Friday, March 03, 2006
Spinning for Wales
Having survived my reselection and once more emerged as top of the South Wales West list, I am very aware that the run up to the 2007 Assembly elections has started. Judging by this article Labour are planning ahead, but they are using public money to do so.
Whether in the normal course of events the Welsh Assembly Government can justify employing six "Heads of Ministerial Communications Teams", each on a salary scale from £37,918 to £48,990 is debatable. To do so in the face of acute service pressures in local government, education, and the NHS and an abandoned manifesto commitment for free personal care for the disabled is just crass.
When they start to recruit these posts a year before the election I think people are justified in being cynical and asking whether there is a connection. In the interests of transparency and fair play the Government should abandon these plans for now, open them up to scrutiny and revisit them once the election is over, and then only if they can be justified.
Whether in the normal course of events the Welsh Assembly Government can justify employing six "Heads of Ministerial Communications Teams", each on a salary scale from £37,918 to £48,990 is debatable. To do so in the face of acute service pressures in local government, education, and the NHS and an abandoned manifesto commitment for free personal care for the disabled is just crass.
When they start to recruit these posts a year before the election I think people are justified in being cynical and asking whether there is a connection. In the interests of transparency and fair play the Government should abandon these plans for now, open them up to scrutiny and revisit them once the election is over, and then only if they can be justified.
