One of the goals of the Government of Wales, a coalition made up of Labour Party and pro-independence party Plaid Cymru, is to grant equal legal status of Welsh with English by the end of this term (2011), which means official status for the Celtic language. To do so, the cabinet wants to approve a new language bill, but needs that London transfers powers over language issues first. The legislative competence order (LCO) was published yesterday by the Welsh government.

Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones argued that it is about time Cardiff gets powers on the protection of the Welsh language because, in his opinion, London will not mind anymore now that Wales has its own Assembly: "the National Assembly is the appropriate place to legislate on the Welsh language. We need to make sure that any legislation [on the Welsh language] is suitable for the twenty first century, he added.

British MP's have now the upper hand. It is likely that the transfer of powers on language issues sparks off a long controversy in London, which will surely make the transfer procedures slow. A part from the consequences of declaring Welsh an official language, Westminster will examine the repercussion the extension of the scope of current language legislation might have on the private sector. The current Welsh Language Act (1993) does not oblige private sector to use Welsh, a factor widely criticized by Welsh language campaigners, who argue the private sector is totally monolingual in English.

Measure not sufficient for language campaigners

Cymdeithas, the main organization for the promotion of Welsh, has remained skeptical about the Welsh government petition to obtain powers on language issues: "there are many things about the LCO to be welcomed", said Menna Machreth, Chair of Cymdeithas,"but the rights on offer in the LCO are conditional. They will not extend into large areas of the private sector". The organization wants to draft a more comprehensive measure without any interference from London, and also challenged the Welsh government to Demand more for the people of Wales". Cymdeithas warned Members of Parliament in Westminster "not to participate in any cynical attempt to weaken the measure".

Further information:

• Wales Online: Welsh language plan for private firms
• Daily Post: Welsh Assembly wants power over language issues
• BBC: Welsh language legal bid starts

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Further information in Wales profile.