2007 and 2013 the EU Structural Fund has had a tangible effect on our quality of life. There has been an investment of over £1.9bn covering some 290 projects, representing £3.7bn of total project investment. This investment has helped to deliver important benefits for people, businesses, the environment, and communities. This investment has assisted over 190,000 people to gain qualifications and over 62,800 into work. In addition around 30,000 jobs have been created and over 10,400 enterprises supported. Already a further £2bn package of support has been agreed for the period up to 2020.

So how much money and investment does Mr Farage envisage can  be afforded by a British Government to spend in Wales on all these projects after we have left the EU? 

A recent study by Agra Europe outlined a worrying future for agriculture and the rural economy should Britain leave the EU. Currently the farming industry receives between £3.5bn and £4bn in financial support. In this report it is envisaged that according to the UK Government’s own figures outside the EU the level of support would fall to just over £1bn. On that basis the future for the rural economy in Wales will be bleak outside the European Union.

So how much many does Mr Farage envisage will be spent on supporting Welsh agriculture and the rural economy after Britain leaves the EU

These set of questions have been compiled by Peter Sain Ley Berry and there are many, many more to come later Mr Farage!

Can UKIP give some examples of the laws 'contrived and enforced from Brussels' that you think would be rescinded if Britain left the EU?

Equal pay laws for example, should those be scrapped?

Laws on pesticides or chemicals?

Laws on animal movement and animal welfare?

Laws on clean beaches?

Would UKIP want to see these laws scrapped? And if so what would replace them? How would that be an improvement?

What is the basis by which UKIP assume that access to the Single Market will be free of cost to Britain after we have left?

Why is it that eurosceptics can't grasp that the trade question is not about whether we can buy German cars? The trade question is about the terms on which we can sell them our financial services (and everything else).

Why does Norway (outside the EU) pay more per head to the EU then Britain?

The EU (which includes us of course) lays down standards. These form the bulk of the 'laws' supposedly originating in the EU. If Britain don't adhere to these standards we shan't be able to sell our goods not just in the EU but to many other countries that use European standards. If we pull out we shall have no influence on these standards. Reality is like Norway, Switzerland and others Britain will just have to accept what is handed down to us - so much for being ‘free’ and 'independent!.

If leaving the EU is such a good idea, why is Germany not wishing to leave the EU? On the arguments put forward by UKIP and the ‘Vote Leave’ campaign they would have even more to gain than we would.

If Leaving the EU is such a good idea why is it that the only world leader wanting us to leave is President Putin? While President Obama, Indian Prime Minister and the Chinese President have implored Britain many times to remain in the EU.

How will leaving the EU improve the position of British and Wales in relation to scientific and technological research

Leaving the EU will destabilise Europe. Is this what Britain wants - a destabilised Continent on our doorstep at a time when we face great pressures from migration, international terrorism and climate change?

Newsletter of the Wales Council for the European Movement

WALES IN

EUROPE

Newsletter No 1 

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Dear Members and Supporters,

2016 will be a momentous year. At the time of writing it looks as though the

British people will be asked in a referendum held in early summer whether they wish to remain in the European Union of which Britain has now been a member for 43 years. If the answer is ‘yes,’ then life will continue much as we know it now. Little will change. Our international partners across the Atlantic, in Asia and in Europe will be relived. So will the businesses that form the economic backbone of Britain.

But if we vote to leave, then who knows what will happen? What will not be the case is that Britain will be transformed into a land of milk and honey.

Assertion that all will be well is no substitute for hard evidence that it won't.

And if Scotland were to vote to remain in the EU, while elsewhere the vote was to leave, that could trigger a second referendum on independence, splitting the UK and reducing our influence in the world even further.

So much hangs in the balance. It will truly be a momentous year.

That is why it is so vital that every member, every supporter, tries to recruit others to the vital goal of securing a ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum. The campaigns are gearing up now with the European Movement contributing vigorously to the ‘Stronger In’ campaign. ‘Stronger In’ - see website details below will also be able to advise how you can become involved in the single unified campaign to keep Wales in the European Union.

In this newsletter we rehearse some of the key arguments and statistics from a Wales perspective, beginning with a contribution from . . .

Carwyn Jones, First Minister of Wales:

We’ve always been clear in our desire to remain part of the European Union (EU).

The importance of the Single Market should never be taken for granted. It is the world’s biggest free trade area in GDP terms and the UK’s and Wales’ largest trading partner.

Businesses in the EU enjoy a ‘home’ market of just over 500 million people with the ability to sell goods and services without tariffs or other trade restrictions and with common safety and other regulatory standards.

The Single Market is the largest market for Welsh exports – in 2014 alone exports of

goods from Wales to other EU Member States were worth nearly £5.8bn. In fact, 200,000 jobs in Wales depend on access to the Single Market. It is also a major driver of inward investment. In 2015, there were over 500 enterprises from other EU countries with operations in Wales, employing over 55,000 people.

European programmes, such as the Structural Funds and the CAP, support the economy, particularly in our most disadvantaged areas. Over the years Wales has benefited from billions of pounds of EU funds. In 2015 we invested £425 million of EU Structural Funds to support our economy and labour market.

While the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy provides direct payments to more than 16,000 farm businesses in Wales, amounting to around £200 million a year.

The benefits of being part of the EU are numerous and great.

To leave, in my opinion would be a mistake - a mistake Wales would regret.

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 ‘Free’ Trade

I sometimes wonder whether people, particularly the eurosceptics, who write about free trade and markets understand what they are talking about? Out of the EU, they say, we shall be able to trade freely with whoever we wish without being hindered by EU regulations. Really?

Every market is regulated - you can't just sell whatever you want to anyone. If you buy so much as an electric plug you will see it carries the CE mark that says it conforms to European regulations - in other words that it meets certain safety standards. Many countries use the European standard, but each market will have a standard to which goods must comply.

Being in the EU allows us to influence what the European standard should be. It also avoids our having to negotiate with each and every country because we can be part of the global deals brokered by the EU.

If we leave the EU then we shall have to go on complying with the European standards used by so many countries. It is a myth to think that we could manufacture goods willy nilly and other countries would just accept them, regardless of safety matters, or efficiency, or labour laws.

So we shall have to go on complying with European standards regardless of whether we are in the EU. But if we are in then we can work to change the standards; if we are out then we can’t.

 Message from WCEM Vice-Chair Gwynoro Jones ‘Challenging the Eurosceptics’

UKIP is effective at scaremongering tactics, pointing out the problems within the European Union (EU) and exploiting peoples’ unhappiness with the current state of British politics.

But when challenged as to what life would be like for Wales, its people, industries and communities, outside the EU they have no answer.

So we must challenge UKIP and the Tory euro-sceptics to tell the Welsh people what their future outside the EU is going to be when it comes to investment, economic growth and for agriculture and the rural economy and so on, and not just to give us platitudes and generalities.

With so much uncertainty why take such a leap in the dark? Why jeopardise what we know and have now? If the coming vote will be a ‘Yes’ to stay in the EU then we know where we are. Life will go on and some changes to improve our relationship might even have been secured in the negotiations.

But should the vote be ‘No,’ what then? There will be no going back. Leaving the EU will not be like leaving a golf club, a political party or even a relationship.

For sure the exit would be a messy and protracted and we should be negotiating our exit, applying for access to the Single Market etc, from a position a weakness and to those who will have been bruised by our behaviour and disinclined to do us any favours.

Moreover, although the Lisbon Treaty allows some 2 years for this process, the EU is not noted for arriving at quick decisions. Consider the uncertainty and impact on investment, the financial markets, the value of sterling, business and commerce, the outflows of capital and labour and much more.

A recent study by Agra Europe outlined a worrying future for agriculture and the rural economy should Britain leave the EU. Currently the farming industry receives between £3.5bn and £4bn in financial support.

In this report it is envisaged that according to the UK Government’s own figures outside the EU the level of support would fall to just over £1bn. On that basis the future for the rural economy in Wales will be bleak outside the European Union.

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Farmers and Consumers

The other day I was at a meeting when a farmer said - you wouldn't believe the volume of EU regulations the agricultural industry had to satisfy, pesticides, water quality, foodtsffs, animal welfare etc etc. If we pulled out we could lose all these and have our own regulations.

'I asked him how long he thought it would take the government to get around to rewriting the statute book with a new set of regulations for British farmers and whether given the potential conflicts between farners, enviromentalists, animal welfarists, consumers, etc, the government might simply just leave the existing regulations in

place rather than having to renegotiate everything again?

He hadn't thought of that.

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Byddai gadael yr Undeb Ewropeaidd yn arwain at ganlyniadau difrifol yng nghefn gwlad.

Petai UKIP ac eraill yn y blaid Dorïaidd yn cael eu ffordd a Prydain yn gadael yr Undeb Ewropeaidd yna heb amheuaeth fydde yna le i ofni am ddyfodol ffermio, busnesau, gwasanaethau, a economi cymunedau gwledig Cymru.

I bwysleisio’r ffaith, ar hyn o bryd ar gyfartaledd mae ffermwyr yn dibynnu i fyny at 35 -50% o’u hincwm gros ar cymorthdal yr Undeb Ewropeaidd. Amcangyfrifir pe bae y Deyrnas Unedig (DU) tu allan i’r Undeb Ewropeaidd fe fyddai yn wir dyfodol llwm yn gwynebu ffermnio gan mae dim ond tua 10-15% o ffermydd allai oroesi heb y lefelau presennol o gymorth.

Hefyd ar hyn o bryd, derbynnir gan y DU tua £4.0bn mewn taliadau cymhorthdal ar gyfer busnesau ffermio a cefn gwlad. Y dyfaliad gorau sydd wedi ei wneud pe byddai

Llywodraeth Prydain yn gweithredu ar ei ben ei hun dim ond tua £1.0bn galle’r llywodraeth glustnodi i amaethyddiaeth.

Er mwyn sicrhau bod amaethyddiaeth gynaliadwy yn gweithredu yn llwyddianus o fewn cymuned gynaliadwy dibynnir ar bedair elfen bwysig - cefnogi gwasanaethau gwledig a'r economi, gofalu am yr amgylchedd, diogelu ein treftadaeth a sicrhau lefelau da o incwm.

Heb os mae y gwahanol bolisïau i ddatblygu busnesau a mentrau gwledig yn cael ei

hyrwyddo yn dda gan yr Undeb Ewropeaidd ac yn cyfrannu'n effeithiol i gefnogi'r economi wledig, cymunedau, treftadaeth a thirwedd.

Gwna’r Rhaglen Cynlluniau Datblygu Gwledig cyfraniad amhrisiadwy. Mae’r cyllid a geir nid yn unig yn cefnogi y diwydiant amaethyddol, ond hefyd busnesau megis twristiaeth a gwasanaethau gwledig eraill.

Bydd gadael yr Undeb Ewropeaidd yn drychineb i gefn gwlad.

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 Young European Movement

Cardiff Young European Movement (CYEM) is the young members branch of the European movement in Cardiff. The aim of CYEM is to work for a staying in vote in the upcoming referendum on EU membership in the UK. Also to maintain close cultural links with other (YEM) branches across the UK, and Young European Federalists (JEF) across Europe.

We do not have an date set let but their will be an social event some time in the end of January Contact: Michailcardiff@gmail.com

AGM/Conference.

No date has been fixed yet for the AGM but we expect this to be in March, probably in Brecon

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 Websites:

European Movement UK: euromove.org.uk

Young European Movement: yem.org.uk

Stronger In Campaign www.strongerin.co.uk

British Influence www.britishinfluence.org

Gwynoro Jones - gwynorojones@blogspot.co.uk

Facebook: Yes Europe Wales,

Ie Dros Ewrop

Wales for Europe

Cymru Dros Ewrop

Yes to Staying in EU

Peter Sain ley Berry, Treasurer and Newsletter Editor

wales@euromove.org.uk

Festive Season good wishes from Gwynoro

Revised Dec 25 2017

This is to wish all my family and friends along with the thousands of acquaintances and connections I have made through social media over the last two years. 

A Happy Christmas and a healthy and fruitful New Year

This video is from Christmas 2015 but the central message is as relevant today as back then.

Christmas unites people in mind and spirit and brings together families, friends and acquaintances far and near;

This time of the year also helps us to appreciate what we have in our lives - that we far too often take for granted;

I trust that the true meaning of the Festive season fill our hearts and minds with good thoughts and deeds;

Remembering all those at home and abroad who are considerably less fortunate than ourselves, who live in fear, turmoil, despair, hunger and yearn for peace and safety in this increasingly troubled and turbulent world.

The information given at the end of the video has changed by now with some 75k 'views, hits, comments' a month on my various social media sites. Grateful to everyone for that. 

Recollections of Christmas growing up in the late 1940's.

It was a time when the rationing of many essential foodstuffs and other products imposed during the Second World War remained in place until early fifties.

Presents and decorations were very scarce and in fact my first Xmas presents were wooden ones that my father made - being a carpenter (wheelbarrow/push-horse on wheels!).

Then living in a village called Foelgastell in West Wales there was no electricity or water supplies to the house until very late 40's - early 50s! So the water had to be collected in urns some 500 yards away from a local well.

Peniel chapel was central to the life of the home so every Xmas day we went to a service at 6 o’clock in the morning. That was considered more important than the day itself. In fact Christmas day was not much different to any other day - other than more food on the table and friends and relations who lived nearby calling in.  There were no cars in the surrounding villages until the mid 1950s. 

They were years when life was hard and frugal indeed but still I recall it being pleasurable. People's expectations were not that high. 

Food was basic, home cooked of course and wholesome - usually chicken (sometimes goose), stuffing, boiled potatoes and vegetables from the garden stored in the shed, jelly and custard, mince pies, Christmas pudding and cake.  

Cooking was an 'event ' as it was every day of course - all on the coal fire as was ensuring hot water for washing up etc.  

One of the most memorable recollections I have of those early years was the snow of 1947 which was the greatest snow storm period of the twentieth century with drifts 10ft and more. The snow lasted on the ground for a couple of months.

On the morning the snow had started I remember going downstairs with my mother and as she opened the curtains it was all white – the snow was up to window level. Not easy to get out but my father and grandfather managed it. Going out on to the main road there were council workers working at hedge level. By the way no JCB’s or snowploughs but shovels!

Anyway the video tells the story

Recalling my Life and Times up to 1999

With Beti George on Radio Cymru – ' Beti and her People '

This programme was very similar in style and format to BBC Radio 4’s  ‘Desert Island Discs' with Beti asking about my background and early years growing up, my views, career and inevitably the titanic eight years of intense and at time rather fierce political campaigning with the late Gwynfor Evans.

By the end of the century I had been a director of a school inspection company since 1994 so the early years of a new school inspection regime was discussed.

Best not to say much more, those of you that understand Welsh best listen to the interview. However, it is clear the strong influence the home, family, chapel up-bringing, the community etc has had on me as is evident in the choice of recordings.

Also of course the importance of Wales as a nation, its language, culture and traditions are clear too.

The video that accompanies this Radio Cymru recording is not connected. Just thought you could watch a programme hosted by my old friend Gwilym Owen as you listened. It’s about Gwynfor and myself – what else! It was quite a memorable and historic period in Welsh politics and campaigning.

I hope you will enjoy the memories and choice of records etc.