Plan for the Welsh flag to fly in England

Mar 26 2008 by Tomos Livingstone, Western Mail

GOVERNMENT departments will be encouraged to fly the Welsh flag from their buildings on St David’s Day as part of a new drive to talk up the benefits of the Union.

At present UK Government buildings in Wales fly the flag on March 1, but Justice Secretary Jack Straw said this should be extended to all Whitehall buildings in England.

Buildings owned by the Assembly Government or the Assembly have their own rules and fly the flag all year round.

A package of measures first announced last summer – including removing the Prime Minister’s power to declare war without recourse to Parliament and allowing more protests around Westminster – was also confirmed by Mr Straw in a statement to MPs.

The Civil Service will have its “core values” of impartiality enshrined in law, and the role of the Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor in appointing judges will be diminished.

A draft Bill formalising the changes was published yesterday and Mr Straw said, “We have set up Assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland, and the parliament in Scotland, a new Supreme Court for the United Kingdom, and introduced the freedom of information and human rights Acts.

“[This] is the next stage of that process and of redistribution of power to Parliament and the people. In this way the bond between the Government and the governed remains strong.”

More than 300 people had responded to a consultation on the flying of flags from Government buildings, he said.

Restrictions that allow the Union flag to be flown on only 18 days a year from Government buildings are to be relaxed, he confirmed.

A decision on whether to fly the Welsh flag on St David’s Day and the Scottish saltire on St Andrew’s Day will be at the discretion of each Government department. A building will need to have two flagpoles, to allow the Union flag to be flown at the same time.

Mr Straw’s announcement came as Prime Minister Gordon Brown stepped up his bid to defend the Union from what he called “secessionist forces loudly at work”.

In a newspaper article, Mr Brown wrote, “There is no Scotland-only, Wales-only, England-only solution to transnational challenges that range from terrorism to foot-and-mouth disease, and from avian flu to security and climate change.

“So for these islands an environmental Union, a security Union and a Union for defence is to the benefit of all.”

The Union had “too long been taken for granted” and was “more like a covenant founded on shared values that have created bonds of belonging that make us all feel part of a wider Britain”, Mr Brown said.

Nick Herbert, Shadow Justice Secretary, said, “Unbalanced devolution has unleashed the forces of nationalism; the Government’s answer has been to fly flags on Government buildings.

“The real issue is the still unanswered West Lothian question.”

Hywel Williams, the Plaid Cymru MP for Caernarfon, said, “I’m not sure people in the Dog and Duck are discussing what it means to be British.

“Mr Brown has a problem; he has got a problem with Britishness because he is a Scot and worries that he won’t get elected because people in the south-east of England won’t vote for him.

“It’s a debate that nobody else is having but seems very prominent in his mind.”

Flying the Welsh flag on St David’s Day would have a “marginal effect”, he predicted.

Mr Straw, who has overall responsibility for devolution and constitutional policy, also said yesterday he was “profoundly committed” to single-member constituencies for Westminster elections.

Asked about a PR voting system, he said, “Look at other countries which have proportional representation, they have more problems about the operation of their democracy than do we.”

The Government also announced yesterday that Professor Sir Kenneth Calman, a former vice-Chancellor of Durham University, will chair a review of the Scottish devolution settlement.