Ted Jones

One Last Post

2007-06-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist one last post publicising the red - green deal. This is a historic moment for the progressive forces in Welsh politics - a clear realignment and the sidelining of the unionist wing of the Labour party. It's a massive victory for Plaid Cymru, the party has managed to deliver a deal that the Labour party would have died in a ditch over only a few weeks ago - the constitutional question is now back at the forefront of the political agenda in Wales. The division line in Welsh politics will be between those who favour greater devolution and those against.

One Wales

A progressive agenda

for the

government of Wales

An agreement between the Labour and Plaid Cymru Groups in the National Assembly

27th June 2007

Contents

Foreword

1. A Progressive Agenda for Wales p.5

2. A Strong and Confident Nation p.6

3. A Healthy Future p.8

4. A Prosperous Society p.13

5. Living Communities p.16

6. Learning for Life p.21

7. A Fair and Just Society p.26

8. A Sustainable Environment p.30

9. A Rich and Diverse Culture p.34

10. Governance Arrangements p.39

FOREWORD

As leaders of our respective parties, we are proud to endorse this agreement which delivers a progressive, stable and ambitious programme for government over this Assembly term. We are passionate about improving the lives of people in Wales and making our nation a better place in which to live and work.

We recognise that, on May 3rd, the people of Wales sought a government of progressive consensus. In reaching an agreement to work together, we acknowledge this as a significant historic moment in the governance of Wales.

This programme represents the outcome of a rapid and intensive period of discussion and negotiation. These negotiations have required courage, because this is an historic step for both our parties and compromise, because achieving stability in government has meant finding common ground. More than anything, it has required, and will require, a new maturity on both sides. The journey on which we embark is challenging for our parties and also for all those who now share the responsibility of delivering these policies. We know, for certain, that the day-to-day implementation of this programme will demand trust and that building trust between us as partners is vital if we are to maintain the confidence of the people of Wales. Given the prolonged process in forming a government, we both recognise the importance of building trust in this institution.

As a coalition of the two largest parties in the Assembly, we are acutely aware of our shared responsibility to ensure the democratic vitality of this third term and to ensure that dissenting voices and alternative points of view are represented and heard. We are also aware of this agreement’s limitations, since entering a coalition does not mean merging our parties. Nothing in this agreement will stand in the way of us taking part with unconstrained vigour in democratic elections, not least the local government elections in 2008. Both parties will retain their individual identities and ideological distinctiveness throughout.

However, we remain united in the belief that a greater good makes this unprecedented course of action worthwhile.

The prize which it delivers is simply to deliver the sort of fair, prosperous, confident and outgoing Wales which its citizens deserve and demand. We believe unequivocally that our programme for government provides the best prospect of the policies and outcomes that match the core beliefs of the people of Wales.

We will work hard to address the issues which matter most to individuals and families in all parts of Wales by listening to those in trade unions, business, local government, the voluntary sector, the professions and Welsh society at large.

We have worked together to develop a programme of government to achieve the kind of Wales of which we can be proud.

This programme is ambitious but deliverable, radical yet realistic.

We jointly commend it to you.

Rhodri Morgan Ieuan Wyn Jones
Leader, Labour Party Wales Leader, Plaid Cymru

1. A Progressive Agenda for Wales
________________________________________________________________

Shared values, common goals and joint aspirations for the people of Wales will drive this four-year programme for government. It offers a progressive agenda for improving the quality of life of people in all of Wales’s communities, from all walks of life, and especially the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.

The people of Wales, and their government, face unprecedented challenges. Working together, we have devised a programme of government which meets these challenges head on. Our ambition is no less than to transform Wales into a self-confident, prosperous, healthy nation and society, which is fair to all.

Our joint commitment to the principles of social justice, sustainability and inclusivity - of the whole of Wales and for all its people - run throughout this programme. These principles underpin the programme and are fundamental to its success.

In devising this programme, we have explicitly recognised the diversity of Wales – geographically, socially, linguistically and culturally. We propose a comprehensive programme of government, for the full four year term, which covers the whole spectrum of policy and action. We propose a programme which builds a strong and confident nation, which will create a healthy future, and which creates prosperity and jobs in living communities including measures to support the Welsh language.

We set out plans to ensure learning for life, to create a fair and just society and to ensure a sustainable environment. Finally, we aim for a rich and diverse culture, which promotes Wales as a bilingual and multicultural nation.

This programme for government is ambitious yet realistic. It is radical yet deliverable.

It makes best use of the powers and resources available to the government and puts on the agenda whether further changes are needed.

2. A Strong and Confident Nation
________________________________________________________________

Without strong government with a sense of purpose and direction, we cannot deliver the real and lasting changes to transform people’s lives all over Wales.

The Government of Wales Act 2006 sets the framework for the Assembly’s powers during the next term. During this time, we will work together to enhance the Assembly’s powers further and to ensure it has a fair allocation of funding so that people all over Wales can see enduring differences and real outcomes. We recognise that in order for Wales to prosper further and to deliver that change, the Assembly needs to develop further legislative powers.

Assembly Powers

There will be a joint commitment to use the Government of Wales Act 2006 provisions to the full under Part III and to proceed to a successful outcome of a referendum for full law-making powers under Part IV as soon as practicable, at or before the end of the Assembly term.

Both parties agree in good faith to campaign for a successful outcome to such a referendum. The preparations for securing such a successful outcome will begin immediately. We will set up an all-Wales Convention within six months and a group of MPs and AMs from both parties will be commissioned to set the terms of reference and membership of the Convention based on wide representation from civic society. Both parties will then take account of the success of the bedding down of the use of the new legislative powers already available and, by monitoring the state of public opinion, will need to assess the levels of support for full law-making powers necessary to trigger the referendum.

Funding and Finance

There will be an independent Commission to review Assembly Funding and Finance, to include a study of the Barnett Formula, of tax-varying powers including borrowing powers and the feasibility of corporation tax rebates in the Convergence Fund region, including the implications of recent European Court of Justice Rulings in this area.

Public Services

Following the recommendations of the Beecham Report, Beyond Boundaries: Citizen-centred local services for Wales, we will put in place a strategy for the continual improvement of local services in Wales aimed at embedding the imperatives of efficiency and citizen-centred services in the context of the Wales Spatial Plan. As part of this work, we will review the governance of public service bodies in Wales to ensure their alignment with this improvement agenda.
We will also establish a Strategic Capital Investment Board to ensure that best use is made of capital funds and to develop all opportunities to access capital finance consistent with an accountable, citizen-centred public service. We will also develop Local Service Boards and agreements including a commitment to pooled budgets.

3. A Healthy Future
________________________________________________________________

We aspire to a world-class health service that is available to everyone, irrespective of whom they are or where they live in Wales, and at the time when they need it. Our health services must inspire confidence in the people of Wales that they will receive the best care available.

We are proud of the National Health Service, born in Wales out of a shared commitment to top-quality services, available to all and free at the point of delivery. We remain loyal and committed to these fundamental principles, which will drive our programme for government over the next four years.

We are passionate about delivering significant improvements in the health of all of the people of Wales. We recognise the need to work harder to improve the well-being of all vulnerable and disadvantaged in Wales who rely heavily on our health service.

We are determined that the services provided by the NHS should be genuinely shaped by and meet the needs of the people it serves, at the same time as taking full account of the latest evidence on best clinical practice. To do this we will put democratic engagement at the heart of the NHS.

We firmly reject the privatisation of NHS services or the organisation of such services on market models. We will guarantee public ownership, public funding and public control of this vital public service.

For hospital patients, we will strive to ensure a positive experience at what is inevitably a distressing time, through working hard to ensure the environment is clean and food is nutritious.

Over the next four years we will deliver a programme of government that includes:

Reviewing NHS reconfiguration
Strengthening NHS finance and management
Developing and improving Wales’s health services
Ensuring access to health care
Improving patients’ experience
Supporting social care

Reviewing NHS reconfiguration

People all over Wales must be confident that any changes to NHS services in their communities will provide them with the best possible care. We pledge that the people of Wales will be fully engaged in any future reconfiguration of services:

· We will agree and implement a new approach to health service reconfiguration.
· We will institute a moratorium on existing proposals for changes at community hospital level.
· We undertake that changes in District General Hospital services will not be implemented unless and until relevant associated community services are in place.
· We will support changes where there is a local agreement on a way forward.
· Where proposals are contentious, we will proceed on the basis of an agreed evidence base, in which both parties will be involved, and which will be conducted on an open book basis. Where flaws or gaps are identified in existing evidence, new information will be sought and fresh public consultation will be embarked upon.
· We will revisit and revise proposals which reconfigure individual services through single site solutions.
· We will reinstate democratic engagement at the heart of the Welsh health service by putting the voice of patients and the public at the centre of what we do. We will reform NHS trusts to improve accountability both to local communities and to the Assembly government.
· We will institute a change to the present way in which consultation is conducted. Before any consultation documents involving health service reconfiguration are published in the future, they will be subject to internal scrutiny, at the Assembly government and involving both parties. The purpose of this scrutiny will be to ensure that such documents, and the proposals that they contain, are properly based on evidence so that they will be more likely to command widespread respect.

Strengthening NHS Finance & Management

How the NHS is financed and run matters. We are resolved to keeping the NHS publicly owned, funded and managed.

· We will move purposefully to end the internal market.
· We will eliminate the use of private sector hospitals by the NHS in Wales by 2011.
· We will ensure that any use of NHS facilities for private practice will be appropriately remunerated.
· We will rule out the use of Private Finance Initiative in the Welsh health service during the third term.
· We will end competitive tendering for NHS cleaning contracts.
· We will work to create a National Institute of Health Research.

Developing and improving Wales’s health services

The NHS cannot stand still. It has to adapt and change. New services and treatments are continually emerging. We will, based on the evidence available, constantly improve and develop services. We will invest in the prevention of ill health, as well as treatment and care when illness strikes.

Over the next four years, through the programme of government:
· We will provide a minimum of one family nurse per secondary school by the end of the Assembly term.
· We will pilot investment in new multi-purpose well-being centres.
· We will provide extra funding for palliative care.
· We will place a new priority on providing for mental health, including child and adolescent mental health services.
· We will seek legislative competence in relation to mental health.
· We will improve provision for long-term conditions, such as stroke and diabetes patients.
· We will refocus the provision of dental services in Wales to provide a new public health focus, building up the Community Dental Service and employing more salaried dentists.
· We will invest £190 million in public health and health improvement.

· We will, as part of improved sexual health services, plan to introduce a cervical cancer vaccine scheme from 2008 onwards.
· We will explore the opportunity to place occupational health services on a statutory basis.
· We will bring forward legislation for vulnerable children.
Ensuring access to health care

We are determined that patients in all of Wales’s communities have rapid and ready access to the care they need. Over the next term:

· We will reduce waiting times to a maximum of 26 weeks from referral to treatment, including all or any waits for therapies and diagnostic tests.
· We will ensure improved access to services including well-being centres and pharmacy based NHS drop-in centres.
· We will increase the number of nurses qualified to prescribe medicines independently.
· We will maintain free prescriptions.
· We will draw up a Charter for Patients Rights and legislation on NHS redress.
· We will extend the Health Inequalities Fund.
· We will develop and publish a Rural Health Plan, ensuring that the future health needs of rural communities are met in ways which reflect the particular conditions and characteristics of rural Wales.
Improving patient experience

We pledge to make patients’ stay in hospital the best possible. A positive experience of care speeds recovery, and helps people’s overall well-being at what can be a difficult time. Over the next four years:

· We will work hard to deliver improvements in hospital food and nutrition.
· We will improve hospital cleanliness.
· We will reform charges for hospital parking and patients’ access to telephones and televisions whilst in hospital.
Supporting Social Care

We place great importance on the unpaid care provided to others by family and friends. It is just as significant as the care provided by the NHS. We recognise and support the contribution made by Wales’ unpaid carers.

We are firmly committed to improving the care provided to vulnerable people by public, private and voluntary bodies. We will help people to be independent and achieve their full potential, whilst also protecting people when they are most vulnerable. We will drive forward improvements in the quality of care, creating seamless care pathways at a fair cost.

Our programme of government over the term is that:

· We will seek the powers, and then bring forward legislation, to create a more level playing field in relation to charges for domiciliary care services.
· We will seek further powers to legislate in the fields of vulnerable children, looked-after children and child poverty.
· We will review the Carers Strategy and prepare legislation on the rights of carers.
· We will build on existing workforce plans to include all care staff, with a strong emphasis on work-based training to enable individuals to gain qualifications on the basis of their practical skills and to develop those skills further.
· We will develop new not-for-profit nursing homes.

4. A Prosperous Society
________________________________________________________________

Our vision is of a Wales where there is a strong and enterprising economy and full employment based on quality jobs. We will encourage and stimulate enterprise and support companies to grow and invest. Everyone must have the opportunity to achieve a reasonable standard of living, no matter where they live or what they do. Full employment supports and sustains communities in all parts of Wales and helps to tackle poverty and disadvantage wherever it occurs.

Recognising the importance of an all-Wales approach to securing economic prosperity, we will do our utmost to create and retain jobs across the whole of Wales, in rural and urban communities alike. Our actions will be firmly guided by sustainability principles, encouraging long-term, high-quality jobs. We will target those areas in greatest need, wherever they occur in Wales.

Viable businesses create jobs. It is imperative that we create a positive climate for business growth. Wales must be renowned for business success. We will use all the tools available to us, from public procurement and support for private investment to European Union funding to enable businesses to flourish and expand. In doing so, we will work closely with business and trade unions to ensure that both are fully equipped for the challenges of global competition.

Unlocking the potential of Wales’s people is vital to our prosperity. We will equip people with the skills they need, at all levels, to enable them to make the best possible contribution to the economy and their communities, and to fulfil their individual potential. We will provide every help for people to get sustainable jobs where they need advice and support.

Our programme of government provides for three sets of actions:

· Creating jobs across Wales

· Stimulating enterprise and business growth

· Promoting tourism

· Enhancing skills for jobs

Creating jobs across Wales

Jobs are the lifeblood of Wales – without jobs individuals are severely disadvantaged, communities all over Wales suffer and there is no prospect of prosperity. Together, we want to create jobs to give people and their communities a brighter future. To do this:

· We will implement a labour market strategy with a long term goal of full employment at a rate of 80%.

· We will adopt an all-Wales approach to economic development, guaranteeing investment in all regions of Wales, and working within the framework of the Wales Spatial Plan.
· We will continue key regeneration programmes in the Heads of the Valleys and Môn a Menai.

· We will develop an all-Wales green jobs strategy.

· We will support the development of a Manufacturing Forum and Skills Academies in key manufacturing sectors.

· We will, alongside the Department of Work and Pensions, continue to introduce innovative programmes to help people back into work, such as Careers Ladders and extra support for child care.
· We will ensure that all projects seeking to benefit from public funding, including all structural funds, seek to meet sustainability criteria.
· We will explore options for a public sector investment agreement with the European Investment Bank.

· We will press ahead with relocation of Assembly divisions to North Wales, West Wales and the South Wales Valleys.
Stimulating enterprise and business growth

Strong businesses need active support to grow and prosper. We will foster a positive climate for enterprise and business development across Wales, and in particular encourage small and medium sized businesses to thrive.
· We will, by working within the European legal framework, make it easier for small local firms in all parts of Wales to win government contracts. We will introduce an All-Wales Purchasing Code of Practice to support a progressive increase in the overall amount of public purchasing sourced from business in Wales.
· We will create a single investment fund for business support which includes provision for social enterprise and environmental incentives.
· We will enhance the business rate relief scheme, within the context of more effective support for businesses.
· We will increase support for farmers’ markets.

Promoting Tourism

Tourism is vital to economic prosperity and job creation in many parts of Wales. Tourism should therefore be developed across Wales on a regional basis in order to make the most of local resources and assets.

· We will continue to promote Wales actively in external markets, drawing on our unique assets in culture, history and the environment.
· We will make strategic investments in facilities and employee skills.
· We will support the tourism industry as the market moves increasingly towards shorter and activity-based breaks.

Enhancing skills for jobs

We are committed to equipping young people and adults alike with the skills they need to fulfil their potential at work. Good skills also support the development and growth of businesses. To achieve this:
· We will develop a targeted programme to improve skill levels for current and future workplace needs.
· We will create and develop links between education and entrepreneurship.
· We will support the development of NEWI to full University status.

· We will encourage procurement which incentivises training opportunities for the unemployed.
· We will commit to a Wales Union Learning Fund and a Union Modernisation Fund

5. Living Communities
________________________________________________________________

5.1 A home for all

Lack of good-quality housing affects people’s health and well-being, and influences their long-term life chances. Everyone has the right to an affordable home as owner, as part-owner or as tenant. A stock of good-quality, affordable homes is the foundation of thriving local communities in all four corners of Wales.

The shortage of affordable housing, to rent or to buy, is one of the greatest challenges facing many communities in Wales. Many places are already experiencing very considerable housing pressure, with local people effectively priced out of the housing market, unable to afford a home. The resulting impact on individuals, families and communities is all too evident across Wales.

Our ambition is to ensure that all households, in all communities and irrespective of their means, can afford a decent home.

Working together, we will create new tools to ensure that housing is affordable in the areas of most severe housing pressure. We will also ensure that the supply of affordable housing increases by at least 6,500 over the next four years. We will also provide financial support to young people who want to buy their first home in their own community but cannot afford to do so.

This programme of government commits us to:

Meeting housing need

Improving access to housing
Increasing the supply of affordable housing

Ensuring 21st-century housing

Meeting housing need

Many communities experience severe housing pressure, with house prices far outstripping local wages. We are committed to tackling this problem in the worst affected areas using our new powers.

· We will draw down legislative power to the Assembly in order to suspend the Right to Buy in areas of housing pressure.
· We will review and reissue Technical Advice Note (TAN) 20 with a view to allowing local authorities to use Language Impact Assessments for planning purposes in areas of housing pressure.
· We will provide local authorities with the ability to secure 100% affordable housing on development sites to meet local needs in areas of high housing pressure.
· We will, by drawing on the model of control of Houses in Multiple Occupation set out in the Housing Act 2004, aim to provide local authorities with the power to control the conversion of full-time dwellings into second homes in areas of housing pressure.

Improving access to housing

Getting onto the housing ladder is extremely difficult for many people on typical incomes in areas of high house prices.
· We will provide grants for first- time buyers.
· We will, in the on-going review of TAN 6, extend the current agricultural and forestry worker dwelling category to a rural enterprise worker category for essential dwellings in the countryside.
Increasing the supply of affordable housing

We need to ensure that there is enough housing to meet people’s needs in all communities. The era of long waiting lists for social housing should end, and new build housing developments should include affordable homes. Together, we will ensure that the supply of affordable housing increases, through investing in social housing, including council housing, and stimulating the supply of affordable private sector homes.

· We will provide increased funding to support social housing.
· We will require all sizeable new housing developments to include a percentage of social housing reflecting local need.
· We will allow local authorities greater freedom to designate non-development sites for the sole purpose of affordable housing, taking into account the principles of adjacency and sustainability.
· We will reform and reissue guidance on ‘affordability’ and ‘local’ criteria for use in section 106 agreements.
· We will improve radically the supply of publicly-owned land, including land in the ownership of the Assembly government, for local, affordable housing.
· We will provide greater power of specificity in designating Assembly owned land for affordable housing purposes.
· We will promote the expansion of Community Land Trusts in Wales.
· We will lobby the Westminster government to provide greater discretion to charitable organisations in disposing of land below market value for affordable housing purposes.

· We will place a statutory duty on each local authority to prepare a delivery plan for affordable housing, consistent with their housing strategy, to include target numbers.
21st-century social housing
We are strongly committed to ensuring that social housing in Wales meets 21st-century standards.

· We will keep the Welsh Housing Quality Standard under review. Where, having secured the agreement of their local populations, individual local authorities put forward a case for compliance with the Standards to be achieved through an extended compliance timetable, and where applications are backed by a robust business plan, we will consider such applications on their individual merits.
· We will ensure that, where a stock transfer ballot has taken place within the lifetime of a council, no re-ballot should occur within that local authority term of office unless a significant change of circumstances can be demonstrated to have taken place.
· We will, where local authorities decide to hold stock transfer ballots, work actively to ensure that tenants have access to impartial advice.
· We will provide extra funding for the Supporting People programme over the four years of the Assembly term.

Homelessness
We will tackle homelessness in all of our communities. To do this:

· We will produce a plan to confront homelessness over a decade, seeking new powers under the Government of Wales Act 2006, where such powers are necessary to the development and implementation of a Welsh strategy.
5.2 Access for all

Travelling across much of Wales can be lengthy and tortuous, whether travelling by car or public transport.

We envisage a Wales where travelling between communities in different parts of Wales is both easy and sustainable. We are firmly committed to creating better transport links, both road and rail, between the North and the West of Wales and the South.

A quarter of households all over Wales do not have a car and rely on public transport or walking or cycling. We will transform provision of bus services by investing in a modern, integrated public transport system. Better public transport will also help households in non-urban communities to be less dependent on car ownership, the costs of which can be prohibitive to those on low incomes.

Dramatic improvements to public transport will encourage people to reduce car use. This in turn will contribute to reducing Wales’s carbon footprint.

Our programme of government over the next four years will involve:
· Improving regional and national transport
· Improving accessibility.

Improve regional and national transport

We will improve transport between communities across Wales by investing in many different modes of travel.

· We will develop and implement a programme for improved North-South links, including travel by road and rail.
· We will reduce rail travel time between the North and South of Wales.
· We will create a new all-Wales Traws Cambria transport network integrating long distance rail and coach routes with electronic cross-ticketing by 2011.

· We will continue to improve the safety and quality of stations and platforms in all parts of Wales, introducing new trains and train services.

· We will introduce a National Transport Passenger Committee for Wales.

· We will improve arrangements for regional and national strategic planning for transport.
· We will press ahead with improvements to major road links between the North, the West and the South of Wales, investing over £50 million for this purpose over the four year Assembly term.
Improving Access

Most journeys are local - going shopping, taking children to school, getting to work or keeping hospital appointments. To improve local transport:
· We will use new powers for local authorities to plan and support new bus routes to improve links between communities.
· We will enhance and link up cycle routes on an all-Wales basis.

· We will enhance rail discount arrangements for pensioners.

· We will support transport sustainability with investment in community transport, cycling, safe routes to school and 20 mph zones.

· We will pursue legislation on improved school transport.
· We will develop a plan to move freight from road to rail.

6. Learning for Life
________________________________________________________________

Education brings empowerment. A learning culture helps to achieve social justice, ensure economic productivity and meet the challenges of new technology. It helps us to have a better understanding of our place in the world, of looking to the past in order to deliver a better future for the people of Wales.

Young people’s educational achievement at sixteen can have a significant impact on the likelihood of them getting a job and on the pay levels of that job. Many young people have yet to achieve their full potential. Many of Wales’ adults also need help and support to start - or continue - learning later in life.

Our vision is of a society in which learning throughout life is the norm, where the people of Wales are actively engaged in acquiring new knowledge and skills from childhood to old age. We will meet the challenge of improving the level of qualifications attained by our children, young people, and adults too. We will build upon our partnership with education providers, staff and parents to create the best possible schools for the future.

As a government, our unwavering commitment is to give the children of Wales the best start in life, through providing a first-class education for all children, whatever their social origins or wherever they live. We are also strongly committed to promoting and supporting learning for adults, whether in further education, higher education or community-based learning.

Our programme for government involves:

Establishing a right to learning
Reforming funding
Ensuring the best start for young children
Creating 21st-century schools
Developing adult learning

Establishing a right to learn

Everyone, from whatever background, of whatever age and whether Welsh-speaking or English-speaking, has the right to an education.

· We will provide a government-guaranteed right, backed up with new money, to education and accredited training until the age of eighteen, including a broader-based baccalaureate, incorporating vocational and academic learning opportunities, with a legislative framework.
· We will set out a new policy agreement with Local Education Authorities to require them to assess the demand for Welsh-medium education, including surveying parental wishes, and to produce a resulting School Organisation Plan, setting out clear steps to meet need.

· We will create a national Welsh-medium Education Strategy to develop effective provision from nursery through to further and higher education backed up by an implementation programme.

· We will continue to develop a distinctive curriculum that is appropriate for Wales.

· We will establish a Welsh-medium Higher Education Network - the Federal College - in order to ensure Welsh-medium provision in our universities.

· We will explore the establishment of a Welsh for Adults Unit with sufficient funding, giving priority to tutor education. Reforming funding

We must get funding arrangements in place that allow schools and colleges to plan for the future.

· We will reform funding arrangements for schools and Further Education colleges, including moving to three year funding.
· We will work with local authorities, unions, professional groups and parents to review the formula through which schools are funded, including ways of mitigating the impact of large scale fluctuations in pupil numbers, so as to provide schools with a secure basis from which to plan.

· We will continue the existing grant arrangements for small and rural schools, making greater use of school buildings to improve viability.
Ensuring the best start for young children

We are determined that very young children will have every opportunity to develop and grow in a happy, healthy and supportive environment. In our programme of government over the four year term:

· We will commit to progressing provision of universal, affordable childcare, with additional budget support during the Assembly term, including extended free, full-time, high-quality childcare for two year olds in areas of greatest need.

Creating 21st-century schools

Schools need to be fit for purpose and properly funded, with highly professional and motivated staff. Children must be able to get the support and resources they need, and follow a curriculum which inspires and encourages achievement.

Schools must work in partnership with parents and the community to deliver real and lasting benefits for all children, whatever their background.

To meet these challenges, our programme of government is that, over the four year term:

· We will deliver radical reductions in class sizes for three to seven year olds.
· We will support the development of community schools, to include better integration of sporting opportunities in both schools and communities.

· We will continue a major capital investment programme to upgrade school buildings, exceeding the sums provided over the previous four years.

· We will institute a programme of increased investment in sustainable school buildings, to include provision of water sprinklers.
· We will provide more resources for physical education in schools and we will promote the retention of school playing fields.
· We will initiate a pilot scheme for laptops for children.
· We will bring forward legislation on Additional Learning Needs.
· We will establish an enquiry into disengagement from learning amongst children and young people to look at evidence of what works. The remit will include the transition from primary to secondary schools, the curriculum, the delivery of post-16 education and the potential of personalised learning.
· We will maintain the programme of free school breakfasts.
· We will assess the impact on secondary school funding of developments in the 14 – 19 curriculum, and will bring forward proposals for discussion on post-14 education accordingly.
· We will review the way in which we measure educational attainment, including the use of free school meals as an indicator in this field.
· We will develop a national structure for classroom assistants.
· We will support pilot schemes for Saturday and summer schools for sport, music and the arts.
· We will develop opportunities for schools and colleges to work with local sports clubs and invest further in sports coaching.

· We will investigate ways in which volunteering by young people can be better recognised and rewarded.
· We will assess the impact on educational provision of new patterns of in-migration, particularly from accession countries.
Developing adult learning
Wales has a strong network of colleges and universities offering further and higher education. We will maximise the economic, social and cultural impact of colleges and universities on learners and on the wider community. We are resolved to develop a further and higher education system which offers a broad range of learning opportunities, is responsive to the needs of students and employers, and tackles poverty and disadvantage. We are committed to widening participation in higher education. All educational institutions will be strongly encouraged to work together to make the most of their resources and provide the widest possible range of opportunities.

To do this:

· We will provide extra assistance with student debt and maintain existing fee levels in Wales up to and including 2009/10. We will maintain the current level of resource throughout the four year Assembly term, doing whatever is possible to mitigate the effects on Welsh-domiciled students if the Westminster government lifts the cap on fees in 2009.
· We will substantially increase the number of apprenticeships.
· We will make full use of the Webb Report into Further Education in Wales to develop a system which is responsive to the needs and priorities of local communities, employers and the local and regional economy. A partnership approach will continue to provide the bedrock of our approach in this area.
· We will work to widen participation for all ages in further and higher education, promoting adult and community learning both in relation to employability and the wider benefits which education brings.
· We will ensure that extra funding is tied to new approaches in higher education, to develop proposals for joint working and for the further development of inter-University agreements for co-working between departments across Wales.

· We will establish a new National Youth Service Fund.
· We will work to establish a National Science Academy.
· We will establish new National Research Centres.

7. A Fair and Just Society
________________________________________________________________

Our vision is of a fair and just Wales, in which all citizens are empowered to determine their own lives and to shape the communities in which they live.

Our ambition is a Wales where everyone achieves their full human potential and everyone can live free from poverty, discrimination, fear or abuse.

The government will be unswerving in its adherence to the principles of inclusion, pluralism and fairness. We will ensure that all sections of the Welsh population are engaged as citizens. Our programme emphasises tackling the causes – rather than just the symptoms – of problematic behaviour and protects vulnerable individuals or groups from suffering harm or discrimination.

We are firmly committed to supporting and including those who are marginalised from society. We will offer appropriate and effective treatment and support to re-engage with the wider community and to ensure that the wider community is fully inclusive.

We want to see a fair system of youth and criminal justice, in which the people of Wales have every confidence.

Our programme of government involves:

Promoting equality

Enhancing citizenship and community cohesion
Regenerating communities
Tackling child poverty
Ensuring an effective youth and criminal justice system

Promoting equality

We recognise that if some individuals and groups are discriminated against arbitrarily, this damages their life chances. We aim to foster cohesive, plural and just communities where people, regardless of physical ability, gender, sexual orientation, race, creed or language, can feel valued.

Over the next four years:

We will work to make a success of the new Single Equality Body in Wales, drawing on the autonomous experience of this approach in Northern Ireland.

· We will, continue and extend collaboration with the Interfaith Forum to promote understanding across cultures and faiths and further develop and disseminate good practice models in Welsh public bodies which acknowledge and celebrate both diversity and commonalities.

· We will explore and implement new ways of engaging citizens through participative and deliberative methods.
· We will implement the All-Wales Strategy on Gypsies and Travellers.

· We will refine and implement the Refugee Inclusion Strategy including the recommendations on the interests of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

· We will develop a strategy to reduce hate crime.

Enhancing citizenship and community cohesion

We will develop and implement an overarching, all-Wales community cohesion strategy. As part of this strategy:

· We will establish units in every local authority area, encouraging positive citizenship, discouraging and addressing anti-social behaviour through strategies such as mediation, reparation orders, child safety orders and acceptable behaviour contracts. We will develop and implement an All-Wales Alcohol Reduction Strategy aiming to increase the number of drug and alcohol rehabilitation places available in Wales.
· We will, in relation to substance misuse, further integrate the principles of harm-reduction models by considering, if the evidence supports it, the adoption of the pilot programmes currently under way in England.

· We will take forward the report into substance misuse counselling services produced earlier in 2007, including workforce development and the establishment of an All-Wales Group to oversee standards and services.

· We will review the effectiveness of harm-reduction education programmes in schools.
Regenerating Communities

We are strongly resolved to regenerate diverse communities, of place and of people, across Wales. We will empower people to rebuild the social, economic and cultural fabric of their communities and we will engage positively and purposefully with community representatives.

Over the next four years:

· We will provide extra help for pensioners with council tax.
· We will establish integrated and cross-cutting initiatives aimed at economic development and regeneration, particularly in areas of high deprivation - the existing models of the Heads of the Valleys Programme and Môn a Menai will be exemplars.
· We will reinstate and refocus the Post Office Development Fund, exploring with local government colleagues, ways in which Post Offices might better be used for local authority, business and other local services and also encouraging the location of free ATMs in post offices.
· We will work together to develop Communities First into its Communities Next phase, drawing on the experience of the wider community development movement in Wales and the findings of the Interim Evaluation of the programme.
· We will embed and implement in full the strategy relating to the support and co-ordination of advice services in Wales, so that comprehensive benefit advice is available in all local authority areas.
· We will continue and further support the Voluntary Sector Scheme and further enhance the role of the sector in policy formation.
Tackling child poverty

We recognise that child poverty, including severe child poverty, is a matter of great concern, whilst recognising that progress has been made.

We underline again the need for cross-cutting policies and programmes to tackle child poverty (and the poverty experienced by those families and communities all over Wales within which poor children live). This government commits itself to developing Wales-specific solutions and to integrating strategies with appropriate programmes that are currently within the competence of the Westminster government. To this end:

· We will support the aim to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate child poverty by 2020.
· We will implement an extra Children’s Bond for all children entering school.
· We will legislate to establish a duty on public agencies to make and demonstrate their contribution to ending child poverty.
· We will establish an ‘expert group’ to address the further and wider policy requirements necessary to meet the targets set in Eradicating Child Poverty in Wales – Measuring Success.

· We will instigate a robust evaluative review of the outcomes of existing anti-poverty programmes in Wales with the intention of building, where appropriate, on programme achievements while establishing robust and demonstrable outcome benchmarks and sound practice and evaluation methodologies for planned programmes (for example, Communities Next).
· We will, as part of this process, integrate the various available and salient datasets on the extent of child poverty in Wales and the outcomes of policy interventions and also audit and integrate, where possible, existing anti-poverty programmes such as Communities First, Flying Start, Job Centre Plus, Job Match etc.
· We will adopt the Wales Spatial Plan as an integrating tool in this policy area.
· We will establish credit unions – as a form of social enterprise – in all parts of Wales.
· We will, against the background of universal coverage ensure access to a credit union for every secondary school in Wales by 2011.
· We will further develop the ability of Welsh credit unions to take deposits of Child Trust Fund accounts.

Ensuring an Effective Youth and Criminal Justice System

We are firmly committed to tackling the root causes of problematic behaviour, wherever it occurs, in a robust way. We aim to prevent offending and re-offending amongst young people. We will also consider the potential for devolution of some or all of the criminal justice system.

In our programme of government:

· We will continue prioritisation of preventative intervention and non-custodial solutions in relation to youth offending and youth justice matters (a) in the funding of these areas (b) in the use of diversion from custody strategies consistent with an emphasis on evidence on efficacy.
· We will consider effective models of cross-cutting practice between the youth justice system and education, housing and mental health services.
· We will consider the evidence for the devolution of the criminal justice system within the contexts of (a) devolution of funding and (b) moves towards the establishment of a single administration of justice in Wales.

8. A Sustainable Environment
________________________________________________________________

Climate change is the greatest threat facing humanity. Everyone in Wales has a contribution to make in tackling it – individuals, households, businesses, public services and community groups. This government, through its commitment to sustainable development, must be at the forefront of that campaign.

Wales has a rich and diverse environment in rural and urban areas alike that needs to be protected and enhanced for people now and for generations to come.

The local environment matters and communities are blighted by littering, fly-tipping and pollution. We recognise the importance of the local environment, the effect on communities and will support its improvement to a high standard.

Wales is an energy rich country and we therefore have a role to play in producing energy from alternative sources. But we must also make every effort not to squander our precious resources, which means helping households and organisations across Wales to be more energy efficient.

Some areas of rural Wales are experiencing rapid economic, social and cultural change, facing unique challenges and having to adapt to new circumstances. We look forward to thriving rural communities, where people live and work and enjoy a high quality of life. We will provide support to those communities in the many different parts of rural Wales to build a new future.

We will not digress from playing our part in tackling global environmental challenges, in caring for our environment and in placing the family farm at the heart of our strategy for sustainable food production and rural development.

Our programme for government over the four year term will involve:

· Tackling climate change
· Supporting rural development
· Achieving sustainable energy production and consumption
· Improving the local environment

Tackling climate change

Climate change is a major global threat. We are resolved that this government and the people of Wales will play the fullest possible part in reducing its CO2 emissions. This cannot be a short-term project – there must be radical changes in people’s behaviour and their expectations which will require concerted action over the full four year term of the Assembly government.

· We will establish a Climate Change Commission for Wales. which will be chaired by the Minister for Sustainability and Rural Development. It will include members from all four political parties, businesses, local government and voluntary sector groups. The Commission will assist with the development of new policies and the creation of consensus on climate change. It will work in partnership with Wales’ representative on the UK Sustainable Development Commission.
· We will aim to achieve annual carbon reduction-equivalent emissions reductions of 3% per year by 2011 in areas of devolved competence. We will set out specific sectoral targets in relation to residential, public and transport areas. We will work with the heavy industry/power generation industries to reduce emissions in those sectors.
· We will commit to targets on the carbon neutrality of public buildings.
· We will provide support for indigenous woodlands, including a tree for all new babies and adopted children, helping to create a Welsh National Forest of native trees to act as a carbon sink.

Supporting rural communities

Rural communities across Wales are experiencing massive changes. Where necessary, they need support to thrive, adapt and diversify in order to achieve a better and more prosperous future. They need this support for the full term of the Assembly government.

To help rural areas of all kinds, we resolve that:

· We will submit a Rural Development Plan for 2007 – 2013 to the European Union, based on the level of Tir Mynydd funding agreed by the Assembly in March 2007 and develop a replacement scheme post 2010, including a new farm entrants scheme, taking into account the impact on other elements within Axis Two.
· We will set in motion a major initiative on local food procurement.

· We will very shortly complete, publish and implement a Strategic Action Plan for the dairy industry.

· We will seek a derogation from EU Regulations to prohibit the burying of fallen stock on farm land.
· We will vigorously pursue a programme of bTB eradication.

· We will encourage work with the relevant local authorities to identify and address the particular needs of deep rural areas.
· We will make a commitment to maximum restrictions on GM crops.

Achieving sustainable energy production and consumption

Wales has long been a significant producer as well as a consumer of energy. We are committed to ensuring that Wales adapts to changing energy production in a sustainable way that brings benefits to Wales’s people. We will:

· Draw up an Energy Strategy, which will be integrated with a planning framework, to include actions on energy efficiency, microgeneration, eco roofs, diversified renewable energy generation and biomass, an improved advisory service for citizens and communities, and support for a study on the proposed Severn Barrage, including its environmental impact.
· Continue to provide energy efficiency grants, including a non-means tested element within the context of a National Energy Efficiency and Savings Plan.
· We will, following production of an Energy Route Map and an Assembly government Energy Strategy, review TAN 8, revising upwards the targets for energy from renewables, drawn from a range of sources.
· We will promote research and development into renewable technologies including their application on-shore and off-shore.
· We will develop a support programme to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy production on-farm.
· We will explore the introduction of a grant scheme to convert to energy crops.
Improving the local environment

To achieve clean, healthy and sustainable local environments in which people can take pride:

· We will improve targets for recycling with legislation and support for better and more coordinated waste management.
· We will establish an initiative to support local authorities and voluntary action to improve the quality of their local environment.
· We will introduce compulsory Health Impact Assessments for open cast coal applications, together with buffer zones, and with an emphasis on planners and developers working closely with local communities.

· We will pursue the devolution of building regulations to the Assembly.

· We will create an all-Wales coastal path.

9. A Rich and Diverse Culture
________________________________________________________________

We celebrate Wales as a community of diverse cultures: united for our common good, celebrating our many traditions, ensuring that Wales uses its two national languages to their full potential, and bringing people of all origins together.

We envisage wide participation in the full range of arts, cultural and sporting activities. Our aim is that high-quality cultural experiences are available to all people, irrespective of where they live or their background. We will celebrate and conserve Wales’s outstanding heritage, of ordinary people and well-known artists, alike.

Wales is renowned across the world for the performance of its teams and sportsmen and women, from rugby to cycling to wheelchair athletes.

However, we need to broaden participation in sport and physical activity because of its significant health benefits. Our ambition is for a nation where everyone gets their recommended thirty minutes of exercise five times a week, and sporting clubs and teams are flourishing.

This programme of government involves:

Supporting the Welsh Language
Promoting arts and culture
Encouraging sport and physical activity

Placing Wales in the World

Supporting the Welsh Language

The Welsh language belongs to everyone in Wales as part of our common national heritage, identity and public good. We will work to ensure that more people, young and old, can learn Welsh and encourage it to thrive as a language of many communities all over Wales.

· We will be seeking enhanced legislative competence on the Welsh Language. Jointly we will work to extend the scope of the Welsh Language Legislative Competence Order included in the Assembly government’s first year legislative programme, with a view to a new Assembly Measure to confirm official status for both Welsh and English, linguistic rights in the provision of services and the establishment of the post of Language Commissioner.

· We will drive forward our efforts to obtain agreement on the use of the Welsh language in specified areas of EU business. We will use this experience to explore with the Westminster government the making of an official application to the Council of Ministers for the Welsh language to receive official EU language and working language status.
· We will expand the funding and support for Welsh-medium magazines and newspapers, including the establishment of a Welsh-language daily newspaper.
· We will support the dot.cym campaign to gain domain name status for Wales on the internet.
· We will continue research work into population shifts in order to promote balanced populations in all parts of Wales.

Promoting Arts and Culture

Our arts and culture programme widens access to Wales’s many heritage, cultural and sporting activities so that low income should not be a barrier to participation. We will foster local cultural and sporting activity and support two major new centres. Wales’s libraries will be dramatically improved so that they can develop free access to cultural materials for all, fit for the 21st century.

In this programme of government

· We will ensure that opportunities to enjoy Wales’s rich cultural and sporting activities are available to all, with continued free access to museums and galleries.

· We will establish a National English-language Theatre and explore the creation of a National Gallery for Wales.
· We will, by building on the success of free entry to museums and galleries, give Welsh pensioners and children free entry to Assembly-funded heritage sites.
· We will continue to implement the recommendations of the Stephens Review into the future development of the arts in Wales, so that there is a clear approach to setting strategic policy.
· We will place a statutory obligation on local authorities to promote culture and encourage partnership to deliver high-quality cultural experiences for their communities.

· We will support opportunities for Wales’s artistic producers to participate on the international stage.
· We will consider enshrining the concept of artistic freedom in Welsh law, subject to the Assembly’s new powers.

· We will continue to support the
case for making St. David’s Day a Bank Holiday.

· We will support establishing a Kyffin Williams gallery.
· We will establish an all-Wales Collection of People’s History, backed by a permanent curatorial staff with responsibility for the promotion and development of the collection.
· We will, through working with local authorities, establish a major programme of capital investment and refurbishment of our public library network.
· We will continue to invest in improving ICT in libraries, including maintaining free, universal public access to the internet, to help bring them into the 21st century.

Encouraging Sport and Physical Activity

Seven out of ten people in Wales do not undertake enough physical activity to gain any health benefits. We will encourage greater participation by people of all ages and social backgrounds in grassroots sport. Recognising that physical activity other than sport is also beneficial to health, we will support greater participation in cycling and walking, and encourage the people of Wales, of all backgrounds, to enjoy the natural environment.

Over the next four years:

· We will continue to fund schemes which have enabled older people and children to enjoy free swimming.
· We will significantly extend the children’s scheme by giving all children the opportunity to use a sport or leisure facility or a swimming pool free of charge at weekends.

· We will provide extra support for sports bodies wishing to develop Welsh national teams.
· We will increase investment in school sport and boost after-school activities, including the continued support of Dragon Sport and schemes to improve the participation of girls.
· We will, in order to help boost grassroots sport we will train additional coaches to the latest standards and ensure that school children undertake at least five hours of physical activity each week.
· We will deliver a successful UK Schools Games in 2009, as part of the run-up to the 2012 Olympics – which will provide a platform to help our young athletes deliver their full potential.
· We will promote Wales’s contribution to international sporting events, building on the opportunities of the Ryder Cup.
· We will work with Supporters Direct to help give Welsh fans of all sports a greater say in how their clubs are run.
· We will create more fun and healthier opportunities for mass participation in walking, cycling and running events.
· We will foster a sense of public ownership in relation to the countryside, urban green spaces and our coastline, recognising that many socially excluded groups do not currently enjoy their social, cultural and health benefits.

Placing Wales in the World

As this document ends, we turn to the Wales which we will attempt to fashion over the next four years - a confident and out-going nation where we recognise the strength of our own identity and the part which we can play in the world. We envisage a Wales which is increasingly known and recognised throughout the globe, and in which Wales is a country to which the world is increasingly welcomed.

Many Welsh men and women are already renowned for their outstanding contributions in the fields of film, music, literature and industry. The next four years will provide some great opportunities to welcome into Wales events which take place on that world stage – an Ashes test match in 2009, the Ryder Cup in 2011. For whole weeks at a time, Wales will be in the living rooms of nations right around the globe.

Sport, of course, is only one of the ways in which the world will come to Wales. In a globalising economy, those places which will prosper in the future will be those which offer the clearest sense of stability, sustainability and identity. When information flows around the globe in nano-seconds, so that it no longer matters if your desk is in Hirwaen or Honolulu, Snowdonia or Singapore, it will be the attractions of local natural assets - of coast and climate, of scale and cultural infrastructure - which will provide an economic edge.

In a world where people and organisations can go anywhere, the somewhere has to be not just another anonymous spot on the world’s surface but a place which offers a sense of identity which is confident and out-going, and a quality of life beyond the workplace which sustains a sense of creativity and well-being: in other words, the Wales we hope to foster during the lifetime of this agreement.

Over the next four years:

· We will widen Wales’ membership and effectiveness in appropriate international bodies, including institutions associated with the European Union.

We will support the campaign for Wales to become a fair trade nation.

· We will enhance Wales’s role in key European organisations and networks such as the Committee of the Regions, the Regions with Legislative Power and the Conference of Peripheral & Maritime Regions.

· We will continue to build on the work already done to raise the international profile of Wales, to make Wales a location of choice for people to live, work, study, visit and do business.

· We will continue to make our contribution to the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, with support for the Wales for Africa programme and its international development fund.

· We will work hard to ensure that Wales becomes a strong international trading nation and a valued partner in international relationships.

· We will develop a more strategic approach to putting Wales on the world map, bringing greater coherence to the breadth of the Assembly government’s overseas activities and representation, and working with other Welsh interests outside government to maximise the impact and benefit to Wales.

· We will develop and promote the Wales Brand in the context of a coherent marketing and public diplomacy framework.

· We will engage with Welsh interests overseas – diaspora, alumni, business – to derive maximum benefit from the as-yet untapped resource they can contribute to our international agenda.

· We will work actively within the re-affirmed Memorandum of Understanding, signed with Patagonia (Chubut Province) in March 2007.

10. GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS

Labour Party Wales - Plaid Cymru Coalition Government: Governance Arrangements

Guiding principles

The parties’ objective is to form and maintain in partnership the devolved Government of Wales, until the dissolution of the Assembly before the election in 2011 with its Ministers holding office in accordance with the provisions of the Government of Wales Act.

To work effectively, to deliver their Programme, and to achieve their shared common goals, the parties will need good will, mutual trust, and agreed procedures which foster collective decision-making and responsibility while respecting each party’s distinct identity.

The principles of good faith and fairness will underpin the two parties’ approaches to all aspects of the conduct of the Government’s business, including the allocation of responsibilities; the Government’s policy and legislative programme; the Government’s budget; the conduct of business and the resolution of disputes.

Close consultation between the First Minister, Deputy First Minister; other Ministers; and the AMs of the two

parties will be the foundation of the Government’s success.

Collective responsibility

Collective responsibility is accepted by the parties to mean that all the business of the Government, including decisions, announcements, expenditure plans, proposed legislation and appointments, engages the collective responsibility of the Government as a whole and must be handled with an appropriate degree of consultation and discussion so as to ensure the support of all Ministers in a collective basis. Ministers have the opportunity to express their views frankly before decisions are made; opinions expressed and advice offered within the Government remain private (subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act); decisions of the Government are binding on and supported by all Ministers; and that mechanisms for sharing information and resolving disputes are followed.

To achieve this, the Government will update and publish the Welsh Ministerial Code and produce a protocol for the Coalition Government to incorporate the principles of collective decision-making and the procedures to be followed to promote the good conduct of business, drawing on best practice elsewhere.
Portfolios

The initial structure of portfolios and their allocation between the parties will be agreed between the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister. Within this context, the First Minister will, with the approval of the Queen, formally appoint Ministers, including Plaid Cymru members nominated for appointment by the Deputy First Minister.

The portfolios and the names of the Ministers, as well as any alter changes, will be announced to the Assembly in plenary session at the earliest opportunity.

Any changes to the structure of portfolios or their allocation between the parties during the lifetime of the Agreement will be agreed between the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.
Before seeking the approval of the Assembly to the nomination of a Counsel General, the First Minister will agree the proposed nomination with the Deputy First Minister.

The roles of the First and Deputy First Minister

The parties agree that, subject to the nomination of the Assembly and the approval of The Queen, the Leader of Labour in the National Assembly will be nominated as the First Minister and the leader of Plaid Cymru will be appointed as Deputy First Minister.

The First Minister will be responsible to the Assembly for all aspect of policies and retains ultimate responsibility for all policies. However, in order to provide consistency across portfolios and the need to engage the two parties of the coalition government, both the First Minister and Deputy First Minister will be engaged in policy presentation. Such arrangements will include deputising for the First Minister in the Assembly and making public announcements.

It is essential that both the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister are kept fully and promptly informed across the range of Government business, so that they can engage in any issue where they consider that appropriate. The procedures to be established for handling business within the Government will require officials to copy all relevant material to the offices of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister.

The First Minister and the Deputy First Minister will have appropriate official, political and specialist support to enable them to discharge their roles effectively.

A Cabinet Committee will be formed comprising the First Minister, Deputy First Minister, Business Minister, and the Business Manager of the other party.

The Committee’s responsibility is to ensure the effectiveness of the Coalition Government. The Committee will:

monitor implementation of their programme

agree the participation of the partnership parties in public appointments made by government when appropriate

co-ordinate the presentation of Government policies, initiatives and statements within the National Assembly and externally

Ensure that procedures are in place for the involvement of all the partnership parties in major Government announcements.

Subject to external restraints, agree the representation of the Government in all dealings with the Secretary of State for Wales; other UK Government Ministers; other institutions at UK/EU/International level.

Shared Financial Governance

A Cabinet Committee on Finance will be formed comprising the First Minister, Deputy First Minister, the Finance Minister and the finance spokesperson of the other party which, amongst its other responsibilities, will meet to discuss the overall resource position and strategic spending priorities before the end of July in each year.

The Cabinet Committee will be responsible for the continuous process of financial monitoring and control including key resource allocation formulas.

The Parties’ Support for the Government in the Assembly

The parties should aim to agree on all matters of Government policy. Both parties are committed to constructive dialogue between Ministers and backbenchers to build a strong partnership.

The two Assembly parties will operate in support of the Coalition Government on all issues covered by this Agreement. Whilst each will make its own business management arrangements to ensure effective party support for the Government, the Business Minister and the business manager of the other party will consult and co-operate with each other to ensure the delivery of the Government’s programme.

Whilst preserving the independence of the committee system, members of the two parties serving on the same committee will co-operate as far as the formal business and legislation of the Government is concerned.

Matters of new Government policy outside this Agreement must be agreed by both parties. In all portfolios, Ministers will meet regularly with the nominated spokesperson or lead backbencher from the two parties to discuss policy. Any disagreement should be referred through internal party mechanisms until all parties agree.

Neither of the parties will support spending proposals brought before the Assembly other than by the Government or covered by this Agreement unless considered and agreed by both party groups.

The parties will agree and put in place appropriate political arrangements to facilitate an effective working relationship at all levels, including AMs of both parties who are not Ministers.

Matters reserved to the UK Parliament, other than those mentioned in this Programme, are outside the scope of this Agreement. Whenever necessary, the parties will decide, through the Cabinet Committee, how to deal with such matters on a case-by-case basis.

Distinctive Identities

The two parties recognise the need for parties to be able to maintain distinctive political identities in Government and in the National Assembly. They will therefore develop processes for:-

Ensuring appropriate credit which recognises the policy contribution of each party; and

The expression of different views publicly and in the National Assembly in a way which does not undermine the principles of collective responsibility and good faith or the basis of partnership working set out in this Agreement.

Disputes

The parties’ objective is that this Agreement will remain in place until the dissolution of the Assembly before the election in 2011. To achieve this, they will make every effort to resolve any disagreements which may arise, particularly those which threaten its continued operation.

Where a dispute arises between the partnership parties, or Ministers of the two parties, the matter will be referred to the Cabinet Committee for resolution by consensus.

Ratification of This Agreement

The parties will ratify this Agreement according to their own internal procedures. The Agreement will come into effect after ratification immediately on signature by the partnership party leaders.

Signed by

………………………………………….

Rhodri Morgan,
Leader, Labour Party Wales

Signed by

………………………………………….

Ieuan Wyn Jones
Leader, Plaid Cymru

Retired - Gone Fishing

2007-06-26T07:46:00.000-07:00

Who Calls the Shots for Labour in Wales?

2007-06-21T04:25:00.000-07:00

According to all reports Rhodri has been sent packing by his Westminster colleagues and told to go back to the Lib Dems. Unless this is some sort of master plan by anti devolution Labour MPs to force a rainbow deal that would more or less mean the end of the constitutional question for a generation, their strategy is nonsensical. It’s not in Labour’s hands to try and create a bilateral dynamic of their own. The choice facing Labour is simple, either Plaid gets a referendum with Labour support or start getting used to opposition.

All the huffing a puffing by Labour MPs arguably only serves to further the cause of the All Wales Accord – as the old proverb goes ‘a bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush’.

With Labour MPs and leading Labour AMs on diverging paths, the outcome of this affair will indicate who holds the balance of power within Labour in Wales. Make no mistake this is a power struggle that will have enormous implications for the future of our country.

Labour have a monumental decision to make that will shape their positioning as a party for decades. Are they going to be a party that embraces the need to create a modern and dynamic Wales moving the nation forward to self government, or are they going to continue to view Wales as a subservient component of a Westminster system that has failed our country for centuries?

History favours the brave – It’s time for Rhodri to show some courage and live up to his self illusion as the great Welsh political redeemer.

More Labour Strife over Red - Green deal

2007-06-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

If you want an indication of how Peter Hain is thinking look no further than the comments attributed to one of his dogs of war, Kevin Madge of the Amman Valley.

“I’m very unhappy with what’s going on at the Assembly. It reminds me of that old film Dance of the Vampires when anybody going to this castle who is bitten by a vampire ends up turning into one themselves."

In other words, innocent Labour members who get elected to the Assembly are being turned into rabid nats.

Madge of course is a senior figure in Hain's deputy leadership team. His claim to fame as Cabinet Member for Social Services in Carmarthenshire has been to privatise Home Care services. Perhaps he is so opposed to a Red - Green deal as it is likely to include (according to the Western Mail) a commitment to stop creeping privatisation!!

Cllr Madge got hammered in the recent Assembly elections as Labour candidate for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr. A once rock solid Labour seat, Carmarthen East and Dinefwr is now the second safest seat in Wales - under Plaid's Rhodri Glyn Thomas.

With electoral masterminds like that running his campaign, no wonder Hain is 50/1 to become Deputy Leader.

The Lib Dem Farce Keeps on Rolling

2007-06-18T03:09:00.000-07:00

Mike German has been hitting the airwaves all weekend saying that unless Plaid commit to a rainbow deal they are going to restart negotiating with Labour - conveniently forgetting we only are where we are ‘cause they suspended negotiations with Labour in the first place. Let's be honest, a return to Lib – Lab negotiations would be farcical. German's actions is the political equivalent of a baby throwing his toys out of the pram.

I wouldn’t put anything passed the Labour party, reneging on any Red – Green deal is obviously a distinct possibility. However it would alienate the significant proportion of their support that want to see advancement on the constitutional question.

Some would argue that Plaid should cut their losses and do a rainbow deal now to make sure they are not left with nothing. An alternative view is that the actions of the Lib Dems are tantamount to blackmail, and why would you want to spend the next four years with a bunch of charlatans holding a gun to your head?

Andrew Davies Wades in

2007-06-15T06:32:00.000-07:00

The Western Mail today is a must read - the Labour party seems to be in a state of open warfare. Most interesting was the article by Andrew Davies who more or less played his usual role as the mouthpiece of Labour MPs in talking down the need for greater powers for the Assembly – the key deal breaker in this whole affair. Andrew of course is tipped as a possible successor to Rhodri Morgan.

One prominent politician recently told me he was ‘the most boring man in Wales’. Allegedly his lack of charisma is viewed as an advantage by many of his supporters in Westminster, who believe that Andrew as WAG First Minister would bore the nation to death - turning the Assembly into a glorified county council and thus ensuring the predominance of Parliament.

Is Gordon Brown Calling the Shots?

2007-06-14T03:05:00.000-07:00

There’s increasing speculation that the current red – green negotiations are being driven from the very top of the Labour party. Rumour has it that Gordon Brown himself has basically told Rhodri Morgan to do anything to stop a Rainbow deal.

It makes political sense for Gordon of course with the next General Election in mind; the last thing he wants is open hostility along the whole Celtic fringe. The SNP are already running rings around the Westminster government, the last thing Gordon needs is more trouble coming from Wales.

Project Gordon has tried to circumvent the problem of his status as a Scottish MP by portraying him and the Labour party as the embodiment of Britishness. I think they have got it totally wrong, trying to act as the dam against the inevitable flood will get Labour nowhere. It seems ironic that the party that proposed devolution has been less able to adjust to the new political dynamics created.

There is little doubt that the Tories will probe at the Scottish roots of the PM in waiting as we near the General Election. Rebellion from the Celtic fringes will only fuel rightful desires for English self determination. The problem for Gordon is that English voters are more than likely to look to the Eton boy than the MP for Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath.

Which brings us back to Wales. If I was a Brown strategist, I’d definitely be telling Rhodri to do the deal.

Peter Hain - Billy No Mates

2007-06-13T04:06:00.000-07:00

Not only has Rhodri Morgan turned his back on him, Peter Hain is today faced with a letter in the Western Mail in which half of the Labour party in Wales pledge their support for rival Harriet Harman.

To top it off, a Plaid - Labour deal looks increasingly likely, a deal that would completely undermine his credibility. After all, this is the man who said Labour would never even seek to accommodate Plaid no matter what the circumstance.

Shurmer goes to the BBC

2007-06-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

It's with deep regret that I have to write this post that Plaid will be losing the talents of Alun Shurmer to the BBC. Having worked with Alun over a number of years I know that Plaid's loss will be the undoubted gain of the BBC.

Plaid's NCU will also be losing Rhodri Davies who is moving onwards to pastures new.

Both Alun and Rhodri were an invaluable part of the Plaid campaign team, and I think I can confidently speak for the whole party membership by thanking them for their major contribution over the last year.

On the bright side looks like Red - Green is back on the agenda.

Mittal Funding Scandal Makes the 'Times'

2007-06-10T12:06:00.001-07:00

Over five months since Plaid broke the story of Labour baker Lakshmi Mittal and the slave labour conditions of his operations in Kazakhstan reported here and here, the Sunday Times have run an excellent follow up story today for their lead.

They sent a couple of journalists out to the land of Borat to investigate Plaid's claims and come up with a tragic story of reckless disregard for health and safety and primitive working conditions.

Mittals working practices across the globe are tarnished with the same brush. He is the modern day equivalent of the sort of industrial tyrant the Labour party was set up to campaign against. It just goes to show how far the Labour party have travelled over the years that an individual like this with a personal fortune of £19bn is allowed to live in the UK virtually tax free, is championed by Brown and courted by the party.

Plaid have called on the Labour party to give Mittal's latest £2m donation to the miners of Kazakhstan. Whilst I wouldn't hold my breath on that one, the Labour party in Wales does have the opportunity to follow a different path. The opportunity is there to deliver Kier Hardie's vision of the Red Dragon and the Red Flag by uniting the progressive forces in Welsh politics.

The Contradictions of Huw Lewis

2007-06-07T05:49:00.000-07:00

As Huw Lewis has been gagged by Rhodri Morgan until the future make up of government in Wales is sorted, I thought I may as well stick the boot in. For many months Plaid's Leanne Wood and Huw have been skirmishing over Labour's claim that they can end child poverty from within the current remit of the Assembly. It was due to be the flagship Labour pledge of last months election, before they realised that everybody else knew they couldn't deliver.

Interesting therefore to see Rhodri Morgan push the fight against child poverty right up the agenda for the Third Assembly, which brought this swift response from Alan Trench. For those of you unaccustomed with Mr Trench he is a senior research fellow at University College London's Constitution Unit. He is reported today in the Western Mail as saying:

"The child poverty stuff is pretty nebulous, with most of the power to make improvements lying with non-devolved departments like Work and Pensions and the Treasury, although it is possible for the Assembly to tinker at the edges with initiatives like free school breakfasts.....The fact is, though, that in terms of really tackling child poverty Wales doesn't have the powers or the money."

which is more or less the point Leanne has been making - ie that control over the benefits system and primarily the ability to redistribute wealth is the key to tackling child poverty.

This is Huw Lewis' primary policy area of concern. I wouldn't want to question his sincerity without knowing him, but if this is his major policy area then he would have to come to the conclusion that Wales needs powers over these areas currently preserved at Westminster (which admittedly goes far further than a proper Parliament based on current devolved ideas.)Far from being the biggest unionist in the Assembly, shouldn't he be the most ardent nationalist?

Labour-Tory Coalition Shock in ......East Dunbartonshire

2007-06-06T07:40:00.000-07:00

The Herald reports that in an attempt to keep the SNP out of power the Tories and Labour have formed a coalition in East Dunbartonshire. The Council will be led by Labour's Rhondda Geekie, and Tory Bill Hendry will be Deputy Leader.

Judging on last nights Week in Week Out programme it is highly unlikely that we will see the same sort of arrangement in Cardiff Bay. But as they say, politics is a funny game....

update - according to Vaughaun Roderick's blog Rhodri Morgan has sent a three page letter to Ieuan Wyn Jones and Mike German and only a 10 line letter to Nick Bourne. I think we can all work that one out.

Where Next for Wales? - Adam Price MP

2007-06-05T02:28:00.000-07:00

Adam Price MP has posted a blog on the current dynamics in Welsh politics.

I agree with Adam, there is only two games in town. Either a Red - Green agreement which is acceptable to Plaid or an inevitable Rainbow takeover.

Which makes comments by Carwyn Jones over the weekend against a new Welsh language Act most difficult to understand. Carwyn, the leading light in the Welsh wing of Labour needs a Red - Green agreement if he is to take over from Rhodri. If there is an Alliance Administration he is out of the race, because the momentum within the Labour party will flow to the unionist wing. I understand that he needs to be seen as some sort of nat basher to undermine internal criticism of being too soft on Plaid, but if he rules out a new act as the new Minister with responsibility for the language then Red - Green will be a no goer.

The reality is that a new language act is going to be a deal breaker. The ball continues to be in Labour's court, the question continues to be what will be Rhodri's next play?

update - Price outlines his position further here:
http://www.adamprice.org.uk/blog/the-red-green-grass-of-home

Archbishop Slams Government of Wales Act

2007-06-04T02:11:00.000-07:00

Dr Barry Morgan, the Archbishop of Wales stinging attack on the Government of Wales Act provides further indication of the fundamental deficiencies of the system of government the Third Assembly will inherit.

The Archbishop describes the new system as ‘cumbersome and clumsy’ and asks the perfectly legitimate question why primary powers are good enough for Scotland but Wales has to go cap in hand to Westminster every time it wishes to pass a law?

Peter Hain likes to portray the Government of Wales Act as one of his greatest triumphs. The history books of the future will judge the Act as a shoddy compromise which held back the aspirations of a nation to placate the egos of a few Welsh based Labour MPs who care more about their own futures than those they were elected to serve.

New Welsh Index Blog

2007-05-25T05:18:00.000-07:00

view it here

http://welshblogindex.blogspot.com/

The Deep Irresponsibility of the Lib Dems

2007-05-25T02:49:00.000-07:00

Wales is now faced with the worst possible option, Labour minority rule.

Plaid’s bilateral approach ended on the basis that a rainbow deal could be delivered. Now unfortunately there’s absolutely nothing on the table for anyone and the programme of government for the next four years is going to be based on Labour’s manifesto, a most boring, unimaginative and visionless document.

The red – green document which was still work in progress provided a basis to seriously move Wales forward. Let’s hope that momentum can be built up behind a return to red green talks after the recess. It would be equally irresponsible for Labour to cut off its nose to spite its face at this stage by going alone.

The Deal the Lib Dems Jibbed - Judge for yourself

2007-05-24T05:54:00.000-07:00

The All-Wales
Accord
Agreement Establishing
An All-Wales
Government
2
May 2007
1

Foreword
A new choice, a new chance for Wales
The people of Wales spoke clearly on 3rd May. It is our duty to act on their
strong and confident judgement. No longer can the course of our national
life be dominated by one political party. While we respect the role the
Labour Party has played in Welsh politics for the past 80 years, devolution
has brought a new and exciting dynamic that demands a fresh choice. This
is what the people of Wales want. And it is what we in this All-Wales
Government are determined to deliver.
Over the last 4 years, Plaid Cymru - the Party of Wales, the Welsh
Conservative Party, and the Welsh Liberal Democrats have worked
constructively together in scrutinising the Labour Welsh Assembly
Government. We accepted the challenge to create a more consensus-based
politics, free from the tribalism of the old Westminster system. On this
common ground an ambitious and enterprising programme for government
has been built.
It takes courage to work together and open up politics to new ideas and
wider participation. But we know that the shared values we draw on will
provide stability. The great and radical traditions of Welsh politics, so
rooted in community life, nurture the hinterlands of our respective parties.
It gives us the confidence to present this programme for government to the
Nation.
We know it is a programme that will be ultimately judged not on its
aspirations but on its achievements for the people of Wales.
Ieuan Wyn Jones AM, Leader, Plaid Cymru
Nick Bourne, Leader, Welsh Conservative Group in the National
Assembly
Michael German, Leader, Welsh Liberal Democrat Group in the National
Assembly
2

Our Common Ground
The principles at the heart of this programme will guide the All-Wales
Government. Our commitment is to make Wales a fairer, more diverse and
stronger nation than it is today. We know that no individual can flourish where
society is weak – and that society cannot flourish where individuals are excluded.
And so we will work creatively to deliver public services that are innovative,
dependable and able to meet the demands of modern life.
We owe it to the future generations that we will not see, to never lose sight of the
environmental challenges that face us now. Their future quality of life is in our
hands today. On the land from which so much fossil fuel was dug, we want
renewable energy technologies to generate sustainable development that can set a
world-class example.
We celebrate the fact that Welsh has survived as a modern language, but we must
now raise our vision and see how Wales can become a truly bilingual nation. Our
precious language is one of Europe’s oldest and most accomplished literary
languages. It belongs to us all, whether we speak it or not. Indeed, its rhythms
flow so freely through English, that it is embedded in the imagination of the
whole nation.
And of course a healthier and more equal Wales will create greater confidence
and enterprise in all areas of life. Devolution offers us the opportunity to
produce more wealth locally, to invest it responsibly, and so achieve a level of
national economic success that fully harnesses the inborn potential of the people
of Wales.
Just as Wales helped forge the co-operative ideal during the Industrial
Revolution, we now offer Wales a new choice based on shared values and cooperation.
Under our All-Wales Government devolution can become more
democratic, open, ambitious and enterprising.
A new chance.
A new choice for Wales.
3

The Policy Programme
There are seven thematic pillars to our policy programme for the next Assembly
term:
1. A set of measures to promote that nation’s constitutional
development, the achievement of a bilingual society in a
country that is unified while culturally diverse.
2. A new focus on encouraging an enterprising, innovative
economy and a highly-skilled work-force.
3. Concerted action on climate change, energy efficiency
and sustainable development.
4. A forward-looking programme of investment in healthcare
and well-being.
5. Major commitments on social justice, including
childcare, affordable housing, council tax and student debt.
6. A range of actions to promote Wales in the international
context.
7. A deep commitment to developing a new style of
governing.
Each policy area is divided into high-level commitments which are definite
commitments to deliver a policy or a project within the term of the Assembly.
Supporting actions are policy commitments which will be prioritised according to
available funding each year. A document setting out our investment priorities for
the four year-term will be presented in the Autumn following the publication of
the Comprehensive Spending Review. We will set out the detail of our legislative
programme for the next year following the opening of the Senedd term in June.
4

Pillar One: Building the Nation
Introduction
The National Assembly for Wales is one of the world’s youngest democratic
institutions. We desire, above all else, to see our new democracy put down
strong and deepening roots at local and national levels. We are also united in our
commitment to achieving our dream of a genuinely bilingual country and will
give our national languages official status for the first time in our history. Our
vision is of a nation proud of its past, confident of its future, with prosperity
flowing to every part of Wales. Our culture, as the fullest expression of our
identity and our rich diversity as a nation, will be given the high priority it
deserves.
5
High-level commitments
We commit to supporting holding a referendum on the transfer
of full law-making powers as set out in the Government of
Wales Act 2006.
We will seek the transfer of further powers to the Assembly in a
range of areas including energy, transport, youth justice, mental
health, and local government and will lobby for the ban on dual
candidacy to be revoked.
We will establish an independent commission to investigate
issues relating to the funding and financial powers of the Welsh
Assembly Government.
We will secure the power to change the system of elections for
local government and hold a national referendum on the use of
the single-transferable-vote early in the term of the Assembly for
implementation by 2012.
We will introduce a Measure to give the Welsh and English
languages official status, to afford language speakers equal
rights in the provision of services, and to establish the office of
Language Commissioner. As with all legislative measures there
will be full pre-legislative consultation on these proposals.
We will issue a National Investment Bond as a means of
generating the capital investment to create a 21st century
national infrastructure
We will request the power to make St. David’s Day a national
public holiday.
We will establish an English language National Theatre and
ensure the National Gallery is a world class institution with a
distinct identity, a strong emphasis on contemporary art and
links to local galleries across Wales.
We will place the delivery of modern world-class public services
and the development of an enterprising economy at the heart of
nation-building.
6
We will publish a national strategy to develop and encourage
Welsh-medium education from the nursery sector through to
higher education. Appropriate mechanisms will be developed in
concert with local authorities, and the FE and HE sectors,
including the establishment of a Welsh-medium Federal
College/Coleg Ffederal Cymraeg utilising existing HEI
facilities.

Supporting actions
Governance
i. We will review local government finance, building on the
recommendations of the Lyons Report.
The Welsh Language
ii. We will establish a Welsh for Adults Unit with sufficient funding, giving
priority to tutor education.
iii. We will strengthen the planning guidance TAN 20 to include clear
guidelines on how to draw up a language impact study.
iv. We will create additional Language Action Areas, in conjunction with the
mentrau iaith and Menter a Busnes, to support language recovery and economic
development in target communities.
v. We will support the campaign to establish a daily Welsh language
newspaper and will examine all possible means of ensuring its success.
vi. We will set up a powerful Language Unit in the First Minister’s office to
co-ordinate policy across Government.
Culture
vii. We will implement the key recommendations of the Stephens Report on
the arts in Wales.
viii. We will reaffirm the operational independence of the Arts Council of
Wales.
ix. We will establish a national Arts Development fund to support young
talent and seek additional funds from Westminster to establish a National
Archive.
x. We will strengthen the Creative Industries Fund and ensure cultural
industries benefit fully from the next round of Convergence Fund support.
xi. We will increase support for the National Eisteddfod based on an agreed
modernisation programme and enhance financial support for Wales’ other
leading cultural festivals.
7
xii. We will expand the role of arts, culture and learning in promoting health
and well-being.
xiii. We will develop a ‘duty of care’ towards cultural provision as a legal
responsibility of local authorities.

Pillar Two: An enterprising, innovative and
high-skill economy
Introduction
We are a small nation with a huge and as yet not fully realised potential. To make
progress over the next four years we will invest in our most precious resource:
the skills, enterprise and creativity of our people. We will create the best
environment possible for learning, innovation, business start-up and growth,
giving our young people the biggest stake possible in our future success as a
nation. We will raise our rate of business start-up, our productivity and research
and development spending and begin to close the wealth gap between Wales and
the rest of the United Kingdom, and help place our nation at the leading-edge of
the world-wide knowledge economy.
High-level commitments
We will enhance and extend the business rate relief scheme
throughout Wales, seek to create Enterprise Zones in
disadvantaged areas and to offer corporation tax rebates in the
Convergence Fund region.
We will make it easier for small local firms in all parts of Wales
to win Government contracts and aim for 60% or more of public
procurement to be local or Welsh-based by 2010.
Year-on-year we will make progress on closing the funding gap
between the HE sector in England and Wales, and ensure that
extra funding is tied to new approaches, including the
establishment of a National Science Academy and a Welsh
Institute of Design which will be international centres of
excellence working alongside existing HE institutions.
We remain opposed to the introduction of top-up fees during
this Assembly term and will do everything possible to mitigate
8
the effect on Welsh students if the Westminster Government
lifts the cap on fees in 2009.
We will progressively drive down class sizes across Wales so
that first each local authority and then each school has average
class sizes below 25, though with some flexibility for small rural
schools.
We will take steps to widen participation in further and higher
education and recognise and enhance the value of vocational
education and skills development.
We will provide additional resources to upgrade school
buildings above the level provided by the previous Government.
We will work with local authorities to ensure that those schools
in greatest need of additional investment, wherever they are in
Wales, will be given the highest priority. New and refurbished
school buildings will be built to the highest environmental
standards
We will initiate a pilot scheme for laptops for children in
secondary schools at age 11 as part of a national IT strategy.
Supporting actions
The Economy
i. We will designate a Minister to lead on developing an enterprise culture.
ii. We will establish a grant scheme to promote the growth of social
enterprises, co-operatives, intermediate labour markets and credit unions.
iii. We will develop a 'green jobs' strategy to develop Wales as a world leader
in environmental technology and services.
iv. We will introduce a voucher scheme to allow businesses to commission
the business advice services they need.
v. We will develop an economic strategy for rural Wales based on the
promotion of regional growth centres.
vi. We will review planning regulations and practice with a view to removing
any unnecessary roadblocks to economic development
vii. We will extend business rate-relief to include self-catering establishments.
viii. We will launch a sea-side towns initiative, where possible linked to the
Convergence Fund, to help improve the infrastructure of our coastal resorts.
9
Higher education
ix. We will appoint a Chief Scientific Adviser to drive forward the
development of a comprehensive Welsh science policy and work with HE
institutions and the National Science Academy to increase the levels of R&D
activity in Wales to the European average.
x. We will support the development of new University in North-East
Wales.
Further education
xi. We will publish proposals on meeting our Future Skills Needs.
xii. We will develop a system of further education which is responsive to the
needs and priorities of employers and the local and regional economy, building
on the good practice and quality provision that already exists in the sector. We
recognise that this is best delivered through a partnership approach between
employers, FE colleges and other training providers, and government.
xiii. We will introduce three year budgets for FE Colleges to ensure they are
more able to plan effectively for the future
xiv. We will promote adult and community learning opportunities which are
related both to employability and the wider benefits of learning.
xv. We will develop a targeted entitlement for first steps into further
education.
xvi. We will ensure a strong voice for Sector Skills Councils in the
development of local and regional commissioning of learning provision.
xvii. We will protect and enhance the role of the Workers’ Education
Association in further education, recognising its unique role in providing adult
learning in some of the most difficult to reach communities.
Schools
xviii. We will maintain and enhance the Small and Rural Schools fund, and
promote federation as a viable alternative to closure. We will fund all schools
through a formula which will provide long-term sustainability, including the
introduction of three-year budgets.
xix. We will develop an enhanced safe route to school programme, investing
in a modern school transport system based on the use of single deck buses,
appropriate supervision or CCTV and an end to the three seat rule.
xx. We will develop an anti-bullying strategy and create a national advocacy
service focused in the first instance on the needs of looked after children.
xxi. We will support the introduction of 20 or 10 mph zones in school
neighbourhoods.
10
xxii. We will implement the key recommendations of the previous Assembly’s
Education Committee’s review of special educational needs with a particular
emphasis on the need for regional commissioning.
xxiii. We will introduce Saturday and summer schools for sport, music and the
arts on a pilot basis.
xxiv. We will develop proposals to extend compulsory education and
accredited training provision to all 17 and 18 year olds.
xxv. We will strengthen the Welsh Baccalaureate, creating a vocational as well
as academic variant and promote both throughout Wales, providing further
choice alongside existing A-levels.
xxvi. We will provide support for more specialists and peripatetic teachers to
teach subjects as science, maths and languages in primary schools.
xxvii. We will develop opportunities for schools and colleges to twin with local
sports clubs and invest further in sports coaching. This will create new coaching
opportunities, lifelong learning chances and better use of facilities.

Pillar Three: Living Sustainably
Introduction
Climate change is the single most important challenge we will face for the
duration of this century. We are determined that Wales will play its part in
addressing this vital global issue. Creating a sustainable living environment for
future generations is the biggest responsibility that any Government carries and
we are committed to Wales becoming a beacon of global best practice in
sustainable development. Ensuring a truly modern public transport
infrastructure and a flourishing local food production system will be vital
components in our strategy.
High-level commitments
We will aim to achieve annual carbon-equivalent emissions
reductions of 3% per year by 2011. To achieve this end we will
set out specific targets and action programmes for the
11
residential, business, public and transport sectors. We will
develop an appropriate strategy to achieve these targets by
consulting with appropriate stakeholders.
We will introduce a Climate Change Measure giving an
independent body, such as Cynnal Cymru, the role of
monitoring progress and advising ministers on the setting of
targets.
We will publish and implement a Renewable Energy Strategy
with the aim of achieving a renewable electricity generation
target of 20% by 2015, with a greater emphasis on the diversity
of technologies available beyond onshore wind. We will set out
plans to end our dependence on oil and gas within a generation.
Our long-term aim is that all of Wales’ electricity needs are met
from renewable sources.
We will ensure by 2015 that all new publicly funded buildings
will be built to carbon-neutral standards and generate a
proportion of their own energy on-site from renewable sources.
Each local authority will be required to draw up a local energy
plan setting out its plans to promote micro-generation and
energy conservation.
We will maintain and strengthen our duty towards sustainable
development through the introduction of a national
sustainability index.
We will review the TAN 8 planning guidance policy to ensure it
promotes the full range of renewable energy sources.
We will promote a National Energy Savings Initiative as a onestop-
shop, providing energy efficiency and micro-generation
grants and free low-energy bulbs to households.
We will draw up a firm programme for upgrading North/South
and West-East road links. North-South rail links will also be
improved as a matter of priority, alongside an extended
community rail strategy to help extend business and tourism
links into smaller communities and more remote areas across
Wales. We will also institute a fast, convenient and integrated
north-south coach service
12
Supporting actions
Renewable energy
i. We will appoint independent advisers and support research to help
evaluate the economic and environmental implications of tidal and estuarial
energy sources.
ii. We will ensure environmental technology and alternative energy are key
research areas for our National Science Academy.
iii. We will publish strategies to develop biomass, energy crops and wood
energy.
iv. We will lobby the UK Government for a minimum price guarantee for all
householders and businesses selling excess renewable electricity back to the
National Grid.
Energy efficiency
v. In addition to our plans for carbon-neutral buildings we will place a
particular emphasis on greening the public sector through measures such as
improved procurement policy to reduce packaging and the use of low energy
lighting and smart meters.
vi. We will seek the necessary powers to develop a sustainable buildings code
requiring all new-builds to have energy-efficiency measures as standard. We
expect these measures to include proper insulation, smart meters and combined
heat and power units.
Sustainability
vii. We will aim for at least 50% of household waste to be recycled by 2011,
and set targets for the phasing out of landfill disposal. We will engage fully with
local authorities on waste minimisation, innovative work on producing energy
from waste and increasing levels of kerbside recycling collection.
viii. We will reform planning guidance to create a presumption of a minimum
500 metre residential buffer zone on opencast developments.
ix. We will revise the planning policy on out-of-town supermarkets so that
their retail impact on town centres is fully considered.
x. We will create a Welsh National Forest of native trees to act as a carbon
sink and to promote bio-diversity.
xi. We will introduce a Welsh Marine Measure as a means of protecting our
coastal resources and promoting sustainability.
Food and Agriculture
xii. We will ensure that 60% of publicly procured food is sourced from Wales
by 2015
xiii. We will create a young entrants scheme in farming. We will also establish
a consultative forum with the Young Farmers’ Clubs network.
13
xiv. We will seek the powers to implement a statutory code, if necessary, for
regulating relationships between supermarkets and their suppliers. We will
review the whole sector from farm to fork, looking at supermarkets prices, the
supply chain and the processing sector.
xv. We will restore to the agriculture budget the level of funding available
under the previous Tir Mynydd Budget, establish a new agri-environmental
scheme and ensure the Assembly government plays a leading role in discussions
on CAP reform.
xvi. We will develop a strategy for the Welsh dairy sector in close consultation
with the industry.
xvii. We will seek a derogation from the EU regulations which prohibit the
burying of fallen stock on farmers land.
xviii. We will develop a national strategy, coordinating the agricultural industry,
the veterinary and emergency services to respond to and tackle animal diseases.
We will implement a strategy to eradicate bovine TB.
xix. We will oppose the planting of GM crops.
xx. We will support farmers markets and food fairs in the promotion of
Welsh food and drink, and will examine the potential of reduced-cost use of
public sector facilities for these purposes.
Transport
xxi. We will deliver continuing improvement in public transport, including
rail, bus/coach and community transport, ensuring better integration of services
and promoting measures such as co-ordinated timetables and through-ticketing,
and reduce the barriers and complexities in providing and accessing community
transport.
xxii. We will introduce a Transport Measure setting up a National Transport
Authority together with a Transport Passenger's Committee for Wales and giving
local authorities and the Assembly Government greater powers to introduce bus
services that are more responsive to local need.
xxiii. We will explore new ways of investing in high quality rolling stock in
Welsh rail services, including a bond issue and the Government becoming a full
or part-owner in a stock-leasing company.
xxiv. We will give new impetus to the flagging programmes to extend cycle
paths and urban bus lanes. We will pilot a sustainable travel demonstration town
with an emphasis on increasing levels of cycling.
xxv. We will explore ways of extending the free bus pass scheme to include
local rail services and community transport.
xxvi. We will examine the funding of un-adopted roads
14

Pillar Four: Health and Wellbeing
Introduction
Poor health has been the hallmark of our nation for our generations. We are no
longer prepared to tolerate that fact. As a matter of urgency we will have to
address the crises in the ambulance and NHS dentistry services and the collapse
in public confidence following Labour’s badly handled reconfiguration process.
But to create the long-term basis for Welsh health and well-being we will invest
in modern primary care services in the community, investing in prevention, in
breakthrough medical research and in the critical areas of mental health, sexual
health and drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
High-level commitments
We will announce an immediate moratorium on hospital
closures and proposals to downgrade services, excluding
those reconfigurations which have received widespread
support or in the case of contracts agreed by the previous
administration which it would be financially prohibitive
to cancel. We will remain committed to a network of
District General Hospitals providing A&E and maternity
services as close as possible to the patient’s home and to
the importance of community hospitals in providing
diagnostic, recuperative and rehabilitation care. Only
after fully costed plans on community NHS provision
have been presented will consultation on any future
reconfiguration of services occur.
We will produce a Charter of Patient Rights, clearly
setting the standards and levels of service that patients
and families can expect from the NHS, and the
information to which they will be entitled.
We will publish a comprehensive well-being strategy for
children, including more resources for physical
education, guaranteed access for every secondary school
and its associated primary schools to an improved school
nursing service, an increase in resources for the school
dental service, an improvement in the nutrition of school
meals, and stricter control on the marketing of junk food.
15
We will reform the Out-of-Hours Contract to improve
access to services.
The current dental contract will be reviewed in order to
ensure better access to an NHS dentist and we will
expand the use of mobile and salaried dentists as well as
the use of dental hygienists and therapists, placing
greater emphasis on preventative care.
Nurse-led Walk in centres and multi-purpose well-being
centres will be piloted and then rolled out, with different
models being applied in different parts of Wales.
We will seek the devolution of powers over mental health
so that an Assembly measure will be introduced
enshrining the rights to treatment, admission to hospital
and independent advocacy. Additional resources will be
made available for mental health, particularly child and
adolescent mental health services.

Supporting actions
Acute sector
i. We will take steps to improve integration between the Out-of-Hours
service, A&E and the Ambulance Service.
ii. The current nurses' pay award will be paid in full.
iii. We will review the number of targets within the NHS in order to focus
effort more clearly on clinical need
iv. We will work with hospitals to improve the nutrition of hospital food and
levels of hygiene.
v. We will improve access to modern medicines and examine the potential
for speeding up the approval process.
vi. A National Institute for Health Research will be established in order to
promote medical research and increase the number of clinical trials in Wales.
vii. Additional resources will be made available for the modernisation of the
ambulance service.
viii. We will adopt a zero-tolerance approach to aggression or violence against
NHS staff, requiring all LHBs and Trusts to have robust procedures in place to
deal with those who intimidate staff and to support staff after such incidents.
16
ix. We will address the poor provision of stroke and diabetes units in parts
of the country.
x. We will invest in upgrading and extending sexual health services
throughout Wales, and support those preventative initiatives that have a proven
track record of success.
xi. We are committed to implementing the recommendations of the previous
Assembly’s Health Committee’s review of cancer services and publishing a
Cancer Plan for Wales.
xii. We will keep adult neuro-surgery services in Swansea.
xiii. We will ensure full funding for the Children’s Hospital as part of a
strengthened Children’s Health Service throughout Wales.
xiv. We will review hospital charges for services such as parking, telephones
and television.
xv. Extra resources will be made available for palliative care.
Primary and community care
xvi. We will ensure the NHS employs more physiotherapists, occupational
therapists and speech and language therapists and extend prescribing by
appropriately trained nurses and pharmacists.
Prevention
xvii. Every four-to-five year old will be given a free toothbrush and toothpaste
as part of an oral healthcare early-years education initiative.
xviii. We will introduce incentives to employers to improve and extend
occupational health services, including health MOTs at work.
xix. We will increase sporting opportunities for children and young people,
women and people with disabilities.
Social care
xx. There will be a clear statement of statutory responsibilities to looked after
children, including an extension of the full duty of care to the age of 21 for all
looked after young people and to the age of 25 for those who remain in full-time
education.
xxi. We will establish a commission of inquiry into the funding of adult social
care.
xxii. We will introduce legislation on the rights of carers.
xxiii. We will require the greater pooling of budgets between Health and Social
Services in order to reduce delayed transfers of care.
17
Substance misuse
xxiv. We will increase the numbers of alcohol and drug rehabilitation places.
xxv. Substance misuse education will be delivered in every secondary school in
Wales by trained substance misuse professionals.
xxvi. We will address the causes and consequences of substance dependency by
implementing a substance misuse harm reduction strategy.

Pillar Five: Social Justice and Community
Empowerment
Introduction
Every citizen has a right to expect an equal chance to realise their potential
irrespective of their background or circumstances. The right to a home, to an
education, to basic services, to live in safety, to childcare and to dignity in
retirement define us a decent society. As a Government we cannot guarantee
success in life for our people – but we will protect the vulnerable, give everyone
the opportunities they deserve, and empower communities to sustain and
enhance their quality of life. And we are committed to the elimination of
poverty, from the cradle to the grave.
High-level commitments
We will review the National Homelessness Strategy and ensure
viable local homelessness strategies and a sufficient supply of
suitable temporary accommodation are in place in all parts of
Wales.
We will implement a package of measures to address the
problem of affordable housing including First Time Buyer
Grants and a Wales-wide key-workers housing scheme.
18
We will invest heavily in social and affordable housing,
developing new and innovative sources of capital investment,
including a bond issue and greater investment freedoms by
Registered Social Landlords to deliver community
improvements.
We will reform the planning system to achieve greater flexibility
in the provision of affordable land to meet local housing
demand.
By 2015 we will aim to achieve universal affordable childcare,
using a range of interventions, targeting early investment in the
areas of greatest need.
We will create a new national citizens’ service as a core part of
the schools curriculum to promote volunteering and civic
responsibility in a new generation of adults.
We will provide a discount to pensioner households in respect
of council tax.
We will involve the voluntary and community sectors more
extensively in the planning and delivery of services and we will
place the funding of the voluntary sector on a more secure
footing by encouraging the use of three-year funding cycles.
Supporting actions
Community
i. We will re-establish and enhance the Post Office Development Fund and
examine ways to increase the numbers of services available.
ii. In the field of community safety, we will provide the necessary funding to
secure up to 500 extra uniformed officers.
iii. We will work with local authorities to ensure free access to ATMs,
especially in deprived communities.
iv. We will strengthen community councils, focusing on their role in the
provision of local service and, where appropriate, the delegated power to deliver
local government services.
v. We will give local authorities and community councils a specific power of
promoting community integration and inclusion.
19
vi. We will work with local authorities to identify ways to improve youth
services and facilities in all parts of Wales, including an examination of statutory
responsibilities.
Equal opportunity
vii. We will introduce a targeted scheme to reduce the levels of debt
experienced by Welsh-domiciled graduates.
viii. We will invest in social services, through dedicated teams in each local
authority area, to increase the level of benefits take-up among those who are
entitled.
ix. We will create a Minister for Children to oversee our Government's
contribution towards the elimination of child poverty by 2020.
x. We will appoint a Minister for the Valleys to be responsible for social and
economic regeneration strategy across the former Coalfield.
xi. We will promote Wales-wide efforts to support and integrate migrant
workers and prevent their exploitation by unscrupulous employers.
xii. We will review the experience of Northern Ireland in examining the case
for establishing an autonomous Single Equality Body for Wales.
Housing
xiii. We will promote the development of community land trusts in urban and
rural Wales.
xiv. We will encourage a greater role for community-based housing
associations and tenants cooperatives in the provision and management of
housing services.
xv. We will examine the available powers for maximising access to social
housing and strengthen the use of an enhanced Supporting People Grant in order
to protect the vulnerable.
xvi. We will publish proposals designed to mitigate the effect of second
homes on housing markets in rural areas.
xvii. We will introduce legislation to create a unitary social housing tenancy, to
enshrine a tenants’ charter and to ensure that all sizeable new housing
developments include a proportion of affordable and social housing.
xviii. We will set up an affordable housing task group to advice Ministers on
policy in this area during the next four years.
xix. We will work with planning authorities, developers and housing
associations to ensure that more new housing is built to the lifetime home
standard.
20
xx. We will take appropriate steps to give local councils the additional powers
to deal with long-term empty preoperties.
21

Pillar Six: Wales in the World
Introduction
Wales has an important role to play in addressing many key global issues.
We will be active in promoting Welsh interests and Wales’ profile,
culturally and economically, within the United Kingdom, the European
Union and the wider world.
High level commitments
We will seek to widen Wales’ membership and strengthen
our position in appropriate international bodies.
We will work towards strengthening the Welsh presence
in Brussels in order to maximise the representational
impact of the Government, local authorities and other
relevant organisations working in concert.
We will seek to agree a protocol with the UK Government
to ensure we can take full advantage of the opportunity to
be consulted on European Commission proposals and to
participate as fully as possible in UK delegations.
We will pursue an investment agreement with the
European Investment Bank.
We will work with the United Nations and other
key interest groups to improve our compliance with
the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and
seek to produce an official Welsh language version
of the Convention.

Supporting actions
i. We will ensure that arts and culture play a more prominent role in
projecting Wales’ international role and image, securing greater overseas
awareness and greater opportunities for Welsh artists, companies and
producers.
ii. We will exploit the high-profile of the Ryder Cup in 2010 to
promote Wales’ international profile and support the bid by the Football
Association of Wales to host the 2016 European Championships.
22
iii. We will prepare a bid for Wales to host the 2018 or 2022
Commonwealth Games.
iv. We will support the campaign for Wales to become a Fair Trade
nation.
v. We will strengthen the role of the Assembly’s European
Committee, making it an effective tool for scrutinising European
legislation.
vi. We will establish a National Teams Development Fund to
develop new and existing Welsh national sporting teams.
vii. We will support the dot.cym campaign to designate an internet
Top-Level Domain to Wales.

Pillar Seven: Governing Better
Introduction
We want our Government to be the most open, democratic and
accountable in the world. We will involve all our people in the new
pluralist and participatory culture of decision-making we are
determined to create. Wherever possible this also means involving
children and young people, who are citizens now, not just in the
future.
23
High-level commitments
We will hold open discussions in Cabinet meetings
on a regular basis.
We will establish an Independent National
Commission on National Governance to produce
proposals on governance structures in the delivery
of public services.
We are resolved that no Assembly-funded services
will be made conditional on the possession of the
UK Government’s proposed ID card.
Supporting actions
i. We will develop a citizens’ index of satisfaction to gauge
public support for policies and service levels.
ii. Ministers will answers the public’s questions live on-line
every month, and the First Minister will give a weekly podcast.
iii. We will develop the use of citizens’ juries in evaluating
Assembly policy.
iv. We will enshrine a right of citizens’ initiative through an
enhanced petitions procedure.
v. We will ensure Assembly Departments, including senior
policy-makers, are located in all parts of Wales.
vi. We will ensure more engagement from business, local
authorites and the voluntary sector in the allocation of
Convergence Funding.
24

Governance Arrangements
Guiding principles
The parties’ objective is to form and maintain in partnership the
devolved Government of Wales, to be described as the ‘All-Wales
Government’, (AWG) until the dissolution of the Assembly
before the election in 2011 (with its Ministers holding office until
the election of the First Minister after the election).
To work effectively, to deliver their Programme, and to achieve
their shared common goals, the parties will need good will,
mutual trust, and agreed procedures which foster collective
decision-making and responsibility while respecting each party’s
identity.
The principles of good faith and fairness will underpin the three
parties’ approaches to all aspects of the conduct of the
Government’s business, including allocation of responsibilities;
the Government’s policy and legislative programme; the conduct
of business and the resolution of disputes.
Close consultation between the First Minister; the two Deputy
First Ministers; other Ministers; and the AMs of the three parties
will be the foundation of the Government’s success.
Collective responsibility
Collective responsibility is accepted by the parties to mean that all
the business of the Government, including decisions,
announcements, expenditure plans, proposed legislation and
appointments, engages the collective responsibility of the
Government as a whole and must be handled with an appropriate
degree of consultation and discussion so as to ensure the support
of all Ministers on a collegiate basis. Ministers have the
opportunity to express their views frankly as decisions are
reached; opinions expressed and advice offered within the
Government remain private (subject to the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act); decisions of the Government are
binding on and supported by all Ministers; mechanisms for
sharing information and resolving disputes are followed.
To achieve this, the Government will update and publish the
Welsh Ministerial Code and (the Guide to Collective Decision
Making AND/OR the protocol for the All-Wales Government)
to incorporate the principles of collective decision-making and
the procedures to be followed to promote the good conduct of
business, drawing on good practice elsewhere.
25
Portfolios
The initial structure of portfolios and their allocation between the
parties will be agreed between the First Minister and the two
Deputy First Ministers. The First Minister will formally appoint
Ministers with the Queen’s approval on this basis, in the case of
the Conservative and Liberal Democrat ministerial appointees, on
the nomination of the appropriate Deputy First Minister.
The portfolios and the names of the Ministers, as well as any later
changes, will be announced to the Assembly in plenary session at
the earliest opportunity.
Any changes to the structure of portfolios or their allocation
between the parties during the lifetime of the Agreement will be
agreed between the First Minister and the two Deputy First
Ministers.
The First Minister will nominate the Counsel General with the
agreement of the two Deputy First Ministers.
The roles of the First Minister and Deputy First
Minister
The parties agree that, subject to the approval of the Assembly,
the Leader of Plaid Cymru in the National Assembly will be
nominated for appointment as First Minister and the Leaders of
the Welsh Conservatives and the Welsh Liberal Democrats will be
appointed as Deputy First Ministers.
The First Minister will be responsible to the Assembly for all
aspects of policies and retains ultimate responsibility for all
policies. However in order to provide consistency across
portfolios and the need to engage all parties of the all-Wales
Government normally the First Minister and the two Deputy
First Ministers will be engaged in policy presentation. These
arrangements will be agreed between them and the Permanent
Secretary. Such arrangements will include deputising for the First
Minister in the Assembly and making public announcements; the
Deputy from the largest party shall take precedence.
It is essential that both the First Minister and the two Deputy
First Ministers are kept fully and promptly informed across the
range of Government business, so that they can engage in any
issue where they consider that appropriate. The procedures to be
established for handling business within the Government will
require officials to copy all relevant material to the offices of the
First Minister and the two Deputy First Ministers.
26
The First Minister and the two Deputy First Minister will have
appropriate official, political and specialist support to enable them
to discharge their roles effectively.
A Cabinet committee will be formed comprising the First
Minister and the two Deputy First Ministers.
The Committee’s responsibility is to ensure the effectiveness of
the AWG. The committee will:
• Monitor implementation of the Programme
• Agree the participation of the partnership parties in public
appointment made by Government when appropriate
• Co-ordination the presentation of Government within the
National Assembly and externally
• Ensure that procedures are in place for the involvement
of all the partnership parties in major Government
announcements
• Subject to external restraints, agree the representation of
the Government in all dealings with the Secretary of State for
Wales; other UK Government Ministers; other institutions at
UK/EU/International level

The Parties’ support for the Government in the
Assembly
The parties should aim to agree on all matters of Government
policy. All three parties are committed to constructive dialogue
between Ministers and backbenchers to build a strong
partnership.
The three Assembly parties will operate in support of the AWG
on all issues covered by this Agreement. Whilst each will make its
own business management arrangements to ensure effective party
support for the Government, the business managers will consult
and co-operate with each other to ensure the delivery of the
Government’s programme.
Whilst preserving the independence of the committee system,
members of the parties serving on the same committee will cooperate
on the formal business and legislation of the
Government.
Matters of new Government policy outside this Agreement must
be agreed by all three parties. In all portfolios, Ministers will meet
regularly with the nominated spokesperson or lead backbencher
from all three parties to discuss policy. Any disagreement should
be referred through internal party mechanisms until all three
parties agree.
27
None of the parties will support spending proposals brought
before Assembly other than by the Government or covered by
this Agreement unless considered and agreed by all three party
groups.
The parties will agree and put in place appropriate political
arrangements to facilitate an effective working relationship at all
levels, including AMs of all three parties who are not Ministers.
Matters reserved to the UK Parliament, other than those
mentioned in the Programme, are outside the scope of this
Agreement. Whenever necessary, the parties will decide, through
the cabinet Committee, how to deal with such matters on a caseby-
case basis.
Distinctive identities
All three parties recognise the need for parties to be able to
maintain distinctive political identities in Government and in the
National Assembly. They will therefore develop processes for;
• Ensuring appropriate credit for and recognition of the
policy contribution of each party; and
• The expression of the different views publicly and in the
National Assembly which do not undermine the principles of
collective responsibility and good faith or the bases of partnership
working set out in this Agreement.
Disputes
The parties’ objective is that this Agreement will remain in place
until the dissolution of the Assembly before the election in 2011.
To achieve this, they will make every effort to resolve any
disagreements which may arise, particularly those which threaten
its continued operation.
Where a dispute arises between any of the parties or Ministers of
different partnership parties, the matter will be referred to the
Cabinet Committee for resolution by consensus.
Ratification of this Agreement
The parties will ratify this Agreement according to their own
internal procedures.
The Agreement will come into effect after ratification
immediately on signature by the partnership party leaders.

What's the Point of the Lib Dems?

2007-05-24T02:23:00.000-07:00

What a bunch of amateurs. Regardless of my own self questioning over rainbow or red-green, what the hell are the Lib Dems up to?

Their only raison d'etre is PR. That would have been delivered for local government had the rainbow gone ahead. They have turned their back on their main aim just to get rid of their Leader - who was desperate for a deal with anyone to save his political skin.

The Lib Dems can drop any claim to being a serious party. You can't fight an election on the basis of getting more influence on the governance of Wales and then talk your way out of two deals that would put you in government.

It looks like a minority Labour Government now, my instincts hope that Red-Green can be put back on the table. Labour will probably stick two fingers up to everyone now in typical sectarian manner. However, Rhodri Morgan should reflect and understand that the draft Red - Green draft document provides a chance for him to deliver real change in Wales before he retires. Again the question is does he have the conviction and the authority within his own group to deliver?

Time for Rhodri to Deliver 2

2007-05-22T03:09:00.000-07:00

With Labour on the brink of the political abyss last night, where was Rhodri Morgan? Making a speech to the Athenaeum club in London.

You have to ask how serious Labour are exploring the Red-Green option.

update - Labour have produced a 28 page document according to reports. Have they done enough is the key question.

update 2 - obviously not.

Time for Rhodri to Deliver

2007-05-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

I already get the feeling that the Labour leadership in Wales are throwing their toys out of the pram. Instead of accepting their own culpability for the current state of affairs, they are trying to create this impression that the other parties are ganging up on them.

It’s no good for Rhodri Morgan to go running to the BBC to ask that a poll be commissioned to decide who runs Wales. The reality of the situation is that unless he comes up with the goods and produces a deal Plaid can’t turn down, Labour will be in opposition. Playing the victim just won’t wash.

Aelod Seneddol Llafur o Gymru yn cefnogi Ffioedd Dysgu Llawn

2007-05-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

Gweler darn o Hansard lle mae Ian Lucan , Aelod Seneddol Llafur dros Wrecsam yn dadlau dros ffioedd dysgu llawn i'w etholwyr.

"One of the most unfortunate aspects of the Act, as far as I am concerned, is that it has created a situation in which it is cheaper for Welsh students to attend university in Wales than in England. As a Unionist—I do not hesitate to use the term—I think that that is extremely unfortunate. I would like a situation where that is not an issue for someone from my constituency who chooses to go to university."

Diolch Ian am egluro dy fod am godi filoedd ar fyfyrwyr Wrecsam i fynychu coleg

Has Rhodri Got the Authority to Deliver a Deal?

2007-05-18T04:44:00.000-07:00

A major development with the Lib Dems braking off all negotiations with Labour. Rhodri Morgan is now on the brink, if he doesn’t form a government he is dead in the water. The question is does he have the power to deliver a deal that would satisfy Plaid demands? If not, it looks like Labour will be in opposition before the end of the month.

For Plaid, politics has always been about the greater good of the country. If the politics of the party was about power then we would already have a rainbow government. The fact that there are still two possible outcomes is testament to the fact that Plaid are still trying to see if they can deliver the best deal for the people of Wales.

The question is does Rhodri have the authority to deliver? It seems that the vultures are circling within his own party, and there is little doubt that certain elements in the Labour party want to force a rainbow coalition to shore up their own position whilst also ‘vindicating’ their disastrous electoral strategy.

Huw Lewis Throws Second Leadership Punch?

2007-05-17T03:22:00.000-07:00

Looks like Huw Lewis has got stuck into Rhodri Morgan’s plans today in the Western Mail. Call me a conspiracy theorist but the leak which forms the basis of the story on the procedural part of any agreement with any party and Huw Lewis’ tribalist response, could only have come from someone close to the Penarth nat basher.

What I find most interesting is that Huw seems most upset at any procedural arrangements of any agreement that would give the Libs or Plaid access to information on the policy programme of the Government. Now forgive me for being idealistic, but surely what all concerned should be worried about now is the policy programme for any agreement – procedures can wait for after. It just goes to show how sectarian the Unionist wing of the Labour party has become.

Before the election Plaid announced its starting negotiating position which briefly is:
Green policies to reduce Wales’ carbon footprint
Doubled investment in universal affordable childcare
Lap tops for eleven year olds to create the most IT literate workforce in the world
First Home grants
Help with student debt payments
Business tax cuts including Corporation tax relief in Wales’ Convergence funding areas
Scrap the hospital reconfiguration programme
Cap council tax for pensioners
A new Welsh language Act
A referendum on a proper Parliament
A commission on Wales’ funding arrangements, particularly Barnett reform

Instead of harping on about the politics of power, perhaps Huw can enlighten us on which one of these he is so opposed to. We obviously know he’s against anything progressive such as more powers for Wales, a new language Act and fair funding, but where does he stand on the rest?

My take is that Huw is trying to dethrone Rhodri faster than expected by driving the Labour party into opposition. By creating a riot on procedures he is trying to complicate the situation so much that it is impossible to come to an agreement on a policy programme for the next four years.

This ill judged politicking shows yet again that the Unionist wing of the Labour party don’t care at all about the future of Wales, their only priority is protecting and strengthening their own political positioning.

How Right Wing Are the PLP?

2007-05-16T05:38:00.000-07:00

I just don't get the Labour party of today. In John McDonnell there is a totally respectable challenger to Gordon Brown. In response to the market led Thatcherite approach of Brown and Blair he wants a change of direction, one based on empowerment and democratisation of society. This seems totally reasonable to me. Yet it is unlikely he will get the necessary nominations from his Parliamentary Labour Party colleagues to force an election. You have to ask what's happened to the PLP. Stick a Labour MP on a soap box and you will undoubtedly be subjected to a tirade of anti - Thatcherism. Yet their own party are pursuing exactly the same agenda.

In conclusion 1, they are either so stupid they don't know what their own leaders are doing or 2, they are trying to pull the wool over everyones eyes.

Thatcher always said her proudest achievement was New Labour. Guardian columnists bizarrely like to claim that Blair's greatest achievement is Cameron's Tories. The Tories have just gone back to their traditional centre right ground, Blair and Brown have just nicked their spots.

It comes to something when Peter Hain is described as a 'libertarian socialist'. This is the man that presides as a Governor General over Wales and gerrymandered the electoral system in favour of his own party. He has voted for a disastrous war in Iraq and regressive policies such as the marketisation of public services.

What are Labour MPs scared of? Surely the membership of the Labour party should decide the next leader of the party

Miners Knee Compensation

2007-05-16T05:10:00.000-07:00

I'm delighted to see Plaid MPs leading the fight for compensation for miners suffering from knee injuries after working for the NCB. It's a disgrace that once again instead of conceding liability Labour will force miner to go through the High Court. This was the case with chest disease compensation, and will yet again be the case with knee injuries despite originally stating they were 'committed to mediation' i.e finding a solution outside the courts.

In February this year the DTI Minister Michael Wicks refused to meet with NACODS - so much for being 'committed to mediation' citing lack of evidence, yet now Judges have give the go ahead for a High Court case cause of the evidence provided by claimants.

After losing the chest disease case Labour removed Legal Aid for industrial class actions on behalf of injured workers. This means that NACODS South Wales and their leader Bleddyn Hancock will now fight this case knowing that defeat would mean that the test case miners could face Government costs if they lose. We are talking about millions of pounds, that Labour will threaten against former miners who merely seek justice.

The Labour party yet again loses all credibility as the party of ordinary working people. The South Wales Labour MPs in Westminster should hang their heads in shame.

PFI – The fleecing of public money

2007-05-15T05:52:00.000-07:00

There’s a very interesting article in the business section of the Independent today referring to the fleecing of public money by PFI schemes. Jeremy Warner notes that history is repeating itself.

Thatcher’s privatisation essentially meant that public assets were sold off to the private sector at bargain prices, effectively ripping off the public purse. According to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, the same sort of thing is happening with PFI. The scale of PFI debt, running at well over £160bn according to the last budget if memory serves me correct, means that this is a scandal of unprecedented scale. These are not some sort of side government initiatives, PFI or PPP (Public Private Partnerships as they are called now) have been the central plank of Labour public service financing. It’s political significance is magnified by the fact that the architect of PFI is about to become Prime Minister.

Warner writes:

“In particular, the public sector is failing to share in the lucrative benefits that accrue when the debt is refinanced on better terms, or the equity is sold in the secondary market at bumper profit. This is despite the fact that the foundations on which these refinancing profits are built are the revenues supplied by the taxpayer.”

In other words as taxpayers we are being ripped off. Opponents of PFI from the start warned about the over generous returns for private firms from the public purse for their original investment. Now it turns out that whole schemes have been guilty of mismanagement and profiteering.

Now I readily accept that apart from the £16bn monster PFI deal in St Athan, we have seen very little PFI in Wales. However, this matter continues to be relevant to the Welsh taxpayer due to the centralised nature of the taxation system in the UK.

Over the years Brown has been accused of mortgaging the future of the UK by accumulating so much PFI debt. As a more learned colleague once informed me, with PFI, mortgaging the future is to kind a word as assets even after being repaid at vastly inflated costs continue to be privately owned. What Brown has done effectively is accumulate an astronomical amount of unsecured debt. He is the credit card kid of politics.

Gordon Brown a Friend of First Time Buyers?

2007-05-14T05:51:00.000-07:00

Credit where credit is due, Gordon Brown is onto something with his plan to build 5 new towns consisting of a total of 100,000 eco homes. These towns will be carbon neutral using locally sourced energy. Without seeing the detail I’ll take the announcement at face value. During the Assembly election Plaid made the case for greater local energy production, whereby whole communities produce their own energy working outside or in addition to the national grid. This isn’t pie in the sky stuff, Woking already has such a system, and you have to ask why aren’t we already seeing the same sort of developments in Wales?

The second part of Brown’s plan is to increase opportunities for home ownership. He is trying to make himself out as the friend of those unable to purchase a home. The problem he faces of course is that the hyperinflation we have witnessed in the housing market over the last ten years has been a direct consequence of his own policies. There has never been a Chancellor so ready to fiddle the system to deliberately drive up house prices. The most blatant of course was his decision to change official inflation from the Retail Price Index to the Consumer Price Index, which meant that interest rates have remained artificially low.

Politicians and political parties always have to reinvent themselves to stay in the game. This however is a clear case of too little too late.

How the Assembly Electoral System Favours Labour

2007-05-14T04:55:00.000-07:00

Labour political dominance over Wales has largely been maintained by the First Past the Post electoral system. As a result of the 2005 General Election, Labour won 72.5% of Wales’ Parliamentary seats based on just 42.7% of the vote.

Now that the figures are in for the 2007 National Assembly elections (and I’m bored out of my head) I have taken the liberty of analysing the Assembly voting system to see how far it goes to secure fair votes.

The vast majority of seats for the Assembly continue to be elected via First Past the Post, based on Wales’ 40 Parliamentary constituencies. The results are as follows

Party
Votes (to the nearest thousand)
% of Vote
Seats
% of vote required per seat
No of votes required per seat
Con
219,000
22.4
7
3.2
31,285
Plaid
219,000
22.4
8
2.8
27,375
Lib
144,000
14.8
3
4.9
48,000
Lab
315,000
32.2
24
1.3
13,125

The figures are quite clear, Labour do particularly well out of the First Past the Post System. They only need 13,125 votes per seat as compared to the massive 48,000 votes needed by the Libs. Plaid and the Tories have to gain twice as many votes as Labour per constituency seat.

Matters are somewhat addressed by the use of a regional top up system (d’Hondt). The following table provides an analysis based on combining both constituency and regional ballots.

Party
Votes (to the nearest thousand)
% of Votes
Seats
% of vote required per seat
No ov votes required per seat
Con
428,000
21.9
12
1.8
35,700
Plaid
424,000
21.7
15
1.4
28,300
Lib
259,000
13.3
6
2.21
43,200
Lab
604,000
30.9
26
1.2
23,200

Yet again we see how even with an element of PR introduced the result continues to be skewed substantially in Labour’s favour.

Before anyone accuses me of being a hypocrite I do acknowledge that Plaid did well out of the system this time. But we still have to get over 5,000 more votes per seat when compared to Labour. The poor Lib Dems have to get 20,000 extra votes per seat!

If we had a totally proportional system, Labour would be reduced to 19. Plaid and the Tories would be on 13 and the Libs on 8. UKIP, the BNP, Independents and the Greens would all probably get at least one seat.

Labour hegemony over life in Wales has always been supported by an unfair voting system that gives them a disproportionate political representation. This political clout has been used by Labour to dominate every aspect of Welsh life, as careerists pay homage in the name of their own personal progress. A one party state has been built around a voting system that does not reflect the political wishes of the people of Wales. In anyone’s book this isn’t a healthy democracy, and partly explains why our country has stagnated over the years.

In the unlikely event of electoral reform at Westminster level, I hope that whatever agreement is reached in order to form the next Government of Wales, contains provision for fair votes for local government and any election to a proper Welsh Parliament. The current d’Hondt system is only a step in the right direction.

Undoubtedly Labour hacks will point to the current instability in Wales as why PR is an idealistic pipe dream. I used to agree but have now changed my mind. I’m also quite easy minded about coalitions. Furthermore, it is precisely because of the likely result of the election many of us were exacerbated by Labour’s sectarian and tribalist strategy.

Surely it’s a sign of strength in our democracy that our political leaders following an election have to sit down and work a way forward based on the common good.

Brown for Britain!

2007-05-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

If I was a London Labour strategist I'd use the coronation of Gordon Brown as the beginning of a 100 day war leading into the annual Labour Conference before using the new leaders speech to call a snap election.

Politically it has a lot of advantages. It enables the new PM to launch a short term policy blitz with plenty of electoral sweeteners; it will catch the Tories unprepared - there is no way that they will have produced a coherent programme of government by the Autumn; and Brown will invariably be on a honeymoon.

The one major problem for Labour is that the bank is empty - £20m in the red. They haven't the war chest to match the Tories at present.

If they went early I think Labour could win an overall majority. If Brown decides to serve another two/three years, the Tories will overtake Labour. The question is will there be enough Lib Dems left in Parliament to make up the numbers for a Lib - Lab arrangement.

We live in interesting times as they say.

Does Rhodri Have the Guts to Secure a Legacy?

2007-05-09T06:08:00.000-07:00

From the soundings of Rhodri Morgan you would think that Labour had just secured a landslide victory. You wouldn’t think that Labour has just secured their worst result in Wales since the First World War.

Rhodri said during the campaign that he would go if Labour did badly. Well if such a poor share of the vote in the traditional Labour stronghold which is Wales isn’t a bad result what is?

Labour has got some desperate problems ahead. A dozen or so seats can be classified as marginals, they have no hope of making progress in 2011, and the inevitable civil war within the Labour group between the Welsh and Unionist wings is about to erupt.

Much like Blair of the last year, Rhodri if he continues as First Minister will be in office but not in power. Increasingly everyday rivals in the Labour group will be positioning themselves in pursuit of their personal and political objectives.

Rhodri might be putting on a brave face now, but his position is considerably weekend.

However, he has an opportunity to ensure a lasting legacy (the Rhodri the Great of future history books) by securing a proper Parliament for Wales (or at least the groundwork for such a body). Does he have the guts to deliver it is another question.

Shock Horror No Tory Led Coalition

2007-05-08T01:09:00.000-07:00

With the elections results more or less as everyone expected isn’t it funny that all the hype of a Tory led coalition has disappeared immediately after the last vote was cast. There isn’t even any talk of a Plaid led rainbow coalition in the aftermath, despite there being enough numbers for that sort of pact to come into being.

It amazes me how easily Labour bully their way to set the agenda. The reality is that the parameters of the Assembly elections in 2007 were based on a lie by Labour that they have immediately ditched so that they can start cosying up to the Libs. It shows the arrogance of the Labour party that they immediately start spinning based on Labour led coalitions after the election whilst spending the previous year spinning tribalist and sectarian propaganda.

It was obvious Labour was going to have to talk to someone – they have never managed to win a majority in Wales, and 2007 was always likely to be a far harder election than 1999 and 2003.

I thought it was a stupid strategy by Labour which basically ensured that they were going to get the hammering at the polls they got. However, Labour’s strategy should have been blown out of the water from the start because it was nonsense. The failure of the media, apart from some notable examples such as Martin Shipton who didn’t believe a word from the start & the one hit the BBC delivered (by revealing senior sources were advocating a red-green agreement a week before the election), has let the whole election to be fought in the make belief world of Labour spin doctors and strategists.

Let’s hope in 2011 we get to fight a Welsh election based on policies. The media have to start challenging Labour, their duty is to uncover deceit for what it is not report it at face value. Failure to do so would be another great disservice to the electorate in Wales and to our democracy.

Labour is a party that commands the support of only just over 30% of the people of Wales, there is no need to be afraid of them anymore.

Can’t wait for 2010 for the re emergence of VPGT. Lets face it Labour have nothing else to offer.

Great Night for Plaid

2007-05-07T03:07:00.000-07:00

I've finally got the will to blog again after the election count. What a fantastic result for Plaid, up three seats and we achieved the top of our ambitions. For the London parties it was a disaster. Labour with their worst result since the First World War, if that doesn't constitute a bad result then what does, were spared humiliation by reckless briefing up during the early stages of the count by the Tories and Lib Dems. When their expected gains didn't materialise, all the sudden it wasn't that bad for Labour.

The Tories are facing crisis, they have lost by far their biggest electoral asset in Glyn Davies - the only politician who could credibly carry off their triangulation attempts v Plaid. Instead they have some right wing nutcases like the new member for Clwyd West. I'm sure political opponents can''t wait to start debating against and getting him to open his mouth - The return of the nasty party is inevitable. Despite all the hype the Tory breakthrough failed to materialise.

The Lib Dems are in open warfare. What did they expect from an election strategy based on the ego of their leader and his wish for a ministerial car?

Plaid stopped the rot with some outstanding wins in Llanelli (Helen Mary's near 4,000 majority is testament to what Plaid can achieve in every part of Wales) and Aberconwy. Some near misses in Carms West, Clwyd West and Caerphilly.

Carms East as always produced an amazing result for Plaid - nearly 9,000 majority in a seat consisting of 2 industrial valleys. Looks like Adam Price will now have to get over the 10,000 majority mark in the next General Election - that's what I call healthy competition!

For me Neath was a great result, a 7% swing to reduce Labour's majority to less than 2,000. My prediction we won the election day voting is probably right.

Plaid to win Swansea West and Neath?

2007-05-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

Having spent the day canvassing Neath town I have little doubt that Plaid will tomorrow win the election day vote in the constituency. I haven’t seen anything like it in all my years. Alun Llywelyn is a very strong candidate against one of the weakest members of the Assembly in Gwenda Thomas.

The problem for Plaid in this seat is 11,000 postal voters. We all know Labour’s form on postal votes (only last Sunday the Times were exposing another scandal) – my personal view is that we should go back to the old system of voting only in polling booths. The secret ballot was a major aim of for the Chartists, and clearly allowing votes outside of a polling booth undermines that principle. The new checks do little to protect against postal fraud, the only way is to ensure that voting takes place in the sanctity of a polling booth.

I remember the 2005 General Election when Plaid won Carmarthen East by nearly 7,000 votes but got decimated in the postal vote count. When there is such a discrepancy between the postal vote count and the polling booth count you have to come to the conclusion that something isn’t quite right.

I think that both postal and booth counts should be counted separate and published as such following the election.

Swansea West is also game on for Plaid. Local boy Ian Titherington is another strong candidate against the lacklustre Andrew Davies. Vaughan Roderick in the BBC is also tipping Ian as a possible shock result. Whereas Neath is a two horsed race, Swansea West is interesting cause all four parties have presence. Plaid could win by Labour losing votes to the other two London parties.

Plaid nationally and locally has run a fantastic campaign. They have managed to rebuild a lot of the lost ground since 1999 in terms of engagement with the people of Wales. Whatever the result there is a platform there to build for the future.

Rhodri's not having a good election

2007-05-01T04:12:00.000-07:00

Apart from being heckled and booed on the two leaders election debates, Rhodri Morgan provided the iconic moment of this years election when he dropped a baby in Carmarthen. Instead of showing some concern for his victim, Rhodri then had a pull of cramp. Now far be it from me to suggest that poor Rhodri decided to feign injury, but I've seen less convincing displays by Cristiano Ronaldo when he gets a last minute penalty for Man Untd.

Sometimes you just have to come to the conclusion that the tide of history is against you.

Plaid Win youtube battle

2007-04-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

With less than three days to go we can confidently predict one thing, Plaid has won the party political youtube wars at a cantor.

The hits for the various broadcasts are as follows:

Broadcast
Views
Plaid Episode 1 Welsh
785
Plaid Episode 1 English
2,110
Plaid Episode 2 Welsh
170
Plaid Episode 2 English
471
Labour Welsh
26
Labour English
31

NH Yes – More like ‘End the NHS’

2007-04-29T00:45:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in politics, even at election time, you have to show a degree of humility. Before Glyn Davies gets all excited, what I am about to say in the next sentence does not show any inclination of support towards a Rainbow coalition. The Tory’s have done a remarkable rebranding job.

The talismanic moment in the Carmeron shift was his Conference speech when he uttered “in three letters”, NHS. Aware that whilst the Tories were seen as anti-NHS they had little chance of getting elected, Cameron and the Tory leadership have gone out of their way to commit themselves to seemingly support public provision of health services. Coming from the man who was behind the Tory 2005 manifesto which advocated patients passports – a scheme that would have created a two tier health system, this has been touted as a major ideological shift.

As I have argued before, unmask the Tory spin and not everything is quite as they would have you believe. For the upcoming Assembly elections, the Tories are advocating allowing hospitals in Wales to seek Foundation status. These reforms are seen as a key part of the Blair - Brown agenda for hospitals in England, and basically allow succeeding hospitals to opt out of the NHS – effectively it means denationalising the NHS.

Allowing foundation hospitals in Wales would be deeply divisive and elitist. Foundation hospitals are able to offer separate terms and conditions and raise their own money, enabling them to poach the best staff and resources from neighbouring hospitals and Trusts. Basically it is a two tier health service in all but name. In a country as small as Wales the policy will be disastrous. Inevitably hospitals in the richer areas of our country will go from strength to strength, while the rest of us will have a sub standard service.

When the current health Minister mentioned last week that the days of NHS Trusts were over, perhaps this was what he meant – a round of Blairite health reforms.

Furthermore their manifesto makes a commitment to increase Labour’s mixed economy approach to public services. This means opening up public service contracts to private firms. Labour is already doing this of course, for example in Carmarthenshire there is a huge row over the Labour Cabinet Member (who happens to be the candidate in Carmarthen East) who is trying to privatise home care at the behest of the Assembly Government’s Audit Inspectorate. This policy that would be bad for patients and bad for carers (I note a personal interest as my mother is currently an employee of the County in this very sphere). When will the Thatcherite parties learn that running public services on the basis of profit is lunacy?

I sincerely hope that if my party is in power after Thursday that the Audit Commission and the regulatory bodies instructed by the Assembly Government are given a brief to ensure ‘best value’ based on the quality of service not on cutting costs. Only then will we start to get the sort of public services we deserve.

I don’t often agree with David Davies but he was right the other day, Labour and the Tories are by far the two parties that are most politically compatible.

Labour send for the Cavalry

2007-04-28T12:24:00.000-07:00

My spies inform me that tonight in the Mochyn Du Labour candidate for Mid and West Wales Alun Davies is hosting a get together with Tomos Livingstone and two of Labour's London spin doctors who have been dispatched to Wales to try and save the party.

Looks like Plaids ppb's aren't that far off the mark.

Expect Labour to get really dirty in the last few days of the campaign.

BNP Election Pledge – “Plaid to hang if we win power”

2007-04-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

If there was ever a clearer sign of the psychotic nature of the BNP, link to the website below.

http://isupporttheresistance.blogspot.com/2007/04/swansea-city-enhanced-by-immigrants.html

What this BNP activist is effectively saying is that if they ever win power they will re-introduce capital punishment and execute those who do not share their fascist bigotry.

I was fortunate enough to meet Plaid star Adam Price MP the other day; he said if I can remember correctly:

“Young men from the South Wales Valleys fought and died against fascism in Spain and the Second World War. We have to remember what these people stand for and the lessons of history.”

I am personally amazed that fascism is being given such generous coverage during this campaign. The Glamorgan Gazette in its wisdom even provided Nick Griffin with a full profile, whilst refusing at any point to print hardly any legitimate local political stories by Plaid (despite countless press notices by local candidates), the official opposition in the Assembly. That paper and Celtic Press should be ashamed of themselves. The BNP have been given air time on radio programmes and even a party election broadcast. All this just legitimises the fascist movement.

I don’t believe that democratic parties should share a political platform with these people. I never refer to fascist replies on this blog. How can you debate sensibly with people who are so fundamentally warped in their thinking?

Journalists tell me that they have a duty to report everything no matter how uncomfortable, and that all political movements have a right to freedom of speech. I vehemently disagree; any political movement which fundamentally disagrees with the values of a democratic society should be exempt from the benefits afforded by democracy to political movements.

The threat to execute members of Plaid Cymru in a BNP blog is not an idle threat. This is what these people will do if they assume power. Whilst some members of the London political class might snigger at such a prospect – this is a very serious threat which all democratic political parties need to unite to combat and to build a consensus to ensure that fascism has no place in Wales.

Taflennu'r Ceidwadwyr

2007-04-26T07:20:00.000-07:00

Newydd gweld taflen y Ceidwadwyr ar gyfer rhestr De Cymru gorllewin. Dim gair o Gymraeg. Rwy'n cofio gweld taflen o shir Gar yn etholiad 2005, y sir gyda'r nifer uchaf o siaradwyr Cymraeg yng Nghymru, hollol un iaith saesneg gyda rhif ffon am y sawl roedd eisiau taflen yn iaith y nefoedd.

Y Ceidwadwyr wedi newid - dwi ddim yn credu!! Heblaw am Glyn Davies sy'n trio ei orau, sdim gyda nhw ddim i gynnig o ran dyfodol llewyrchus i Gymru.

Os mae un peth sy'n torri fy nghalon, darllen Maes e yw hynny a gweld nifer o Gymry Cymraeg cenedlaetholgar ifainc yn sirad dros y Ceidwadwyr. Dewch ymlaen bois bach, peidiwch bod mor ffol. Mae'r Ceidwadwyr yn chwarae'r tacteg 'triangulation' - eistedd ar dir traddodiadol y Blaid er mwyn dwyn pleidleisiau.

Fel mae'n nhw'n dweud yn yr Usual Suspects:

"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."

Is there such a thing as Blairism?

2007-04-25T04:48:00.000-07:00

I'm a subscriber to Simon Jenkins' argument that there is no coherent New Labour ideology, merely an embracial of Thatcherite doctrine. Read more here. The much heralded Third Way has been a sham from start to finish.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2064848,00.html

Will things be different under Brown? Not likely have a look at some of his legacy, mother thatcher would be proud. Which makes it even more ridiculous and politically incoherrent that Labour have fought this campaign on the Tory bogeyman.

Stuck to the spending targets of the previous Tory Government between 1998-2001

Cut single parent benefit

Paltry basic state pension increase of only 75p in 2000

Centralist approach to public service reform

Taxation on expenditure not income

Continued Nigel Lawson’s legacy of disposing public assets, privatising services and redirecting social security towards means testing

In opposition ruled out privatisation and pfi – but fully embraced it whilst in Government

Brown privatised: Royal Mint, the Tote, air Traffic control.

Private property developers invited to bid for Government buildings

Council flats made available to private developers – Thatcher right to buy only extended to tenants

Continued John Major’s plans to privatise the tube – a project which proved catastrophic costing £500m

Across the UK over a million manufacturing jobs have been lost since this Government came to Office, and Wales has been losing jobs at a faster rate than any other area of the UK. 71,000

Welsh manufacturing jobs, nearly a third of all sector jobs have been lost since New Labour came to power

Across the UK, 2 million pensioners live below the poverty line

3.4 million children continue to live in poverty

This Government has already committed itself to an astonishing £160bn of pfi repayments over the next 26 years based on existing projects

In 1997 Government spending on consultants was £300m. By 2005 this has risen to £2.4bn – mostly companies negotiating pfi deals

By 2007 – 20% of all public expenditure is expected to be delivered by private contractors

Introduced a social security system based on means testing by announcing a range of tax credits

Huw Lewis Throws First Leadership Punch

2007-04-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

Looks like the post Rhodri fight has begun. Huw Lewis on Good Evening Wales just blasted the sources who leaked today’s revelations. Like a demented prize fighter, Huw forgot that we were in the middle of an election and launched a vicious attack on those who he claimed were undermining the Labour party in Wales.

It is clear that the Welsh and Unionist wing of the Labour party in Wales are in a sate of open warfare. The VPGT election strategy devised by unionists such Hain, Andrews and Lewis is deservedly going to lead to a kicking in the polls – any party that creates a lie to win votes deserves no less – and some enlightened Labour politicians and activists have expressed a little bit of disquiet. Personally I’m surprised that they have stayed quiet for so long. A buffoon could have come up with something more inspiring than the ‘Torey bogeyman’ nonsense we have been subjected to from Labour to date. What a damning indictment of a once proud party that seems clearly to have lost all sense of purpose and direction.

Far from trying to bury the story Huw has decided to open fire on his own party members. Although mentioning no names the attack seemed very personal and clearly directed. I’m not surprised he’s so angry, as the strategy of his wing of the party is clearly in tatters.

Even more interestingly when pressed on a possible red – green coalition he refused to rule it out. The contradictions in this whole affair are mindblowing.

By saying he would go in response to a bad result Rhodri Morgan has really brought this on himself. Clearly in the political vacuum created by such a statement suitors for the Labour leadership would position themselves. Looks like open warfare has already commenced.

update - here's the transcript for those of you who missed the niterview

HL: "Well I’ve sounded out the opinions of other Labour Assembly Members and party members today and I can tell you that the mood is unanimously one of great anger towards some cowardly anonymous tipster who is trying to somehow construct a government without reference to the Welsh electorate.
I believe very firmly that we wait until the third of May for the Welsh people to say what kind of assembly we will have. And we will take things from there. It shows a contempt for Rhodri our leader, contempt for our party members and a degree of contempt for the Welsh electorate as well"

Interviewer: It’s not unheard of though is it. We saw for example in the budget negotiations last year Rhodri Morgan and Ieuan Wyn Jones went into a room together they came to an agreement and Plaid abstained and the budget got passed. We’ve seen ad hoc agreements being made previously?

HL: "Yes but what this election campaign ought to be about. What I should... what I would be able to be talking about if it wasn't for this anonymous person or persons that we mentioned earlier is Labour's future promise and past achievements. And how we put that before the electorate with the aim of winning a Labour majority government which we have done before and we can do again. We have been upended in our campaign today by this individual or individuals. That combined actually with very damaging internet speculation which is going on at the moment I think has been a bad day for Labour and it needn't have been… I mean obviously there are people out there who think that they can play puppet master with the Welsh electorate. And indeed with the Labour party. Well they’ve got another thing coming.

Interviewer: Are they playing puppet master though Mr Lewis or are they simply recognizing something which some Labour sources have said is a fact which is that Labour are not going to get a Majority on May the 3r and therefore they are trying to think about what possible solutions for keeping Labour in government?

HL: Well look I think punditry is for pundits and not a serious politician. Politicians in all sincerity and that is what I’ve been doing with my party members shoulder to shoulder have been putting the Labour manifesto before the people door by door in my constituency. I saw the faces of those party members this morning when they heard about this speculation. I would just like to issue a quick challenge to our anonymous government constructor out there. Stand up to the microphone and identify yourself or get back to work knocking on doors and building a Labour majority.

Interviewer: As an aside there is more than one source for this story but that is an aside. Can I clarify Mr Lewis then. Is Labour ruling out any form of formal cooperation with Plaid Cymruwhatsoever come May the 3rd onwards?

HL: Well look I just condemned punditry and speculation and I’m not about to engage in it myself. I believe that Labour if we put our case to the Welsh electorate has every opportunity of building a majority government as we have done before to give clear leadership to Wales . I also believe that every vote for Plaid Cymru insidently brings the Tories closer to government in Wales and we have to remind people of that.”

Plaid Youth Website Launched

2007-04-24T04:33:00.000-07:00

Plaid has launched a website for younger people. Check it out here

http://www.youngwales.plaidcymru.org/content.php?nID=441;lID=1

Labour Election Strategy Torn to Shreds

2007-04-24T02:04:00.000-07:00

Today’s revelations by the BBC that a senior Labour source has confirmed that the party is looking at a New Zealand political arrangement between them and Plaid has blown Labour’s election strategy to pieces. For over a year now we have been subjected to the great Tory led Coalition lie by Labour in their desperate attempts to shore up their core vote. I had a leaflet through the door the other day, 4/5 of the content went on about the great Tory bogeyman and how Plaid and the Lib Dems were going to prop up Bourne and co.

Yet again Labour has been caught with their pants down. By fighting the most negative campaign in electoral history, getting found out like this was what Labour deserved.

The unionist wing of the Labour party must be in uproar.

Labour deserves a pounding at the polls. Let’s hope the people of Wales have the confidence on May the 3rd to grasp their own destiny. The London parties are all as bad as each other. It’s time we move away from the deceit and dishonesty which characterises the London consensus.

update -as reported on BBC blogs Labour have issued threatening press notices accusing the BBC of fabricating the story. Peter Hain is in uproar that his careful plotting and deceit has been uncovered. It's a disgrace that instead of coming clean Labour continue to lie. I wouldn't expect nothing better from the unionist wing of the Labour party, but I would have expected Rhodri Morgan to act with a bit more dignity during what seems increasingly likely to be his last few days in Office.

The UK a Tax Haven – International Monetary Fund

2007-04-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

The IMF, the world’s most important financial organisation has labelled the UK an offshore tax haven. Before everyone gets excited, the report was referring to the very favourable tax status afforded to non domiciled citizens, many of whom are amongst Labour’s largest financial backers.

These super rich, the likes of Lakshmi Mittal; Philip Green; Hans Rausing; Mohamed Al Fayed; and Roman Abramovich, who are amongst the richest people on the planet pay virtually no tax for living in the UK.

Gordon Brown to herald a new socialist dawn – don’t make me laugh.

Plaid Win in Abercynon South

2007-04-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Howard Davies for winning yesterday's Abercynon South by-election. 50.3% of the votes to Plaid. Admittedly Labour got 49.7% but a win like this in the Cynon Valley sets the next two weeks up nicely.

Labour's Child Poverty Pledge Exposed

2007-04-20T02:40:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the BBC for highlighting Labour's inability to meet its main election pledge. This blog has long argued that the powers to eradicate child poverty are primarily the preserve of Westminster i.e control over taxation and benefits. With an impartial third party in Barnados vindicating that position, i wonder what the likes of Huw Lewis and Peter Black who have attacked Plaid on this issue have to say.

For our part in Plaid we will use the powers of the Assembly to make as much of a contribution as possible to the fight against child poverty. Our universal affordable childcare pledge will make a substantial contribution as will our pledge on free school meals. However until we have responsibility over fiscal policy and the benefits system to be able to redistribute wealth we are honest enough to admit that this issue can not be dealt addressed within the remit of the Assembly's powers.

Shame on Labour therefore for basing their election campaign on a promise they know full well they can't deliver.

There May Be Trouble Ahead

2007-04-19T03:21:00.000-07:00

Anthony Hilton in the Evening Standard yesterday provides an interesting insight to the growing concern amongst city analysts that the wheels might just be about to come off the UK economy. With 'official' inflation even topping 3% and an expectation that interest rates might well top 6% in the very near future, Labour's handling of the economy is fast becoming politically problematic. With things in the US not looking too clever, concerns are inevitably heightened.

I have long argues that Brown has been a chancer, he has deliberately changed the goalposts and gerrymandered the economy to ensure his short term goals are met. Economies such as Wales' traditional manufacturing base have been abandoned by Labour as the City has been let to go hay wire destabilising the long term prosperity of the whole economy. (Its little wonder that wealth levels in Wales have collapsed by 6% in the last 10 years compared to the UK average). The end result is an economic legacy built on sand - correction is inevitable sooner or later.

The concerns are outlined by Hilton as follows -

a massive balance of payments deficit
low productivity
poor state of education
dependence on the public sector for job creation
unprecedented levels of personal unsecured debt fuelled by unsustainable house prices
the reliance on the City to drive UK growth based on mispricing of risk and quasi-monopolistic extraction of fees and bonuses

I could add

growing north-south divide
loss of over a million manufacturing jobs
growing individual wealth inequalities

Hilton argues frighteningly that the whole UK economy is basically one giant hedge fund - a massive one way bet on financial services. Brown has put is eggs all in one basket with no plan B.

The relevance of all this to us in Wales is we desperately need a change of Government on May the 3rd so that we can have a change of approach that develops our indigenous businesses using the opportunities provided by convergence funding in particular in our poorest areas. The clouds are gathering and we need to develop our own plan B in Wales.

Brown is coming to Wales tomorrow. The political illiteracy of Rhodri Morgan and so called Welsh Labour is that they view this 'Son of Thatcher' as an electoral asset. I'm sure the people of Wales are delighted to get a visit from the man who has been responsible for making us the poorest part of the UK.

Gwellhad Buan i Grav

2007-04-19T02:02:00.000-07:00

Gwellhad buan i Grav, un o brif arwyr Cymru. Edrychwn ymlaen i dy weld nol ar y radio ac yn darlledu gemau rygbi yn fuan.

Plaid Election Broadcast - Episode 2

2007-04-18T01:39:00.000-07:00

The second instalment of Plaid's election broadcasts. Is there going to be a third one? what's going to happen next?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrEApF62ezU

a'r fersiwn Cymraeg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5l-aDXtm_o

Labour Poll Meltdown

2007-04-17T07:11:00.000-07:00

The Times poll today makes very uncomfortable reading for Labour. Most worryingly for Labour in Wales is that electors seem determined to use the May 3rd elections as a final opportunity to give Blair a kicking.

By fighting on the politics of fear, Labour have got it badly wrong this year. The only way to avoid the fall out of the last days of Blair, would have been to come up with a positive new vision for the future of Wales. By concentrating on such negative tactics they have reminded people of the worst aspects of Blair -deceit, dishonesty - spin and smear.

Yet More Fib Dem Duplicity

2007-04-17T04:39:00.000-07:00

The Lib Dems in Cardiff have launched an attack on 'Cardiff Bashing' Plaid in the South Wales Echo. One of the reasons is our objection to centralising adult neurosurgery services away from Morriston.

What have the South Wales West Lib Dems got to say about this. Do they agree with their Council leader in Cardiff?

Far from being anti Cardiff - what Plaid have been doing is attacking the Cardiff Bay Centric and centralisation tendencies of the current Administration. Typical Fib Dems - they'll say anything and create any miss-impression to get votes whilst trying to portray themselves as the cuddly alternative.

Rhodri Abdicates Responsibility for NHS

2007-04-16T06:13:00.000-07:00

Just listened to Rhodri Morgan on Radio Wales claiming that the Wales wides cuts has nothing to do with him or his government. Apparently, according to Rhodri, all the health bodies are acting independently from the Assembly Government.

And there was I thinking that local health bodies had formed local implementation plans based on the strategic guidance of his government.

If Rhodri is right, we desperately need a change of government willing to rain in these unruly bureaucrats, because clearly Labour have lost all control.

£7k Tuition Fees Coming to Wales?

2007-04-15T03:29:00.000-07:00

The vague promise in the Welsh Labour manifesto only to review funding arrangements for Higher Education if they win a majority is deeply worrying. With the Russell Group lobbying for the cap to be raised to £7k, Cardiff University students of the future could be faced with these massive bills within three years.

Labour's response was pathetic - if it is irresponsible to rule out top up fees in Wales, does that mean that the commitment of the Labour party in Scotland, to rule out top up fees, is also irresponsible?

The most disgraceful aspect of this whole episode is that Labour in Wales have been claiming credit for the current position in relation to top up fees, when it was the combined opposition that put their intention to introduce top up fees to bed.

The introduction of tuition fees was the driving force for me in joining Plaid in the late 90s. I could never support a party that believes in undermining the right to free education. Labour is no longer the party of ordinary working people - it has sold its soul for power. These sort of regressive policies are the inevitable result.

Martin Shipton - Labourn Election Strategy Based on Lie

2007-04-15T03:20:00.000-07:00

Thank the Lord, at least one of our political commentators has picked up that Labours whole election strategy is based on a lie. Everyone knows that there is no prospect whatsoever that a Tory led coalition could ever come into being. Plaid has stated categorically that it will never serve a Tory First Minister.

What has been disappointing is that Labour have been allowed to get away with this for over a year. I have watched countless BBC and HTV interviews in which Labour politicians have been allowed to spin this lie without being challenged at all. The paramaters of this election therefore are being fought in the make belief world of Labour spin doctors. My own view is that public broadcasters have fuelled that lie in their inability to expose it for what it is.

In some ways you have to admire the ability of the Labour party in Wales to bully its way into getting its message across in Wales. On the other hand, to rely merely on the politics of fear during an election in the long term will be seen as a damning indictment of a once proud party that has lost all sense of purpose and direction.

Tory Health Record in Wales

2007-04-13T03:25:00.000-07:00

Under the last Tory Government the number of NHS beds in Wales fell by 7,847
Under the Tories 60 hospitals in Wales closed.
In 1991 the Tories introduced the internal market into the health service – which essentially means that service provision in based on economic viability rather than the health requirements of the population.
In 1991 the Tories introduced capital charging whereby NHS Trusts bodies were required to pay an interest charge on all capital investments – effectively a tax on investment.
In 1992, they unveiled the Finance Initiative schemes for funding capital investment in the health service. The result is a mountain of debt which is driving the need for rationalisation and centralisation of services.
During the last Tory government the number of local authority care places fell by 48%
During the 2005 General Election the Tories proposed the creations of a system of patient passports which would have created a two tier health system.

Labour have done nothing to reverse Tory reforms. They're both as bad as each other.

Rearranging the Deckchairs on the Titanic?

2007-04-12T04:34:00.000-07:00

The First of Many?

2007-04-12T03:49:00.000-07:00

Shell are the first multi national company to gain access to Iraq's wealth of oil and gas reserves. The Times reports that Shell has struck a deal with the Turkish state owned oil and gas company to access reserves in Kirkuk, Kurdistan.

Iraq has the second largest oil reserves in the world, and with the Iraqi government having passed their petroleum law it is expected that a number of similar projects will be announced in the next few months.

I wonder where the next war for oil will be waged?

The Fib Dems are at it again

2007-04-12T02:31:00.000-07:00

The Lib Dems in South Wales West have published a leaflet claiming they are campaigning to save adult neurosurgery in Morriston hospital. Slightly disingenuous it could be argued, as most their Assembly group including their health spokesperson voted in favour of centralising the service in Cardiff.

The only party who remained consistent in their position on this issue was Plaid. Let's hope the people of West Wales don't get hoodwinked by yet more cynical opportunism by the London parties.

update - several Labour candidates in the Swansea area are also claiming in literature that they are against closing the neurosurgery unit in Morriston. if its such a defining issue then the honourable thing to do would be to leave the Labour party as it is primarilly their policy to centralise the service in Cardiff.

BNP Target Plaid

2007-04-11T05:49:00.000-07:00

It seems that the BNP are basing their campaign for the National Assembly election on attacking Plaid as public enemy no 1.

I know definitely I’m in the right party when fascist right wing bigots with their warped understanding of the world are attacking you. Just shows that Plaid is the party with the vision for every part of Wales and for everyone who has chosen to make Wales their home.

Plaid Setting the Agenda

2007-04-10T04:21:00.000-07:00

‘Eleven for Eleven’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as Plaid ‘7 4 ‘07’. Labour are copying Plaid in more ways than one. The most interesting thing about Labour’s manifesto is that there seems to be a step change in the thinking of the party away from pandering to the grey vote towards policies aimed to other age groups.

It’s clear Plaid’s narrative of policies based on hope for the future has caught Labour off guard. I welcome Labour’s change of emphasis, although it is clear there is no vision there, merely panic stricken induced policy announcements.

The choice for the people of Wales is quite clear. Plaid’s comprehensive programme and clear vision or Labour’s piecemeal and ill thought out offering?

Croeso i Gymru Tony

2007-04-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

Yn ol y son fe fydd y prif Weinidog yn dod i Gymru wythnos yma i helpu ymgyrchu y blaid Lafur. Mae'r neges felly yn glir - Mai'r 3ydd bydd cyfle olaf pobol Cymru i roi gic i Blair. Croeso Tony, gobeithio wnewn ni dy weld ar sawl achlysur cyn yr etholiad!!

Bogus Poll Ynys Mon

2007-04-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

Seems that the poll indicating a Tory victory in Ynys Mon was bogus after all. I wonder who would benefit from creating a bogus polling company to talk up the chances of the Tories in Ynys Mon by providing dubious polling data to the local paper????

Allegedly Labour have been up to the same sort of thing on a national basis in Scotland.

Who will take over from Rhodri?

2007-04-05T09:19:00.000-07:00

Rhodri Morgan’s frank admission on Radio Wales this morning that he’ll go if Labour has a bad result in a month’s time is the latest act of a desperate Labour party. It looks like the only thing Labour has to offer is the sympathy vote.

With meltdown impending it looks like there will be three Labour leadership contents kick starting after May the 3rd - Blair, McConnell and Morgan.

This blog has long argued that Labour’s failure to come up with a new vision has been down to the inability of the main post Rhodri candidates to come to a common agreement. The hugely negative ‘Tory bogeyman’ strategy is being driven by the unionist wing of the party – whose own leadership chances will be vastly improved by a strong Tory showing on May the 3rd.

Step forward Leighton Andrews – the man who would be king?

Election fever.....in Scotland

2007-04-05T00:37:00.001-07:00

Before anyone starts accusing me of obsessing with Scotland, it’s difficult for me as a Welsh patriot not to be equally excited about events in our sister country. This is not only ‘cause the SNP are steamrolling ahead; it’s not even ‘cause of the far reaching implications an SNP victory, let alone a referendum victory on independence, would have on politics here in Wales – something no one to my knowledge seems to have commented on; but basically you can’t escape it. Supported by daily polls, the profile of the Scottish elections is on a different planet to here.

The key difference in Scotland of course is the existence of a distinct separate media. A multitude of daily papers have been building up the election for the best part of a year; there have already been two leadership TV contests (including one by Sky) – and there is still a month to go; Newsnight Scotland offers a nightly avenue for Scottish based political debate. Put simply there are ample opportunities for politicians to engage with the electorate via the media.

The situation in Wales can not be any different. The Western Mail and the Daily Post have a combined circulation of less than 100,000. The Welsh political programmes are watched by less people than follow Caerbryn football club (trust me that’s not a lot) –due to the slots available (Who except for a complete political hack is going to watch Waterfront at 11ish on a Thursday night?); admittedly during election month the BBC are providing some coverage – but local radio stations are eroding BBC radio figures and most of the eastern half of Wales get their signal from across the border meaning they don’t watch BBC Wales or HTV Wales news. Basically the Welsh news agenda is set in London mostly and they won’t care about Wales until independence is imminent.

The fault doesn’t lie at the hands of the Welsh based media of course, they can only work within the context they are given. As usual these decisions are made in London.

As Wales develops politically it is essential that we also see the growth of a distinct and powerful media in Wales. The main news programme should be based in Wales offering national and international coverage and the London papers should at the very least employ a Welsh correspondent and preferably Welsh editions or Welsh versions.
Together politicians and the Welsh media can complement each other as Wales develops as a political entity.

The Worst Ever Election Website?

2007-04-03T08:59:00.000-07:00

Link here to the worst election website in political history. 'Building a Better Wales' apparently is the election slogan - perhaps their campaign team should build a better website.

Labour Election Strategy in Complete Shambles

2007-04-03T04:17:00.000-07:00

The Labour party’s election strategy is in complete shambles. After spending a year talking up the Tory bogeyman, they have launched their election campaign with a full frontal attack on Plaid.

Blamerbell has written an excellent report on the whole situation. The inconsistencies in Labour’s argument are quite frankly staggering. Not only does their seemingly backtracking of today amount to an abandonment of a policy they have pursued for at least three years, but of comments the Health Minister himself made in the Assembly only two weeks ago. Or is it as Blamerbell suggests merely a confirmation of their downgrade proposals for Llandudno hospital?

Let there be no doubt there is only one way to scrap New Labour’s hospital closure and downgrade programme – and that’s by electing a Plaid Government that will rip up Labour’s Designed for Life policy document.

Plaid yn Lawnsio 3'ydd Poster

2007-04-02T07:33:00.000-07:00

Dyma trydydd poster etholiad Plaid Cymru argyfer etholiadau'r Cynulliad. Mae'r Blaid yn annog pobol i bleidleisio ar Fai'r 3ydd, arwydd cryf o hyder y Blaid.

'Uninspiring and Clueless' - Labour

2007-04-01T06:56:00.000-07:00

The Scotsman today leads with Labour sources conceding defeat to the SNP. Recent polls in Scotland show the SNP continuing to pick up support. Jack McConnell and Alex Salmond go head to head tonight on TV.

Labour sources are placing the blame directly on McConnell. The report further criticises Labour’s lack of strategy – claiming decisions are being made on a day to day basis.

The same goes for Labour in Wales of course. Labour has no organised central core. The strategy seems all over the place. And Rhodri Morgan has the look of a man resigned to failure.

In Scotland, neither the Tories nor Labour have ruled out a Red-Blue coalition of unionists in order to stop the SNP forming a Government. Should Plaid do better than expected and gain parity with Labour, would we see a Red-Blue deal in Wales?

Blair to go May the 2nd

2007-03-30T01:45:00.000-07:00

Previously this blog has predicted that Blair will start briefing his departure on May the 4th in order to keep Labour's disastrous elections on May the 3rd off the news. Wales Elects blogs that Blair has pencilled in an interview for May the 2nd with the Sun - which it interprets as the big day.

The words 'desperate' and 'Labour' come to mind.

Tories and the Welsh Way?

2007-03-29T05:58:00.000-07:00

The Tories have launched their Assembly election manifesto promising a Welsh Way. Why did they therefore have to send in the cavalry from London in the shape of the boy Cameron?

More Labour Negative Campaigning

2007-03-28T07:43:00.000-07:00

Right on cue, Wales' own blogespondent reports that labour are now claiming that an independent Wales would be kicked out of the EU. We've heard it all before of course, nothing new here but an usual Labour scare tactic - it's about as new as stale bread.

The assumption is ridiculous of course - if the UK broke up the transition would be seamless. Can anyone remember the difficulty Greenland had in getting out?

Labour's argument is based on the assumption that the Member State, ie the UK, would continue in the event of Scottish or Welsh independence. That presumption is incoherent - i thought the main plank of unionist thought was that all three nations were equal parts. Therefore if one component part decided to grasp its destiny all three would have to reapply. if this isn't the case then Wales or Scotland isn't an equal component.

New Labour when in trouble will always resort to Welsh bashing and talk Wales down. the slight problem they face is that there is a growing sense of confidence amongst the people of Wales. Labour has had its day.

Plaid Manifesto Launch

2007-03-28T07:23:00.000-07:00

Yet again Plaid seems to be setting the agenda. They are the first to publish their manifesto, outlining a range of exciting new policies.
On top of the 7 4 ’07 main pledges the party announced new policies such as a national living wage for public sector workers is especially welcome when considering the anti public sector policies of the Government.

The response of the London parties was typical. All three questioned costings. It’s typical London party response of course – whatever the policy. The London parties would make more milage if they tried to debate the issues, but they know they have been caught flat footed to date.
A lot can happen in five weeks of course, but it does seen that Plaid has the wind in their sails. Look out for dirty tricks and more negative campaigning from the London parties as they desperately try and catch up.

Labour’s latest Insult to Welsh Workers

2007-03-27T02:48:00.000-07:00

Department of Constitutional Affairs proposals to introduce a differentional regional pay system for court workers has very worrying consequences not only for Welsh public sector workers but for the Welsh economy as a whole.

Preserving uniformity of public sector pay is a principle that must be protected at all costs. Not only is it immoral for the State to pay workers from one part of the UK less for doing the same job, but as the PCS points out it would exacerbate the north – south economic divide.

Wales is particularly at risk as firstly we have a higher proportion of public sector jobs as a percentage of our economic make up than other parts of the UK. And also invariably Welsh workers would be at the bottom of the pay scale.

This Chancellor is responsible for core economic and fiscal policies which have exacerbated the regional wealth inequalities. Yet again we witness how Wales comes bottom of Labour’s priorities.

Plaid on the Move

2007-03-26T02:53:00.000-07:00

After a hugely successful spring Conference, Plaid is really looking in good shape for the Assembly elections. Here’s their second election poster – one which portrays the lack of vision of the current Labour Administration.

Here’s a link to an unofficial Plaid broadcast on you tube, and don’t forget the official broadcast on the box tonight which has had such a good write up in the Western Mail today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZBrjQVvDWc

update - watch the official Plaid broadcasts here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx8Tv-S7W5I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gldZ5y2bLTE

Lib Dems Election Gaffe

2007-03-24T02:08:00.000-07:00

The first major election cock up falls to Charles Kennedy and the Lib Dems. On a visit to the Airbus plant in North Wales, Mr Kennedy was full of praise. Only problem, the workers were out on strike over terms and consitions.

Bank of England and Government Began Debt Crisis on Purpose

2007-03-21T03:30:00.000-07:00

If anyone needs any confirmation on the cynical dealings of this Chancellor and the Bank of England look no further than the admission of the former Governor of the BoE, Eddie George, that the Monetary Policy Committee deliberately created the fiscal climate for hyper inflation in the housing market and record unsecured debt.

The reasoning is quite obvious, a few years into the newly elected New Labour Government, the UK economy faced recession which was the commonplace in the rest of the Eurozone and the US. Needless to say a recession within the first few years of a newly elected Labour government would have been disastrous for the party.

In a cynical move to boost consumer spending, the Bank of England clearly led by the Treasury, dropped interests rates to stimulate mortgage and credit card borrowing. There was a double whammy of course as property prices rocketed, house owners eager to access equity in their homes borrowed and hence spent more.

Before Labour apologists start harping on about the ‘independence of the Bank of England’ the whole scam was compounded by the decision of the Treasury to change the way inflation was calculated from a more broad based formula to one based on consumer prices. This means that official 'inflation' in the UK has remained low which has sustained lower interest rates and fuelled the borrowing frenzy.

The result is clearly unsustainable, personal unsecured borrowing in the UK is remarkably over £3 trillion. House prices are totally out of proportion – with first time buyers priced out of the market.

It really has been a case of haves and have nots under Labour. There has been wealth redistribution, but from people without property to those lucky enough to own their own homes.

Just goes to show the skewed priorities of Labour – most people in the UK are up to their neck in debt, yet city bonuses have reached record levels.

Correction in the economy is inevitable, inflation is currently on the rise and interest rates will have to follow. The Chancellor knows the economy is living on borrowed time, especially since things aren’t looking to clever across the Atlantic. No wonder he’s in such a rush to get to number 10.

Labour's Can't Deliver their Main Electin Pledge

2007-03-21T02:32:00.000-07:00

It’s finally been exposed, Labour can’t deliver their main election pledge. I chanced upon this press notice by Child Poverty campaigners:

>CPAG Press Release
>
>Thursday 15th March 2007
>For immediate release
>
>
>PLAID COMMITMENT TO END CHILD POVERTY WELCOMED
>
>Commenting on today's announcement by Plaid Cymru of their commitment to
>
>the target of ending child poverty by 2020, Kate Green, Chief Executive
>of Child Poverty Action Group, said:
>
>"Plaid's commitment to ending child poverty by 2020 is excellent news
>and strengthens the growing political consensus that is needed to
>achieve it.
>
>"Despite improvements in recent years, there are still 1 in 4 children
>in poverty in Wales. Although many of the key decisions needed to end
>child poverty will be taken in Westminster, the target is unlikely to be
>
>met without the active commitment of the Welsh Assembly.
>
>"We particularly welcome Plaid's recognition that the Government will
>not meet the target on current policies, so addressing inequality and
>measures like Plaid's commitment to universal affordable child care will
>
>be needed. We hope all parties in the Welsh election will engage in the
>debate on the new policies needed to end child poverty."
>
>ENDS
>
>Notes to editors
>
>* CPAG is a member of the Campaign to End Child Poverty.
>
Child poverty campaigners have published a ten point plan which are:

The Ten Point Plan of the Child Poverty Action Group is:
All political parties to commit to eradicate child poverty
Poverty proof policies – make each consistent with eradicating child poverty
Uprate the combined value of child tax credits and child benefit at least in line with the fastest growing of either prices or earnings. The element of this that is child benefit ought to be maximised
Increase adult payments within income support in line with those for children
Reform the administration of tax credits and benefits – ensure they provide the right amount to the right people at the right time
Ensure all children have full access to the requirements – meals, uniforms and activities – of their education
Provide benefit entitlements to all UK residents equally, irrespective of immigration status
Work towards better jobs, not just more jobs
Introduce free at the point of delivery, good quality universal childcare
Reduce the disproportionate burden of taxation on poorer families

Over half of these can only be delivered by London as the last time I looked the Assembly didn’t have powers over the benefits or the taxation system. Plaid’s claim that it’s disingenuous for Labour to give the impression that this can be delivered at Assembly level is more than fair.

With so much dependant upon what happens in Westminster, what would happen to child poverty levels in Wales if the Tories took control? Their policy on skewing the tax system in favour of married families would have a disastrous effect in Wales – the only country in Western Europe where most children are born outside marriage!

Plaid is committed to the 20/20 target that is why we are pledging to introduce universal affordable childcare – a policy that the Assembly can deliver and which is identified within the ten point plan of anti child poverty campaigners. The commitment to the 20/20 pledge was done by the Parliamentary group as a part of the party’s alternative budget. A recognition that that’s where the real power lies to deal with this issue.

Looks like another undeliverable election pledge to me – a seemingly proud Labour tradition.

Ian Titherington blogs

2007-03-20T03:51:00.000-07:00

Plaid's Swansea West Candidate has started blogging. Ian is head of Plaid's Trade Union section - Undeb. A committed anti fascist campaigner Ian is making some big waves in Swansea West - no surprise as he is known to be a keen surfer.

New Labour and the Politics of Fear

2007-03-19T08:56:00.000-07:00

Below is an article in the Scotsman in relation to Labour's negative campaigning there. We are witnessing the same thing in Wales, perhaps the Scotsman article will provide an insight to Labour's (lack of) strategy here.

How can Labour combat SNP's political blitzkrieg?
HAMISH MACDONELL
EVERY SNP activist in the country has received a glossy, colour calendar wall chart from party headquarters, setting out a detailed, day-by-day timetable for the election campaign.
Destined to become a feature on the wall of every campaign office the party hold, the chart shows every important event of the campaign, from the dates of party election broadcasts to the timing of postal vote forms being dispatched.

It will
allow the local campaigns to chase up every possible vote and, more importantly,
enable the SNP to run a co-ordinated campaign throughout the country, with all
local branches following the same overall pattern but adapting it to local
needs.
This is
just one of a number of Nationalist innovations that have left Labour trailing.
Party managers have planned this campaign like a chess game. They want to be at
least one move, hopefully more, ahead of Labour at every stage - and that is
what has happened.
Last week
was a case in point. The Nationalists were preparing for their spring
conference, their last real attempt to finalise campaign plans and generate
publicity and funds. Labour, on the other hand, wanted to overshadow the SNP
conference, so Tony Blair came to Scotland to deliver a harsh
anti-independence warning to Scottish business.
But the
Nationalists were already a step ahead. Alex Salmond knew Sir George Mathewson,
the former chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, wanted
to declare his support for the SNP, so Mr Salmond managed to co-ordinate Sir
George's bombshell announcement in The Scotsman with the morning of the Prime
Minister's visit.
Mr Blair
was caught out, he had to go on the defensive and ended up attacking Sir George
himself, rather than the SNP. It was one-nil to the Nationalists before they had
even started their conference. But Mr Salmond wasn't content with that, he had
another trick. Brian Souter, the Stagecoach millionaire, had told Mr Salmond
several weeks ago that he wanted to donate a sizeable amount of cash to the
campaign, but the SNP leader kept this quiet, and kept Mr Souter in the wings.
On
Saturday, Mr Souter and his massive £500,000 donation were unveiled, giving the
SNP the best possible publicity for its conference, dominating the agenda for
the weekend and building on the impression, started by Sir George, that there
was now real momentum in generating business backing.
It has been
like this for the past eight months. It is as if Mr Salmond's party has planned
its campaign with military efficiency and, at every turn, Labour is being forced
into reacting rather than leading the agenda. The SNP has a clear, and clever,
strategy, to use Mr Salmond's name on every ballot paper to exploit the
proportional representation system to the full. Labour has nothing similar.
The SNP has
developed the most advanced internet database system ever used in British
politics to target voters with pinpoint accuracy: Labour has not. And the SNP
has £1.3 million in its election war chest, with a target of raising £1.75
million: Jack McConnell will fight the election with between £750,000 and £1
million.
Part of
this organisational success comes from fear, even desperation. SNP leaders know
this election is their best chance ever and if they fail this time, serious
questions will be asked as to whether they will ever do it. This fear of
failure, aware that they will never have a better chance of beating Labour, is
driving them on in a way that Labour cannot even contemplate after two terms in
Edinburgh and mid-way through a third term in London.
Cracks are
already starting to show in the Labour campaign. One member of the Chancellor's
team made it clear, last week, that this was Jack McConnell's campaign. "It
always has been," the source said. And if the blame game is starting already in
the Labour campaign, it really is in trouble.
Labour has
been accused of being negative but, in truth, this is not new for a party in
power. It is hard to sell the "vision thing" when you have been in power for two
terms and the public is getting a little tired of you.
"And, if
you do try to promote a new vision, the electorate has the right to ask: "Why
didn't you come up with this before?" So Labour has fallen back on the tried and
tested strategy of engendering fear. Its latest campaign slogan says nothing
about Labour and everything about the Nationalists' agenda: "Break up
Britain and end up broke." This is a
variation on its "Divorce is an expensive business" slogan from the last
election and, at its core, has an assertion that families would face increased
taxes of more than £5,000 a year under independence. Of all Labour's campaign
tactics, this has the most chance of success, simply because it goes to the
heart of what voters fear most - being taxed more. But it is still negative and
it contrasts badly with the SNP's "It's time" message.
Most people
will vote on gut feeling about the politicians running the country, and this is
Labour's problem. Many traditional Labour supporters feel uneasy about the
governments in Holyrood and Westminster and will either find someone else
to vote for - with the nationalist vote the most likely channel of expression
for this protest - or will stay at home.
This is why
Labour has gone negative. It needs to scare voters to such an extent that, above
all, they vote against the SNP, rather than for Labour.
The smiles
at the Glasgow Science Centre yesterday were as big as the Clyde because SNP strategists know that, if they enter the
final weeks of the campaign ahead of Labour, it will be hard for them to lose
that lead by polling day.
But they
also know they have a huge gap to make up. The SNP has only half as many seats
as Labour in the Scottish Parliament. It has to recover the ground it lost to
Labour in 2003, and it has never managed to worry Labour in its central and west
of Scotland heartlands.
Labour has
been losing ground for the past eight months but it has a long way to go before
it loses the election.
So far, the
SNP is doing everything right: it is setting the political agenda, it is
dominating the news agenda and it has not - as yet - made any gaffes of the sort
which crippled its campaign in 1999.
So far, for
the first time in a Scottish election, Scotland's nationalist party is ahead
in every area, including finance, and Labour is playing catch-up. Both parties
are in uncharted waters and the election will ultimately be decided on how each
reacts.

Miners Compensation - the Great New Labour Lie

2007-03-19T07:46:00.000-07:00

It must be election time when Labour politicians start trumpeting compensation payments to former NCB miners for respiratory diseases caused by working underground. What Labour politicians don’t tell you of course is that these payments were only awarded after the newly elected Labour Government in 1997 was defeated in the courts by NACODS South Wales.

It is really scrapping the barrel to claim credit for something when you were dragged kicking and screaming through the courts. Here’s a little question for Labour politicians, if you are so concerned with awarding compensation to miners for the terrible injuries sustained whilst working for the NCB, why don’t you address an anomaly in the initial case and include surface mineworkers in the compensation scheme?

The case is clear; many surface mineworkers worked in the washeries and were probably subjected to dustier conditions than those underground, yet Labour has done nothing to ensure these workers are eligible for rightful compensation.

Why don’t the unions go to court I hear you ask. Following the original court loss the government has made it far harder for class actions of the sort to be won. In the case of surface mineworkers, the Labour Government is refusing to safeguard any claimant from prosecution costs should they lose. The threat of having millions of pounds worth of Government defence costs as a liability is enough to hinder any further compensation claim.

This is nothing less than bullying by Labour. The very least the Government should do is waver costs and let this issue be resolved by the Courts. With the way Labour are harping on about the current scheme you would think that they would just include surface mineworkers in the scheme as an act of good faith and be done with it.

Da iawn Cymru

2007-03-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

Da iawn bois, canlyniad arbennig. Mae'r ffin rhwng ennill a cholli ar y lefel uchaf mor fach. Gobeithio nawr bydd y genedl gyfan yn rhoi cefnogaeth i'r tim a'r rheolwr Gareth Jenkins wrth i ni baratoi ar gyfer cwpan y Byd. Er ei fod o wedi bod yn dymor siomedig, yr unig gem i Gymru chwarae yn wael dost oedd yn erbyn yn yr Alban.

Gyda bach o lwc Lloegr bydd ein gwrthwynebwyr yn yr wyth olaf. Bydd buddigoliaeth heddiw yn sbardun seicolegol pwysig ar gyfer y gem hynny.

Gobeithio geiff Gymru buddigoliaeth arall ar Fai'r 3ydd!!!

Plaid to win Swansea West?

2007-03-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

Sources inform me that things are looking good for Plaid in Swansea West in what could be the shock result of the election.

The current incumbent Andrew Davies has been trying to make a name for himself of late with sensationalist attacks on Plaid. Political commentators have viewed this as an early Labour leadership bid – but could his Plaid bashing have more to do with more immediate concerns.

He has a majority of only around 3,000 and is up against Ian Titherington who is a bit of a local hero. Plaid are really turning the screw against Labour’s decision to move neurosurgery to Cardiff in what looks like being the defining issue for the whole Swansea area.

Game on as they say!

Labour Block Steelworkers Compensation

2007-03-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

We are all familiar with Labour’s attempt to rewrite history as the deliverers of miners’ respiratory compensation despite being forced into awarding compensation by the Courts. The Department of Work and Pensions are now challenging a High Court Ruling that awarded compensation to the 1,000 former ASW steel workers in Cardiff, who lost all their pension entitlements when the company went bust in 2002.

It was Plaid star Adam Price that discovered the European legislation that showed that the Government had been neglecting its duty. It’s a disgrace that the Labour Government instead of accepting its responsibilities is dragging the issue through every legal avenue. Former ASW employees and other workers who have lost their pension entitlements through no fault of their own deserve better.

You wouldn’t expect anything else from a party reliant on the funding of asset strippers.

Windfall Tax on Bank Profits

2007-03-15T03:11:00.000-07:00

The fat cat culture of the square mile has really gone through the roof under New Labour, unsurprising really from a party that now believes that wealth creation is far more important than wealth redistribution – and accepts Thatcherite individualism as fact.

City bonuses for FTSE CEO’s topped £9bn last year, and the average boss now earns over a 100 times than an average worker.

The UK’s top five banks (HSBC, Royal Banks of Scotland, HBOS, Barclays, Lloyds TSB) posted combined record profits of £38bn last year. A remarkable sum which has quite rightly drawn much criticism from consumer groups about punitive charges and low gains on savings.

I am delighted therefore to see Plaid Cymru proposing a windfall tax on these profits as part of its alternative budget proposals, especially as New Labour refuse to implement such a policy for the banking sector.

In 2000 the Treasury commissioned a report by Don Cruickshank to investigate banking profits. The report concluded that banks at that time were making ‘super normal’ profits to the tune of £3-5bn.

It’s about time those still in the Labour party that harp on about socialism wake up and smell the bacon. Whilst Labour kowtow to big business, at least Plaid is wiling to tackle the greed and excesses of the square mile which is having such a distorting effect on the UK economy as a whole.

Global Warming & Trident – The Great Contradiction

2007-03-14T03:49:00.000-07:00

This week’s news agenda has been dominated by two issues. The London parties have been in a frenzy to try and claim the green agenda as their own with the Tories and Labour making some grand announcements. The other big story is Trident.

The Times today runs a very interesting cartoon depicting the great contradiction in the position of the Tories and Labour in particular. On the one hand they are trying to save the planet with greener policies. Yet when it comes to weapons that can destroy the world at a touch of a button, both Cameron and Blair/Brown have no problem in making the case. Even the Lib Dems, in typical fence sitting style, won’t rule out renewing Trident.

The proponents of nuclear weapons need to answer one thing. On what basis would these weapons be used? If for instance a terrorist cell planted a dirty bomb in London, who would the Government retaliate against? The very nature of a terrorist cell is that it is not nation state aligned – the 7 07 bombers for instance were UK citizens – so what would be the retaliation of the UK Government? To nuke the city the terrorists came from, even if it was a UK city? The whole thing is totally insane. If they decided to attack a city in the Middle East the terrorist would have achieved their objective, polarising opinion in the region in favour of the ideology of the terrorists. The fact of the matter is that the nuclear deterrent can not work against terrorism – which the Government admits is the major security threat to these islands.

Proponents of nuclear weapons claim it is an insurance policy, however it can only ‘work’ on a nation state v nation state basis. Many of us would argue that the fact that there wasn’t a nuclear catastrophe during the cold war was down to pure luck rather than design, Gorbachev and Regan subscribe to that and they know what they are talking about.

Say for instance Iran developed a nuclear weapon, they would then still have to find a way of delivering the device via an intercontinental missile to the UK. They are nowhere near being able to develop delivery devices of that kind. The UK Government should know, we are dependent upon the US technology to deliver any nuclear weapons if we decided to use them.

The whole debate is about the vanity of Blair and the cowardice of Brown. Blair wants to secure his legacy and Brown who wants this issue out of the way before his watch. How pathetic the Labour party has become.

Tim Criced Cymreig

2007-03-13T06:42:00.000-07:00

Fel cefnogwr criced brwd rwy’n croesawu galwad Plaid Cymru heddiw dros tim Cymreig ar gyfer cystadleuaeth Cwpan y Byd.

Fe fydd gan yr Alban, Iwerddon, Canada, Bermuda, a’r Iseldireoedd timoedd yn cystadlu yn y pencampwriaeth sy’n dechrau heddiw. O ystyried fod yna traddodiad llawer cryfach yng Nghymru, dw i methu deall pam nid oes tim gyda ni yn cystadlu.

Y ddadl yw bod yr ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) un un gorff, on dos bosib gyda bach o synwhyr cyffredin fe fydd yr ICC a’r ECB yn medru dod i gytundeb gyda galliogu tim Cymreig i gystadlu heb peryglu statws Morgannwg na gem y llidw yng Ngherddi Soffia.

Fe chwareodd tim o Gymru yng nghwpan yr ICC yn y 70au, felly does dim rheswm yn fy nhyb i pam na allai tim o Gymru bod yn chwarae yn y cwpan y byd yma. Mae yna cynsail hanesyddol hollol glir.

Oherwydd y sefyllfa presennol ni fydd un cymro yn chwarae yn y pencampwriaeth. Dychmygwch yr hwb byddai tim Cymreig yn cael ar dablygiad criced yng Nghymru – os bosib hynny ddylai bod ar flaen meddwl y sawl sy’n gweinyddu’r gem.

Trident 2

2007-03-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

Nigel Griffiths, the Deputy Leader of the House of Commons has resigned today with a "heavy heart but a clear conscious".

The question is how many more will go before Wednesday. Stephen Pound and Jim Devine are others said to be considering their position within the government.

What's clear is that there will be a Parliamentary Labour party rebellion on Wednesday of sufficient magnitude to force the Government to rely on Tory votes to get them through. What a fitting epitaph for the Blair regime in its final days.

Trident

2007-03-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

The debate over whether or not to waste billions on a new nuclear deterrent will dominate Parliamentary politics this week. We will undoubtedly be bombarded by the propaganda of the London hierarchy that a new Trident system is essential for our security – whilst the same politicians preach that small cell terrorism is the major threat facing these islands. Quite how you fight terrorism with nuclear weapons aimed at collective destruction is beyond my understanding.

Undoubtedly if the Government win the vote they will be breaking international law. Any new commitment to Trident will inevitably conflict with our obligations under the nuclear non proliferation treaty.

Below is a letter Mikhail Gorbachev sent to the Times last week. It gives a clear indication of the lunacy with which most of the world views the obsession of the London political elite with proceeding with a new nuclear system at this particular juncture. Remember this is a guy who has had his finger on the button of the world’s second largest nuclear arsenal.

Sir, I want to express my concern over the intention of Tony Blair’s Government to replace the British nuclear arsenal with a new generation of nuclear weapons.
This is happening in an alarming setting: the process of reducing the nuclear arms of the US and Russia has stalled; the negotiations on these issues are virtually frozen. Prominent US political leaders — George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, William Perry and Sam Nunn — have expressed concern over this situation and made specific proposals toward ridding the world of nuclear weapons; President Putin has urged George Bush to negotiate a new agreement to replace the START Treaty.
There is a real danger of proliferation of nuclear weapons. A few days ago, IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei stated that the agency can provide no assurance as to the absence of undeclared nuclear activities in 30 countries that have not signed safeguards agreements, adding that many states have been slow to conclude and ratify the additional protocol on more effective control.
Under such circumstances, the UK Government’s rush to deploy nuclear missiles whose service life would extend until 2050 is, to say the least, astonishing. The Treaty on Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons commits the nuclear power to effective measures of nuclear disarmament. In fact, the entire structure of that treaty, which is already under considerable strain, rests on that commitment.
The decision to deploy new nuclear missiles would be in contradiction to the spirit of the agreements that helped to end the Cold War. At the time, the United Kingdom supported the US-Soviet accords on cuts in strategic, intermediate-range, and tactical nuclear weapons, which have by now resulted in reducing nuclear arsenals by almost two thirds, and pledged that it would be ready to join the process of nuclear reductions at an appropriate moment. Yet the Government’s arguments in support of the proposed replacement contain no mention of that promise. The statement President Reagan and I made in 1985, that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”, was in effect a declaration of the need to rid humankind of nuclear weapons. Today it has an even greater urgency. In a world of new threats and challenges, nuclear weapons do not solve real security problems; indeed, reliance on them is becoming increasingly dangerous. Whatever technical measures are taken to prevent nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists or rogue elements and to prevent a nuclear war breaking out as a result of technical failure or accident, such a possibility will be present so long as nuclear weapons exist.
A responsible course of action for the Government would be to postpone the decision on the future of the UK nuclear arsenal at least until the next review conference of the NonProliferation Treaty in 2010.
MIKHAIL GORBACHEVChairman of the Board of Green Cross International Geneva

Prescribing Diamorphine (Medical Heroin)

2007-03-08T05:57:00.000-08:00

Plaid’s decision to announce a proposal to prescribe heroin to long term drug users, pending the results of a pilot in England, is a welcome intervention to the debate on how to deal with the growing drug problem. The Association of Police Officers have called for the same policy as a way of addressing drug related crime which blights so many of our communities. The RSA (a highly distinguished body) today published a report calling for a radical change in the current failing drug policy, including the prescribing of heroin. Diamorphine, to use the medical term, is legally available for GP’s to prescribe already

In initiating this debate on the eve of the Assembly elections, Plaid is showing that it wants to highlight real issues affecting our communities, and support innovative solutions. Let us hope that the cynical opportunism that characterises the politics of the London parties does not raise its ugly head in this of all issues. what's totally clear is that the current policy has totally failed.

update - New Labour's senior press officer in Wales has issued a press notice in the name of the New Labour candidate for Arfon referring to Plaid's 'smack, crackle and pop' plans. Rhodri Morgan and the New Labour leadership need to distance themselves from this sort of sensationalist rubbish - otherwise they'll prove that they are not fit to govern. Is the mentioned spin doctor and the ARfon candidate not aware that their own government is piloting the policy in England? New Labour should rebrand - 'the party of political hypocrities' would be an apt new name.

Private equity Firms - There May be Trouble Ahead

2007-03-07T09:18:00.000-08:00

The Guardian reports today that a string of corporate private equity deals are expected to collapse during the next financial year. Insolvency experts Ernst & Young have concluded that the complexity of deals and the timing of repayments will undermine companies that under previous ownership structures (ie the non asset stripping kind) might well have survived.

No wonder so many big players in the industry are pouring massive sums into the Labour party. More tax breaks might just be the order of the day!!

Ieuan V Rhodri

2007-03-07T06:14:00.000-08:00

Ieuan v Rhodri

According to press reports there was an almighty row in the Assembly yesterday when Plaid Leader Ieuan Wyn Jones gave Rhodri Morgan a roasting on the Government’s appalling economic record in West Wales and the Valleys, Wales’ Objective 1/Convergence fund areas. Rhodri’s rebuttal was that Plaid was essentially miss-interpreting data.

In the public interest therefore please find below a GVA table which shows data on an all Wales basis; West Wales and the Valleys; and East Wales in % terms compared to the UK average. The table was compiled by the ONS i.e the Government’s own statisticians.

GVA per head indices (UK =100).

1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Wales 84 79 79 78 78 78 78

West Wales & Valleys 74 66 66 65 65 65 N.A.

East Wales 102 100 101 100 100 100 N.A.

Source: ONS 2006.

What seems pretty clear is that wealth levels in Wales’ poorest areas has stagnated; that the trend is downward; and that GVA in most of Wales lies at less than 2/3 of the UK average.

To put things in context, West Wales and the Valleys is the poorest part in the whole of the UK.

Is this what Labour call a proud economic legacy?

Civil Service Job Cuts

2007-03-07T04:23:00.000-08:00

The PCS have issued a damning press notice today of the effect of the Chancellors civil service job cull on Wales. The PCS estimates that a third of all civil service jobs in Wales will be lost by 2011. They calculate that this equates to a combined total of 10,000. In a country with a higher proportion of public sector jobs, the economic effects are going to be devastating. The PCS calculate over £300m per annum to the Welsh economy.

The whole plan was put in place by the Chancellor during the last Comprehensive Spending Review in his continued attempt to out tory the Tories. Political positioning is everything to New Labour, and this reckless policy shows they don’t give a damn about public sector workers, service user or local communities. It’s centralisation and rationalisation at its worse.

What sickens me the most is the sight of hypocritical New Labour AMs and candidates in Wales appearing on picket lines the length and breadth of our country feigning solidarity. New Labour in Wales seem quite happy to talk up their partnership with their London bosses when it suits them, then distance themselves from anything unpopular. Well they can’t have it both ways.

Wales deserves better than politicians from London based parties whose first instinct is to kowtow to their London bosses.

Labour Dirty Cash 5 - Enter the Fall Guy

2007-03-06T02:46:00.000-08:00

It’s been difficult to keep up with the developments in the Cash for Honours case over the last few days. What’s clear is that somebody has leaked a document key to the case. Secondly the Police were eager to stop the publication of the document as it would prejudice their case. The Attorney General then successfully over the weekend and yesterday succeeded in blocking publication of the leak. The Guardian today however has managed to get round the injunction. Their lead story implicates Lord Levy (aka Lord cash point) as trying to pervert the course of justice.

At the beginning of last month I made the case that Levy was being set up as the fall guy for this whole affair. My interpretation is that the leak must have come from 10 Downing St as they try and distance themselves. The only other possible source is the Met, and why would they want to leak a document and then try and get an injunction.

The problem for Blair is that it is hardly credible that Levy would be acting in any capacity without his explicit authorisation.

Conclusion number 1 – don’t raise money for the Labour party
Conclusion number 2 – being best mates by the Prime Minister won’t stop you from getting stitched up
Conclusion number 3 – the PM and his senior staff must be up to their necks in this scandal

Rhodri Morgan to Join Plaid?

2007-03-04T03:41:00.000-08:00

Hot on the heels of his stinging assessment of the damaging effect of a London centric economic system on Wales, Rhodri Morgan concluded his speaking tour of the US by making the case for independence for Wales.

Friday night at Columbia University, New York the First Minister (according to a press notice sent out by his team) said:

“In population terms Wales is bigger than five Member States and not very much smaller than another three. Why should this matter? Because Malta , with a population hardly bigger than Cardiff , has a direct seat at the table and access to the entire EU decision making machinery. It also has a much higher number of MEPs in proportion to its population. “

Thanks for making our case for us yet again Rhodri. I wonder what the unionist wing of the Labour party has to say about their Assembly Leader making the case for full EU membership for Wales, a status the EU term independence – and directly in line with Plaid’s constitutional ambition for our country.

I’m led to believe that the membership form is in the post!

Blair to Announce Exit on May the 4th?

2007-03-04T03:29:00.000-08:00

There is growing speculation that Tony Blair will announce his exit date on May the 4th. Why May the 4th? If as expected Labour do badly in Wales, Scotland and the English local government elections, the announcement of his departure will help keep Labour electoral meltdown off the front pages.

Fair play Tony, spinning to the end.

Tory Funding

2007-03-04T03:25:00.000-08:00

The Tories in all probability will be the largest spenders come May. David Cameron has amassed a massive war chest with private donations of £17m over the last year.

How has Cameron gone about rebuilding Tory finance? The Guardian reports yesterday that old fashioned dinners and dances have been the key to success. A sliding scale of patrons clubs offer access to different tiers of the Tory leadership. The Leaders club, and a dinner with Cameron will put you back £50k per annum. Nice to see to the Tory Leader keeping to his man of the people image! The average household income in Wales isn’t even half that sum, which means not many people in Wales will be having lunch with the Tory leader.

The Guardian reports claims the key appointment of Aurelia Cecil as head of fundraising. Cecil is a member of the upper echelons of the ruling class. Cecil apparently knows how to run a good party and has brought the fun back into being a Conservative. She is a former girlfriend of Prince Andrew. I guess you can work out the sort of people Cecil has been inviting to her parties.

The relevance for the Assembly elections of course is that the Tories in Wales do not exist as a separate accounting unit. Their campaign will be funded from Tory HQ in London. Nice to know the sources of the funding the Tories will be using over the next 9 weeks to buy Welsh votes.

Real Terms Pay Cut for Nurses as City Bonuses hit £9bn

2007-03-02T07:18:00.000-08:00

Yet again we witness the priorities of ‘son of Thatcher’ Gordon Brown. Nurses across the UK this year will have a real terms pay cut, as their annual increase of only 2.5% is way below even the government’s doctored measure of inflation.

At a time when real inflation (energy prices, fuel bills, council tax etc) has been going through the roof, the Chancellor’s stooge like behaviour is going to hit our public servants particularly hard.

City bonuses currently stand at around £9bn per annum, and Gordon Brown has repeatedly refused to intervene to curtail the fat cat culture of the square mile.

Just goes to show the sort of skewed priorities of this New Labour Government.

Clymblaid Glas-Coch

2007-03-02T06:57:00.000-08:00

Yn ystod dadl Dydd Gwyl Dewi ddoe yn y Senedd, naeth Adam Price llwyddo tynnu sylwad allwedol allan o Peter Hain. Dwedodd y Gweinidog ni fydd Llafur dan unrhyw amod yn furfio clymblaid gyda Plaid Cymru.

Felly mewn sefyllfa lle mae llafur yn ennill llai na 24 sedd (mae pobol ei hun yn briffio’r wasg gall pethau hyd yn oed yn waeth na hynny) a Rhyddfrydwyr yn methu sicrhau mwyafrif, fe fydd rhaid i’r Blaid Lafur dod i gytundeb gyda’r Ceidwadwyr.

Enter the Young Pretender?

2007-02-28T12:52:00.000-08:00

The Guardian reports today that Charles Clarke and Alun Milburn are paving the way for a David Miliband leadership challenge by calling for an open policy debate before Tony Blair departs. Bad news for Gordon Brown who wants to keep his policy cards close to his chest in the hope that his planned shock and awe tactics during the first hundred days would blow David Cameron out of the water. Looks like a leadership election could well be back on the cards.

The Great Tory Paradox

2007-02-28T04:27:00.000-08:00

The Tories in the National Assembly and their crop of Welsh based MPs in Westminster seem to be treading very different paths. At Assembly level they are intent on ‘Welshyfying’ themselves – probably taking a note out of the New Labour handbook in terms of triangulation. The strategy is partly motivated to try and step on Plaid territory. The Tories over the years have been great re-inventors. From the day’s of Robert Peel and the Tamworth manifesto, they have made seismic shifts to stay relevant. Peels reform of the party was motivated by the 1832 Act which introduced some remnants of democracy to the UK. Disraeli followed suit with further changes in response to the two other electoral reform acts of the last part of the 19th century.

It’s an interesting strategy, but at the end of the day if the electorate want an all encompassing Wales first party, why vote for the Tories when you can vote for the real thing in Plaid. The clear danger for them is that they will only appeal to a small right wing element who can’t stomach Plaid’s determination to create a more egalitarian society.

The big problem that the leadership of the Tories face in the Assembly is that their Welsh based MPs are decidedly off message. David Cornock blogs that Stephen Crabb, MP for Preseli Penfro, does not support a St David’s day bank holiday. Their Westminster group if anything are rebelling against the Assembly group – intent on maintaining the nasty right wing, little Englander approach which we all know is the core of the Tories anyway.

What the Tories need to understand is that the fight for greater Welsh autonomy and the fight for rights for the language and culture of our nation are all intertwined with left leaning politics. The left has always been the driving force for change and those fighting for the rights of the minority.

With the Tories in the Assembly apparently jettisoning their raison d’etre – ie the party of unionism personified – you have to ask what’s the point of the Tories in Wales?