26th June 2009
Dewis Lerpwl yn gartref newydd i’r Senedd / Choose Liverpool as Parliament’s new home
Fel y bydd darllenwyr y golofn hon yn sylweddoli, ar ol wyth mlynedd o fwrw fy mhen yn erbyn colofnau carreg San Steffan dwi ychydig bach yn besimistaidd ynghylch y gallu i ddiwygio San Steffan.
Rhan fawr o’r broblem, fel oedd Aneurin Bevan yn nodi yn ei lyfr In Place Of Fear, yw’r adeilad. Y model ar gyfer y cynllun newydd wedi dinistrio’r hen Senedd oedd yr eglwys gadeiriol. Ond tra oedd penseiri’r Canol Oesoedd yn ceisio creu ofn yn wyneb gogoniant Duw, mawrygu grym y Wladwriaeth oedd diben cynllunwyr y Senedd. Dieithriaid yw’r cyhoedd. Dar dyrchafad (portcullis) yw’r sumbol. Mae hynny yn crynhoi’r lle yn eitha da, dwi’n meddwl.
Tu fewn i’r muriau trwchus mae Aelodau yn cael eu trin fel Man-Uchelwyr a phorthororion yn agor drysau i chi byth a beunydd. Ym moethusrwydd clyd, croesawgar yr Ystafell De a’r Ystafell Ysmygu mae’r walydd wedi gorchuddio gan bren fel yng nghlybiau dirhifedi Pall Mall.
I gynnyrch Eton, Caergrawnt a’r Inns of Court mae yna rhywbeth cyfarwydd hoffus am glastiroedd (cloisters) y Senedd. Ond i’r weddill o honon ni y mae’r lle yn cynrychioli pob ansoddair anffodus sydd yn crisialu ein cyfansoddiad: elitaidd, adweithiol, mewnblyg, hynafol.
Mae hyn yn fwriadol. Fel dywedodd Churchill - wnaeth oruwchwylio ail-adeiladu’r Siambr ar ol ei fomio gan y Luftwaffe - ni sydd yn siapio ein hadeiladau, a’n hadeiladau yn eu tro yn ein siapio ni.
I geisio adfer y sefyllfa beth am ddychwelyd at syniad y crybwyllais i rhai blynyddoedd yn ol erbyn hyn a symud y sioe i safle newydd rhywle yng ngogledd Lloegr.
Does dim rheswm pam y dylai senedd gwlad fod o hyd yn y ddinas fwyaf (meddyliwch am Ottawa, Canberra a Brasilia).
Lerpwl yw’r opsiwn gorau i mi gyda’i chefndir Eingl-Geltaidd. Does bosib y gallwn ffeindio llety rhad i ASau yno. A gallwn troi San Steffan yn amgueddfa a’i gyfuno efallai gyda Madam Tussauds.
Byddai Senedd fodern dryloyw yng nghanol dinas o bobl cyffredin ymhell o fywyd artiffisial a breintiedig pentref San Steffan, pwy a wyr, efallai yn creu democratiaeth modern…fel mae wedi gwneud ar lannau’r Taf.
Gobeithio y bydd hi’n gartre i waed newydd. Nid hap a damwain oedd hi taw 26 mlwydd oed oedd cyfartaledd oedran Cynulliad Cenedlaethol y Chwyldro Ffrengig ym 1792. Vive la Revolution.
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As readers of this column will have realised, after eight years of banging my head against Westminster’s stone walls, I am a little pessimistic about reforming Westminster.
A large part of the problem, as Aneurin Bevan noted in his book, In Place of Fear, is the building. The model for the new plans after the destruction of old Parliament was the cathedral. But while Middle Age architects tried to create fear in the face of God Almighty, imposing the State’s power was the aim of Parliament’s designers. The public are strangers. The symbol is the portcullis gate. This sums up the place quite well, I think.
Inside the thick walls Members are treated as Supermen with gatekeepers who open doors to you each and every day. In the welcoming, sheltered luxury of the Tea Room and the Smoking Room the walls have been panelled with wood like in countless Pall Mall clubs.
To the products of Eton, Cambridge and the Inns of Court there is something affectionately familiar about Parliament’s Cloisters. But to the rest of us the place represent every invidious adjective that captures our constitution: elitist, reactionary, introverted, archaic.
This is intentional. As Churchill said, who oversaw the re-building of the chamber after its’ bombing by the Luftwaffe – we shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us.
To try to revive the situation, what about returning to an idea I mentioned a few years ago now and move the show to a new place somewhere in northern England.
There is no reason why a parliament should still be in the largest city (think about Ottawa, Canberra and Brasilia).
Liverpool is the best option to me, with its Anglo-Celtic background. It wouldn’t be impossible to find cheap accommodation for MPs there. And Westminster could become a museum, perhaps merged with Madam Tussauds.
A modern, transparent Parliament in a city centre of normal people, far from the artificial world and privileged Westminster Village would, who knows, maybe create a modern democracy…as has been done on the banks of the Taff.
Hopefully it will be a home for new blood. It wasn’t coincidental that 26 years old was the average age of the French Revolution’s National Assembly in 1792. Vive la Revolution.
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