Welsh: Let the market decide - to a point

Susan Crosland once quipped that she dreamt about finding herself in the dentist’s chair with husband Anthony standing over her poised to commence a procedure. When she objected that he knew nothing of dentistry, Crosland reassured her “it’s OK dear, I work from first principles!”

There are times when pragmatism takes over from the noble pursuit of answers from the basis of first principle. But when such an exercise can be carried out it is often a sound way to proceed. Both Ceredig and Martin Eaglestone have spent their most recent posts considering the first principles from which the WAG’s pledged extension of the Welsh language LCO should proceed. Here is my ha’penny’s worth.

Ceredig is correct when he suggests that language equality (which may be deduced as the first principle) begins to look a little like the proposition that neither English nor Welsh speakers should be forced to communicate in other than the language of their choice. That is a right by and large granted in the public sphere, through the existing Welsh Language Act. The question of extending this into the private sector has hitherto been the contentious point; opponents suggest it burdens industry to too great an extent, supporters say that to be meaningful, equality must be enforced in spheres other than the public.

The question, I would suggest, is what we mean by “forced”? To my mind, interaction with providers of monopoly public services is essential on a near-universal basis. If providers of these services do not offer that interaction in the language of your choice, the user is being forced to speak another; he or she cannot go elsewhere. At the other end of the scale, commercial (or merely private) interactions are at the user’s discretion; if the language of choice is not available the user can simply go elsewhere. There is no compulsion to continue this interaction, and the services or goods are likely to be available via other means. There is, in other words, a market for the provision of these goods and services that does not exist in the public sphere.

In between those two exists another class of interaction; services (mainly) which are available elsewhere, but for which a fully competitive market may not exist. The state recognises and chooses to apply additional regulation for the purposes of extending competition and protecting consumers to the providers of these services. They are in the main ex-utilities such as gas, electricity, water and telecoms, as well as postal services and rail transport. By applying sector-specific regulation the state is recognising that its existing panoply of competition law, together with the pressures of the market are insufficient in protecting from abuses, either of competitors or consumers. It strikes me that the users of these services could therefore face a degree of compulsion to use a language not of their choice in their dealings with these providers. Unlike elsewhere in the private sector, the market may not be able to correct for this.

The prescription therefore is simple. Enforceable rights to access services in Welsh should be extended into the private sector – but only as far as the state deems that sufficient competition does not (yet) pertain. Where competition does exist it can determine the appropriate level of provision. If someone wishes to shop for groceries in the medium of Welsh they are free, quite literally, to shop around. If sufficient demand exists, the market will provide it. On the other hand, if they want to choose from one of only a few providers of electricity, all of whom could choose to ignore demand for Welsh language provision, the state will enforce their rights for them.

It's a plan based on first principle and followed to some sort of logical end. Perhaps even more importantly in the real world, it is a compromise both sides may find acceptable.