Today I will be looking at security in the military sense and looking at the reality in Wales today. I intend to give food for thought rather than putting forward proposals but this is all part of our policy development.
Plaid Cymru has a long history as an international party committed to peace and justice. Our policies on security and defence have been based on very clear principles: support for a strong United Nations; a rejections of weapons of mass destruction; supports for a role for the European Union in conflict prevention and peacekeeping; and an international policy with the eradication of poverty and injustice at its heart. We not only had policy on paper but we have campaigned for change from the earliest days of the party.
I welcome this policy development discussion which not only looks at security in terms of military defence policy but actually makes the links between domestic politics and international policies. We rarely get to make the real choices of whether we prefer our taxes spent on guns or butter. While the Welsh government’s £12 billion seems, and is, a lot of money to squabble about, the eyes of the people of Wales are, too often, diverted away from the countless billions ‘we’ also spend on nuclear weapons, wars and arms sales. That was confirmed by last week’s statements on nuclear weapons by two of the three Labour leadership candidates in Wales: “nothing to do with us, guv.”
But we are in a situation today where the British government is faced with two hard, conflicting realities – military overstretch and economic instability. The three British parties agree there is an overwhelming need for what they call a “Defence Review” because of the crisis between the UK’s long-term economic capacity and its constant war fighting.
For us, there is a third factor. We, and our sister parties in the European Free Alliance, are pushing forward our agenda for what the late, great Neil MacCormick MEP called the “internal enlargement” of the European Union – the progress towards independence for Wales in Europe – and Scotland, and Flanders, and Catalunya, and Euskadi (the Basque country), and others. If Wales is to join and help build a new kind of Europe, a Europe of a Hundred Flags, I believe it is essential we have a credible international and defence policy – one based on real ethical values and aimed at achieving justice and equality – the only way we can ever achieve peace.
So, in response to the UK’s twin crises and in preparation for Wales’ political freedom - given our long term aim of independence - we in Plaid Cymru have to develop our own, more coherent security policy. It is the fundamental challenge of defining an independent Wales’ international policy – something we are often questioned about. So in September I initiated an international Defence and Security review. I emphasise that, at this stage, the review is preliminary, with much more research and analysis to do, but I hope to give you some flavour of it and a sense of the way we are approaching it.
I am looking at a number of key issues – how they fit into the aims, values and policies of Plaid Cymru and Wales, how existing and future defence policies affect the economy and jobs and environment – both locally and in the wider sense, and how we can reconcile any tension between these two. In short, this review will not shy away from difficult choices nor try to fudge reality. We aim to complete the review by 2011 and it will involve a lot of discussion with party members and others.
First, it is essential that we understand and we will undoubtedly criticise the British state’s policies. The current crisis of the UK military establishment – too many wars, too little resources – means there is a huge debate taking place, including serious and welcome questioning of the replacement of Trident nuclear weapons.
We will, of course, look at alternative models. Them development of European security and defence policy is full of contradictions but it may provide opportunities to really develop an alternative to NATO. With Plaid’s membership of the European Free Alliance, we have a kaleidoscope of models to compare ourselves with in other stateless nations. We will also study the experience of actually-existing non-aligned European states such as Finland, Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland.
There is no doubt that Plaid will maintain its anti-nuclear, non-NATO and pro-UN policies. And as I have mentioned, I believe that there is great and as yet undeveloped potential for the EU in crisis management, promoting peace and preventing international conflicts. In our group in the European Parliament we have consistently pushed for a civilian peacekeeping corps made up of professionals from a wide range of backgrounds – engineers, teachers, doctors, police and so on. In fact, most EU missions under the European Security and Defence Policy now are civilian. We should ensure that this aspect of European security policy get priority and proper resources. I supported the proposal that alongside the European Defence Agency there should be a European Peacebuilding Agency to achieve strategic planning and capacity development on the civilian side. After all, the Lisbon Treaty states that the aim of the EU is “to promote peace, its values and the well-being of its peoples.” It has to prove that now. The EU has a unique role in international security and peace building and we have to explore ways of developing that role in a positive way.
Plaid Cymru is faced with another challenge during this review. The party has a strong pacifist wing. It is founded in Christian protestant dissent – our chapels – and is woven deeply into the party’s psyche and our national literature. Our longest serving president from 1945 to 1981, Gwynfor Evans MP, was Secretary of the Welsh Pacifist Movement before World War Two. Today, the tradition finds political expression in Cynefin y Werin, Cymdeithas y Cymod and others. So even if we confirm a minimal defence force, there will still be – uniquely, I think – a lively debate and continuing creative tension inside the party.
Perhaps, here, we should pause to recognise and honour this Plaid Cymru tradition that has been fundamental to mainstream Welsh nationalism being both civic and non-violent.
Against this background we have to examine our response to the increased militarisation of Wales as British policy has become more expansionist and aggressive under successive governments, both Tory and Labour. The propaganda about the Defence Training Academy at Sain Tathan is a good test of that.
Here, we have a private finance initiative which is so financially unsound that it has needed a £45 million public grant to keep it afloat. The process of obtaining the planning consent was marked by some dodgy moments. The planning application was received by the Vale of Glamorgan council at a reception paid for by the applicant! When the planning committee considered the application in November, local residents who objected were not allowed to speak despite that process being the norm in most planning authorities and recommended by the Audit Commission.
We strongly opposed the privatisation of military training and many of us oppose the Defence Training Academy on principle. But even for those who do not, the idea that the Vale of Glamorgan will host military personnel from all over the globe for private profit whether or not we approve of our domestic regimes is a conflict of interest too far. The Sain Tathan development raises many questions – remembering, of course, that this was a decision taken by the British government and not the Assembly.
There has been a lot of focus on Sain Tathan. But if we are looking at Wales’ role in British military strategy we have to look at the whole picture as it currently exists. The MOD owns over 140 different sites in Wales – barracks, training areas, ranges, airfields and so on – thousands of acres are used for military training.
Rhosneigr or RAF Valley, is the RAF’s only fast jet training base in the UK; the “jewel in the crown” according to the MOD. All fast jet pilots pass through there, and fly both unarmed Hawks and fully combat worthy versions with missiles, guns and bombs. It also houses ‘C’ Flight of No 22 search and rescue squadron and the Search and Rescue Training Unit, part of the Defence Helicopter Flying School (DHFS) which, since 1997, has provided the UK army, navy and air force with privately contracted helicopter training. The Search and Rescue facility is the only dedicated specialist training unit in Europe.
Search and rescue over land and sea is clearly something we would seek to support and enhance as a European centre of
excellence.
According to the Welsh government, the ‘West Wales UAV Centre’ in Parc Aberporth and “the existing infrastructure
associated with MOD Aberporth Range – operated by QinetiQ – provides the final part of the equation that places Parc
Aberporth at the forefront of Unmanned Aircraft activity for both the UK and Europe.”
WAG also says that the new overland i.e. Wales, testing zone – will ensure that Unmanned Aircraft undergoing development and certification at Parc Aberporth will be able to operate in a controlled and safe airspace environment. The new proposed airspace, if adopted, will significantly enhance capabilities at Parc Aberporth and provide routine access to both military and civil UAS operators to a substantial area of overland airspace, in addition to Cardigan Bay Danger Area, already accessible with permission.”
This 50 hectare complex is used to test the Thales Watchkeeper UAV for the British Army. This is intended as an intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) system, but it is also being considered to carry a lightweight multirole missile.
When this programme was announced at Westminster on 20th July 2005, it was branded as Thales but the Watchkeeper is a variant of the Israeli Elbit Hermes UAV and is in fact being developed by ‘UAV Tactical Systems Ltd’ a UK subsidiary, 51% owned by Elbit Systems with the remaining 49% owned by Thales. The Hermes, of course, has been used against Palestinian civilians in the Israeli-occupied territories. The 54 Watchkeeper ‘planes are due to become operational from 2010 but, in the meantime, the British army is operating Elbit’s own Hermes 450 in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Strangely, for a country with over 1200 kilometres of coastline, there seems to be only one Royal Navy ship based here. That is University of Wales Naval Unit at Penarth. It is home to HMS Express, a 54 tonne (inshore) patrol vessel with a permanent ship’s company of 5 and a further complement of 12 part-timers. The UK ‘Naval Regional Commander Wales and Western England’ is based in Bristol. In comparison, Ireland has a 1,910 tonne corvette and two offshore patrol boats.
Wales’s largest contribution to UK military is, of course, the army. Its main headquarters here is in Brecon, Powys. This ‘supports’ full-time Regulars and ‘commands’ the Territorials. There are seven Regular army battalions associated with Wales:
1st Rifles, based in Chepstow, Monmouthshire. Elements of this light infantry unit are heavily involved in Afghanistan and are still in Iraq.
Special Forces Support Group, in Sain Tathan, Vale of Glamorgan. This is a mixed battalion from 1st Parachute Regiment, Royal Marines and RAF.
14 Signals Regiment in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, specialising in electronic warfare, communications and intelligence for the whole UK army globally.
1st Queen’s Dragoon Guards based in Sennelager, Germany are nick-named ‘The Welsh Cavalry’ although it also recruits from English border counties. Its main role is armoured reconnaissance.
1st Welsh Guards based in Aldershot, Hampshire is classed as light infantry.
1st Royal Welsh in Chester is also a light infantry battalion.
2nd Royal Welsh in Tidworth, Wiltshire, comprises armoured infantry.
So four out of the seven are based outside Wales. I will return to that later.
It seems to me that, apart from the three armed services briefly listed above, Wales’s significant role within the UK is to provide military training space. For example, there are the following major sites:
Caerwent Infantry Training Area – heavily used, including operations in built up areas.
Pembrey Sands – aerial bombing range and – on “the greatest expanse of sand anywhere in Europe” – an unprepared landing strip for the USAF and RAF.
Manorbier Range – to practise-fire artillery, including the high velocity missile.
Castlemartin Training Area – fire and manoeuvre training for heavy armour.
MoD Aberporth – distinct from the UAV centre – providing aerial combat skills for RAF and NATO pilots using drones flying over Cardigan Bay.
Sennybridge Training Area – the “premier infantry training area in the UK” for “tasks around the world”
Capel Curig Training Centre – army training of all kinds.
Whatever Wales’ own defence policies in future, these places are all assets. But none of these assets are used for non-military peace keeping purposes, surely a potential growth industry and one in which Wales could excel.
The ‘military jobs’ argument is one we need to honestly address. Our opponents use it against us all the time, as with Sain Tathan. "Jobs at any cost" obscures real debate about the kind of economy we want. But what is the reality of this anyway? The MoD claims “around 2,300 people work in the defence industry in Wales”. They say “every year, the MoD spends over £250 million with firms in Wales, making a significant contribution to the Welsh economy”.
But thanks to pioneering work done by our SNP colleague, Angus Robertson MP, we can see that the facts tell a somewhat different story about defence jobs.
Using official government statistics – not the SNP’s – we have some startling figures: 4,400 – yes, four thousand four hundred – service and civilian jobs have been lost in Wales since Labour came to power in 1997! According to UK Ministry of Defence figures, Wales has lost 500 uniformed personnel, down from 3,300 to 2,700 under Labour. Cuts in MoD civilian jobs are much worse: down from 5,100 to 1,200 between 1997 and 2009. Think of the economic loss to the Welsh economy and the removal of local job opportunities – when we are given quite the opposite impression.
And we have to look at some other MoD spend in Wales. So far, we only have UK statistics for 2006/2007. In that year, the Welsh economy benefitted by £340 million in direct employment from what’s called ‘Equipment & Non-Equipment’ expenditure. But that figure was only 1.79% of the total UK spend. On a population basis, Wales should get 4.9% of this public money. We’ve been short-changed by Labour of £588 million in one year alone! We can yet only imagine the total sum since 1997. It must be billions. So much for creating defence jobs: it’s a myth.
Elfyn Llwyd MP will put down a series of further questions at Westminster to reveal the full picture of British government military expenditure here. We pay our fair share of taxes but we don’t get the investment pay back in jobs – military or civilian.
As Angus Robertson so ably pointed out in his Scotland on Sunday Lecture, the knee-jerk reaction against independence is based on out-dated thinking and lack of international comparisons. Based on mutual self-interest, in the modern world, it is perfectly feasible to share bases, procurement and training facilities across the British Isles exactly as they do today in Scandinavia. And that both inside and outside NATO. Irish and Swedish defence forces are today part of the UN mandated, EU-led peacekeeping mission to Chad and the Central African Republic, alongside three NATO member-states. As in every other field, independence means joining the world, not isolation from it.
But it’s not just about looking at the military situation in Wales now and what might happen in future. If we want to change things we have to look at how we do that. It’s also about looking at how the people of Wales can ensure that our policies and practice contribute to achieving international peace and justice. Looking again at what our partners in the European Free Alliance have done, Plaid Cymru adopted a policy in September 2008 calling for the establishment of a Peace Institute – Academi Heddwch – in Wales. The proposals are based largely on the Flemish model although we will be looking at different peace institutes throughout Europe and beyond. This Peace Institute is a body that would advise government, carry out research, promote discussion and debate, promote education on peace studies and non-violence and look at the impact of all government policies on Wales’s contribution to peace and development. This proposal has been taken up enthusiastically by all sectors of the peace movement in Wales and the Assembly itself is looking into a recently submitted petition calling for an institute to be established in Wales. There are many examples for us to follow. For example, the Åland Islands also has a peace institute which conducts research into security, autonomy and minorities as well as demilitarisation and conflict management.
I think we have made a good start with this defence review, but there is obviously much more to be done. Today’s debate will contribute to the process and we will value the contribution of all members. I look forward to hearing your views.
Thank you.
