Labour 'must challenge Plaid on independence'

Ogmore MP Huw Irranca-Davies has called on those who support independence to defend the loss of jobs that he claims would ensue if UK governmental operations were removed from Wales.

• "In Llantrisant, we’ve had the Royal Mint, relocated by Jim Callaghan..."

The same Royal Mint that produces Bank of England notes and coinage that have been redesigned without any Welsh representation. Also, see the wonderful architecture that Westminster bestowed on South Wales in the 1960s.

• "...Take the DVLA, everybody accepts that is has always been in Swansea, it’s there for a reason, located there as a deliberate policy of the UK government."

'Everybody accepts that it has always been in Swansea.' Hmm. I suppose there might be some loony tune wandering the streets of Arbroath clutching his driving licence looking for the DVLA, swearing under his breath that 'it always used to be here, Jimmy', but I think we can say that Irranca-Davies might be right on this one.

He's also right that it's there for a reason, that reason being years of neglect by central government. Swansea has been so overlooked that it has qualified since 2000 for Objective One funding from the European Union, the pot of money reserved for the least advantaged parts of Europe. Also, see more of the wonderful architecture that Westminster bestowed on South Wales in the 1960s.

• "Those are historic examples, but if you bring it right up to date there have been thousands of jobs relocated to Wales under the Lyons review, and there is a huge investment in St Athan coming under a direct MoD contract."

Ah, St Athan. I think 'a direct MoD contract' is a bit misleading. It's actually the largest PFI in UK history so the contract goes from central government via the MoD to a consoritum of arms manufacturers like Raytheon, Qinetiq and - shamefully - the Open University. The numbers of jobs created by any development at St Athan is also hotly disputed.

• "If Plaid Cymru, Adam Price or anybody else want to enter the debate about what independence would mean for Wales, they have to explain how those jobs would be defended."

Me first, me first!

If Wales ever were to become independent and the DVLA etc moved out of the country then:
a) all the UK government functions currently not carried out in Wales that Irranca-Davies forgot to mention (such as those of the Home Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) would have Welsh equivalents created, requiring staff; and
b) there would still be some demand for the functions of the DVLA to be carried out for the people of Wales: Welsh drivers would still need to have their forms processed by someone.

On the specific example of the DVLA, its forerunner, the DVLC, was created in 1965 and amalgamated all vehicular responsibilities such as registration and tax that had previously been performed by County Councils. Presumably were the DVLA to close on independence, the system could be de-centralised (hurrah!) and a number of jobs re-created at the local level across Wales and the rest of the UK.