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Ros Taylor

February 17th, 2016

The Carwyn Jones v Nigel Farage debate did little to enlighten Welsh voters

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Ros Taylor

February 17th, 2016

The Carwyn Jones v Nigel Farage debate did little to enlighten Welsh voters

0 comments

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

jayne woolfordjo hunt

A recent head-to-head debate between Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones and Ukip leader Nigel Farage did little to inform the EU referendum debate in Wales, write Jayne Woolford (right) and Jo Hunt (left). The audience were unable to scrutinise the claims made by each side and the fact that only Labour and Ukip were represented narrowed the terms of the debate. If the referendum does take place in June 2016 – soon after elections to the Welsh Assembly in May – the encounter showed the potential for confusion among voters.

As Cameron conducts meetings with European leaders in an effort to do a deal that would permit an early referendum, the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have united to voice their concern. They are protesting against a June referendum date on the basis that it would lead to a confusion of political issues and agendas, coming so soon after the May elections to the devolved assemblies. Something of this potential for confusion was seen at a recent ‘Europe: In or Out?’ debate, which pitted Wales’ First Minister and leader of the Welsh Labour Party, Carwyn Jones, against UKIP’s party leader, Nigel Farage.

The debate, which took place before a sell-out audience and was later televised on ITV Wales, was organised by the Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) in partnership with Cardiff University. IWA has been at pains to make clear that the debate’s focus was the EU referendum, and not the May elections to the Assembly – when UKIP may take their first seats. Nevertheless, the case was advanced by some that the other parties in Wales should have been represented in the debate. The Labour-UKIP binary representation narrowed the focus of the debate, and a wider set of voices from across Welsh politics would have reflected more adequately the evolving political spectrum in Wales. It would have allowed the full range of positions on EU membership and the EU referendum to be heard and enabled greater public understanding about the consequences of their vote and what the alternatives could be.

With the debate including two party leaders, one at UK level and the other at the devolved level, it was never quite clear as to whether it was playing to the internal political context in Wales or to the broader context of the EU referendum. For the First Minister, the focus, inevitably, was on what is best for Wales, with an automatic acknowledgement of the devolution context – and of Wales as a part of ‘the two Unions’ – UK and EU. The context of Wales as a devolved administration was meanwhile somewhat lacking in the arguments of the UKIP leader. Indeed, surprisingly, Farage emerged unscathed and unchallenged from a direct comparison of Wales’ constitutional importance as a Devolved Administration with the town of Luton.

carwyn jones
Carwyn Jones, the First Minister of Wales, visits the Ford factory in Bridgend in 2013. Photo: Unite Wales via a Creative Commons 2.0 licence

Though the debate did not specifically address Cameron’s four renegotiation ‘baskets’ – the key issues at stake in the current renegotiation agenda, the two leaders engaged over issues of competitiveness and immigration, and sovereignty concerns were also touched upon. Playing out in a Welsh context, the health of key local industries of agriculture, fisheries and steel were given particular attention, in terms of their ability to survive and compete. The First Minister stressed the reliance of the Welsh economy on trade and foreign direct investment stemming from participation in the single market, and on EU financial aid, asking why Wales would risk the unknown of a Brexit when it has clear known economic benefits from being part of the EU and is a net beneficiary?

Farage refuted the benefits of EU financial aid, arguing it is simply recycled UK money and often poorly spent, and asserted that without EU regulation UK small business would be able to free up their time and create more jobs, and that UK business could find new non-EU markets. A challenge from an audience member as to which of the social, employment and environmental regulations would be lifted in case of Brexit went unanswered.

Arguably, the over-reliance of the First Minister on negative risk-focused prophecies for Wales should the UK vote to leave the EU is unlikely to provide a convincing enough argument to persuade voters of the benefits to Wales of being part of the ‘two Unions’. Based on the campaigns in the Scottish independence referendum and Farage’s perceived success in this debate, arguments that demonstrate a positive and forward-looking vision of national prosperity and achievement will be more likely to win hearts and minds. More generally, a head to head debate such as this could also be seen to be of questionable value as a mechanism for properly informing the public of the impact – whether positive or negative – of continued EU membership. Its format simply does not lend itself to ensuring that the claims made in the heat of debate are robust and reliable, which is all the more troubling given that the UK electorate is reported as having one of the lowest levels of knowledge and understanding of the EU of all the 28 member states. With possibly only five months to go until the referendum, there remains much to be done if the voting public are to have the opportunity to be responsibly informed of the consequences of a vote to leave or to remain.

The views expressed on this blog, which appeared in an earlier form at the Centre on Constitutional Change, are those of the authors and not those of the BrexitVote blog, nor the LSE.

Dr Jo Hunt is a Reader at Cardiff Law School and Dr Jayne Woolford and UK in a Changing Europe Senior Fellow and Dr Jayne Woolford is a Research Associate at Cardiff University’s School of Law and Politics. 

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Ros Taylor

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