Bid to protect the Welsh language from ridicule
PLAID Cymru pushed in Parliament for “hate” directed at the Welsh language to be made illegal in the wake of the controversy surrounding an inflammatory column by Rod Liddle.
Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts wants language to sit alongside race, religion and sexual orientation as a “protected characteristic” in equality legislation.
Sunday Times columnist Rod Liddle had commented on the row surrounding the planned renaming of the second Severn crossing The Prince of Wales Bridge, saying that opponents “would prefer it to be called something indecipherable with no real vowels, such as Ysgythysgymlngwchgwch Bryggy”.
He also sparked anger by describing the crossing as a “motorway bridge linking their rain-sodden valleys with the First World”.
Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP Ms Roberts said Mr Liddle’s comments are the “latest manifestation in a long establishment tradition of decrying, belittling and mocking the Welsh language, and, by association, Welsh speakers.”
But Mr Liddle accused Plaid of “hysteria” and said he had been contacted by “hundreds of Welsh people”.
He said: “The only hatred in evidence comes from the idiotic Saville Roberts – a hatred of freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom of opinion. The appropriate response to gentle mockery is to laugh, ignore it or give it back.
“If making a mild joke about vowels really is ‘hate speech’ then we are in big trouble – a point made by the hundreds of Welsh people who contacted me after Plaid’s hysteria, worried and even disbelieving at the absurdity of it all.”
However, Ms Roberts said the “drip feed of mockery” had a “profound effect”. She said: “Language is not just a tool of communication. To many, the Welsh language is their mother-tongue. But the drip feed of mockery, ridicule and establishment scorn to which the language is subjected on a repeated basis has a profound effect – parents choosing not to pass their own first language on to their children; Welsh speakers reluctant > to use the language beyond a narrow social group; the social norm of turning to English; children who lack confidence to use Welsh outside school; adults reluctant to access services in Welsh: internalising the negative stereotype.”
She added: “Attacking the Welsh language and, therefore, Welsh speakers, is in effect a hate crime, but the law does not reflect this. Complaints are ignored on the grounds that a language is not a protected characteristic and I hope that the Westminster Government will consider changing that to ensure that, in future, Welsh speakers will not have to put up with the repeated mockery and ridicule from the likes of Rod Liddle.”
Ahead of the debate, Monmouth Conservative MP David Davies – a fluent Welsh-speaker – said that while he had great respect for Ms Roberts, he did not think that language should be a protected characteristic.
He said: “If Plaid Cymru want [the Welsh language] to be protected, I should think people speaking with [a] BBC English accent might feel the same way from protection from Welsh nationalists poking fun at them. And let’s be honest about, I mean, it’s always a good source of humour, isn’t it, to poke fun at the English – what’s good for one has got to be good for another.
“I’ve read Rod Liddle’s article. I mean, he specialises in a kind of pub banter shock-jock stuff which I actually find quite entertaining. I didn’t take offence myself; I just thought, that’s Rod Liddle.”
He added: “There are many things that I get offended by that people say on the left, but I don’t demand that they stop saying them... It’s not that I get offended, it’s just I disagree. People have got to distinguish between disagreeing with something and suddenly saying they take offence and therefore you’re not allowed to say it any more.”