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.

We need better Welsh policy.

As the title of my blog suggests these are just ramblings, so ignore whatever you want to ignore. I don’t claim to be an expert.

I’m a firm believer in further devolution of power to Wales, when we’re ready for more powers. The best way to make decisions that will really effect and improve people’s lives is through giving the decision making power to those who can really make a difference – including outside the Cardiff Bay bubble.

The party [Welsh Liberal Democrats] need to make sure that it moves with a more ‘Welsh’ environment. We concentrated on ‘Welsh Issues’ – for whatever reason – during May’s Assembly Election, but our Welsh policy (language, education, legislature etc.) is falling behind. The intelligent people behind party policy say that we are the party with the innovative policies, policies that will work, policies that have been tried and tested – which would explain our success at Local Government level. If we use that same practice to form Welsh Policy we could gain more votes. Or that’s what I think, at least.

I personally believe that if we increased and improved our Welsh Policy, we could take Plaid votes. We were, and to a lesser extent now are, a party of protest, which I also think applies or applied to Plaid. They however have entered government, and have established themselves as a credible party for Wales on the coattails of Labour’s core Welsh vote. In some areas a vote for Plaid is a vote against Labour rather than a vote in support of Plaid Cymru policies, particularly at a local level, which is where we should start with elections in May.

Some local parties don’t translate Focus leaflets, which in some areas may not make a difference and is difficult, but it could prove to Plaid Cymru voters – who seem to think that if you’re proud to be Welsh, Plaid Cymru is the only party for you (something my parents and teachers thought I believed in) – that we are serious about enhancing Welsh Medium Education, the Welsh Language, and ‘Welsh opportunities’ (I’ll come back to that again when I know what I mean by opportunities) then we could have the same ‘Welsh’ edge that Plaid have over other Welsh parties. We could win just one more seat in your local council.

Labour-Plaid Four Years on.

As Labour and Plaid approach the end of their joint administration in the Assembly, we should take a good look at our four years on.

Wales has a weak economy, under-funded schools, and an NHS that costs more but delivers poorer outcomes than the NHS in England. This is terribly disappointing for all of us in Wales. Admittedly, this isn’t a ‘Welsh situation’ and isn’t isolated to us here in Wales, Britain as a whole is faced with the same situation – but our situation is worse again.

The Assembly Government has spent more money on economic development than any other part of the UK, but Wales is the poorest part of the UK, and is getting increasingly poorer. The next Assembly Government must take much more care over how it spends money, targeting those areas that have been left to slip behind. Huge sums have been spent, of Welsh and EU money, but the outcomes do not reflect exactly how much money has been spent.

For the first time, the results from Welsh schools have fallen behind those of England. Many will blame individual schools, but that’s not the case: schools receive £600 less per pupil than schools in England. As for the NHS in Wales, there is more money allocated per person than the NHS in England, but we in Wales have longer waiting times.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats believe that Wales can do better. Our costed election manifesto will focus on the Welsh economy, health service and education. We believe that the people of Wales deserve a world class health service and education system, underpinned by a strong Welsh economy. We shall be campaigning to put these issues right in the forthcoming Assembly election.

Yours sincerely, Rhys Taylor, Liberal Democrat Assembly candidate for Ynys Mon.

Lab-Plaid, four years on.

As Labour and Plaid approach the end of their joint administration in the Assembly, we should take a good look at our situation four years on.

Wales has a weak economy, under-funded schools, and an NHS that costs more but delivers poorer outcomes than the NHS in England. This is terribly disappointing for all of us in Wales. Admittedly, this isn’t a ‘Welsh situation’ and isn’t isolated to us here in Wales, Britain as a whole is faced with the same situation – but our situation is worse again.

The Assembly Government has spent more money on economic development than any other part of the UK, but Wales is the poorest part of the UK, and is getting increasingly poorer. The next Assembly Government must take much more care over how it spends money, targeting those areas that have been left to slip behind. Huge sums have been spent, of Welsh and EU money, but the outcomes do not reflect exactly how much money has been spent.

For the first time, the results from Welsh schools have fallen behind those of England. Many will blame individual schools, but that’s not the case: schools receive £600 less per pupil than schools in England. As for the NHS in Wales, there is more money allocated per person than the NHS in England, but we in Wales have longer waiting times.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats believe that Wales can do better. Our costed election manifesto will focus on the Welsh economy, health service and education. We believe that the people of Wales deserve a world class health service and education system, underpinned by a strong Welsh economy. We shall be campaigning to put these issues right in the forthcoming Assembly election.