Outrageous Welsh Conservative hypocrisy
This is shameless
Hello,
This week we are going to break down how the Welsh Tory leader seems to have abandoned his principles in order to cosplay as Nigel Farage. We will also look at a Tory councillor being thrown out of a meeting for comments around immigration
To finish we will look at a heated exchange between Eluned Morgan and Rhun ap Iorwerth after the First Minister described Plaid Cymru as “poison”. We will explore whether this is a winning tactic for Welsh Labour.
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Outrageous Conservative hypocrisy
In the last few weeks the leader of the Welsh Conservatives Darren Millar has been really annoyed about the Welsh Government’s Nation of Sanctuary Plan. This was introduced in 2019 in a bid to support and protect refugees and asylum seekers and help them rebuild their lives.
Mr Millar was bristling with righteous indignation in the Senedd recently, when he criticised the Welsh Government over its spending on the Nation of Sanctuary, which he said was “funding support and services, including for illegal immigrants.”
He said:
“That’s tens of millions of pounds that could and should be spent on people in Wales and our public services. The Welsh Conservatives are absolutely clear: the nation of sanctuary plan should be scrapped, and it should be scrapped immediately.
“So, will you now scrap this wasteful policy on a matter that you do not have to spend money on and instead put the people of Wales and our public services first?”
You can watch him here:
I want to spend a bit of time breaking down how hypocritical Mr Millar is being here. In his relentless desire to transition into Reform and self-identify as Nigel Farage he appears to have forgotten his own party’s manifestos and his own previous comments.
At a time when Wales and the UK are desperate for political leaders to set a sensible tone and cool the racism and hate that is surrounding immigration/asylum seekers, Mr Millar has decided to forgo his previous principles for political expedience.
Fair warning - the level of hypocrisy you are about to see is astounding.
Ukraine
To be clear, the overwhelming majority of the Nation of Sanctuary funding has been spent supporting Ukrainian refugees and it is clear that Mr Millar didn’t always oppose it.
His own website contains a blog written by Mr Millar in 2021 where he wrote:
“I would like to thank the ambassadors from VOICES who took the time to meet with me and discuss their experiences as refugees both before and after arriving in Wales.
“Wales, along with the rest of the UK, has always taken pride in being a nation of sanctuary for those who have fled conflict, persecution and violence.”
Back in 2016 the Welsh Tory manifesto literally said that they would “use devolved levers to support and aid the integration of asylum seekers and refugees seeking sanctuary”.
There is more. In September 2023, exactly two years before he said the Nation of Sanctuary was a “wasteful policy”, he told the Senedd:
“I think it is important that we continue to maintain cross-party support for the action that’s been taken by the Welsh Government and indeed the UK Government in respect of the response to the illegal invasion of Ukraine.
“It is only right that we should offer sanctuary to those people who have been fleeing the violence, and we have given them a warm welcome, I believe, in Wales, and that’s something we can be very proud of.”
You can see the contrast in his tone here:
It’s not just the leader who is having a change of heart
Mr Millar is not alone in apparently having fluctuating morals when it comes to supporting the Nation of Sanctuary.
Welsh Conservative MS Natasha Asghar recently called the project “divisive” saying during plenary on September 24 this year:
“...we cannot deny that the Welsh Government’s Nation of Sanctuary initiative has proved very divisive, and some would argue that it’s doing very little for community cohesion.
“Cabinet Secretary, can you see why this plan has actually helped stoke community division? Whilst I, alongside my colleagues, definitely will have no objection to providing support for Ukrainian refugees, do you accept that it’s acting as a pull factor for those who are not genuine refugees?”
During plenary on July 11, 2023 Ms Asghar struck a different tone. Drawing on her own personal experiences she seemed to suggest that the policy wasn’t going far enough and was too narrow!
She told the Senedd:
“I personally want to see Wales as a nation of sanctuary for everyone, and not just a select few, going forward.”
Practice what you (literally) preach
It is worth making the point that the deeply religious Mr Millar has made multiple trips to Ukraine to distribute bibles and even wrote a piece after one trip where he said:
“Our support must remain unwavering. In Wales – and across the UK – we must stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine, not just in words, but in deeds: through aid, partnerships, cultural exchange, and moral leadership.”
Mr Millar made his trips as part of the evangelical Christian organisation he ran called Pocket Testament League (PTL) which focuses on distributing the Gospel of John.
It seems Mr Millar however didn’t mange to read Leviticus 19:34 which states:
“The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”
It isn’t just John that PTL offers. They also offer the Gospel of Matthew which also states in 25:35:
“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
How much has the Nation of Sanctuary actually cost?
As of this year, approximately £63 million has been spent on the project in Wales, with the vast majority, around £51m, spent on helping those affected by the ongoing Ukraine war.
According to social justice minister Jane Hutt, this is about 82% of the project’s budget between 2019-2025. Since the invasion in 2022, around 8,000 Ukrainians have been welcomed to Wales, many of whom are working or volunteering. Over 3,300 have come through the government’s supersponsor route, and over 4,600 to Homes for Ukraine household sponsors.
The project is actively supporting those impacted by the war, through giving them somewhere to live in Wales, including via sponsor families who take them in, and supporting them into healthcare, jobs, volunteer work and accessing other vital services they need.
So there has been about £10m a year spent on the Nation of Sanctuary. Given the Welsh Government budget is £26bn this means that the Nation of Sanctuary is just 0.038% of Welsh Government spending. A mere 0.038% of our money being spent supporting Ukrainian refugees who have been driven from their homes by Putin (and are also working and volunteering in our communities) doesn’t seem like a bad investment.
Why the Welsh Tories are focussing on this
Let’s be clear, the reason that the Welsh Conservatives have suddenly decided to focus on a policy which costs very little is because Reform UK are focussing on it. They see their support crumbling away and have decided that to beat Reform they must become Reform.
Not only is this a strategy that will utterly fail (they need to differentiate from, not mirror Reform), they are going to wake up after the election in May next year and realise that not only have they lost their jobs and their party is a shell, they have pawned off their own moral compass for the privilege.
We are at a point in history where we need political leaders to show backbone and say things that are right and just, not simply what is politically expedient.
The behaviour of Mr Millar is all the more shameful in my opinion because he has spent time with refugees. He has heard their experiences. He has spoken before of the need to support them. He said we need to show “moral leadership” on this issue. He has even flown to their country to distribute religious literature that proclaims we must support those from abroad in need.
Yet as his party flounders and squirms to hold on to its ever diminishing voter base, he decides to spend his time attacking policies that support some of the most vulnerable at a cost which is basically a rounding error on a Welsh Government account.
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Tory councillor kicked out of meeting over immigration comments
I don’t normally cover local council meetings but I think it is worth highlighting the embarrassing contribution made by Cllr George Carroll, who leads the Conservative group at Vale of Glamorgan Council.
You may not have heard of him but I understand he has a key role in running former Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies’ Twitter account.
He was kicked out of a public meeting last week after refusing to withdraw comments he made about immigration. This happened during a debate about the council’s link with City of Sanctuary UK, a charity that helps local councils support refugees and asylum seekers.
Cllr Carroll put forward a motion asking the council to sever ties with the charity, which the council joined in 2023, claiming it held “extreme positions” that “effectively endorsed open borders”. Accusing it of pushing “propaganda” on migration in schools, Cllr Carroll then claimed illegal migration was leading to “an increased risk of crime” and was putting strain on services and housing stock.
Just so we are clear, ONS stats show no link between illegal immigration and increased crime.
His comments were heavily criticised, with councillor Helen Payne labelling them “incorrect, post-truth, post-fact”. Cabinet member Sandra Perkes called the comments “nonsense”, adding:
“You’re just quoting and fearmongering people which is absolutely disingenuous of you as a county councillor.”
Council leader Cllr Lis Burnett said she was “disappointed” by the motion and that she “actually can’t find a single part of it which may loosely be called accurate.”
Cllr Carroll was later asked to retract a comment he made suggesting the “general consensus” of the council appeared to favour “open borders.” After being told he was “clearly misrepresenting” the debate, he initially denied making the comment at all before he was asked to retract the statement. After repeatedly refusing to do so for several minutes, he was told to leave and walked out of the chamber.
Earlier in the meeting Cllr Carroll had called for “a zero tolerance approach to illegal migration.” He said: “The message must be clear. If you are in Britain illegally you have committed a crime and you will not be allowed to stay here.”
Under international law people fleeing persecution in their home country have a legal right to claim asylum in the UK.
The motion was put to a vote and failed, with four in support, 34 against and three abstentions.
