The Welsh electorate has been traveling in one direction for the last 100 years.
Labor always wins more votes and seats than its rivals Wales but, floating our parliamentary group on a barge through the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, we discovered that not everything is as peaceful as it seems in this place of stunning beauty.
O 20 mph speed limitwind farms and NHS waiting times are issues raised by people who are unhappy with the Labor Party’s record in Senedd.
The first person we meet is Reuben Jones, who works at the local barge rental company adjacent to the aqueduct.
“I’m a transgender person,” says Reuben. “I am very unhappy with the state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the moment. There are many problems with the education system, many problems with the health system.
“Neither the Conservatives nor Labor have made a concerted effort to defend trans people in the UK.”
‘Egalitarian society’
Labor was criticized by JK Rowling for her stance on transgender issues. The author accused the party of being “despicable and often offensive towards women who fight to maintain their rights”.
Labor has reaffirmed its plans to “modernize” the gender transition process, but Reuben feels Plaid Cymru has more to say and “is interested in an equal society and wants to defend transgender rights”.
“I understand that certain groups of women are concerned about their safety,” adds Reuben. “I sympathize with that. But at the same time, they want to undermine the rights of trans people, which is also not the right thing to do.”
Sailing on our green bank through Thomas Telford’s breathtaking aqueduct, the Llangollen Canal narrows to the width of our boat with a steep drop on one side to the River Dee, which glistens innocently 36 meters below my feet.
Paul Otteson and his wife Susan
On the other side, we meet retired project manager Paul Otteson, from Carmarthenshire, a man who loves the Welsh countryside and is angered by plans to build wind farms in his native Llandovery, South Wales. His main concern seems to be what will happen to the turbine cabling.
“We know we need electricity, but there has to be a better way to do it,” he says. “Recently they voted for the Senedd and it was a tie. And the Labor Party’s deciding vote was against burying cables. So obviously the Labor Party is not in my good books at the moment.”
The vote was split between the Welsh Conservatives and Plaid Cymru, who voted in favor of the more expensive option of putting the power lines underground, and Welsh Labor, who voted against, as they feared it would make the project unviable.
Hillary Thomas
‘Best Ideas’
But walking the same path, retired guest house owner Hilary Thomas says: “We need more electricity. We need more solar panels. We need more wind farms. We need a tidal barrage in Wales, on the estuary of Bristol. Whatever happens.” keeps the cost down.”
In her opinion, Hilary says she changed her mind about who to vote for and still hasn’t decided who has “the best ideas”.
There was 25 years of devolution in Wales and Labor has always been the biggest party, so just as in the rest of Britain the Tories in office are being judged on their record in government, so in Wales are Labor.
As we continue to rise and speak to others, the Labor Party’s record in the NHS comes under attack. Some of their spending is described as “wasteful”, but the most common topic of conversation is roads, which many complain are not much faster than waterways since the Welsh government introduced its speed limits of 32. km/h.
‘Wasted money’
Arriving at the Telford Inn we meet owner and hostess Robert and Sarah Kinton-Chittenden, who are happy, after serving lunch, to rest on our bench, which now offers extra seating in their beer garden.
“Very comfortable. I can see why they nap in parliament,” Sarah says, pressing into the green upholstery. They talk about lower speed limits impacting tourism in their pubs, the failure to combat immigration and the state of the national health service. “This needs to be addressed,” says Sarah.
“Massively,” agrees Robert.
“Because so much (money) was spent on this 20-mile-per-hour (speed limit), no matter how high it was. I don’t remember the statistics,” says Sarah.
“It’s £35 million,” adds Robert.
Robert and Sarah Kinton-Chittenden
“Something that could have been put into our national healthcare. You know, now it’s wasted,” says Sarah.
Robert resumes: “No doubt they will spend another £35 million to return it, so that’s £70 million wasted. It could have gone to hospitals and schools. Ridiculous. What a waste of time.”
The Welsh Government estimates it would cost £5 million to roll back some of the reduced speed limits.
The couple agree with the argument put forward by Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru that Wales owes £4 billion to compensate for the decision not to build HS2 to Manchester, which would have helped people traveling to North Wales.
“I think more money needs to be invested in Wales and we are talking about a few billion extra due to the lack of high speed trains,” says Robert. “They’ve spent a lot of money and it only goes to Birmingham. There’s already a train to Birmingham and it runs every day. Useless. Ridiculous!”
Bank Across Britain: Behind the Scenes
Like many of the people we spoke to along the river, Sarah and Robert haven’t yet decided where their vote will go.
See more information:
Fractured SNP could mean Labor gains in Scotland
Agricultural community asks for “more support”
Artists and bettors evaluate votes in electoral circus
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Our longboat passes through a constituency that was swallowed up by border changes, Clwyd South, now spread across four other constituencies. A long-time Conservative target, it was finally stolen from Labor by the Conservatives in 2019.
Polls suggest that voters in the rural region, along with the nearby town of Wrexham, will return to the Labor Party – but on our short trip across the channel, we encountered a large number of floating voters.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
