Welsh News

By John Williams, Cardiff Central Socialist Party Socialist Party Wales campaign stalls were swamped at the Welsh independence march in Barry on 26 April. This was the first Welsh independence march in a few years, full of angry people against the new Labour government’s cuts and austerity. Socialist Party members there were campaigning on the issue of Tata Steel in ...

By Mariam Kamish, Caerphilly Trades Council Secretary Public Debate! We had a hard time persuading a Plaid Cymru councillor to take part. Would Labour send someone to represent the council? In the end, they didn’t. But the room filled with people determined to save Abertridwr library. In the front row sat two young boys who’d come on their own. Posters shone ...

B y Jacob Lloyd Cardiff University UCU Neoliberal policies make university life harder for all, be it unmanageable staff workloads or increased student fees. These have been issues at Cardiff University, with controversies surrounding vain and costly capital projects, unsustainable international recruitment, exorbitant upper management salaries, and, most recently, the shock-and-awe announcement of hundreds of staff redundancies. The departments of ...

By Mariam Kamish “They don’t understand our lives – the people who make these decisions. Without the library, my granddaughter would be trying to concentrate on her homework, sat in front of the telly.” Caerphilly Labour council is closing ten libraries and three leisure centres. People are fighting to save Abertridwr library. ‘Use the hub library in Caerphilly’, the Labour ...

By a Swansea Socialist Party and Disabled People Against the Cuts (DPAC) member A month ago, DPAC Swansea was one seriously impressive and determined organiser. Then Labour’s disability cuts green paper dropped. DPAC Swansea became two, and through our efforts, a few days later 15 came to a protest planning meeting. A few days later again, 100 people, most of ...

John Williams, Socialist Party Wales LGBTQ+ convenor The Cardiff trade union movement celebrated trans day of visibility, with a demo outside the HMRC building in Cardiff. The event had a fantastic broad range of speakers, all highlighting the different personal struggles of growing up trans, as well as the solidarity from the trade union movement.  What was evident through all the speeches was complete ...

By Mariam Kamish Mariam Kamish, Caerphilly Trades Union Council secretary “Blackwood Miners’ Institute is staying open”, I told the meeting, “because people fought for it. Why not Aber Library? If we fight, we can win.” Eagerness wiped frustration off the faces around the room. “Put down your details”, I said, writing my own and passing on the sheet. “You can’t ...

By Mark Evans, Swansea and West Wales Socialist Party My family’s recent experience of the NHS was an example of what most people know – the NHS in Wales is on the critical list. My wife’s mother suffered a fall and, after waiting for five-and-a-half hours for an ambulance, then spent over five days on a trolley in A&E with ...

By Aris Prevost, Cardiff Socialist Students Since the news of 400 jobs cuts at Cardiff University, there has been a flourish of activity to fight back against the cuts. The University and College Union (UCU) held a rally outside of the Senedd (Welsh Government) building to show their members’ outrage on 4 February. Over 400 people were present. There was ...

By Aris Prevost (Cardiff University Socialist Students) Cardiff University has announced a massive slate of cuts, with up to 400 jobs at risk, along with entire courses facing closure. The School of Music, Nursing, Modern Languages, and the School of Religion and Theology are set to be completely cut. And other courses are being combined into new schools, a cover ...