Right, so when disaster strikes, that is the time for a government to rise to the occasion, the time for MPs to stand up for their communities and demand the government of the day, especially when that is their own party to help their constituents in their time of greatest need. Not if you are Rhondda MP Chris Bryant though. After Storm Bert rolled through South Wales, including Bryant’s Rhondda Valley patch, a major incident has been declared across Rhondda Cynon Taf, it was Bryant’s time to shine, time to go to government and demand their help for his flood stricken communities, that is what any normal MP would be demanding.
Not Bryant it seems. He’s taken to social media to announce that he has set up a Go Fund Me to help flood victims, apparently choosing the way of charity, rather than the government supporting their own people in a time of greatest need is his preference, but even that doesn’t appear to be true, so what does Bryant think he’s playing at and what exactly has he done? Is this all a stunt for some brownie points or a total dereliction of duty because people who voted for him need help now.
Right, so across South Wales in the wake of Storm Bert, there has been absolute devastation left behind. It is an area prone to being hit with flooding, between 200 and 300 properties it has been reported have been flooded, both residential and commercial and so as we’ve witnessed year on year in news reports covering such incidents, we see cars underwater, residents and business owners dealing with the aftermath, with one business owner interviewed by Wales Online saying it was like a scene from Titanic. Another article covering the floods from the same outlet described schools being shut, bridges shut and that there had even been a landslide. When compared to the last major storm flood to hit the area back in 2019 courtesy of Storm Dennis, this has been described as worse.
So where is the government then first of all, they are responsible for flood management, it falls under the remit of DEFRA, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Minister for which is Steve Reed and under him within the department is a bespoke Floods Minister, who these days is the MP for Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice, Emma Hardy, not that you’d know it, she is completely invisible it seems on such matters. However, here’s what Reed had to say about the floods in a piece of footage released by DEFRA themselves just yesterday:
Ah so a quick opportunity to acknowledge the devastation, express sympathy, put the boot into the Tories and remind people that Labour are putting £2.4bn into flood defences because of the state the Tories left them in.
That £2.4bn is a two year investment, so £1.2bn a year for arguments sake, which is an increase on the Tories 6 year plan with a budget of £5.2bn which they announced back in 2020, around £800m a year, so it is an increase, a slight one. Putting money in is all well and good, but where it gets used, who benefits from it when numerous parts of the country are prone to flooding, is the bigger question – all of this money appears to be in the pot for flood defences, but floods ruin lives, so where is the assistance for that? Every MP, especially a Labour one who has a constituency parts of which may be prone to flooding, will surely want a slice of that pie for flood defences, because it makes them look good, shows they are working hard to mitigate an ongoing problem, and of all the MPs you’d think would be front and centre right now given Steve Reed’s statement made to camera there, DEFRA wanting to come across as taking matters seriously, it’d be the one who is the MP for an area not just flooded, but where a major incident has been declared, the MP for Rhondda and Ogmore, Chris Bryant.
Now Bryant also happens to be a government minister, if anything, that ought to give him even more clout than the average Labour MP, he’s the Minister for Data Protection and Telecoms, but equally by not pushing for help, at least publicly, which is where of course he can be seen fighting for something, it can be perceived that he’s putting his own ministerial position before his constituents. But what damns him most of all, is that where he is publicly speaking out for the people affected by the flooding in Rhondda and Ogmore, it’s not demands of government to help people affected by floods, it’s to turn to all of us the British public and ask us to put our hands in our pockets to help, because rather than turn to government, Bryant is going around touting a Go Fund Me to raise money to help those affected, but to make what difference? He spoke to Kay Burley on Sky about it:
£200 for everyone affected. Businesses ruined, homes wrecked, you’re not even going to replace a carpet with that. This is a gesture and a well meant one, I wouldn’t argue that, but it’s not going to make material differences to people’s lives who have been affected. You hope they are all insured, but the more often they get flooded, the more prone to flooding they are, the more often this is going to happen, the more expensive insurance will have become in recent years and some may not be able to afford it with the cost of living having been driven ever upwards and with this Labour government continuing it with their economic choices. We’re talking some of the poorest communities in the whole of the UK here.
But it is Bryant’s online discussion of this Go Fund Me page he spoke to Sky about and plugged that I also want to draw mention to, because it really does give a sense I think, that’s he’s not giving his all where he could be and where he should be. He tweeted out the charity page as well, saying along with it that:
‘Following the devastating flooding in many parts of the Rhondda and Ogmore today I gave (sic) set up a GoFundMe page. Funds will go to those in need including those who have lost everything via the registered charity the Mabon Trust. Please give generously!’
Again, we’re back to how far £200 goes for people who have lost everything, but here he is saying he set up the Go Fund Me page. Did you though Chris? Did you really? You didn’t mention that to Kay Burley did you Chris!
Let’s have a look at the Go Fund Me page and see who set it up and it’s a chap called Gareth Wyn Hughes! Is that a pen name for Bryant? Well what’s the point of that? No, Hughes is a Labour Councillor in Tonypandy, it isn’t Bryant, Bryant set it up, Bryant made the first donation of £100 as he touts for ‘spare thousands’ on Sky News, but that seems to be as much of a connection to it as he has to it.
Charity has it’s place, charity being set up and organised by a local councillor when local services are bearing the brunt of dealing with the aftermath of flooding is one thing, it is an extra thing they can do, it is inviting people out of the kindness of their hearts to help their fellow man, especially at this time of year when we’re in that run up to Christmas, when these floods always seem to happen and it is supposed to be all about goodwill, but equally charity has also been described by another Labour politician as a cold, grey, loveless thing, a Labour politician who was actually Labour and not this Tory tribute act knock off, and when you’re the party in power, when you’re a government minister, why are you not asking the government to step up, because it seems Bryant has not done that and it is in response to being questioned about just that, that he’s given us that very impression because when in response to his Go Fund Me tweet, it was put to Bryant that the government should step up, he replied, I hope it will.
Well the responses you got to that say it all, because why are you hoping when you can literally ask them. If they said no, you should say that, do you serve your constituents or your party first? Certainly Bryant has invited much scorn in addition to this.
Novelist Raphael Dogg said:
‘No government money, then. Rather, government money only for private healthcare and the oil industry. Oh, and Blackrock. Musn't forget Blackrock.’
There is always money for what the government wants, so where is it for flood victims? Point well made here given other choices being made right now.
Flintshire People’s Voice Leader Sam Swash said:
‘Utterly grotesque that ordinary people are being asked by an MP in the governing party of the UK & Wales to crowdfund a response to a flood disaster. All whilst the PM is sat down with BlackRock planning the continued asset stripping of the country in pursuit of private profit.’
Again, BlackRock being used as a prime example of where government invest while not doing so, not even being asked to it seems, to invest in the lives of their own people wrecked by flooding.
And the Wales Young Communist League tweeted in response:
‘Spending 3 billion a year for "as long as it takes" in Ukraine for our safety apparently, yet setting up a GoFundMe for his own constituents when his own constituents are at a very real risk of serious harm? Can't make it up’
It’s a valid point, when we can give money away to another country, but have none for our own people. Who is this government really serving, when evidently it isn’t us? Not even to the point Bryant is asking it seems, seemingly thinking boosting a charity appeal is going to be good optics for him, very much the opposite is true.
I do feel for those affected, I have chipped in to this charity appeal and if you can, please do so as well, but by no means let the government off the hook here either, because they should be stepping up and not pathetically hiding behind charity.
All in all it is little wonder this Labour government is sinking as fast as it is in public opinion, though of course Keir Starmer is far more to blame for that than any of his other ministers. Where online charity might be Chris Bryant’s preference, calling out Starmer invited a certain online petition and although it absolutely damns Starmer and shows how unpopular he is, the liar he is now widely seen by large swathes of the public, it is also being opportunistically seized upon by other politicians who could be far, far worse. Check out that story in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.