19th March 2009
Agenda Preifateiddio y Blaid Lafur / Labour’s Privatisation Agenda
Pum mlynedd ar hugain yn ol, fe welon ni ymgais fwriadol gan Lywodraeth i ddiddymu yr Undebau Llafur.Chwarter canrif yn ddiweddarach, gyda’u cynlluniau i breifateiddio’r Post Brenhinol dyma yna lywodraeth arall yn ceisio gwneud yr un peth. Ac eto, onid Llafur sydd mewn grym? Ie, a dyna’r broblem i ddilynwyr efengyl Llafur Newydd. Gyda’r argyfwng mae cyfalafiaeth yn mynd drwyddo’n fyd-eang mae yna frwydr am einioes – ac enaid hyd yn oed – y Blaid Lafur.
Mae’r cynllun preifateiddio yn torri addewid maniffesto ac yn fwy arwyddocaol fyth, yn groes i’r cytundeb Warwick a seliodd cefnogaeth ariannol yr Undebau i fuddugoliaeth Llafur nol yn 2005. Nid fi yw’r unig sydd o’r farn mai penderfyniad bwriadol yw hwn er mwyn pryfocio’r Undebau i ddad-ymaelodi o’r Blaid Lafur. Gofid y neo-rhyddfrydwyr Llafur Newydd yw y bydd yr argyfwng economaidd yn gyrru’r Blaid Lafur yn anorfod nol i’r chwith. Ymgais yw hon efallai i gael gwared o undebau fel y GMB a‘r CWU sydd yn creu problemau i Mandelson a’r Blairiad eraill yn y Cabinet.
Esgus felly yw dadlau mai dyma’r unig ffordd i ddelio gyda’r diffyg yn y Pensiwn. Awgrym y Llywodraeth yw cymeryd drosodd y cyfrifoldeb fel y digwyddodd gyda’r Cynlluniau ar gyfer yr Heddlu, y Gwasanaeth Sifil a’r Gwasanaeth Iechyd: yn y tymor byr bydd y Llywodraeth ar eu hennill gyda rhyw £27 o biliynau yn dod mewn i goffrau’r Trysorlys. Ond os ydyn nhw’n fodlon gwneud hyn, pam ddim ei wneud e beth bynnag a rhyddhau’r Post Brenhinol o’r £280 miliwn mae nhw yn gorfod talu i fewn i’r Gronfa i wneud yn iawn am y diffyg yn barod? Diffyg wedi etifeddu yn rhannol yw hwn o ddyddiau BT pan oedd hwnnw hefyd yn rhan o’r Swyddfa Bost. Ydyn ni wir eisiau preifateiddio eto gan gadw cost y pensiwn i’r trethdalwr a chynnig elw rhad i gystadleuwyr tramor y gwasanaeth post cyhoeddus?
Os ydy’r ddel yn mynd trwodd, dyma fydd diwedd y Blaid Lafur fel yr ydym yn ei hadnabod. I fi, daeth y diwedd nol ym 1984 pan ddewisiodd arweinydd Llafur blesio papurau Rupert Murdoch yn hytrach na chefnogi’r glowyr oedd yn brwydro am ddyfodol eu cymunedau. Fe daliodd rhai i gredu ac i frwydro – tan nawr efallai. O bosibl, bydd rhai undebau nawr yn cysidro ail-sefydlu’r blaid lafur annibynnol yr oedd y ddau DJ, hoelion wyth y Blaid, Williams a Davies, yn aelodau ohoni canrif yn ol cyn sefydlu’r Blaid Genedlaethol. Pe bae rhywrai yn gwneud hynny yng Nghymru fi fyddai’r cyntaf i wneud cais i ymuno a hi – pe bae’n chwaer-blaid i Blaid Cymru a threfniant tebyg i’r un rhwng Llafur a’r Blaid Cydweithredol. Dyma fyddai dwr clir, coch go iawn – a glannau afon gwyrdd y Blaid bob ochr iddi.
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Twenty five years ago we saw a deliberate attempt by the Government to annihilate the Trade Unions. A quarter of a century later, with their plans to privatise the Royal Mail, we have another government doing the same thing. But, hang on, is it not Labour that’s in power? Yes, and that’s the problem to the followers of New Labour’s Gospel. With the crisis that capitalism is going through internationally there is a battle for the life – and even the soul – of the Labour Party.
The privatisation plan breaks their manifesto pledge and, even more significantly, goes against the Warwick agreement that secured the Unions’ financial support for Labour’s victory back in 2005. I’m not the only one of the opinion that this is a deliberate decision in order to provoke the Unions to resign from the Labour Party. Neo-liberal New Labour’s fear is that the economic emergency is driving the Labour Party unavoidably back to the left. Perhaps this is an attempt to get rid of the unions like the GMB and the CWU who create problems for Mandelson and the other Blairites in the cabinet.
It’s an excuse therefore to argue that this is the only way to deal with the Royal Mail pension fund deficit. The Government’s suggestion is to take over responsibility as happened with the pension policies for the Police, the Civil Service and the Health Service: in the short-term the Government will gain by some £27 billion coming into the Treasury’s coffers. But if they are happy to do that, why not do it in any case and release the Royal Mail from the £280 million they must pay annually into the Fund to make good the deficit that already exists? A deficit inherited in part from the days when BT was also part of the Post Office. Do we really want another privatisation that places the pension cost onto the taxpayer and offers a knock-down price public postal service to foreign competitors?
If the deal goes through, this will be the end of the Labour Party as we know it. To me, the end came back in 1984 when Labour’s leadership chose to please Rupert Murdoch’s papers rather than support the miners who were fighting for the future of their communities. Some kept the faith and fought on – until now perhaps. Maybe some unions will consider re-establishing the Independent Labour Party of which the two DJ’s, Williams and Davies, Plaid stalwarts, were members a hundred years ago, before founding the Welsh Nationalist Party. If some were to do this in Wales, I would be the first to make an application to join – if it were to be a sister-party to Plaid Cymru with a similar relationship to the one between Labour and the Co-operative Party. That would be real clear, red water – with Plaid’s green shores at its side.
One Response so far to “Agenda Preifateiddio y Blaid Lafur / Labour’s Privatisation Agenda”
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adamhiggitt says:
March 24th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Hello
I’ve written a short analysis of your claim regarding Kinnock and the Murdoch press, in case your are interested.
It can be found at: http://welshpoliticalhistory.com/
Regards
Adam Higgitt