Comment from the Senedd

The BNP at it again!

Nick Bourne — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:21:31 +0000

I see that the BNP has been producing a ‘video nasty’ – at least a video with a nasty message, which they have tried to disguise by using Katherine Jenkins in a Welsh rugby shirt to suggest that their message is somehow endorsed by Katherine Jenkins. Clearly it is not and this unauthorised use will [...]

Twitter

Leighton Andrews — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:44:00 +0000

I am now on Twitter, but I remain to be convinced.

In the summer I will write more about the value or otherwise of certain kinds of online communications to politicians and their constituents.

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Burberry reunion

Leighton Andrews — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:36:00 +0000

A very good turnout at the reunion of Burberry workers which Chris Bryant and I attended last Friday. Great to see so many of those involved in the campaign.

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Supporters Trust

Leighton Andrews — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:34:00 +0000

I attended the open meeting which agreed to set up the Supporters' Trust last Saturday. It was a very good meeting with a lot of sensible questions being asked.

Well done to all those involved.

You can read more here.

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Taking water with it

Peter Black — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:43:00 +0000

Is this the swiftest u-turn ever? Probably not. Yesterday, licensing minister Gerry Sutcliffe told an industry magazine that licensees were "right to be upset" by Alistair Darling's announcement that he will raise the duty by the rate of inflation plus 2% every year until 2012. He then proceeded to encourage landlords to galvanise themselves into a coherent force and focus on how other lobby groups have forced his government to back down on controversial tax rises.

Today, he was telling the media that "My comments do not accurately reflect my views." C'est la vie. However, Mr. Sutcliffe's intervention does underline one of Gordon Brown's problems, his failure to assert authority over his party and to win respect in his own right. That was illustrated again when a group of normally loyal backbenchers tabled an early day motion criticising the impact of the abolition of the 10p tax band. OK, it took them a year to wake up to this problem but their revolt is another sign of the rumblings within the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Ever since his wobbles in the autumn Gordon Brown has struggled to establish himself as a credible Prime Minister. He has all the experience and there is no denying his achievements as Chancellor of the Exchequer, but he has not yet demonstrated that he has the cojones to lead the Country. That is clearly reflected on the doorsteps as voter after voter tells me that they do not like Brown and that they cannot vote Labour this time. As a result backbenchers and even Ministers feel able to dissent at the edges, picking off issues on which they can express their disquiet.

What Gordon Brown has to do to pull himself out of this spiral I cannot say. However, until he is able to demonstrate the leadership qualities needed to be Prime Minister by taking a few personal risks then he will continue to have problems with his backbenches.

Plaid Sir Gar

Adam — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:33:04 +0000

Mae Grwp Cynghorwyr Plaid Cymru yn Sir Gâr wedi creu gwefan ar gyfer yr etholiadau lleol fan hyn. The Plaid Cymru councillors group on Carmarthenshire council have created a new website for their election campaign, you can visit it here.

Colofn Golwg

Adam — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:30:19 +0000

Mae Des Browne, y Gweinidog Amddiffyn, yn annog trafodaethau gyda’r Taliban. Mae’r strategaeth o drafod gyda therfysgwyr - yn gyfrinachol os nad yn agored - wedi bod yn rhan o draddodiad polisi Prydain ers dyddiau’r gwrthryfel gwaedlyd ym Malaysia yn y 50au. Ond methiant yn y diwedd fu’r cadoediad a’r trafodaethau gyda’r arweinwyr guerilla yno. [...]

Delaying the inevitable

bethan — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:54:00 +0000

An article in today's Independent suggests that the Government is trying to bury the release of new statistics on child poverty, which experts believe will indicate that the targets both to halve child poverty by 2010, and to eradicate child poverty by...

Church in Wales reject women bishops

Peter Black — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 06:34:00 +0000

The Western Mail reports that senior clerics with the Church in Wales have rejected a controversial Bill which would have allowed women to be ordained as bishops.

The 140-strong Governing Body narrowly rejected the Bill which would have seen the creation of female bishops in the principality for the first time.

A vote saw the Bill defeated by just three after a day of heated debate on the subject.

As I was saying only yesterday, which century are we living in again?

Vince and the queen

Peter Black — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:51:00 +0000

So what century are we living in exactly? OK, so Vince Cable should have known that he could not discuss the monarch but really, what sort of democracy prevents its elected representatives from mentioning the head of state in Parliament without 'prior permission'?

The BBC tell us that 'according to Erskine May, the guide to parliamentary practice, "the irregular use of the Queen's name to influence a decision of the House is unconstitutional in principle and inconsistent with the independence of Parliament".

It adds: "Any attempt to use her name in debate to influence the judgement of Parliament is immediately checked and censured."

It says MPs have been reprimanded "or even sent to the Tower" for treasonable or seditious language "or disrespectful use of Her Majesty's name".

Are we living in the reign of Elizabeth II or Elizabeth I? Vince is absolutely right when he describes these procedures as 'ridiculous'. Still it is just as well that Leanne Wood is not a member of the House of Commons. If she had referred to 'Mrs Windsor' in the Palace of Westminster she would still be incarcerated in the Tower in leg irons.

EU petitions committee

bethan — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:54:00 +0000

I am in the petitions committee now, and there is a heated debate on landlaw in Valencia- a raft of petitions concerning irregularities in urban planning laws and the loss of property. It is hard to follow the debate as only the MEPs are given the full...

Freebies

Peter Black — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:08:00 +0000

An initiative to offer free health checks to the over-40s in England will not be replicated in Wales, we have been told, because according to the Welsh Assembly Government screening is already provided for people at high risk of chronic diseases. Really?

I am not aware of any publicity for such a scheme or even how it might be accessed. I suspect that I am not alone in that ignorance. Perhaps the Welsh Government can explain how widespread this provision is, where it is advertised and who is eligible to use it. Maybe they can also explain how one secures an appointment with a GP in the first place because in many places it is almost impossible to get a consultation.

It seems to me that the English scheme offers far more value in health terms and in promoting a preventative health agenda than many of the free schemes available here. If I had the choice of spending public money on free health checks or on free parking and universal free prescriptions, the health checks would win out every time.

BNP candidate shows his true colours

Peter Black — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:25:00 +0000

The Evening Standard reports that a senior BNP leader with a strong chance of winning a seat in the London Assembly next month has written that rape is a "myth" and that "some women are like gongs - they need to be struck regularly."

The paper explains: Nick Eriksen, the BNP's London organiser and the second-highest candidate on its list for the Assembly, is the author of "Sir John Bull," a notorious far-Right blog which has regularly advocated hatred and abuse against women. The disclosure will be a serious blow to the BNP's hopes of London electoral success.

On 24 August 2005, Mr Eriksen wrote: "I've never understood why so many men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime ... Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal.

"To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting that forcefeeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched.

"The demonisation of rape is all part of the feminazi desire to obtain power and mastery over men. Men who go along with the rape myth are either morons or traitors."

On 5 November 2005, in an item entitled "Give her a slap!," Mr Eriksen approvingly quoted Noel Coward as saying: "Some women are like gongs - they need to be struck regularly." On 8 November, he claimed that "the vast majority of domestic [assaults] are initiated by the woman." Mr Eriksen also wrote on 24 November 2005 that mothers "should never go out to work" and described career women as "unnatural and vile... it is a strange kind of woman who would want to invest [her] energies into her job rather than into a man."

Words fail me.

Brussels

bethan — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:10:00 +0000

Iam currently on the eurostar travelling to Brussels. We've been delayed somewhat, and have had to travel back towards London. We should be back on track soon though! The last time I came to Brussels I was travelling with young people from the Rhondda ...

A sticky question

Peter Black — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:07:00 +0000

In many ways the publication of a report by a Committee of the House of Lords on the economic impact of immigration could not have come at a worse time. There is already speculation that the BNP may make a breakthrough onto the GLA, and whatever its merits or demerits, the general thrust of this report can only offer succour to that party.

Why that should be is complex but essentially boils down to the fact that none of the mainstream parties are really addressing the issues involved. Despite the fact that they are separate, the subjects of immigration and asylum are intermingled in many people's mind and the truth is drowning in a sea of misinformation and myth.

Talking to even the most liberal constituents on the doorsteps we hear stories about people coming to this country and being given homes, cars and benefits for nothing. The Internet is awash with semi-racist jokes making the same point, whilst ethnic minorities suffer abuse on the streets and even in their own homes. There is a strong undercurrent of Islamophobia in all of this which is not even acknowledged by most politicians.

There are of course a host of facts and figures to refute all of these allegations and a solid economic argument about the benefit of immigration, irrespective of what the noble committee of Lords might have to say on the subject. However, not only is nobody making this case on a consistent basis, week-in, week-out, but it is being undermined by other factors, not least the number of illegal immigrants who disappear into the system never to be seen again and the various scandals about prisoners who should have been deported at the end of their sentence but who instead, are living at large in Britain.

The Government do pay lip service to the problem and try to appear tough but all they succeed in doing it seems to me is to reinforce the feeling amongst many people that there is a problem. There is no public acknowledgement at the highest levels of government of what people are thinking on this subject nor any attempt to engage them in discussion on it.

Liberal Democrats have attempted a more radical approach by at least admitting that there is a problem and offering solutions to it. Nick Clegg, then Shadow Home Secretary, argued that the time has come to make the liberal case for a successfully managed immigration system. He said:

“Government incompetence has led to an immigration system on the brink of meltdown, yet ministers prefer to avoid debate over the true scale of the problem.

“We cannot continue to ignore the issue of the hundreds of thousands of people living illegally in this country. To do so does nothing to solve the problem and merely helps those traffickers who currently exploit the system.”

The Liberal Democrat Conference voted for a policy that proposed:

1. A National Border Force, bringing together the present border control functions of HM Revenue Customs, the Immigration Nationality Directorate and police guarding ports and airports.

2. The reintroduction of exit checks at all ports.

3. The Government to work closely with the European Union on immigration, especially in tackling people-trafficking and immigration crime, and shared asylum policy.

4. The Foreign Office to prioritise the improvement of visa services at UK consulates around the world, introduce a full complaints procedure and review the restrictions on rights of appeal for visa nationals.

5. The development of an earned route to citizenship, beginning with a two-year work permit, for irregular migrants who have been in the UK for 10 years, subject to:
a) A public interest test.
b) A long-term commitment to the UK.
c) A clean criminal record.
d) The payment of a charge, waived for those who have completed a set number of hours of service in the community or volunteering.
e) An English language and civics test, or proof that the applicant is undergoing a course of education in these subjects.

6. A full review of social housing allocations policies to establish best practice, so that those who have waited a long time for a home or home transfer are treated fairly, and a major programme of building social housing to tackle housing shortages for all those in need.

7. Increased fees to businesses for work permits, charged as a percentage of starting salary for those receiving the permit, with additional revenue used to fund skills training for the domestic workforce in shortage areas.

8. Extension of language lessons especially for asylum seekers, refugees and recent migrants, with out-reach programmes in some communities to identify those who would benefit.

9. Reform of the Life in the UK test to empower new arrivals to engage fully in society at every level, with a less detailed version of the test for those applying for long-term visas, and for Indefinite Leave to Remain, and ‘welcome packs’ with information about life, and culture, in the UK, for all long-stay arrivals.

10. Twinning arrangements between schools with different ethnic or social mixes of pupils, so children can mix across ethnic and religious boundaries in some classes.

11. Full ratification of the Council of Europe convention on people trafficking.

12. Transfer of responsibility for migration statistics to the Office of National Statistics, which will itself be reformed under current legislation to make it more independent of government.

This is a humane and liberal approach, which could make a difference. It would certainly send a signal that government is addressing people's concerns. However, since the change over in the Home Affairs Team things seem to have gone very quiet on this subject. Is it not time that the Liberal Democrats at least, started to promote their solutions to this issue?

That day again

Peter Black — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 06:40:00 +0000

Suddenly, I am wary about believing anything I read in the papers.

Did Nick Clegg really tell GQ magazine that he has slept with as many as 30 women and considers himself a competent lover or are the media pulling our leg?

Is Carrie Bradshaw really leaving the realm of fiction to attend the Guardian Hay Festival alongside Aleksandr Isaevich Solzenitsyn?

Does Iain Dale really expect us to believe that the Centre For Um is very influential in LibDem circles?

And did somebody really complain that a recent Barclaycard advert on TV was anti-Welsh because of a throwaway quip about somebody's German-sounding name? Oh, wait that last one must be true as I am quoted in the article. Or am I?

April Fool's day is here again and it is no laughing matter. Many of us are scouring the papers determined not to be caught out, hoping that we do not embarrass ourselves with our work colleagues by quoting as fact some prank that everybody else has seen through straight away.

I don't have time to even start to take in all the pranks that adorn the media today so I am not going to try. But really Nick, if you were not winding us up then maybe you could be a bit more discreet the next time you talk to a magazine journalist. I don't mind your candour, in fact it is quite refreshing, but all you are doing is playing into the media's obsession with trivia rather than real news.

Oh well, there goes any popularity I had in the Leaders' office.

Swimming against the tide

bethan — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:57:00 +0000

I just wanted to send out my heartfelt sympathy to the parents, family and friends to the two young girls from the Rhondda who died on the road between Merthyr and Hirwaun on Saturday. I know the road well having grown up in the area, and its near to w...

Out of touch?

Peter Black — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 06:29:00 +0000

A junior minister has gone on record as saying that Gordon Brown’s Government was losing touch with voters’ concerns and risked defeat at the next general election:

Ivan Lewis, a Health Minister with an impeccable record of loyalty, told the News of the World that the Government needed to show people that it was on their side.

He said that voters grew angry “when they feel the Government is losing touch with what fairness means to the majority who work hard, play by the rules and are feeling squeezed by rising bills and rising council tax”.

He called for a string of populist policy measures, including minimum ten-year prison terms for possession of a gun or knife and immediate deportation for illegal immigrants.

Although collective responsibility indicates that Mr. Lewis should be hauled over the coals for speaking out so far there has been little or no reaction from the government. Presumably, they have calculated that allowing some dissent mitigates against the image of Gordon Brown as a control freak. They will also be quietly pleased at the criticism as it gives the impression that the government is listening to people's concerns after all, even if they do not act upon it.

Twitter.com- social networking online

bethan — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:53:00 +0000

I have recently joined http://www.twitter.com/. It is described as a site for 'microblogging' and a social network service. I am joining every new web based social forum I can at the moment, as an experiment of their usefulness and worth!For anyone who...

Plaid Cymru Broadcast

bethan — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:52:00 +0000

Petitions committee visits Brussels

bethan — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:27:00 +0000

Plaid Conference was a success I do believe, and its now on to the local elections. Spring conferences are always shorter and to the point than the main conferences in September, but it was good to go to Newport- branching out to an area where we have ...

Paying the bill

Peter Black — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:07:00 +0000

As if consumers have not suffered enough, press reports today indicate that energy bills are set to rise yet again before the year is out. We already have a situation where Welsh householders pay on average 10 per cent more for power than their counterparts in England. Many are already being hit hard by rising food, transport and petrol costs amid widespread concern over the economy.

Now we learn that we could be paying an extra £100 a year on top of the £140 increase that has come in since last December, at around the same time that we are putting our heating back on in the autumn. That is a second 10% increase in 12 months. Only those who pay through Direct Debit or on-line will be able to cushion the blow.

Unfortunately, the most vulnerable in our society, who are already officially classed as fuel poor are the least likely to save money in this way. Many will not have bank accounts. My fear is that pensioners and other less well-off people will switch heating off rather then risk going into debt to pay huge fuel bills.

Now is the time to review social tariffs, put in place more realistic winter fuel payments and roll out smart meters so as to lesson the impact of bigger bills. If the government does not intervene then winter related deaths will rise and many of our poorest citizens will face an uncertain year.

Heathrow and the case of the missing luggage

Peter Black — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:03:00 +0000

The BBC are now reporting that there are 15,000 bags stranded at Heathrow Airport Terminal Five. A total of 208 flights were cancelled during the Terminals first three days. Has anybody told the Guinness Book of Records. I think they need to open a new category especially for this fiasco, starting with 'biggest private sector cock-up'.

Day off

Peter Black — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 08:19:00 +0000

I am having a day off today so as to go to the Laugharne Weekend where I have tickets for Richard James and Roger McGough. Blogging will be light.

Mislaid in Britain

Peter Black — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 08:15:00 +0000

Cutting headline in the New York Times on Thursday.

Referring to the farce currently running at Heathrow's new terminal building and to the Prime Minister's failure to show up to the beginning of the Queen’s royal banquet on Wednesday night, the paper trumpeted: 'Mislaid in Britain: Luggage and the Prime Minister'.

Sounds like a good election slogan for one of the opposition parties.

Plaid Conference

bethan — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:56:00 +0000

Apologies for failing to blog this week. I took a short break from work. I'm going to Plaid's Conference in Newport today to see the launch of the local Government policies. Ieuan is making a speech at 2pm, so don't forget to tune in. I'm also looking ...

Who is protecting our health workers?

Peter Black — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:22:00 +0000

I have not had much time to refer to the current controversy over the protection of Welsh health workers until now. However, having reviewed all the reports and taken in the snippets of interviews I caught on Radio Wales, I have to say that I agree with Alun Michael, Baroness Ilora Finlay and a number of other commentators. It cannot be right that NHS workers in Wales have any less protection than those in England.

Health Minister, Edwina Hart, may well be correct when she says that the important thing is to have practical and effective measures in place to protect staff and I hope that she will have proposals to implement very soon. However, whatever her working party comes up with should surely be additional and complementary to the extra legal protection on offer.

I can see no logical reason why the Welsh Assembly Government might want to opt out of these criminal justice measures. It really does look like they were more concerned about making a point about devolution rather looking after the interests of the staff.

Labour again!

Peter Black — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:51:00 +0000

Welsh Labour leader, Rhodri Morgan, trundled down the M4 to the Liberty Stadium in Swansea yesterday to launch his party's local election campaign. Presumably, Labour chose the Liberty Stadium because they want to be associated with successful football and rugby teams. It will not do them much good.

As Plaid Cymru's Helen Mary Jones said: "Even for the Labour Party this campaign has come up with a surprising lack of new ideas; voters can only expect more of the same from this party which has obviously run out of steam as anyone who has a Labour council is aware.” It seems that Labour's one trick is to focus on anti-social behaviour and crime, something that at Westminster they have been in charge of tackling since 1997 with little success.

Rhodri Morgan's refrain that he is fed up with marauding gangs on the street corner, "we want kids to have something much better to do", is not just familiar, it is tired and repetitive. Labour have been in government for eleven years, why have they not sorted it? Why are the Welsh Assembly Government not investing in new facilities for young people in our communities? The answer is that there is no black and white solution to this problem and whilst Labour continue to pretend that there is then they are doing us all a disservice.

Welsh Liberal Democrat local government spokesperson Jenny Randerson summed up the immediate issue when she said, “Labour’s stance on crime and antisocial behaviour is a joke. This is the party that axed funding for the popular and successful 101 non-emergency number scheme, when it should have been extended to all of Wales.

“They cut the funding in Whitehall and refused to support it in the Assembly. The 101 number continues in Cardiff, because the Welsh Liberal Democrat-led council has put their money where their mouth is and invested in tackling antisocial behaviour.”

What was most astonishing however was Rhodri Morgan's attack on Swansea's new Leisure Centre. He described it as Wales’ equivalent of the Montreal Olympics, an allusion to the £32 million cost. This from a First Minister who has authorised huge sums of public money bidding for the Ryder Cup, the City of Culture and the Commonwealth Games, all of which we supported but which would impact on the public purse.

Of course if Labour incompetence had not closed the Leisure Centre in the first place then we would not have had to rebuild it. Labour's legacy to Swansea will continue to be a burden on all taxpayers for many more years. They left the City with the £32 million bill for the Leisure Centre, with having to find £150 million for crumbling schools, £600,000 for dangerous street lamps, a declining City Centre, a multi-million pound bill to renovate/repair City Centre car parks, a £35 million bill for crumbling roads and pavements, a multi-million bill to re-open the Tir John tip, a £30 million bill to repair the Guildhall and a pensions fund deficit for Council workers of £4 million a year. It is a credit to the present Administration that they have made such major strides in sorting out this mess.

What is more, in 2003 Labour set out a long-term financial plan for Swansea Council which meant that we needed to find £12 million worth of savings by this year. They then proceeded to refer to this as our financial black hole. Well, Rhodri Morgan will be pleased to learn that Swansea Council under Welsh Liberal Democrat leadership found all those savings and have balanced the books for each of our four budgets. We have done so without major cuts in services and whilst keeping average Council tax rises at 3.8%. That compares with an average of 8.66% under Labour.

It is no wonder that on the doorsteps here people are telling us that they do not want Labour back in. Will Rhodri Morgan listen? I think not.

Drugs and democracy

Peter Black — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:50:00 +0000

The Neath Guardian reports that a Councillor who once passed a lit cannabis spliff around a council meeting is standing down after 21 years of dedicated service.

Lynne Siegers, who represents Blaenhondden Community Council's Cilfrew ward recalled an occasion around 15 years ago when police visits to Council meetings were more regular and graphically informative:

'She said: "Back in the days when we met at the civic centre, a councillor asked the policeman at the meeting, 'What is cannabis?'

He said he'd bring some along - and he did.

"He lit it and we were passing a spliff around. If anyone had ever come in at that meeting they would've wondered what it was."

How things change.

Colofn Golwg

Adam — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:15:55 +0000

Yn ystod yr wythnosau nesaf bydd cyfeiriadau a rhifau ffôn cartrefi Aelodau Seneddol o Gymru yn Llundain yn cael eu cyhoeddi am y tro cyntaf. Mae hyn yn sgil cais o dan y Ddeddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth, mae’n debyg gan newyddiadurwr yn gweithio i’r cyfryngau yng Nghymru, yn enw tryloywed. Ym mis pum mlwyddiant y penderfyniad [...]