A WELSH MP was told off by the Speaker of the Commons for wishing the House a happy St Patrick's Day in Irish and Welsh.
Liz Saville-Roberts was introducing a question in the House of Commons yesterday about the closure of Penally camp in Pembrokeshire, south-east Wales, which is used to house asylum seekers.
The Plaid Cymru MP began her question by saying: "Beannachtái na Féile Pádrqig oraibh inniu / Pob bendith arnoch chi heddiw ar Ddydd Gŵyl Padrig."
This translates to "Happy St Patrick's Day" in Gaeilge (Irish) and Cymraeg (Welsh) due to March 17 being the day the Irish patron saint is celebrated.
Saville-Roberts was quickly stopped after this by Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle who told her that it is "against the rules" to continue speaking in Welsh.
He said: "Can I just say to the honourable lady, let’s just stop. I don’t mind the beginning, but to now start extending the sentence in Welsh does go against the rules of the House."
The MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd explained that she had spoken the same greeting in Irish, then Welsh and had not extended a sentence.
Hoyle added: "Can I say that I have no arguments with it whatsoever, but unfortunately the House make the rules. I’m only here to make sure the rules are kept.”
Following the exchange, the Plaid Cymru Westminster leader, Saville-Robers, said it was "high time" rules were changed that exclude speakers of languages other than English.
She said: "Today I wished the House of Commons a Happy St Patrick’s Day in Cymraeg and Gaeilge – unwittingly committing an act of dissent. Westminster’s disdain for minority languages knows no bounds.
“This is not a criticism of the Speaker, who only enforces the rules. But those rules were specifically designed to exclude the speakers of languages other than English. It’s high time they are amended to reflect the reality of our modern society.
“Even better would be for Wales to follow the example of our Celtic cousins in Ireland and build an independent nation that gives full respect to our native language.”
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Westminster's parliamentary rulebook, Erskine May (named after Thomas Erskine May who produced the first edition of Treatise on the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament in 1844), the Welsh language is only allowed to be used in certain settings.
It states: "The resolution of the House of 1 March 2017 provides that, ‘whilst English is and should remain the language of this House, the use of Welsh be permitted in parliamentary proceedings of Select Committees and of the Welsh Grand Committee held in Wales and at Westminster’, with the Official Report recording both the Welsh language contributions and an English translation, subject to reasonable notice being given of the proposed use of Welsh and to a power of the Chair to require points of order to be in English.”
Saville-Roberts went onto ask the UK's Welsh Secretary, Simon Hart MP (below), about the closure of the Penally asylum camp.
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She said: “Thank you. Diolch yn fawr ['thank you very much in Cymraeg]. Asylum seekers will leave the squalid Penally camp this weekend thanks to months of campaigning by Plaid Cymru police and crime commissioner Dafydd Llywelyn and others.
“The camp is in the Secretary of State’s constituency. But he only became aware of the Home Office plans on the 12th of September last year, days before people moved in.
“Despite months of resistance from his own government, he now scrabbles to change the narrative and I’m afraid to say he recently dismissed the Welsh Government’s ‘little status’ in his own words.
“Given the little status of the Wales Office, how does he continue to justify its existence?”
The Home Office decided to house up to 250 asylum seekers at Penally from September last year but it is now set to close by March 21 with the camp being given back to the Ministry of Defence that uses it as an army camp.
The Home Office said it gave "safe and secure accommodation for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute".
Hart, the MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, replied: “As brass neck goes that’s quite an exceptional example of it as far as Penally is concerned.
“It seems that Plaid’s commitment to a nation of sanctuary only extends as long as it’s not in their patch, as we’ve discovered by the reaction of some of her own colleagues in the party.
“The fact of the matter is that this has been a difficult situation for a number of people involved. It is being resolved amicably thanks to a collaborative effort between the Home Office and the Wales Office demonstrating the value of both.”
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