Controversy in Pontypridd

“Controversy continues regarding the £10.5million regeneration scheme for Pontypridd. A series of Freedom of Information requests by RCT Welsh Liberal Democrats have uncovered that the Council has no idea of how many new businesses have set up in the area over the last twelve months. With the Labour Cabinet recently launching an economic development strategy which is supposedly going to drive forward the economy agenda and bring new businesses and jobs to RCT, it is unbelievable that the council does not hold any information on the formation of new businesses. Just how are they going to measure the success of their strategy?”

You can read the full article by Eluned Parrott, AM here.

 

 

Boundary Commission proposals will see Labour ‘lose out’.

Seems that Labour, despite their apparent support for electoral reform and better democracy (yet failed to spend anything substantial on the AV Referendum in May) are complaining that Labour will be the worst hit because of  ”Westminster Government’s plans” to alter

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constituency boundaries following the Boundary Commission‘s proposals.

Despite the fact that the Boundary Commission is a statutory committee for the Electoral Commission, which is an independent body, Labour are under the impression – or so Cardiff West Labour MP Kevin Brennan seems to be - that the proposals are attempts made by the Conservatives to secure an advantage for the party at the next election.  He also seems to think that Labour is still the party of the working class. But that’s another discussion.

However, I do agree that changing the law to remove penalties on people who do not register to vote would keep many people off the Electoral Register. But again, this argument by Labour is nothing more than a self-serving, selfish approach. Kevin Brennan even said himself;

“Most of the people who won’t register to vote will be poor people, who would be more likely to vote Labour.”

They also seem to be under the misguided impression that changing boundaries will change support. A Labour spokesperson claims that the Liberal Democrats could be wiped out in Wales;

“reconfigured constituencies [...] will be merged with neighbouring constituencies in one way or another [...] Whichever direction they go, there will be fewer Lib Dem supporters.”

They also seem to think that Plaid Cymru will be left with only one seat.

So why are Labour who were clearly elected by the people of Wales (or so they think) in the last Welsh Election worried about losing a few seats? (May be the minority government bit of it). Their argument isn’t concern for those who will not be registered to vote, or even encouragement for the proposals to equalise the number of voters in constituencies across the UK, this is Labour looking after their own.

Wales Online. 

 

Battling the rhetoric over the Welsh Liberal Democrat’s deal with Welsh Government.

It seems that some Plaid Cymru and Welsh Conservative members are fairly unhappy that they were not the ones to secure a deal with the Welsh Government. I’ve seen many call it a “pathetic deal” and claim that, in the case of the Tories, that the party have “endorsed Labour’s savage cuts to the NHS” – probably a case of sore losers. This shows that the Welsh Liberal Democrats are the effective and responsible opposition that Wales needs, holding the Government to account and ensuring that it delivers for Wales.

The package secures one of the party’s key manifesto priorities - an extra £20m for a new Pupil Deprivation Grant; Wales’ version of the Pupil Premium. It also includes a £38.9m economic stimulus package to stimulate the economy and protect jobs, including extra resources for the young recruits and skills growth Wales programmes.

The Pupil Deprivation Grant will ensure that the Government can reduce the effect of poverty on educational attainment, something that is vital to secure if we are to see the future economy and skills base of Wales progress. Just 1 in 5 children on free school meals gets 5A*-C good GCSE’s – the policy will ensure that each child that receives free school meals will receive an extra £450 in funding. Securing £71,001 for Cardigan alone - £511,200 for Ceredigion – a fair sum of money for a relatively small county.

Teachers and a teaching union have welcomed the new policy.

People have attacked the Pupil Premium claiming that it is just a policy which re-distributes existing money – but the argument is that we can do more for less. We have to do more for less.  However, doing more  for less doesn’t have to carry the same negative connotations it usually would. By effectively targeting new or old money, we can have a real impact on the lives of individuals. We can’t continue throwing money at projects and policies – we need to be far more effective in how money is spent and distributed.

I believed that Welsh politics had moved on following the Referendum, but First Minister’s Questions and reports have often left me doubting Wales’ progression since May – the lack of government programmes, the constant references to Westminster on devolved issues – this policy however, and the manner in which the need to redraft the Welsh budget has been approached, allows me to believe that Wales has moved forward, and we can continue to do so.

People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Welsh Labour AMs and MPs are rambling on about how the UK Government is divided on the issue of the Eurozone, both in terms of the 81 Conservative ‘rebels’ and the opposing view of the junior Coalition partners, the Lib Dems.

Surely they’ve heard the saying ‘people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones’? It’s a very well known saying.

The reason that this saying can be so easily applied to Welsh Labour (and UK Labour) is because Welsh Labour are only now announcing their legislative programme for the NHS, five months after their election in May. I’m not even sure if their other legislative programmes can be called programmes. They are vague, without purpose, lack figures and measurable targets, and could essentially be written on the back of a postcard.

And (UK) Labour have this economic problem solving ‘Plan B’ which must be locked away in a cupboard, or written on another postcard, because that’s as vague as ever.

People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Years of devolution, and for what?

“Accountants PwC said that with faltering economic growth, there was a risk of a double-dip recession. The report marks a year since the UK government set out how much it plans to spend over four years.”

This BBC article shows just how incompetent Labour are when it comes to the economy. Private sector investment can be attracted by the government, particularly by a government which has just received new powers. After thirteen years of devolution, and a referendum for further powers under its belt, the Welsh Government should be able to attract investment, and open Wales up for business.

Should be able to.

Admittedly, there’s far less investment going on over the last few years and the years to come, but the Cardiff Bay government have done very little to attract any private sector investment – in fact, Wales has actually lost out to investment since Labour were elected in May.

What is over a decade of devolution worth if the powers Wales now has aren’t used to their full extent?

Spend, spend, spend.

Although this article may be a few days old, a few Tweets posted this morning by Adrian Masters shows that Labour’s spending culture isn’t over – in short, they haven’t learnt.

The article says that the Welsh Government has “raided” its reserves to deliver Labour’s manifesto commitments – Wales’ economy is footing the bill to avoid hypocrisy. The figures show, following the publication of the draft Welsh Budget, that at the beginning of the next financial year the government will have just £127m, or 0.95% of its budget in reserve for “unforeseen circumstances”.

However, Labour’s ignorance seems as bold as ever. Minister Jane Hutt told Good Morning Wales that “[..] the reserves are adequate.”

“We are in unprecedented times in terms of the cuts we have had from the UK government – a six percent cut in revenue and 21 percent cut in capital this year.”

Whatever the figures say Jane Hutt appears to have her head buried in the sand, and once again it’s the nasty coalition’s fault that they’ve had to cut budgets to deal with the deficit.

Moving on to Adrian Masters’ tweets – apparently Labour’s tuition fee commitment includes subsidising fees for EU students, meaning they will only have to pay £3465. Whilst I agree with the policy of tuition subsidy by the Welsh Government, personally I’d see it limited to Welsh domiciled students. I don’t see the current policy as being sustainable long-term – particularly when the Government’s reserves have been wiped – and with the policy now including EU students, it will only make matters worse.

When Labour councils seem to be cutting jobs to protect font-line services (when other councils are managing to protect front-line services without cutting the same level of jobs), when they seem to be dwindling budgets and reserves without a second thought of the future or policy commitments, when they’re promising and proposing policies which do not appear sustainable long-term, the question that needs to be asked (again) is, can we trust Labour on the economy?

“Labour Abandon Students (again)!” – Peter Black

Peter Black, Welsh Liberal Democrat AM, has posted a blog article regarding Labour’s recent Tuition Fees policy, a u-turn by the party having completely opposed the Coalition Government’s policy to raise fees during the student protests.

You can read the article here.

Guardian: “Lib Dems’ illusions are gone. Now they need imagination.”

Whilst I mostly agree with what this Guardian article says, the suggested practice – if it can be called that – of leaving the Coalition and calling another election will help no-one. Labour are by a long shot not ready for another election, the Lib Dems would be in too deep to fight another election (unable to clearly differentiate between us and ‘them’ – may be the unpopular opinion, but that’s how I see it) and the cuts are too fresh in everybody’s minds and still on going for the Tories to gain all that many votes.

We’ve proved that Coalitions work, that we can work in government, and we’ve tackled the deficit head on – but just as the article says we need to push Lib Dem values, speak out for Lib Dem accomplishments, respond to reports on inflation, unemployment, and rising prison levels. Silence helps no one.

“But at present neither Labour nor the Lib Dems show enough signs of grasping how much the future of British politics depends on their both having the imagination to rise above their current divisions.” – However, if we’d wanted to work with Labour, we’d have gone into Coalition with Labour in May, rather than the Tories.

Now, who’s to blame this time?

A recent survey by Manpower has said that jobs outlook in Wales is second worst in the UK. The report says that employers in Wales are looking to lose staff or freeze numbers, rather than hire more workers.

From the BBC:
“Wales is behind the other regions when it comes to hiring by SMEs [small and medium enterprises], many of which are currently running on skeleton staff and are significantly less keen to recruit,” said Manpower’s operations manager for Wales, Andrew Shellard.

“The manufacturing sector in Wales is suffering even more than in the north, and the public sector has no hiring ambitions at all.

“As the economy slows down across the country, employers in Wales are now significantly less confident about taking on additional staff.”

Whilst the Welsh Government can’t do all that much to boost the Welsh economy with the Government not having the powers to raise its own revenue, however incentives for small and medium enterprises (as the report says) are well within the Labour Government’s grasp. It once again comes down to devolution, and the nasty Coalition Government can’t be wholly blamed here. Again.

Sorry about that.

For example in the Assembly Election the Welsh Lib Dems proposed training grants (5000 worth £2000 each) for new businesses that set up in Wales to take on unemployed young people to give them the skills needed. We proposed freezing business rates, cutting red tape which sees costs increasing with developments and less businesses setting up in Wales. A Welsh Stock Exchange to give businesses capital to improve their business?!

Incentives for businesses to employ, train and set up in Wales are within reach of the Welsh Government, but it’ll probably still be the nasty Coalition Government undermining hard-done-by Wales again.