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Government of Wales Bill

I rise to support the thrust of what the hon. Member for Caernarfon (Hywel Williams) said, although I am not sure that the amendments are the ideal way in which to achieve his aims. One of the most heart-warming facts of recent years has been the recovery of the Welsh language from a dying one to a living one. It is crucial for the continuance of the variety of culture in the United Kingdom that the Welsh language be supported. I pay tribute to all those who have made that a success. In many ways, it is probably the most successful attempt at recovering a language. The reason for that lies deep within the Welsh cultural tradition, which is very much a vocal tradition, in singing, in poetry, and in the great works of Welsh art. It behoves the United Kingdom Parliament to take seriously what is said about the Welsh language because, for our convenience, we have long insisted that English is the only language that is spoken in the Chamber of the House of Commons. That is necessary. We might gain less understanding and knowledge of Welsh concerns if Welsh Members always spoke in Welsh. It would also give the Minister some difficulty, which would be unfair. We therefore need to right that balance by leaning in favour of the language in Wales. It is difficult to understand how the House of Commons can provide enough time for the evolution and the reflection of the growth in importance of Welsh, especially, as the hon. Member for Caernarfon said, among young people and outside its heartland. When my father learned Welsh, he was thought to be odd. It was not something that a young person did. He did it to be able to sing in Welsh, which one cannot do well without knowing what the songs mean. One can make terrible mistakes and that would have been embarrassing to a clergyman, which my father later became. He liked to know what he was saying or singing. He therefore took an early step in what became a much wider movement. I have great sympathy with the amendments’ intentions, which are to provide that it should be assumed that the two languages are the languages of Wales. I would have been unhappy if the Welsh nationalists had tried to suggest that English was not as much a language of Wales as Welsh. However, we who speak English and not Welsh—learning Welsh was for only one generation; I am English on both sides—must remember that the submerging of the languages of the United Kingdom is a symbol of conquest by the English. We who are English should also remember that the best compliment that we can pay and the best statement about the difference in attitude nowadays that we can make is to ensure that, when languages have survived despite the appalling effort to destroy them, they are encouraged, not least because, unless they are perceived as automatically equal—as the amendments propose—the cultural base that is so important in the Principality will be greatly eroded.