Welsh Lib Dems: Effective and responsible opposition.

It has been reported today that Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Welsh Government have come to an agreement on an extra £20m for the education budget to target the poorest students – the Pupil Deprivation Grant. The grant will mean that every pupil receiving free school meals will gain an extra £450 in funding. There were 70,800 pupils receiving free school meals last year in Wales, meaning that this policy will reach thousands of pupils across Wales – an effective and far reaching policy.

The agreement also included the following:

• Young Recruits Programme
• Skills Growth Wales
• Capital Investment in Schools
• Cardiff Housing Project
• Community Energy Saving Programme
• Social Housing
• Enterprise Zones

This package is a £38.9 million economic stimulus that is vital if the Government is to take action on joblessness, skills gap, and to help the most vulnerable children.

This is responsible and effective opposition. Maybe Ed Milliband would benefit from taking a leaf out of the team’s book?

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.

25,700 receiving an Income Tax cut in Ynys Mon

25,700 receiving an Income Tax cut in Ynys Mon.

From 6th April 2011, around 700 people in Ynys Mon will no longer have to pay Income Tax and a further 25,000 will get £200 extra in their pockets.

Liberal Democrats in Government secured a rise in the Income Tax threshold, the point from which people start paying their taxes, of £1,000 to £7,475 which comes into force today.

Across Britain nearly 900,000 people will be lifted out of paying Income Tax while around 23m basic-rate tax payers will get an extra £200 in their pockets.

This increase is the first step toward the Liberal Democrat commitment to raise the Income Tax threshold to £10,000, with a further rise of the threshold was announced in the budget for 2012.

Commenting, Ynys Mon Assembly candidate Rhys Taylor said:

“At a time when people are worried about their personal finances, this tax cut will help millions of people.

“In Ynys Mon, 25,000 people will get an extra £200 to spend this year and I know this will make a real difference.

“I am proud that thanks to Liberal Democrats in Government, almost a million people will be lifted out of paying tax altogether across the country, while 23m people will get a tax cut.

“One way we are paying for this is by taxing the banks more, £10bn more, so they pay their share.”

“This tax cut is straight from the front page of our manifesto to the pockets of 23m tax payers.”

Commenting further, Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg said:

“We have to make difficult decisions but we can still make life fairer and that’s what Liberal Democrats in government and across Britain are doing.

“From today Liberal Democrats have delivered a £200 income tax cut to every basic rate taxpayer, and there’s more to come – our ambition is a country where no one pays any income tax on the first £10,000 they earn.

“These are the kind of decisions Liberal Democrats are making in Government to make life just that little bit easier for people who are facing difficult times.”

New town centre for Talbot Green?

New town centre for Talbot Green?

I was interested to read in the Pontypridd Observer of plans for a £200m new town centre for Talbot Green. The project claims to bring up to 1,900 jobs to the area although that seems a bit ambitious and will include, a cinema, cafes, restaurants, bars, a hotel, office space, and housing

Surely Talbot Green town centre has already been side-lined with the development of two out-of-town retail parks in recent years, drawing investment away from the town centre itself. Looking at the levels of traffic in the area, there’s no doubt that the two retail parks have been successful. However, another development of this size (33,000 square metres), can only make matters worse. With the development planned for outside Talbot Green town centre, the development will only cause local business within the town centre itself to suffer and further increases in traffic levels – which the area surely can’t cope with.
The Welsh Liberal Democrats opposed the controversial plans to build on the Mwyndy site for this reason, and nothing has changed. The recently opened Church Village bypass has relieved traffic in the villages along the route but not at either end.

What about the regeneration of Pontypridd Town Centre? £10 million has been spent on footing the regeneration of Pontypridd whilst the Talbot Green development is set to receive £200m. The regeneration of Pontypridd Town Centre is well overdue to say the least and all efforts should be made to ensure that the regeneration of what is supposedly the county town goes ahead as planned with all efforts centred on the regeneration. Efforts in Pontypridd pale in comparison to the proposed efforts in Talbot Green.

Rhys Taylor

Ieuan Wyn: AWOL

Ieuan Wyn Jones has recently spoken to the BBC saying that he ‘put his family first for the first time in twenty five years’ after missing the Royal Opening of the fourth Assembly and the first week of Assembly business. Ieuan Wyn – who is set to stand down as Plaid Cymru leader within the next two years – has come under criticism from other parties (most notably Labour who jump at the chance to muddy the waters), but also from within his own party.

Possible future Plaid Cymru leaders, and backbench MPs, have been called ‘vultures’ by Plaid MP Elfyn Llwyd for turning on Ynys Mon AM in the way that they have been doing. Ieuan Wyn said the date for his holiday to France had been set before the date for the opening of the Assembly had been announced, and that he decided to put his family first having dedicated most of 25 years to politics.

Whatever angle you look at it, there’s no denying that the whole situation has been handled badly by the party. The incident has been massively blown out of proportion, and has had too much attention from the media and from the other political parties. It’s almost as big a story as the ‘Lib Dem Two’ story!

However, with things – hopefully – getting back to normal over the next two weeks, it’s time the Assembly got back into the swing of things and business as usual, instead of playing pointless games. Our government needs to start delivering on their aspirations for Wales, as Labour is so fond of promising.

Here are a few articles on the issue:
Plaid leader missed royal opening to ‘put family first’
Dafydd Iwan backs Plaid Cymru leader over absence
Plaid MP hits out at ‘vultures’ calling for head of Ieuan Wyn Jones
Plaid Cymru’s French Revolution

Reform of Welsh Funding and the Barnett Formula.

Carwyn Jones has claimed that he wants a ‘better deal’ for Wales and that the UK Coalition Government should reform the way in which the Welsh Government is funded. Many have argued that the Barnett Formula (which also determines funding for Scotland and Northern Ireland), which determines the Welsh Government’s funding has continuously cut Wales short on funding – £300m a year according to a review of the funding last year - which would (we hope) would be spent efficiently on public sector services in Wales. 

There have been promises to review the Barnett Formula, but nothing has been done until now – and even now we shouldn’t expect miracles! First Minister Carwyn Jones said “With Wales losing up to £300m a year, the time has long passed for this to be looked at.” After thirteen years of Labour Government in the UK and Labour governing in Wales since devolution began in 1999, only now there have been moves to realistically reform the way in which the Welsh Government is funded.

Scotland and Northern Ireland have been putting pressure on the Westminster government since the May elections, but Wales however, has remained silent – and there was us thinking that electing a Labour government would ‘send a clear message to the UK Government’ about Wales’ intentions! And how wrong and misguided they were.

Alun Ffred, Plaid Cymru AM, summed up Labour’s actions quite well; “Asking for more money for Wales without addressing the fundamental unfairness in the way Wales is funded is like having a bucket full of holes and asking for more water.” 

Labour have always painted a picture of a party that takes action for its people, but behind that picture there’s a whole different story.

The future of YG Llanhari.

A recent blog post by RCT Liberal Democrats on Welsh Medium Education in RCT, and YG Llanhari’s (doubtful) future. As I mentioned in my blog post yesterday (here) As RCT’s blog said, we/us/I welcome the increase of Welsh Medium provision, even if it is in the 3-19 schools structure RCT are so fond of.

You can read the full blog post and link to the original article here.

RCT Labour and education. Best kept separated.

Several months ago, RCT Labour unveiled plans to overhaul secondary education in RCT, resulting in the closure of secondary schools and all sixth forms, each moving to a single site – the tertiary college system Merthyr Council decided to go ahead with.

RCT are now proposing the closure of three secondary schools in the Cynon Valley (Aberdare Girls, Aberdare High and Blaengwawr Comprehensive), which would move to a ‘state-of-the-art’ school in Ynys, for 1,600 pupils which would open in 2014. If we look back to the last time RCT granted a ‘state-of-the-art’, purpose built secondary school (Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen’s replacement building – course, we all know how that one went), it wasn’t the practical, purpose built school everyone had been hoping for – that includes the replacement building for Garth Olwg Primary School.

£23m has already announced for new primary schools across RCT; Cwmbach (£6.7m); Ynysboeth (£5m); and Abercynon (£11.4m). Our Labour-controlled council estimates it will be spending £74m in the Cynon Valley – money of which is hopes to be given back by the Welsh Government, which, as Labour Council should know and like to highlight, is facing cuts. Blaengwawr governors chairman Brian Fitzgerald said: “I don’t know how voters will feel about borrowing £50m in the hope that the Welsh Government will pay some of it back – by then the bill will be £70m.”

The article mentions something about ‘Prudential Borrowing’ and surplus spaces to pay off the ‘mortgage’, and personally, it just screams ‘playing games with education’ as they did with Rhydfelen. Things never change, particularly when people vote for the same thing.