A Vote for the Welsh Liberal Democrats on May 3rd is a vote for;

A Vote for the Welsh Liberal Democrats on May 3rd is a vote for; 

1. Low Council Tax: Historically, Labour have a terrible record with regards to asking people to fork out large amounts for Council Tax. Whilst Welsh Liberal Democrats in Swansea have every reason to be proud that we have frozen council tax. Labour’s average yearly council tax rise in Swansea was a hefty 7.6% compared to the Liberal Democrat administration’s modest average increase of 3.4% per annum – the difference amounts to a saving of more than £3,100 for families living in an average Band D property. It’s the same story across many other Welsh Liberal Democrat run councils, such as in Cardiff where the average annual increase in council tax has been just 2.7%, compared to 11% a year under the previous Labour administration.
2. Local Politics for Local People: “In clear contrast, the Welsh Liberal Democrat manifesto set out our vision for local councils and we are extremely proud of our record in local councils all across Wales. “As the Welsh Liberal Democrat manifesto demonstrated, we are not afraid to use concrete examples of our achievements. We have brought real prosperity and jobs to our capital city, constructing a strong defence line against the challenging economic backdrop. “In Swansea, we have invested heavily in transport, building a new bus station and introducing a city-wide Metro bus service. “In Wrexham, we have ended the years of under investment in schools, almost doubling the percentage of students who achieve A-C grades at GCSE. “The Welsh Liberal Democrats are delivering for local people. We are fighting these elections with our heads held high as we know we have much to be proud of.”
3. Greener Ideas and Low Energy Bills: With the Green Deal, Liberal Democrats are doing the right thing for the environment, household budgets and the economy. Not only does this mean lower energy bills for everyone but this huge investment will create green jobs and investment which leave a lasting legacy.
4. Better Schools and Pupil Support: We secured £32million, focused on improving the attainment of the poorest pupils; schools will now receive £450 for each child who receives free school meals. The pupil premium will begin to break the link, school-by-school, community-by community, between poverty and attainment that has dogged our education system for too long. Welsh Liberal Democrat-led councils have invested in schools in their areas. Under Labour, Cardiff had the second-worst funded schools in Wales. Now, led by the Welsh Liberal Democrats, it has the second best. In Powys, we have ensured each pupil aged 11-16 receives an extra £150 for their school. In Swansea, we have invested an extra £1.2 million to improve literacy and numeracy. And in Wrexham, we overhauled the way pupils were supported, nearly doubling the number of pupils achieving five GCSEs since 2004.
5. Deliver Healthier Communities:  We will give you more choice over the care you receive so that it matches your needs. We want to see local councils and the NHS make greater use of personal budgets for care services – developing a personalised support plan that individuals can influence and control themselves to ensure it meets their needs. Welsh Liberal Democrats will connect the disjointed provision of health and social care. We want to improve collaboration between the NHS and care services, beginning by extending the use of shared budgeting and collaborative working between the NHS and Social Services in order to reduce delayed transfers of care. In Swansea, we have invested extra money in social services and helped turn the department around.
6. Create more Affordable Homes: We want local councils to have greater powers to restore homes that have fallen into disrepair. We want a Wales-wide Empty Homes Strategy to bring old homes back into use. This will include changing the rules so that it is as easy to renovate old houses as it is to build new ones and streamlining the process where local councils can purchase empty homes. We want councils to have greater powers to require affordable homes to be built as part of new housing developments – building on their existing abilities. In Cardiff, we have announced plans to build 350 new council houses; with greater powers, this figure could be higher.
7. Has a vision for Local Government and Local People: Welsh Liberal Democrat councillors have a reputation for being strong champions for their community. They care about their area, work hard all year around and stand up for local people. Too many councillors forget why they are elected and become the voice of council bureaucracy in the community. Welsh Liberal Democrats remain the voice of the community at County Hall.

 

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.

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.

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.

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.