A lot can happen in a week…..

A lot has gone on whilst I’ve been running around London and camping on Trafalgar Square for the Harry Potter premiere, and having not posted anything for a while, I’m just going to merge a few stories and thoughts/feelings together over what has gone on.

The Welsh Lib Dems have finally been able to allocate their AMs to different portfolios after 30 AMs voted according to the information and conclusion of Gerard Elias’ report on the disqualification of Aled Roberts and John Dixon. Aled Roberts AM for North Wales was reappointed, whilst John Dixon AM for South Wales Central stepped down, allowing Eluned Parrot, second on the regional list for South Wales Central, took her seat in the Assembly. Seems that someone managed to drum some sense into Labour AMs who seemed to have ditched their tribal instincts. Some, however, still have their heads in the sand; but we won’t mention any names.

The AMs who voted against the motion to re-instate Aled Roberts should outline why they voted no – the Welsh language issue could come back to haunt them in the future. Maybe our Education Minister for Wales should reconsider? Slightly controversial.

The party’s front bench now looks like this;

Kirsty Williams: Health & Social Care
Eluned Parrot: Enterprise, European and Transport Policy.
Aled Robert: Children, Education and the Welsh Language
Peter Black: Local Government, Heritage, Housing and Finance
William Powell: Environment, Sustainability and Rural Affairs Policy.

The fact that two other candidates (Wyn Williams and Stephen Churchman) also fell foul of the Assembly’s rules is a matter for the party to address internally, and that’s how it should stay.

The matter over News International and the phone-hacking scandal has blown up and having not followed the story from the beginning and haven’t caught up with all the finger pointing and rants over the phone hacking I don’t fully know what has gone on. So in a few short words, I believe that yes, the paper should have been closed, there should be a full judicial review into the phone-hacking scandal, the term ‘free-press’ should be looked at – the media should not be completely left to their own devices, they should be regulated to ensure that incidents such as this do not happen again. There should never be anything close to another ‘Murdoch Empire’, meaning that BSkyB should not be an option for Murdoch (I agree with Nick).

And finally, soon we will find out if Welsh Universities will be able to charge the full amount of £9,000 for tuition fees. HEFCW initially rejected 10 university’s plans to charge the full amount on the basis that they needed to increase provision for their students. Cardiff, Bangor, Aberystwyth, Swansea, Glamorgan and the University of Wales Newport set out to charge the full amount, although Newport will offer some courses at £8,250. There was confusion over the Government’s plans to fund student’s fees so they would not have to pay the full amount, after the Welsh Lib Dems filed an FOI on conversations between Leighton Andrews AM and HEFCW. The Government needs to make sure that their Higher Education policies are clear and practical so students aren’t caught in the middle. When they reduce the number of Universities in Wales they need to make sure that there is an increase in provision, not a spreading of provision across a smaller number of institutions.

It’s true, a lot can happen in a week in politics.

Lilght at the end of the tunnel?

As common sense prevails for the first hurdle in what has been a long, dark tunnel for the Welsh Lib Dems and the two disqualified AMs Aled Roberts and John Dixon, the CPS have reported that there will be no charges against the two.

The CPS reported yesterday that there will be no charges against them after it emerged that the two were members of public bodies of which AMs cannot belong. Needless to say, it took more than enough time for it to be confirmed.

The next step is for the Assembly’s Commissioner for Standards Gerard Elias QC, to prepare a report on the findings of the CPS’ report, which expects to be completed sometime next week; probably not before the proposed date for motions to reinstate both Aled and John the 29th of June. It seems, however, that the other parties now feel more at ease and sympathetic towards the two.

That could however change come voting day – we are counting on a very unreliable majority.

If common sense prevails, AMs base their vote on the information from the two reports, and the parties put party politics aside, hopefully both will be reinstated and North Wales and South Wales Central will be represented in the Assembly in time for the next term.