Peter Black

Pyjamas, morning, noon and night

2012-01-30T05:07:00.002Z

For those of us lamenting the increasing trend to wear pyjamas outside the home, morning, afternoon or evening, this must be the best story yet.

The BBC report that a social welfare office in Dublin has banned interviewees from wearing pyjamas. A notice has appeared at Damastown social welfare office which warns claimants that "pyjamas are not regarded as appropriate attire when attending Community Welfare Service at these offices". They say that the decision was made after a number of people complained.

This is a step beyond popping to the shops in pyjamas. After all, when you go to a social welfare office you are meant to be seeking work. Who would employ somebody who turned up to an interview in pyjamas?

The BBC reminds us that it is commonplace for parents to be seen on the school run wearing pyjamas, as it is to see nightwear in the local shop or supermarket, but they also point out that the fashion houses of Paris and Milan have gone into servicing in this area. One interviewee reports that he has witnessed people walking around Mayfair in London in their pyjamas.

Where will it end?

Cleaning up politics

2012-01-29T09:18:00.004Z

Sky News reports that a committee of MPs has warned that the Government must take action to clean up party political funding before another "scandal intervenes". The Political and Constitutional Reform committee has called on the Coalition Government to stick to pledges to reform party financing "in order to remove big money from politics".

The problem though, as they identify, is to build a consensus around changes, and that seems as far away as ever. This is evidenced by the outcome of the 15-month inquiry by the Committee on Standards in Public Life, which proposed last year that a £10,000 cap on donations be imposed in a bid to end "cash for influence" scandals and corruption allegations.

Under their plans, this funding would partly be paid for by a £23m-a-year taxpayer subsidy, but the three biggest parties united in opposition, saying that it was not acceptable in the present economic climate, even if the change was delayed until 2015.

We seem to be as far away from reform as ever. Should the Coalition go-ahead and impose it anyway? Could it get non-consensual changes through Parliament? Is there even an appetite for reform? It is about time that all the political parties got together and sorted this out.

An alternative view of transparency

2012-01-28T08:54:00.002Z

This morning's Independent shows that a decade of openness and transparency in government has not won over the hearts and minds of the mandarins whose job it is to keep the show on the road.

They say that the former Cabinet Secretary Lord Gus O'Donnell has revealed that civil servants spend a great deal of time working out ways around the Freedom of Information Act including instituting a system of "oral government" in which important discussions are never written down:

The peer, who left his role as head of the Civil Service in December, said the fear of minutes eventually being published was "driving stuff underground or into non-FOI-able routes".

In an interview with BBC Radio 4's The Westminster Hour, Lord O'Donnell said the process would result in "worse public policy decisions". He repeated his call for the Act to be overhauled.

"You just don't know when you write something down whether that is eventually going to be decided by a tribunal of people who may have never worked in government whether or not that should be released," he said.

"If everybody thinks, well, that's all going to become public and that's going to be used against me, people will naturally say, OK, well perhaps I had just better keep quiet. And then you get to a situation where you have oral government."

Lord O'Donnell said a similar issue in the US led to the use of Post-it notes during discussions.

"They'd stick 'I disagree with this' on them. And then there were Freedom of Information requests for the Post-its," he said.

What this reveals is not that freedom of information has led to bad government but that those whose job it is to govern have never adapted to the greater scrutiny it brings.

I find it quite extraordinary that a mandarin who was meant to be a servant of the people should spend so much of his time excluding them from the process of government.

The Act already contains exemptions that protect the national interest and is nowhere near as open as its American equivalent. If civil servants really cannot cope with that then they need to step aside and let people do their jobs who can.

With friends like these...

2012-01-27T08:22:00.003Z

Having gone through a particularly rough patch as leader of the Labour Party earlier this year, the last thing that Ed Miliband needs now is more criticism, especially when it comes from former allies. However, as today's Telegraph outlines, that is precisely what he has got.

The paper says that Peter Mandelson, the former business secretary and one of the most powerful party figures of the last 15 years, has said Mr Miliband is “struggling” to stamp his identity on the Labour Party and failing to distinguish himself from the last Labour government.

This comes on top of criticism that Mr. Miliband lacks the skills and public appeal to become a credible prime minister amid disquiet inside his own ranks.

The paper says that a series of poor opinion polls recently have seen Labour’s lead evaporate, while senior party figures admit that winning the 2015 election will be difficult.

One survey this week suggested that David Cameron was significantly more popular among the public than Mr Miliband, despite concerns that Britain is slipping back into recession. In fact, even Nick Clegg is perceived to be doing a better job than the Labour leader in some polls.

Given the peer's other remarks it is possible that Labour may be fairly relaxed avout his criticism of the Labour leader:

Lord Mandelson had easy praise, however, for his successors at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), saying he was “very proud and pleased” with the work that Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, and David Willetts, the Universities Minister, have been doing.

And he disclosed that he no longer believed politicians should be intensely “relaxed” about entrepreneurs becoming “filthy rich”, as he once claimed while Trade and Industry Secretary in 1998.

“That was a rather spontaneous, unthought-of remark,” he said. “I don’t think I would say that now. We have seen that globalisation has not generated the rising incomes for all.”

No wonder Labour never really embraced the former Hartlepool MP as one of their own.

Huhne should accept defeat and move on

2012-01-26T08:46:00.004Z

Today's Independent carries the reassuring news that the Government has lost its bid in the Court of Appeal to cut subsidies for solar panels on homes.

They say that three appeal judges have unanimously upheld a High Court ruling that Energy Secretary Chris Huhne lacks the power to introduce the controversial "retrospective" scheme.

Despite this Mr Huhne remains defiant and has confirmed that he will seek to appeal to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land.

Most people accept that the current tariff is too high and even those benefiting from the scheme were planning for it to be cut back in April. However, the Government has jumped in with both feet, preempted their own consultation and slashed the amount they subsidise small scale renewable generation by more than anticipated, before the deadline for comments.

It is commonsense that due process has not been followed and that the Government is in the wrong. That is why the courts keep ruling against them. Surely the right decision now is to accept that verdict and go back to the drawing board.

Chris Huhne needs to move on. I do not believe that he can justify spending yet more public money on lawyers to pursue this issue.

Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

2012-01-25T16:14:00.002Z

The BBC reports that the Welsh national anthem has won out in an academic study which looks to measure "sing-ability" of patriotic songs.

They say that a musicologist has found that people are more willing to join in with a chorus from Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau than the UK's official anthem, God Save the Queen, and USA's Star-Spangled Banner:

The French anthem La Marseillaise topped a list produced by experts at the universities of York and London. It was rated with a "sing-along-ability" score of 50.98% with Wales second on 41.81%.

This compares with Australia (36.03%), Germany (31.71%), Canada (31.53%), USA (30.35%), Great Britain (30.22%) and Scotland (25.84%), although neither the Welsh or Scottish songs are official anthems.

Has anybody told John Redwood?

How to answer a Parliamentary Question

2012-01-25T08:06:00.002Z

Those who say that there is no art to answering Parliamentary Questions have clearly not seen this one on the subject of Christmas from Bob Neill:

Communities and Local Government

Christmas

Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department spent on (a) Christmas trees and (b) other Christmas decorations in 2011; and if he will make a statement. [91094]

Robert Neill: In 2011 the (a) Christmas tree and (b) other Christmas decorations were supplied at no cost to the Department.

I also refer the hon. Member to my answer of 20 December 2010, Official Report, column 941W, on Scrooge and politically correct Grinches.

Welsh Ministers have a lot to learn.

Post Offices and executive pay

2012-01-24T14:13:00.006Z

Two announcements this week by Liberal Democrat Ministers have been very welcome and demonstrate once more the benefits that the party are bringing to government.

The first of these by Post Office Minister, Ed Davey is reported in today's Daily Telegraph. They say that Post offices have been given a decade-long lifeline with Royal Mail which should help to stave a fresh round of mass closures:

Royal Mail has agreed a 10-year deal to keep using post offices to sell stamps and handle parcels after the company is broken up at privatisation.

The deal is a relief to campaigners who had feared that Royal Mail would have been free to stop using the post office network once it was spun off as a private company.

That would have jeopardised thousands of post offices which rely on Government subsidy and Royal Mail’s work to stay in business.

The new “inter-business agreement”, which starts on April 1, is twice as long as had been thought, and as been agreed with lawyers for Royal Mail and the Government.

Ed Davey, the Post Office minister, said the agreement meant that the future of the post office had been “secured”.

This is of course in addition to he £2 billion investment promised for the Post Office and is a stark contrast to the attitude of the previous Labour Government who closed 6,500 Post Offices during their term in office.

Meanwhile, Ed Davey's boss, Vince Cable has pledged to replace "rewards for failure" with "rewards for success" by outlining plans to boost the power of shareholders to curb excessive executive pay.

According to the Independent his boardroom reform plans include:

* shareholders' votes on pay packages to be binding rather than advisory as at present;

* clearer remuneration reports on executive pay separating what happened in the past year (on which shareholders' votes would not be retrospective) and future policy;

* companies to publish a single pay figure for each executive;

* clawback clauses in executives' contracts at all large companies, like those introduced by the banks;

* shareholders to vote on pay-offs worth more than one-year's salary;

* companies urged to ensure greater diversity on boards, and codes of practice changed to end the "old boy network" under which a small number of executives sit on the remuneration committees of other big firms.

These measures are a major step forward and will hopefull contribute to improving the accountability of the boardroom. However, I hope that the Government is clear that if change is not achieved then legislation to put that right will be pursued.

Two referendums and an autobiography

2012-01-23T08:56:00.004Z

For many of us Peter Hain is the marmite in Welsh politics. You either love him or loathe him, but there has never been any doubt about his competence as a Minister, a politician and a campaigner.

Newport West MP, Paul Flynn described him as one of politics 'shapeshifters' and that is certainly borne out in the extracts I have read so far from his autobiography. Having said that I am not yet convinced that I actually want to read or buy the book. Maybe that will come later.

Today we learn that there was clear hostility from some Labour Cabinet Ministers to giving the Welsh Assembly law-making powers, even the watered down version in the 2006 Government of Wales Act. Mr. Hain also reveals that Tony Blair and his team never gave Wales "proper respect and attention".

The BBC report on Hain's view that a reshuffle reducing the Welsh job to a part-time cabinet role was "a spectacular bodge":

The Neath MP writes in Outside In that the 2003 shake-up appeared to have been "cobbled together at the last minute".

The Wales Office was subsumed into what was the Department for Constitutional Affairs (now the Ministry of Justice).

Even Mr Blair appeared unsure whether the Welsh secretary would still answer Welsh questions in the Commons.

Mr Hain said: "At one point it appeared that the secretary of state's post had been abolished, that Wales was being summarily transferred into a department under an unelected peer, Lord Falconer." Mr Hain said the Wales Office was in turmoil, with staff learning about the change via TV.

"For a government supposedly excellent at communicating, this was another example of abject failure - especially if, as later transpired, it had been considered over a period rather than cobbled together at the last minute.

"It was further evidence of Tony Blair and his team never really giving Wales proper respect and attention, contrary to Scotland where the secretary of state's role was pretty minimal because all primary legislation had gone to the Scottish parliament.

Mr Hain reveals how plans to give the Welsh assembly more powers were almost scuppered by cabinet colleagues, including the then deputy prime minister, John Prescott:

According to Mr Hain, Mr Prescott thought the English regions were being discriminated against and was "resentful" about the idea of Wales acquiring full law-making powers.

Jack Straw, then foreign secretary, told a cabinet meeting that he had been struck by the Welsh government's "truly appalling" performance on hospital waiting times and it would be "ridiculous to start giving them more powers".

According to Mr Hain, the then leader of the Commons, Geoff Hoon, responsible for the government's legislative timetable, suggested deferring or shortening the Government of Wales Bill - a suggestion thwarted only by Tony Blair's intervention.

The Guardian has a story about another referendum. They reveal how Tony Blair and his aides sanctioned a secret group inside Labour, including the-then Europe minister, Peter Hain, to prepare the ground for a euro referendum during his second term in office. They say that the group was secret partly to avoid Gordon Brown's disapproval.

They add that the planning was aborted after Gordon Brown declared the UK economy was not ready to join the euro due to insufficient convergence between the two economies.

Welsh MP upsets colleagues with caricatures

2012-01-22T10:21:00.002Z

Whatever one might think of Newport West Labour MP, Paul Flynn it cannot be denied that he says what he thinks, irrespective of the consequences. It comes as no surprise therefore that this morning's Mail on Sunday carries news of a host of outraged MPs at the portrait he draws in his latest book of life in the House of Commons and some of them in particular.

The paper says that Mr. Flynn's book, 'How To Be An MP', exposes junketing, boozing and ‘serial seducers who have sex in their Commons offices’. It adds that ‘travel glutton Gulliver’ MPs ‘prostitute’ themselves on foreign trips paid for by ‘greedy’ businessmen and tyrants, and claims curbs on sleaze after the expenses scandal have not ended the risk of Westminster being ‘re-infested with corruption’. He advises MPs to get rid of trouble-making constituents by telling them they are mad.

Some of the detail from the article is worth quoting in full: Mr Flynn, MP for Newport West, also refers to an unnamed member branded ‘Gorillagram’ because he ‘could earn a living delivering gorillagrams without the aid of a monkey suit’. Then there was an anonymous Tory known as the ‘Talking Grow Bag’ for his ‘dreary country suits’ and a ‘Fred Nobody MP’ asking endless questions about an African country he had visited. Asked to name them, Mr Flynn refused, saying: ‘It might upset them. There are lots of Fred Nobodies. It could be one of 20.’

Mr Flynn lambasts ‘Gulliver’ MPs – ‘travel gluttons consoled by long hours in the sun at the poolside of a luxury hotel’. He says: ‘Commercial jaunts stuff large quantities of protein and alcohol into MPs: ideal for those who have decided to prostitute their time to the highest bidder.

It continues: He alludes to three unnamed Tories who ‘in 2011 flew to the hell hole of Equatorial Guinea. They flew business-class to the oil-rich African country and the total cost of the visit was almost £25,000. The biggest fact that the inept trio found on this jaunt was their own ineptitude’. They were ‘cosying up to a corrupt dictator with a human-rights record halfway between Adolf Hitler and Attila the Hun’.

Last year, Conservative MPs Nadine Dorries, Caroline Nokes and Steve Baker visited Equatorial Guinea. All three declared the trip in the Commons register, with the total cost coming to £24,170. There is no suggestion that they made any personal gain.

Mr Flynn provocatively suggests Speaker John Bercow’s two (unnamed) deputies stood for election to the post in 2010 for the perks. Asking tartly why they gave up their right to speak in debates, he says: ‘Very significantly, no one mentioned the job carries an additional salary of up to £40,000 and comes with faux prestige, dollops of guilt-free foreign travel and elegant dining.’

Finally, in a guide to sex and booze in Westminster, Mr Flynn says: flings are ‘inevitable’ and talks of ‘furtive encounters in parliamentary offices when resistance levels are falling and testosterone levels are rising . . . serial seducers of both sexes roam the corridors’.

The Commons’ elegant Pugin Room is ‘sinfully comfortable . . . popular for romantic encounters’. By contrast, the MPs’ Smoking Room is a ‘melange of gentleman’s club and geriatric home, a refuge for alcohol addicts’. On expenses, he argues: ‘The manipulation of greed still seeks to corrupt the power of Parliament. The fumigation of the Palace cannot prevent its re-infestation.’

All of this of course makes the upcoming selection battle between Mr. Flynn and Jessica Morden for the new Newport seat, a compelling one. Can we afford to lose such a politician from the House of Commons.

Dogma trumps value for money

2012-01-21T13:45:00.003Z

Anybody who wants to know why the Welsh Health Service is producing worse outcomes for patients than its sister service across the border despite spending more per head, need look no further than this news article.

The Western Mail reports that cash-strapped health chiefs in the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board plan to spend £1.5m to create a new IVF clinic and laboratories after cancelling a contract with the privately-run London Women’s Clinic, based at Singleton Hospital in Swansea, where it has been providing IVF cycles for NHS patients up to the present day.

The new facility at Neath Port Talbot Hospital clinic will closely resemble the set up at the IVF Wales service in Cardiff, 35 miles away and will be operational in just 15 months’ time.

The University Health Board will have to find the cost of this new facility despite needing to find an additional £3m in savings to balance its books this year. They have been told to do it because of a commitment in the Labour-Plaid One Wales agreement to end the use of the private sector to provide NHS services, including IVF.

It is no wonder that Welsh Liberal Democrats Leader, Kirsty Williams is incensed. She told the paper: that: “It makes no sense at all to spend such a large amount of money on a new IVF clinic when there is one already existing not far away.

“The Labour party is putting its dogmatic and irrational approach to private companies before actually deciding what is best for the patients.

“The NHS is already under immense pressure. Wales needs a government that is willing to put patients’ needs first, spending money wisely, rather than wasting money based on political dogma.”

Peter Bown-Simpkins, medical director of the London Women’s Clinic, added: “This is a monumental waste of money.

“There will be nothing for West Wales patients for the next 15 months, unless we are given a new contract, and then [when Neath Port Talbot opens] there will be a huge waiting list.

“All this is happening at a time when England is doing just the opposite and introducing more co-operation with the private sector if it means getting a better service.

“Not only will this new clinic cost £1.5m to set up but it will also cost a huge amount to run because of working hours, it will need two consultants, two embryologists and two or three nurses.”

This decision is bonkers. It is a complete waste of money.

The mystery of disappearing funding gap

2012-01-20T10:31:00.003Z

When you are being constantly castigated for starving schools of funds, the natural response of any educationally-minded government is to take the sting out of the attack by upping their game.

This is in fact precisely what the Welsh Labour Government have done, with an undertaking to put 1% more into school budgets than the increase in the block grant. This is the second year of that policy and all the signs are that local Councils are playing ball and delivering the extra money direct to schools.

The Welsh Government also have the benefit of the extra £450 that is going directly to schools for every child on free school meals, which was the price extracted by the Welsh Liberal Democrats for supporting their budget.

In theory then the situation should be improving, even if the size of the funding gap remains a huge political embarrassment, and the Education Minister should have nothing to hide in ensuring that the statistics are out there for us to scrutinise, question him on and campaign on.

However, that is not the case, as according to the BBC Government statisticians have decided that they are now unable to draw a fair comparison between England and Wales. A note on the relevant website announces that: This Statistical Bulletin will not be published this year since changes in education policy in England mean it is not possible to produce comparable figures of budgeted expenditure per pupil for England and Wales for this financial year. Further detail will be published in a Statistical Article on January 26 2012.

At best this is political ineptitude of a high order, at worst it is a worrying sign of an opaque government with something to hide. People will no doubt draw their own conclusions as have the Association of Teachers and Lecturers who say: "No one looks forward to this annual account of under spending on our children but at least we've always admired the honesty it displays."

Their Director continues: "The Statistics Unit needs to reconsider this decision urgently.

"It would be far better to publish the information with a health warning about comparisons, pointing out the difficulties involved in doing so, than to be perceived as conveniently suppressing key information.

"This announcement also puts the [Education] Minister [Leighton Andrews] in an invidious position as he has pledged repeatedly to reduce the funding gap, and we will now not be able to see how his hard work is paying off."

The Tories say: “This decision to cover up data on the underfunding of Welsh schools flies in the face of transparency. Even without the latest figures, we know the funding gap between Welsh and English schools has been widening and most recently stood at over £600 per pupil.”

“With well-documented failings in school standards in Wales, parents should be entitled to see the extent to which Labour is underfunding our schools.”

Whilst Welsh Liberal Democrat education spokesman, Aled Roberts said he is “hugely disappointed and surprised. It has been clear pupils in Wales’ schools are not getting the support they clearly need.”

This is one row the Welsh Government do not need and should sort out as soon as possible. If we do not have these figures then we cannot hold Ministers to account on their promises and that is not good for democracy, nor is it good for pupils, parents and teachers who need to know what support they are getting in delivering a top quality education service.

Technophobia

2012-01-19T13:09:00.005Z

Having political oversight of the Welsh Assembly's ICT services is by no means a trouble-free job. Things do go wrong occasionally and I bear the brunt of complaints.

Fortunately, in one of the World's most switched on legislatures, technophobia is not a problem I have to deal with. This may not be the case elsewhere as illustrated in the Daily Mail:

As if spending £13,000 on iPads for 20 peers is not bad enough, several of the doddery old boys can’t use them.

They have been phoning for technical help with complex questions such as ‘How do I turn it on?’ and ‘What exactly is an email?’ It’s a wonder they can use a phone.

Labour MP John Mann has evidence of more technophobia.

‘They say we can table parliamentary questions electronically. But you email one office, they print it out, a flunky walks down three flights of stairs to another office and types it all back in. Unbelievable.’

The word according to Michael Gove

2012-01-18T08:48:00.003Z

What is it about Michael Gove and public funds? Firstly, he moots the idea of the nation buying a new yacht for the Royal family to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee only to be forced into back-pedalling by Clegg's 'yachts and have-yachts' remark into setting up a private trust fund instead. Now, his initiative to send personally engraved bibles to English schools has run into similar problems.

Yesterday's Guardian says that the plan by the education secretary, to send a copy of the King James Bible to every school in the country, each including a personal inscription from him, has run into trouble after government sources reported he has been told to find private funding for the project.

They say that David Cameron has told Gove that while he supported the idea, the education secretary should avoid using taxpayers' money for it. But Gove has yet to find a private philanthropic sponsor for the enterprise, and some Whitehall sources said he has been told he cannot distribute the book until he does so, leaving thousands of copies in a warehouse abroad.

The Department of Education dispute the story saying that enough public cash is available to press ahead and that No 10 had merely indicated that "sponsorship was desirable". Still, one is left wondering why Michael Gove insists on embarking on these madcap ideas when he would do better concentrating on managing England's education system.

War breaks out in the Labour Party

2012-01-17T14:30:00.003Z

He may have pipped his brother to the leadership due to the support of the Trade Unions but that does not appear to have saved Ed Miliband from some savage comments by former allies today.

According to the Guardian the Labour leader is facing a growing trade union rebellion after the GMB and Public Commercial Services unions joined the condemnation of the party's support for a public sector pay squeeze:

Len McCluskey, the leader of Britain's largest union, led the outbreak of union disquiet on Monday in a Guardian article in which he warned that Miliband was setting Labour on course for electoral disaster and undermining his own leadership by accepting government cuts and the cap on public sector pay.

Kenny said: "I will update everyone as events unfold but I have to say this is the most serious mistake they could have made and the Tories must be rubbing their hands with glee."

GMB is Britain's third-largest union, with 620,000 members compared with Unite's 1.4m. Unison, the second largest, has not commented.

Mark Serwotka, the leader of the largest civil service union, the PCS, told the Guardian that Labour would lose the next general election if it did not reverse its policy shift.

Union opposition to Miliband's position is significant because, as well as being the party's biggest source of funding, the union vote was crucial to securing his victory in the 2010 leadership contest.

Serwotka, whose union is not affiliated to the party, said: "This guarantees, probably, that Labour will lose [in 2015] and lose badly. And that is a disaster for everyone because we will have the Tories coming in and doing the same thing [cutting public spending], except even further."

"It is a massive strategic mistake to tack rightwards because it means that no one is now arguing the alternative economic view, other than the trade unions. A lot of core Labour voters who are looking for something different will ask themselves where they go now."

The Labour leadership have been right to change their position and express their support for the Coalition Government's economic programme but they will have to pay a high price for that decision amongst their own supporter.

I agree with Chris Huhne

2012-01-16T06:15:00.000Z

Yesterday's Telegraph reports that the Liberal Democrat Cabinet Minister with the sharpest elbows, Chris Huhne has hailed David Cameron’s decision not to scrap the 50p higher rate of income tax before 2015 as a victory for his party.

The Energy Secretary is reported as saying that the junior Coalition partners had “won the argument” over reducing the tax burden on the rich at a time of austerity. Chris Huhne added that it was an example of how the Conservatives still needed Liberal Democrat support “if they want to get anything else through”.

Interviewed on the Pienaar's Politics programme on BBC Radio 5 Live, Mr Huhne indicated that the 50p rate was set to stay, remarking: “I think we've won that argument.”

He said that this was “partly, I think, because people simply realise that this is not an appropriate moment to send out a signal that we're going to tax well off people less”.

While insisting it had been a collective decision, he nevertheless suggested that pressure from the Liberal Demoracts had forced Mr Osborne’s hand.

“The Conservatives don't have an overall majority, so they need, if they want to get a finance bill through, if they want to get anything else through, they need to have Liberal Democrat support in the House of Commons and that's absolutely crucial,” he said.

Apparently, a report by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, which is due to be delivered next month, is expected to show a "surge" in revenues totalling hundreds of millions of pounds from the first year. It is expected to defy predictions that top earners would find ways to avoid paying the 50p rate.

Labour in crisis continued

2012-01-15T11:46:00.003Z

All the buzz on Twitter is that it is only a matter of time before Ed Miliband goes as Labour leader. Fortunately, for the government that is not how things are done in Labour. Well, at least it has not been up until now.

Do Labour have the equivalent of the men in grey suits? Will Miliband junior be told to shape up or ship out? We will have to see.

One thing that is clear is that the dose of realism that has overcome the Labour Party in 2012 has annoyed a lot of their supporters. Those on the left and in the Trade Union movement who believe that politics is a moral crusade in which the forces of radicalism take on vested interests have had a rude awakening.

Politics is of course about power and in any case the battle lines are not as clearly drawn as many would like. This is especially so when the Liberal Democrats are providing moral ballast in the coalition, effectively ensuring that no matter how tough things get the government is focussed on social justice and upwards mobility.

Thus, we have tax cuts for the low paid, uprating child tax credits for poorer families, index linking pensions, and the multi-billion pound scheme to help young people into work to name but a few.

When on top of all this, one of the opposition backbench spokespeople announces that Labour is not ready to govern again and Ed Miliband “needs more time” to establish himself as a leader among voters then surely even the most ardent supporters must be banging their head on the desk in despair.

In today's Telegraph Rachel Reeves, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, also admits that the previous Labour government spent too much money on salaries for senior public sector workers. She also says that the party still has “a lot of work to do” to regain public confidence.

Cameron and Clegg must think that it is still Christmas.

What a difference a year makes?

2012-01-14T08:56:00.002Z

"Ed (Balls) will challenge Slasher Osborne and his mistaken programme of austerity that isn’t working. He is aggressive, smart, passionate and a battler with a big advantage over the coalition – a really good understanding of economics.

He will quickly challenge the ConDems’ long list of broken promises – VAT, tuition fees and the slashing of public sector jobs nobody voted for.

...........

Ed Balls is going to stand up for ordinary working people and challenge this Tory-led Government at every turn."

David Blanchflower in the Daily Mirror 22 January 2011

Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, has moved to challenge accusations that Labour is not credible on the economy by telling the public sector unions that he endorses George Osborne's public sector pay freeze until the end of the parliament, and that he accepts every spending cut being imposed by the Conservatives.

The Guardian, 14 January 2012

Those elusive targets

2012-01-13T07:51:00.002Z

Target setting in government is a noble and worthy thing to do. It brings focus to a the work of ministers and provides goals against which we can measure their performance. However, there is another side to this activity that provides a moral imperative to get it right.

If a target is set too far into the future it can blunt or even defer scrutiny, whilst making it impossible to attribute responsibility if it is missed. That is not good government. It is also bad politics to set unrealistic targets so as to give the impression of activity and achievement. That undermines confidence in government and reduces the credibility of other targets.

A good example of the latter was the Welsh Government's target, set in 1999 to eliminate homelessness by 2003. Homelessness is still with us. That was inevitable, because people's circumstances change and because it can sometimes take a long time to persuade hard core rough sleepers to take up services.

Another target I am sceptical about is the one which seeks to eliminate child poverty by 2020. I support that aim but is it achievable? Just looking at it statistically it is very difficult. As child poverty is defined as living on an income of 60% or below of the average, then by definition it is a moveable objective.

You can raise the income of a significant chunk of the population but you cannot stop those earning above the average also improving their standard of living. Effectively, therefore all you have done is to move the average to a different point on the scale. I would suggest that you only eliminate child poverty by this definition when you have full employment and everybody earns the same amount.

It is an interesting dilemma and means that in reality what you are seeking to do is to make relative improvements in the lifestyle of the poorest in our society. There is no target for that.

All of this brings me to the latest missed target, the one that said that we would have all 221,000 homes in the social housing sector up to standard by 2012. The Wales Audit Office has concluded that even by 2017, only 79% of properties will be up to standard. It is only now that we can properly scrutinise this target.

I think that it became clear a few years after this target was set that not only did we not have the resources to deliver it but that when it was set we did not have sufficient information to properly assess it achieveability either. The same was true of the Welsh Government target to make all Welsh schools fit for purpose by 2010. We now have a ten year programme from 2014 that will spend £4 billion on improving our schools. Nobody is pretending anymore that even this will deliver full fitness, even if it is affordable.

The housing fitness target was ambitious, it gave the impression that the Government was doing something, but it also deferred proper scrutiny and it failed because Ministers never properly embraced the only tool that might come close to delivering it, namely the transfer of council housing to not-for-profit housing associations.

The lesson should be there for all of us. Realistic targets are good, long-term, hard-to-measure, over-ambitious targets are not. It is time that we adjusted our governance accordingly.

Time to move on

2012-01-12T11:22:00.002Z

If there is one word that sums up Peter Hain, then it must be relentless. That is because once he has his teeth into an issue he will not let go.

Normally that is a good thing, but sometimes you just have to admit defeat and move on, especially when you are not just swimming against the tide of public opinion but actually below their radar.

In other words most people do not care less about the boundary review, are tired of MPs pursuing their own self-interest and would prefer their elected politicians to be fighting on more bread and butter issues. That is not a reason of course not to take up an unpopular issue but do the Shadow Secretary of State's arguments really stack-up?

In this morning's Western Mail, Mr. Hain argues that the recent boundary review was designed to undermine the Labour party even though the outcome has actually been to consolidate their hold on Wales. He even acknowledges that the Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats will fare worse than Labour.

In fact evidence I have seen elsewhere shows that Labour could still come out with a majority across the UK on the new boundaries even if they secured a smaller vote share than the Conservatives.

Mr. Hain's other argument is that Wales is being done down because it has less seats. In fact Welsh representation is now on a par with the rest of the UK.

I find it incomprehensible that anybody could argue for Wales to have more than its fair share of MPs when it has the advantage of its own law-making Assembly in Cardiff. It is not as if a Welsh MP is any more overworked than his or her English counterpart.

On balance, the Neath MP is not just out-of-touch but he is also wrong.

Labour admit it may cut further

2012-01-11T13:35:00.005Z

The report in today's Telegraph on Labour's relaunch must surely undermine that party's opposition to the UK Government's austerity measures.

The two Eds appear to have moved on from blind opposition to a stance of saying that Labour may be forced to go further in cutting parts of public spending than current Coalition plans. This recognition of economic realities is welcome and should put paid to the antics of Labour activists and trade unionists around the country, including Peter Hain, who believe that all they have to do is to oppose everything the Government does to get re-elected:

'The party’s high command admitted it could not promise to reverse any of the Government’s tax rises or cuts after the next election, due in 2015.

Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, admitted that Labour still lacked “credibility” and warned that even under his party, there “would have to be cuts”.

“There would have to be difficult decisions,” he said. “We would have to have cuts in police. We’d have to have cuts in the schools budget. We’d have to have cuts in the defence budget.

No doubt much of this will appear on Liberal Democrat leaflets and be quoted back at Labour politicians over the next few months.

My old book

2012-01-11T11:19:00.002Z

My article for Total Politics on a favourite old book is now on-line here or your can read it below:

Catch-22 remains my favourite book of all time, brilliantly capturing the daily horrors of war through the comic- tragic adventures of a group of airmen flying missions in the European theatre of World War II.

Heller mercilessly sends up the bureaucracy that hampers so much of the American armed forces and undermines morale, whether it is the dead man in Yossarian’s tent, who the authorities refuse to acknowledge or the promotion of Major Major by an IBM machine with a sense of humour.

There is Milo Minderbender, the capitalist who uses his position to profit from the war, even accepting a contract to bomb his own airbase.

And then there is Catch-22 itself, the doctrine that specifies that a concern for one's safety in the face of real and immediate danger is the process of a rational mind. You cannot fly if you’re crazy, but the moment you point this out to the authorities you are rated as sane and fit to fly.

I first read this book during my degree exams for relaxation. My then room mate and I used to read out extracts to each other as a displacement exercise so as to avoid facing up to the challenges of the next exam paper.

I may have learnt more from this book than the whole course.

Plaid Cymru leadership debate gets personal

2012-01-10T09:58:00.004Z

Signs that the Plaid Cymru leadership contest might be getting personal have emerged in a letter sent by environmentalist George Monbiot to his friends. In it he says that the contest might come down to a choice between Elin Jones and Leanne Wood, which he describes as a straight fight between old and new, brown and green, conservative and radical.

He continues: "I interviewed Elin Jones at length when she was minister for rural affairs. Though I quite liked her, I was utterly dismayed by her unthinking acceptance of the claims of farmers and fishing interests, her preparedness to trample environmental legislation on their behalf (including opening a special area of conservation, set aside to protect dolphins, for scallop dredging) and the pitiful incoherence of her attempts to justify her policies. Elin has also been the main champion of badger culling, again on behalf of the farmers. There are 3 million people in Wales, of whom 960,000 live in the countryside. There are 19,000 farmers - ie 2% of the RURAL population - but under her watch, theirs was the only voice that counted, and the remaining 98% of rural people were marginalised."

I wonder if Leanne Wood endorse those views? After all she was sat behind Elin Jones during the One Wales Government backing all of those policies.

N.B. Adam Price in his endorsement of Leanne Wood in this morning's Western Mail proves that being a research fellow in a prestigious American university does not prevent an individual from talking nonsense when it comes to historical precedents.

Mr. Price claims that "It’s looking likely that Plaid will soon have a woman leader, as well as a woman president, a woman chair and a woman chief executive – that would surely be a world-first." Well actually, no!

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have a female leader, a female President, a female vice-President and, until recently, a female Chief Executive. Not for the first time Plaid Cymru is playing catch-up.

On the wagon

2012-01-09T16:06:00.002Z

The BBC report that a report by the Commons science and technology committee, which is calling for a review of all government guidelines on alcohol in the UK has suggested that pople should have at least two days a week completely clear of alcohol.

Does this mean that the House of Commons' bars will be closed for two days each working week? I eagerly await the details.

Tony Blair and the mystery of his tax bill

2012-01-08T10:58:00.002Z

Key figures in Labour and the Trade Unions have been much exercised over the last 18 months in arguing that the best alternative to cuts in public spending is to close loopholes in the tax system so that the filthy rich are forced to pay their share. Putting aside the problems with enforcing this across international boundaries (it can be done but not to anybody's satisfaction), I tend to agree with them. That after all is why the UK Coalition is seeking to do just that.

Yesterday's Telegraph came up with a prime example of how legally organising your company's accounts so as to take account of unspecified costs can minimise a person's tax bill. The filthy rich person concerned is of course former Labour Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

The paper says that official accounts show a company set up by Mr Blair to manage his business affairs paid just £315,000 in tax last year on an income of more than £12 million. In that time, he employed 26 staff and paid them total wages of almost £2.3 million:

The accounts provide the strongest evidence yet of the huge sums generated by Mr Blair through his various activities since quitting Downing Street in June 2007.

He runs a business consultancy – Tony Blair Associates – which has deals with the governments of Kuwait and Kazakhstan among others and is a paid adviser to JP Morgan, an American investment bank, and to Zurich International, a global insurance company based in Switzerland. Mr Blair makes a further £100,000 a time from speeches and lectures while also presiding over a number of charities including a faith foundation.

Mr Blair has previously been criticised for cashing in on contacts made in Downing Street and these accounts will likely add to those concerns.

The documents also reveal that in the two years until March 31 last year, Mr Blair’s management company had a total turnover of more than £20 million and paid tax of about £470,000.

The Telegraph says that there is no suggestion that Mr Blair’s tax affairs are anything other than legitimate. The low tax bill is apparently because around £8 million of income has been classed as administration expenses and offset against the former Prime Minister's liabilities.

Still, it must be interesting to be on the other side of the argument over tax.

Politics for sale?

2012-01-07T12:50:00.002Z

Whatever the outcome of Nick Clegg's renewed initiative on the funding of political parties, it is unlikely that enough agreement will be reached between the main protaganists so as to entirely eliminate the suspicion of foul-play.

This is best illustrated by today's Telegraph, which has made itself a bit of a specialist on this issue, when they report on the views of the Parliamentary Standards watchdog that wealthy donors appear to be buying Government policy by securing “preferential” access to ministers and senior politicians.

Nobody should pretend that this is an exclusively Conservative problem. The same concerns were around under Labour. Every party woos top level donors by giving them some sort of access to influential figures at some level or another.

Sir Christopher Kelly is absolutely right to say that the perceived influence of rich businessmen over politicians is undermining public trust in Westminster.

He points out that successive governments have faced scandals over allegations that donors are buying power, from “cash for honours” under Labour to concerns about the influence of City financiers over the Conservatives:

All three main political parties run donors’ clubs, under which wealthy people willing to make minimum donations of, for example, £50,000 can buy access to senior politicians at private dinners and meetings. Sir Christopher says people are right to be suspicious of the motives of anyone who donates more than £100,000 to a party.

“There have been sufficient allegations in the past of people receiving honours, or policies being influenced, for people to think there is no smoke without fire,” he said.

“Whether it [influencing policy by donors] happens or not, the public clearly believe that it happens. There is a risk of it happening and, more importantly, there is a public perception that it does happen. That perception by itself is so important in terms of the confidence and integrity of the way that important decisions are taken that it seems to me it needs to be addressed.”

Sir Christopher said party donations should be capped at £10,000 and state funding increased to remove the taint of corruption.

The question is, can Clegg get sufficient agreement so as to restore some of that trust without creating the other problem of the level public funding being perceived as inappropriate in a time of austerity?

The voice of realism falls on deaf ears in Wales

2012-01-06T07:47:00.003Z

This morning's Guardian reports that the shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy has asserted that Labour must reject 'shallow and temporary' populism in which it opposes all government spending cuts, and instead build up credibility by outlining where the party would make savings.

Mr. Murphy told the paper that Labour needed to achieve "genuine credibility" on spending as he revealed he would accept £5bn of the government's defence cuts before a new defence review by Labour to be launched later this month:

Although he limited his remarks to his defence brief the Guardian say that his intervention comes at a sensitive time for Ed Miliband, who was accused yesterday by his intellectual guru Lord Glasman of lacking a strategy, as members of the shadow cabinet express concern about the party's apparent lack of credibility on the economy.

They add that the Labour leadership was recently criticised in a pamphlet by Policy Network, the thinktank established by Lord Mandelson, for "vagueness" in its approach to the deficit. The pamphlet, In the Black Labour, said the party was confirming "voters' worst suspicions about the party's lack of commitment to addressing the fiscal crisis". Balls, the shadow chancellor, moved to address these criticisms last month when he told the Independent he would turn round "public scepticism about Labour's willingness to take tough decisions on public spending".

It would be nice if Peter Hain and the Welsh Labour Government took some of these criticisms on board as well instead of carping from the sidelines.

Forked tongues and Wales Labour

2012-01-05T10:04:00.002Z

Welsh Labour spokespeople are starting to get predictable now, in the vehemence of their attacks on the UK Coalition Government, their failure to provide an alternative and, in the case of Peter Hain, the very personal nature of his remarks about the Secretary of State for Wales. This morning's Western Mail piece is a case in point.

In the first instance we have Professor Mark Drakeford, Assembly Member for Cardiff West and a former Government Special Advisor, whose comments indicate that some of that academic rigour he once applied in his former profession may have worn off.

He trots out a familiar argument, claiming that David Cameron's veto of a new European Treaty has irreparably damaged Welsh interests in Europe and yet he then goes on to say that the deal on the table at Brussels was "one which no-one of sane economic mind ought to be prepared to contemplate. It commits its signatories (assuming that there is, in the end, a deal to which signing-up actually takes place) to a period of Europe-wide deflation and austerity which is utterly self- defeating.”

So what would he have done differently? He predicts dire consequences for the Welsh economy but never makes the link as to how the veto has put us in this position. That is because there is no link. Instead many of the problems facing Wales are structural and a consequence of the recession and economic mismanagement of the last Labour Government. The Welsh Government, led by Labour for 12 years also has a significant responsibility for this.

Still, if Labour shout loud enough then maybe people will start to believe them. That is certainly the tactics adopted by Peter Hain. Surely though, even the most non-political individual must have got to the point when they conclude that the Neath MP is protesting just a little bit too much.

As it happens I agree with Peter Hain on regional pay, but let us not forget that the only instance of it being introduced was under the Labour Government in which he was a Minister. With that knowledge, Hain's protestations start to sound a bit lame.

As for his claims that Cheryl Gillan has no influence and that Carwyn Jones has lost confidence in her, well so far so predictable. Any relationship is two-way and in my view any breakdown is as much the fault of the Welsh Government as it is the Secretary of State for Wales.

Peter Hain can play games with this if he likes, but his little strategms do nothing to advance the interests of the Welsh people.

Immigration or migration

2012-01-04T09:23:00.003Z

Monmouth MP, David Davies' assertion in today's Western Mail that large scale immigration is having a huge environmental impact by increasing the demand for new homes in Wales, lacks one important element, proof!

Mr. Davies claims that the demand for 350 new housing units in his own constituency due to net migration underlines his case. However, there is a significant difference between migration and immigration. Indeed it is likely that most of the demand will be due to people moving into Monmouthshire from England. It is clear from the MP's remarks that he does not consider the English as immigrants, though there are some extreme nationalists who do.

Where is the breakdown in the housing demand figures to prove that the bulk of these migrants actually come from third world countries as Mr. Davies alleges? These comments are not mainstreaming the debate about immigration as he suggests, rather they are pandering to the extremist agenda, which in many cases is based on myth and unproven assertions.

The casual mention of a venture aimed at the Chinese tourism market is further proof of how flimsy Mr. Davies' argument is. How does a business such as this impact on the housing Market? How does it add to immigration pressures? It doesn't.

By all means let us have a debate but for once can we base it on the actual facts?

Subsidising politicians

2012-01-04T06:40:00.002Z

A report in yesterday's Telegraph that the cost of subsidising bars and restaurants in the Houses of Parliament is actually increasing at a time of austerity is a further indication that MPs do not get it. In contrast the Welsh Assembly has made a huge effort to reduce its catering subsidy.

Most public sector employers with catering facilities subsidise them, however few have the sort of deal available in Parliament, where prices are very generous compared with private sector providers nearby.

The paper reports that the Commons Commission said in June 2010 that £500,000 should be sliced from catering costs and bar prices should rise to those of high street pubs as part of a £12m cut to the Commons budget:

But in the Members Dining Room, MPs are served an artichoke and tomato salad with truffle dressing for £2.05, or a seared breast of pigeon with aubergine purée and spiced couscous for just £4.15.

A risotto of pea and broad bean with Golden Cross goat’s cheese costs £2.40, while MPs wishing to splash out on a char-grilled rib-eye steak with hand-cut chips and béarnaise sauce pay £7.80.

For pudding, they can enjoy a green tea and white chocolate brûlée for £2.05 or the cheese board for £3.10.

In the Terrace restaurant, a spinach, ricotta and sundried tomato pizza with a rocket salad costs £2.75, while at Moncrieff’s restaurant Members can enjoy a roasted half spring chicken with stuffing for £2.95.

Afterwards, they can head to the Pugin Room bar, where a glass of malt whisky, Cointreau liqueur or Grand Marnier costs £2.55. Glasses of 2009 Sauvignon Blanc or 2010 Merlot are £2.35.

Sales in Parliament’s 19 restaurants, nine bars and one coffee shop fell 8pc to £7.5 million in the financial year 2010/11. It means for every £10 an MP spent on lunch, the public contributed £7.60. The year before, the public contributed £6.90

Nice work if you can get it. Perhaps the Parliamentary authorities should try harder.

Keeping them honest

2012-01-03T08:28:00.002Z

You have to hand it to Nick Clegg, he is a trier. According to this report in the Daily Mail, the Deputy Prime Minister is to press on with plans to refund the way that political parties are funded, despite the fact that there is no consensus within the coalition, never-mind with the opposition.

The paper says Mr. Clegg plans to get cross-party talks underway within weeks after announcing an aggressive attempt to force all three main parties to accept a donations limit, coupled with new restrictions on spending during elections and more flexible rules on the use of existing state funding of politics:

Radical proposals by sleaze watchdogs late last year have been rejected as politically unacceptable, since they would involve £100million more in taxpayers’ money going to political parties to compensate for a £10,000 donations cap.

Government sources told the Daily Mail that Mr Clegg will now press for a limit to be imposed even if there is no increase in state funding to sweeten the pill. He, David Cameron and Ed Miliband are understood to have agreed in principle to open discussions on such a move.

Reform has been given a new urgency in Tory circles by the reaction to the inclusion of four party donors in the New Year’s honours. Paul Ruddock and Doug Ellis both received knighthoods and James Wates and James Lupton were handed CBEs.
Between them, the four men gave gave almost £1million to the Tories, with Mr Ruddock giving more than £500,000 between 2003 and 2011.

Though they were honoured for their work for the arts and for charity, the controversy has prompted Labour allegations of cronyism and convinced some senior Conservatives that future sleaze allegations are inevitable without radical changes to party funding.

I wish him luck in securing agreement but I am not holding my breath that anything that comes out of these talks will be the sort of radical reappraisal that the system needs.

Strange alliances

2012-01-02T09:40:00.002Z

Today's Western Mail article in which former Heritage Minister, Rhodri Glyn Thomas argues that Plaid Cymru has gone backwards since 1999 and desperately needs to find a new way of talking to the voters is nothing new and is so self-evident that it is hardly worth talking about.

What makes the article worth noting is the comments from an anonymous Labour source at the end, who virtually urges Plaid Cymru members to vote for Leanne Wood in their forthcoming leadership contest. It is a rambling, almost stream of consciousness contribution that sounds like it was based on a phone conversation that took place during New Year celebrations, but it is interesting nevertheless.

The paper quotes a senior Welsh Labour source as saying that if Plaid Cymru are serious about wanting to become the biggest party, the part of Wales where they need to be winning seats from Labour is the Valleys. He continues: "Without question, they should elect Leanne Wood as their new leader. The fact that she is not a Welsh speaker would be an enormous advantage in dispelling the still widely held view that Plaid is essentially a party for Welsh speakers.

“Leanne is by no means perfect – she’s a bit too far left for a lot of people and certainly to the left of where the average Welsh voter is.

“She should cut back on her obsessions with the likes of Hugo Chavez, although, having said that, Ken Livingstone proved that voters will forgive you a certain amount of eccentricity if you convince them you are a competent and serious figure."
Somehow I don't think Leanne Wood will welcome that intervention.

Another interesting cross-party endorsement in today's Western Mail comes on the letters page, where the Plaid Cymru leader of Gwynedd Council writes in support of Carwyn Jones' 'isolationist' position on Europe.

Nobody should be surprised that a leading nationalist should be supporting a national leader pursuing his own foreign policy, though when the national leader in question is a self-avowed Labour unionist politician it can get a bit tricky.

N.B. Is it me or does the demand that 'Cheryl Gillan confirm what discussions David Cameron had with her in order to ascertain the views of Wales prior to his mastication on the European stage' sound a bit odd?

I know that they hold a lot of banquets and dinners at these European summits but surely the British Prime Minister can choose what he eats himself without having to consult with the Welsh nation first.

Placing the blame

2012-01-01T14:10:00.005Z

You would have thought that with Ed Miliband's leadership in crisis, the Labour Party would be looking to up their game in 2012. Instead, it appears that they are playing a blame game instead, accusing the BBC of failing to properly represent their views. Really?

I doubt that this is the experience of the average person who has a passing interest in politics. In fact, if I were to be pushed I would say that the opposite is true but then I accept that it is a fact of life that the media makes its own rules and that there is little that politicians can do about that unless the media really step out of line.

The Observer says that Labour chiefs have written to the corporation raising concerns that its party spokesmen are not receiving their fair share of airtime at a time when they are neck and neck with the Tories in opinion polls. As a result they have 'struggled to get their message across'.

This sort of attack on the BBC is standard fare and does tend to have an effect, albeit for a limited period of time. However, perhaps tha Labour Party need to look elsewhere for their failure to communicate rather than seeking to shoot the messenger.

After all it is difficult to deliver an effective opposition when both your key figures and what you are trying to say have no credibility.

Labour's alternative on tuition fees

2011-12-31T05:20:00.000Z

There was an interesting article in yesterday's Telegraph in which David Willetts, the Universities Minister, attacked Labour proposals for a shake-up of higher education finance, claiming that it will lead to a dramatic drop in grants and bursaries for the most deprived undergraduates.

Mr. Willetts' comments are a response to the announcement by Ed Miliband that he will cut student tuition fees by a third. From 2012, undergraduates in England can be charged up to £9,000. But earlier this year Mr Miliband said students would only be charged £6,000 under a Labour government. The move would be partially funded by forcing graduates earning at least £65,000 to pay more.

However, the Minister believes that the proposals are “deeply muddled” and risk leaving poor students worse off:

His letter said the support available to low-income undergraduates would be cut by £350m to cover the costs of a lower fees cap. It also places a question mark over a £160m national scholarship programme to provide £3,000 grants to individual students, it was claimed.

And he said that the changes would leave graduates no better off in the short term because monthly repayments would be the same as those charged under the Coalition reforms.

Mr Willetts added: “Your proposals assume there will be higher repayments from graduates on the highest salaries… But your particular model has enormous problems that you appear to have ignored.

“First, you claim that the extra payments will be made by the 10 per cent of graduates who earn over £65,000 in each and every year of their working life – a somewhat implausible sum given that graduate starting salaries are closer to £25,000 and that employers and employees could game the system in order to avoid the extra repayments.

“Secondly, universities will not see the benefits of any larger repayments until the system has matured many years after its introduction – in the meantime, you would either need to cut funding or increase the deficit.”

Under the Coalition reforms, universities planning to charge more than £6,000 a year had to submit access agreements to the Office for Fair Access, detailing how they intended to support students and ensure those from poorer homes were not deterred.

Most universities announced that they would charge fees at or close to the maximum of £9,000 - with the poorest students being offered bursaries or fee-waivers.

Earlier this month, Offa announced 24 universities were cutting average fee to £7,500 or less to take advantage of a scheme that allows them to bid for a share of 20,000 additional student places.

Labour's problem is that it has consistently framed this debate in terms of headline figures rather than the reality faced by most students, namely how much they will have to pay and when. Whatever one thinks of the UK Coalition tuition fees policy (and I believe that it is wrong as Labour's was before it), it treats poorer students better than under the previous regime and any changes need to take account of that.

Miliband's obsession with headline figures and his failure to look at the details has meant that his policy fails the basic test of affordability and leaves the Higher Education sector out on a limb.

Pistols at dawn

2011-12-30T08:53:00.003Z

The recent article by Welsh Secretary, Cheryl Gillan on Conservative Home may well be a declaration of war on Carwyn Jones and his Government but that does not make her points any less valid.

Her essential point, that Welsh Labour need to decide whether they are a unionist party or not is spot on. That is because Carwyn Jones' pursuit of his own foreign policy and the way that he is 'standing up for Wales', is doing more for the cause of separatism than for the 'Welsh National interest'.

This is not to say that I believe that the Welsh Government should agree with the UK Coalition all the time, that is clearly unrealistic. Nor would I advocate that the First Minister should refrain from speaking out when he believes that it is in the interests of Wales to do so. As a member of one of the coalition parties, I have frequently criticised policies at a UK level when I believe that they are compromising the interests of Wales, my constituents or both.

However, Carwyn Jones' choice of language and some of his actions in Government do smack more of a nationalist leader rather than one committed to keeping the UK together. There are also questions about his priorities when, as Mrs Gillan points out, his Government has only published two bills in its first seven months and, with the exception of the Education Minister, gives off the impression of treading water rather than tackling some of the major problems facing Wales.

That these points have struck home is reflected in the rather weak response of Welsh Labour to the Secretary of State's attack. It is all name-calling and bluster from the back foot when they would be better answering Mrs Gillan point-by-point and setting out what they are actually doing. They are attacking the messenger rather than the message.

The new year needs to see the Welsh Government raise its game if it is to properly answer these criticisms. If they really want to stand up for Wales then they need to deliver on the economy, education and health; standing on the sidelines calling the odds does not hack it.

Double standards for Welsh Government

2011-12-29T08:43:00.009Z

Welsh Ministers have been fairly consistent of late in berating local councils for allegedly failing to collaborate to save the public money. However, today's Western Mail points out their own record is far from perfect.

It seems that when the Welsh Government built their new £21 million offices in Aberystwyth, next door to those of Ceredigion Council, they declined to work with the local authority so as to save money. This was despite the fact that the two sets of offices were conceived as 'twins' with staff expected to share facilities such as the canteen and meeting facilities.

Instead the Welsh Government went it alone on the grounds of security and the desire to maintain a distinct identity. In fact their office block cost 40% more to build even though the two were meant to be identical. It is little wonder that charges of hypocrisy are bring directed at the Government.

Do not be surprised if, the next time Ministers try and lecture local Councils, they are told to put their own house in order first and told that they could actually learn a lot from the way local authorities like Ceredigion conduct their procurement exercises.

Poor Larry

2011-12-28T06:47:00.000Z

The Daily Mirror has never struck me as being written by a group of cat-lovers. Their concern yesterday for the day-to-day comforts of Larry, the Downing Street cat, is not therefore convincing. This is especially so as they appear to have resorted to the old journalistic method of delivering a story despite the facts.

They report that Larry is banned from the flat lavishly refurbished by David Cameron at No. 10 Downing Street:

The Prime Minister publicly welcomed the tabby to No 10 earlier this year but he is not allowed in the family’s living quarters, even though they are plagued by mice.

The ban came to light after details were released of their £64,000 refit, which

Labour MP Kerry McCarthy said: “Poor Larry is being treated like some servant from Downton Abbey. It is shocking that after all the publicity he is not even allowed to set paw inside the Prime Minister's flat."

The explanation for this ban though turns out to be more prosaic. Larry is not allowed in the flat for practical reasons as it is locked during the day. If he was in it, he wouldn’t be able to get into the rest of the building where he has the run of the place. He wouldn’t be able to get at the rats.

And we wouldn't want to deny Larry the chance to mingle with journalists outside No. 10 would we?

The strange economics of wind farms

2011-12-27T08:37:00.002Z

Today's Telegraph reveals a previously unheralded subsidy for wind farms that not many people knew about. Opponents of turbines often complain that their output is unpredictable and that they cannot be relied on to generate electricity when it is most needed.

However, it transpires that the opposite is also true. The paper says that 17 operators were paid nearly £7 million for shutting down their farms on almost 40 occasions between January and mid-September. They add that continuing to make payments at that rate would lead to householders shelling out £9.9 million in 2011 for operators to disconnect their turbines from the National Grid.

The explanation is that payments are made when too much electricity floods the grid, with the network unable to absorb any excess power generated. The money is ultimately added on to household bills and paid for by consumers.

The fact that some renewable energy companies were paid more to switch off their turbines than they would have received from ordinary operations is bound to feed the debate on how we are tackling climate change, especially in the light of cuts in feed in tariffs for community based generation.

Plaid Cymru examines its own navel

2011-12-26T14:37:00.002Z

For a party struggling to find relevance and a wider electoral base, today's media coverage cannot really have helped Plaid Cymru, no matter what they themselves may think. And that is part of their problem.

The nationalist party are either indulging in unpopular irrelevancies such as Welsh Independence, adopting causes promoted by narrow interest groups such as a badger cull, despite the fact that the vast majority of the population, even in the countryside, is opposed to it, or just examining their own navel by calling for more Plaid Cymru peers to be created at a time when the democratisation of the second chamber is top of the reform agenda.

It is the promotion of a badger cull that I find most puzzling. Even when Plaid Cymru had Ministers and were seeking to introduce this measure, it was obvious that it was not going to work and was not popular. That it is not in place already has more to do with the incompetence of the then Plaid Cymru Rural Affairs Minister than any other factor. She bungled it and the courts killed it off.

Things have moved on since then, but still Plaid Cymru cling to the idea of a cull and in so doing, continue to alienate voters. There is a successful vaccination field trial in Gloucestshire and even the NFU have joined with the Badger Trust to promote this alternative. The science has always been against a cull, but still Plaid Cymru persist. Are they really that incapable of adapting?

Fox hunting ban may prevail

2011-12-26T10:13:00.002Z

As supporters of hunting gather for their little ride in the country today, the Telegraph signals that they may well be denied that final bloody kill for some time to come.

They say that the Prime Minister has effectively given up hope of lifting Labour’s ban on foxhunting. Senior figures have told the paper that the promised Commons vote on repealing the ban will not be held next year and is unlikely in 2013 either:

And even when a vote is eventually held, senior Conservatives are resigned to the Commons opting to maintain the ban.

Ministers privately accept that there is not a Commons majority in favour of repeal, since almost all Labour MPs, most Liberal Democrats and some Tories want the ban to remain.

The Prime Minister is also said to be unwilling to focus attention on the hunting issue at a time when most voters are more concerned with economic issues.

They also refer to a poll, which suggests that nearly half of people believe a vote to repeal the Hunting Act should not be a top animal welfare priority for the coalition Government.

What is most interesting about the arithmetic here is that not all Conservative MPs support a repeal of the ban. Although the more traditional Tories want to see it go a group of them who were first elected last year is fighting to keep it. The “Blue Foxes” group includes several women first elected last year as part of Mr Cameron's drive to update his party's image.

Has the modernisation of the Conservative Party ensured that the ban will remain in place indefinitely? We will see.

Merry Christmas - Nadolig Llawen

2011-12-25T06:17:00.000Z

Those difficult Freedom of Information requests

2011-12-24T09:39:00.003Z

Although I have some sympathy for Tory MP, Simon Hart's crusade to tighten up the use of the Freedom of Information Act so as to eradicate frivolous requests we have to remember that for the most part the categorisation of submissions in this way is largely subjective.

We have to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water by introducing a restriction that will enable authorities to hide behind red tape even more than present so as to avoid releasing important information.

Having said that, it is difficult to argue with the eccentricity of the top ten most unusual FOI requests put forward to support his argument:

1. How does the council plan to help the brave soldiers of our infantry if and when Napoleon and his marauding hordes invade the district of West Devon?
2. What preparations has the council made for an emergency landing of Santa's sleigh this Christmas? Who would be responsible for rounding up the reindeer and who would have to tidy up the crash site?
3. How many drawing pins are in the building and what percentage are currently stuck in a pin board?
4. What preparations has the council made for a zombie attack?
5. What plans are in place to deal with an alien invasion?
6. How does the council manage to cope with the vagaries of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle? How does it function given the inherent unpredictability?
7. How many holes in privacy walls between toilet cubicles have been found in public lavatories and within council buildings?
8. How much money has been paid to exorcists over the past 12 months?
9. Provide details of uniforms worn by Civil Enforcement Officers including descriptions of embroidered logos and markings, as well as any difference between summer/winter wear?
10. What is the total number of cheques issued by the council in the past year and how many did it receive?

Government comes down hard on credit card charges

2011-12-23T08:21:00.002Z

This morning's Telegraph reports that airlines, travel companies and retailers are to be banned from charging fees when people pay by credit or debit cards.

This is because the Government has lost patience with companies who charge customers as much as £12 to use their cards when they pay, even though the transactions cost as little as 20p to process. They add that in some cases, the surcharges are higher than the value of the item being purchased. Legislation is to be introduced at the end of next year:

Over the past few years, card surcharges have risen sharply particularly among low-cost airlines, who were among the first to bring in the levies.

The cost of booking a Ryanair return flight with a debit card has risen 15-fold to £12 since 2004.

The charges have now spread to many other areas including cinema tickets, utility bills, holidays and even some government departments. The DVLA and HM Revenue and Customs charge extra for credit card payments.

Consumer experts say Toyota levied a £75 fee to buy a car with a credit card. The fees are believed to cost consumers hundreds of millions of pounds a year.

In many cases, the charge is only disclosed during the closing stages of the booking process, making it difficult for consumers to compare prices.

Ministers intervened after Which?, the consumer watchdog, complained about the fees to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the regulator.

In June, the OFT found that the fees were detrimental to consumers and proposed that firms should be more open about the levies.

This is an issue I have taken up in the past. I am pleased that the Government has listened to Which? and the OFT and is taking action.

Ed Balls plays fantasy politics again

2011-12-22T12:02:00.002Z

In many ways the plea by Ed Balls for the Liberal Democrats to abandon the coalition with the Conservatives and form one with Labour instead, is a bit of a fantasy on his part. It is little wonder that the Independent reports that senior Liberal Democrats have regarded it as not a serious suggestion.

Simon Hughes, who is the party's deputy leader, is quoted as saying: "Ed Balls is free to say what he likes, but the Labour Party is not a credible party of government and has no credible plan for our country."

Tom Brake, adds: "It is the season of goodwill, but I fear Ed Balls may have been at the mulled wine when he said this. This Coalition exists to clean up the mess Labour left behind. Not only are Ed Balls and Ed Miliband in denial about the economy, over 13 years they trampled on our civil liberties, launched an illegal war in Iraq, pandered to big business and the City, and left a huge gap between the richest and the poorest. So, thanks but no thanks."

Whilst Lorely Burt, who chairs the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party, said: "I can't think of a single reason why Liberal Democrats would want to jump ship into a Labour boat which has no captain and no credible plans to get us out of the economic difficulties that we have."

None of this of course means that any of us have an affinity to working with the Tories. Most of the time we are metaphorically holding our nose so as to get Liberal Democrat policies introduced.

The fact is that the sums do not add up. A coalition between Labour and the Liberal Democrats would not have a majority and as such would not be stable. That in turn would destabilise the markets and hit the already fragile economy badly. You would have thought that an economist like Ed Balls would know that.

Nevertheless, the statement is an important one from Ed Balls, who by all accounts was more focussed on the future Labour leadership contest than on forming a stable coalition with the Lib Dems during talks in May 2010. It also leaves open options for both parties if another hung parliament follows the May 2015 General Election.

Homelessness: the devastating consequence of recession

2011-12-22T08:26:00.003Z

I was intrigued to read in today's South Wales Evening Post that Plaid Cymru are blaming changes to the housing benefits system for the continuing rise in homelessness. This is because those changes are still being debated in the House of Lords, where amendments to some of the worse aspects of the reforms have just been passed, and have not yet come into effect.

In fact homelessness has been rising for some time and certainly started its upwards trajectory before the last General Election. The main factor behind this rise is the economic situation in Britain and the wider world.

A staggering 1,845 households in Wales are currently categorised as homeless. Not only is this up 15% when compared to the same time in 2010, but it is an increase of 25% when compared to 2009.

The political games being played by Plaid politicians on this issue do not help any of the families who have lost their home. Instead we need to concentrate putting appropriate support services into place throughout Wales and increasing the supply of affordable housing.

Is this Ed Miliband having a bad day?

2011-12-21T05:36:00.001Z

I am interviewing candidates for a job all day today so no time to blog. Instead I offer this image taken as a screen shot from Google Street View. Is it really, as Mark Pack surmises,the Leader of her Majesty's Opposition in the top window, head in hand, possibly having a bad day?

Lords reform is constitutional priority

2011-12-20T10:15:00.002Z

Nick Clegg's speech yesterday appears to have achieved its objective of setting out the Liberal Democrat agenda in government for 2012. In particular the commitment to using the Parliament Acts to force through Lords reform is welcome and will hopefully ensure that those turkeys in the upper house realise that they have no choice, Christmas is coming whether they like it or not.

Today's Independent sets out some of the key points in the speech:

Unelected peers were one of a string of unaccountable vested interests in the banks, business, politics and the media at which the DPM took aim, in a clear attempt to establish a distinct identity for his Liberal Democrats at a testing time for the coalition.

He warned the City of London, on the eve of bonus season, that the Government was ready to block any "irresponsible" payments in partly state-owned banks RBS and Lloyds.

And he said he will unveil reforms in the New Year designed to "rewire the power relations in our economy" and build "responsible capitalism" by giving shareholders more power in the boardroom and workers a greater stake in their companies.

Hailing the liberal idea of the "open society", he promised to "promote fairness, liberalism and openness" against "the forces of reaction and retreat" that threaten to take hold of the country at a time of economic uncertainty.

It is a good start, whether it amounts to a narrative or not only time will tell.

Clegg plays the high profile game

2011-12-19T08:57:00.008Z

Putting aside his blip over the Eurozone veto, Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg has had a good week in terms of profile and differentiating himself in policy terms from David Cameron.

Putting aside the spat over tax relief for married couples, which frankly is an obsession on the part of my party I have difficulty relating to, the most significant Liberal Democrat victory within government is clearly the acceptance of the Vickers report on breaking up the big banks and the promise that it will be implemented in full.

This act is the clearest sign yet that the Government has learnt the lessons of Labour's disastrous deregulation of the banks and their determination to avoid the sort of crashes that directly fed the economic downturn.

The plan is to initiate a wide-ranging overhaul of the structure of Britain's major banks, forcing them to split their high street and investment operations. The banks will have to put their operations into a legally distinct separate arm. We are told that exactly what goes into each entity will form the basis of detailed negotiations between ministers, the banks and regulators.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer will also tell the banks that they will have to hold more capital to act as a buffer against future financial emergencies. The intention is that the complex legislation underpinning the changes would be passed by 2014-15 and the full separation completed by 2019.

It is a significant decision and together with the £2.5 billion a year tax on bank profits shows that this Government are not going to let the banks shirk their responsibility for the 2008 crash.

Carwyn's foreign policy

2011-12-18T10:00:00.001Z

Just a thought: As the Welsh First Minister is now running his own foreign policy with regards to Europe, would he like to step in and intervene in the case of Pembrokeshire-raised Bradley Manning as well?

Farepak scandal highlights a system in need of reform

2011-12-18T09:45:00.002Z

Like many other elected representatives, I have consituents who lost money as a result of the collapse of Christmas savings firm, Farepak five years ago. Attempts to salvage something from this mess and get compensation for the victims of this crash have now clearly run aground and in my view, Government intervention is the only alternative.

What irks more than anything is the way that the whole compensation process has become mired in professional fees, so much so that according to this article in the Wales on Sunday, the professional advisors stand to make more than the victims.

The paper says that accountants handling the winding up of Farepak have been paid £8m, but only raised £5.5m to return to victims. I find that quite extraordinary. The victims stand to get only 15p back for every pound they lost.

Farepak victims are owed around £38m. Maybe it is about time the Government intervened in the same way as they did for the victims of Equitable Life.

Calming down the French

2011-12-17T08:56:00.002Z

Just as I have argued that the British veto on a new European Treaty has not isolated us within Europe, so it seems it must it be pointed out that those on the other side of the argument need to calm down and start acting like adults.

Nick Clegg has felt it necessary this week to chastise the French Prime Minister for his rhetoric and that of his government, in baiting the credit rating agencies to take their revenge on the UK.

French prime minister Francois Fillon the head of the French central bank had suggested Britain was a candidate for a downgrade amid fears in Paris that France might lose its coveted AAA rating. His finance minister Francois Baron further inflamed the situation by calling the UK's situation "very worrying" and suggesting France was better off.

The credit rating agencies do not seem convinced. They are still focussing on the Euro currency countries because they do not believe that there are credible governance arrangements in place. No matter how stable France is, it is part of a Euro zone that remains teetering on the edge of a precipice.

In such a situation, it is hardly in France's interests to further inflame a difficult situation by inviting sanctions upon a country that could still be a useful ally in putting this right, even if Britain does not want to sign up to what we consider to be an unacceptable solution.

This is not diplomacy, it is desperate name-calling by politicians who fear for their own survival in forthcoming elections.

Meanwhile, those naysayers who predicted that the Cameron veto was the beginning of the end for Britain's European adventure must think again. The fact that British officials will take part in "technical discussions" on new eurozone arrangements as well as second thoughts on the part of some of the non-Eurozone countries as to what they are signing up to, indicates that Britain is still very much a player.

Europe needs us just as much as we need Europe and it does nobody any good to continue to overreact to last week's veto in the way that many on both sides of the fence are doing.

Swansea - Wales' Premier City

2011-12-16T08:31:00.001Z

As I am away in London all day I thought this might keep you all amused.

Those moaning MPs - again!

2011-12-15T08:21:00.002Z

The BBC report that MPs are gathering in the usual place today to talk about their favourite subject, their own expenses. If it were not so serious, it would be boring.

The suggestion is that MPs are seeking a return to the old system that caused them so much grief two years ago. The Members Expenses Committee, set up to oversee IPSA, the independent agency that administers members' expense claims, has suggested that a Commons body should be in charge of handing out expenses instead "because such a body would avoid imposing undue burdens on MPs and because it would benefit from the economies of scale" on issues like staffing and IT.

In other words they want to go back to the old Fees Office system that was so widely abused and discredited. An independent auditor recommended that more than £1m of claims it had approved over five years be repaid.

The BBC say that another potentially controversial proposal from the committee is that MPs should be allowed to decide whether to replace the current scheme, which requires receipts for all claims and sees details published on a bi-monthly basis, with flat-rate allowances for travel and accommodation:

MPs say that current rules requiring them to input individual claims into an online system, then send in receipts and supporting evidence separately, within 90 days, are a bureaucratic nightmare tying up their staff's time, causing them stress and putting them off applying for legitimate costs in the first place.

A survey by the Unite union of Parliamentary staff suggested 59% spent three hours or more a week processing expenses claims.

The bi-monthly publication of all claims also means they are spending their time "rebutting criticisms" about individual claims "taken out of context" and suffering damage to their reputations.

Good grief! When will these MPs stop moaning and get on with the job they were elected to do. Even with the reforms they have one of the most generous expenses and allowances system in the United Kingdom. Why should they be exempt from the sort of accountability that other employees have to suffer in order to access it?

These debates do nothing to enhance the reputation of politics and everything to undermine confidence in the democratic system.

Regional pay

2011-12-14T09:08:00.002Z

Having been a civil servant for 16 years before becoming an Assembly Member, I am very familiar with the concept of regional pay and have been opposed to it for as long.

If it were to be introduced then it would entrench Wales as a low-pay economy, both in the public and private sectors. More to the point it would mean men and women doing the same job at different ends of the country for different rates of pay. I think the concept of being paid the rate for the job is an important principle in the public sector.

But let us not fool ourselves that this is some ideological right wing plot. It is a bureaucrats' solution to a public funding problem that is occasionally picked up by politicians of all hues and then (hopefully) dropped when the consequences of introducing it and opposition to it is fully understood. That is why I believe the current 'consultation' is wrong-headed. It opens a door that should be kept firmly shut.

We should also take the outrage of the opposition parties to the concept of regional pay with a pinch of salt. After all, as the Welsh Tory Assembly Leader points out in today's Western Mail letters column, they have form on this issue.

It was a Labour Government that introduced regional pay for the courts service in 2008, when the then Secretary of State for Wales, Paul Murphy, described regional pay as a "reality in the economy as a whole", and that "pay should reflect local labour market conditions". Equally, Plaid Cymru's manifesto commitment to devolve control over teachers' pay and conditions to Wales is also a step towards the regionalisation of pay. They cannot have it both ways.

My view is that we should stop the political games and unite to kill off this idea again before it gets any further traction. Will the Welsh Conservatives join us in that endeavour?

Welsh Government off track again

2011-12-13T09:51:00.002Z

The more I think about it, the more bizarre Carwyn Jones' intervention in the Eurozone crisis seems. In this morning's Western Mail considerable space is devoted to the view of the First Minister that David Cameron’s decision to exclude Britain from a new European treaty has damaged the interests of Wales by ignoring the potential impact of his stance on manufacturing industry. What is less clear is where Carwyn's evidence for this assertion is.

Putting aside the fact that Ed Miliband has also said that he would not have signed the treaty, a fact that leaves Carwyn Jones at odds with his own leader, it is the case that Britain remains inside the single market, with all the benefits that brings to Wales.

There is no threat to convergence funding, nor does it seem that Welsh Ministers will be prevented from engaging with European officials on matters affecting Wales. In fact the WLGA spokeperson on Europe is in Brussels as I write doing precisely that.

Britain has been in the outside lane of a two speed Europe ever since Gordon Brown (quite rightly as it turns out) blocked Britain from joining the Euro. If David Cameron had signed up to the new treaty last week then he would have given Europe the right to dictate to Britain on our budget, impose restrictions on a key part of the British economy and insist on even stricter austerity measures here than even George Osborne envisages.

It seems strange that a First Minister who argues that the UK Government is cutting too hard and too fast, now wants Britain to sign up to a deal that would lead to even greater cuts in the Welsh Government's budget.

In search of good grammar

2011-12-12T08:35:00.004Z

Just when you thought that Government Ministers had far too much to do, news breaks of a new initiative by Transport Secretary, Justine Greening that has led to a 1,500-word report detailing all her pet grammatical hates in remarkable detail.

Given the way that English standards have slipped in recent times (including on this blog, before anybody points that out), one cannot really blame Ministers for ensuring that reports and letters that go out in their name are grammatically correct. After all, the Government should be setting an example. However, did we really need a 1,500 word treatise?

After all the nine-point guide states that for correspondence with MPs, “the Secretary of State would like to keep letters to under a page where possible”. If that is so then why not keep the guide to a page?

Still, for my education, if nobody else's, here are some key pointers to good English from the Transport Secretary and others:

The report, leaked to the Mail on Sunday, is said to provide painstaking detail on gramatical advice to officials.

It stated: “Do not put in too many adverbs.

“For example avoid phrases like ‘strongly opposed’ and just say ‘opposed’. Do not use abbreviated forms such as ‘don't’ or ‘couldn't’.

“Avoid passive construction at the start of sentences eg ‘it is essential to note that’. ‘However’ should only be used at the start of a sentence and do not use the word ‘firstly’.”

Meanwhile, the letter-writing section for Theresa Villiers, Miss Greening's deputy, is two pages long – four times as long as her boss.

Civil servants who work with the 43 year-old, received an extensive correspondence course, including an order to write “while” rather than “whilst” and “in legal terms” rather than “legally”.

Miss Villiers also banned the word “onto” as opposed to “on to” while she also expresses a distaste for the phrase “with regards to”.

It added: “The Minister would like letters to have a courteous and helpful tone, while remaining assertive when delivering difficult messages.”

The guidance for Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat junior Minister in the department, is brief, running to just four paragraphs.

The former English teacher's staff should "avoid the use of contractions in formal writing. Example: 'that's' should read 'that is'".

One last thought: I was bemused to see that in the sub-editors secondary headline on this piece he or she spelt 'correspondence' as 'correspondance'. Perhaps the Telegraph need their own grammar guide.

The Lib Dems and Europe - a crisis or a massive overreaction?

2011-12-11T08:01:00.002Z

Having taken some time to reflect on David Cameron's European veto my instincts are that Nick Clegg's initial public reaction that the Prime Minister had no choice was the correct one, and that what we are being told now about the Deputy Prime Minister privately raging at the PM's 'spectacular failure' is a differentiation too far.

Cameron's problem of course, as Eurfyl ap Gwilym points out in the Western Mail, is that in the UK in 2010 bank assets as a percentage of GDP are 550%. This compares to the United States where the percentage is 100% of GDP: "Between 1999 and 2007, the year before the banking implosion, the proportion of wealth generated in London by financial services grew from 11% to 18%."

That needs to change and it is already the stated intention of the UK to grow the manufacturing and construction sectors. However, the veto exercised by Cameron was a recognition of the economic reality not a defence of the status quo.

Surely, even the most ardent Europhile must recognise that it is not in Britain's best interests to sign up to a treaty that would undermine local budgeting decisions and which would prevent us from taking our own decisions on the way we manage our economy. If we had wanted that we would have joined the Euro.

This was not about defending the banks and the financial sector, it was about leaving us the room for manoeuvre to manage the rebalancing of the British economy in our own way and in our own time.

I think those who are raging against this veto need to take a reality check. We may not be part of the new European fiscal club but we are still in Europe and part of the single market. We continue to enjoy all the benefits of that, including substantial funding for regeneration and access to markets for British goods.

The fact is that when we took the decision not to join the Euro, for better or worse, we signed up to a two speed Europe in which we formed part of a 10 member outer ring. That nine of those members have, for the time being, joined into this new treaty does not alter that reality either. I suspect in any case, that they will go so far with German and French plans and no further, and then start to drift back to somewhere near the British position.

Very few people in Britain are advocating that we now join the Euro, and indeed, most of us have watched with morbid fascination as the single currency unravels before our eyes, simply because key decisions on fiscal management were not taken or adhered to at the very beginning.

I suggest that despite my earlier position on the Euro, we are fortunate not to be part of this project and that we would need to think very carefully before signing up to it in the future.

I still think that we can benefit from a single currency, but Greece and Italy are salutary lessons about what happens if we get the terms of entry and the operational details wrong. The present state of the UK economy does not lend itself to membership. Until it has been rebalanced then the single currency has to be off the British agenda.

When Cameron exercised his veto he had to take all that into account and, despite all the criticism from Labour and many Liberal Democrats, I am still waiting for somebody to actually put forward an alternative way that he might have handled this situation.

More fantasy politics from Plaid Cymru

2011-12-10T08:49:00.002Z

Is this really the quality of debate we should expect from Plaid Cymru, now that their leadership contest is starting to splutter intio debate?

I know that Jonathan Edwards is not a candidate but his demand in today's Western Mail that the Welsh Government should be preparing for Scottish independence and putting forward a coherent vision for the nation’s constitutional future is certainly setting the tone for that contest.

It seems that the most successful candidate will be the one who can out-do the others in calling for separation from the rest of the UK, wrapping their ideology up in the fantasy of a positive Scottish referendum result which forces the break-up of the United Kingdom.

Now, I don't know what is going to happen in that referendum and nor does Jonathan Edwards, but I do know that the most urgent issues facing the Welshh Government today are the economy, an under-performing education system and the health service. Why would any sane minister take his or her eye off those problems to worry about esoteric constitutional issues that have not even presented themselves yet?

If this is the best Plaid Cymru can do then it is little wonder that they are drifting into political irrelevance.

Torchwood shrine revisited

2011-12-09T05:50:00.005Z

Back in August 2009 I blogged about the shrine that had grown up in Cardiff Bay in tribute to a character from the Dr. Who spin-off, Torchwood called Ianto. There were many fans who wanted the character brought back but it was not to be.

Yesterday, I was walking through the area and noticed that not only was the shrine still there but it has grown exponentially and has now become a Torchwood and Dr. Who montage.

It seems to be quite an attraction and I was even approached by a woman claiming to be doing a PhD on it.

A revolution in local government

2011-12-08T09:00:00.003Z

Nick Clegg's speech today on giving new powers to towns and cities is a very important landmark for this coalition and underlines Liberal Democrat influence in introducing a decentralising empowering approach to government.

According to the Telegraph, Clegg will tell Councils that they will be able to go into debt to fund new schemes by being allowed to borrow against future tax revenues:

The plans are expected to be published in a new Local Government Finance Bill in the next two weeks, with the powers in place by April 2013.

They will allow councils to borrow for the first time against future tax receipts from business rates through a new Tax Increment Financing scheme.

Eight “core” cities will also be helped through new “city deals” in which they will get greater control over the money they receive from central Government.

They will be allocated a single pot of cash to spend locally and end a current situation in which they go on “bended knee” for money from Whitehall for individual schemes such a new retail park or roundabout.

The “core” cities are Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield, which collectively account for 58 per cent of England’s population and 61 per cent of its jobs.

The details appear to be quite revolutionary:

Mr Clegg will say he wants to unleash “an unprecedented transfer of power, to unleash city power, to boost entire regions, to get our national economy growing”.

He will say: “There will be no more going on bended knee to Whitehall department after Whitehall department to bid for different capital pots for individual schemes.

“Instead cities will get one consolidated capital pot to direct as they see fit. Whether that is on a new roundabout or a new retail park – whatever their area needs to boost economic activity.”

Councils will only “have to show that a specific scheme is feasible, achieves value for money, is transparent and accountable and contributes to growth” to qualify.

Isn't it time that the Welsh Government followed suit?

Television Nirvana

2011-12-07T08:15:00.002Z

Bruce Springstein fanously sang "We switched 'round and 'round 'til half-past dawn/There was fifty-seven channels and nothin' on", but even he could not have envisaged the sheer inanity of the annual party political budget broadcasts here in the UK.

Now the Telegraph tells us that we are to be spared the future torture of searching for the remote control so as to switch over before our brains freeze up.

They say that the BBC Trust are proposing to end the system of UK-wide broadcasts by the Chancellor and opposition parties on the annual financial statement to MPs, which it believes to be “outdated”.

Instead, parties will be given three broadcasts each every year, in the spring, autumn and winter, in addition to separate election broadcasts in the run-up to voting days:

“The broadcasts originated when there was neither TV nor radio available from the chamber of the House of Commons and the Budget broadcast was the only way in which the Chancellor could be seen and heard communicating directly to the public the content of the budget,” it said.

“Now the audience has the opportunity to watch and listen to the Chancellor live in the House of Commons, or to catch up on iPlayer, or to see and hear the key points across many different outlets.”

And so say all of us!

The value of volunteer pensioners

2011-12-06T13:37:00.004Z

It is a commonly acknowledged fact that without the work carried out by carers and other volunteers, the British welfare state would grind to a halt. If we were to pay the going rate for what they do then the money would very quickly run out.

This is acknowledged in a report published today by pensions company MGM Advantage, which found that Britain’s 12 million pensioners contribute £2,000 each to the economy every year though unpaid childcare, voluntary and charity work. That is just the tip of the iceberg of course but considering it adds up to a £25billion contribution a year to the economy it is not surprising that a third of them feel unappreciated.

Today's Telegraph quotes the report's finding that a survey of over 2,000 people aged 65 and over found that a third of pensioners think that wider society treats them badly. Meanwhile almost all retired people said that they dislike the label ‘old age pensioners’ or OAPs, with a third preferring the term ‘senior citizen’:

The report said that with the number of retired people set to get even bigger over the medium term, “more should be done to challenge the pre-conceived notion of retirement”. This year 658,000 people reached 65, an increase of 12,000 on 2010, taking the total number of retired people to 11.8 million. Next year, 806,000 people will reach 65, further swelling the number of retired people. This trend will continue as the baby boomer generation grows older.

The Retirement Nation report found that retired people collectively save the Government and parents £15.4 billion a year by taking on unpaid care of grandchildren. In addition to this, retired people undertake voluntary work in their local communities worth £5.6 billion a year, and do charitable work worth £3.4 billion a year.

Almost a third of retired people said that they feel undervalued and not respected by society. Just 14 per cent said that they feel valued, while the balance – 55 per cent – said that they are sometimes treated badly.

These are very valid findings and need to be addressed.

The dangers of incumbency

2011-12-05T06:05:00.003Z

It seems that it is not just Britain where the burden of incumbency takes it toll on the governing party, though I suspect that the sins of Putin's United Russia party far outweigh anything that may have gone on here or any other western democracy for that matter.

The Independent reports that exit polls cited by Russian state television are showing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's party tallying less than 50% of the vote in Russia's parliamentary election:

The results represent a significant drop in support for United Russia compared to the previous election four years ago when it won over 64% of the vote nationwide.

The early returns from today's vote signal it may lose its current two-third majority that allowed it to change the constitution unchallenged.

The drop reflects a sense of disenchantment with Mr Putin's authoritarian course, rampant corruption and the gap between ordinary Russians and the super-rich.

However, any hope that Russian democracy is coming of age must be tempered by this blog. Political developments says that United Russia has no intention of leaving the result to chance:

But how best to fix an election without attracting the attention of international election monitors? Here are United Russia’s top five failsafe methods of getting their vote out:

Bribery: Students in Chelyabinsk were offered concert tickets if they photographed their ballot papers to prove they had voted for United Russia.

Intimidation: Students who resisted bribery were threatened with ‘consequences’.

Threats: An entrepreneur employing 40 people was threatened with a visit from tax inspectors if he refused to help in the elections. Since this would mean either paying a bribe or stopping work, he complied.

Inducements: A paediatrician at a Moscow clinic was asked to vote for United Russia to secure funding for her clinic.

Group Pressure: A civil servant working at Moscow City Hall was told to bring a list of at least 10 friends or acquaintances who had promised to vote for United Russia.

According to the Moscow Times, an election official said, “Everyone is under such stress. I really hope that these elections finish as soon as possible and the way they [the authorities] want.” If all else fails, there’s always good old-fashioned fraud. The official added, “We have been trained how to do it. Foreign observers, who do not speak Russian or understand cyrillic very well, will not notice anything.”

The opinion polls suggest that the Russian people are starting to get wise to this. Whether that will be enough this time is uncertain, but it is a start.

Long knives at Labour HQ?

2011-12-05T05:19:00.001Z

The Mail on Sunday's Black Dog column speculates that top-level sackings at Labour's Party HQ might be a purge of Blairites by Red Ed Miliband:

A secret memo on how to deal with tricky questions on the shake-up gives the game away: ‘Is this a witch-hunt against all Tony Blair supporters?

Everyone who is willing to be loyal to Ed Miliband is welcome.’ We get the picture, Iain.

Nothing ever changes!

Lost in translation

2011-12-04T11:01:00.003Z

I have written a blog post over on Freedom Central this morning about the failure of the UK Department of Education to provide a bilingual version of a letter they sent out to teachers in Wales. That is a serious omission on their part that needs to be corrected.

Elsewhere in the Wales on Sunday though there is a story about what happens when attempts at bilingualism go wrong. Their article is based on a book called Sgymraeg, edited by Meleri Wyn James, and published by Y Lolfa.

There are many reasons of course why biingual signposting goes wrong. There is sheer laziness and incompetence on the part of those responsible for the sign, such as the famous example in Swansea where a roadside sign read in English: “No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only”, but translated into Welsh, and erected for all to see, announced: “I’m not in the office at the moment. Send any translation work.”

Often an official translator will do a perfectly good job only to see mistakes made in the signwriting process, which they do not have the opportunity to proof-read. Commonly, an official will rely on machine translation without getting it checked and sometimes of course, the translator will interpret the wording incorrectly and provide a more literal version in Welsh that means something completely different from the English.

Translation is an art form not a science, but that does not stop us despairing at some of the worst examples. These include the badly translated shop sign advertising wines and spirits, which reads “wines and ghosts” in Welsh, and the baffling bilingual road sign that warns Welsh- speaking motorists to beware of “exploding workers” instead of 'blasting in progress'.

There is also the sign between Cardiff and Penarth telling cyclists to dismount but which in Welsh apparently tells cyclists they have problems with an “inflamed bladder” and a potentially lethal sign for pedestrians in Cardiff reading “Look Right” in English and “Look Left” in Welsh.

When pragmatism trumps ideology

2011-12-03T11:18:00.002Z

Whilst the Conservative backbenchers are all about grabbing powers back from Brussels, the Prime Minister does not have the luxury of being able to indulge himself in such self-gratification. That is because the UK economy is intimately tied to the Eurozone and if the single currency goes under then we will be plunged back into recession.

Thus, today's Independent reports that David Cameron will after all, put the urgent need to secure a rescue deal for the euro ahead of his own instincts and the demands of his MPs.

In many ways this is a reflection of his own weakness in Europe. Britain has declined to join the Euro-club and Cameron is perceived to be hostile to it, so why should other leaders suffer lectures from the British Prime Minister? Cameron knows that submitting a long shopping list to the talks would get short shrift from the other 26 EU members.

What is in doubt is how far Cameron will go to help the Euro survive. He is already viewed with suspicion for promoting austerity at home but precisely the opposite abroad. Now we have Jacques Delors, who was one of the architects of the single currency, arguing that the project was doomed from the start because those countries who set it up tried to have their cake and eat it.

Delors argues that the euro came into existence without strong central powers to stop members running up unsustainable debts, an omission that led to the current crisis. In other words, if you want to fix it then the member countries need to move closer to fiscal union and give up much of their economic independence.

At the momennt it looks like France, Germany and the other countries would not be prepared to countenance these sorts of changes. Will Cameron welcome such a development when the British economy is so dependent on the financial sector rather than real manufacturing jobs. A new European Central bank leading to a more secure and powerful Euro could see a lot of that business go to the continent.

These are not happy times for a Euro sceptic Prime Minister, looking over his shoulder at a rapidly growing group of disaffected Tory MPs.

Labour and the coalition

2011-12-02T09:05:00.001Z

Hattip: Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats

Heritage and heraldry

2011-12-02T08:24:00.002Z

We have not yet come to terms with how best to commemorate the work of Assembly Presiding Officers (if at all) - a framed photograph in the Pierhead perhaps? However, this does not appear to be a problem in Westminster, where it seems that it is acceptable to spend substantial sums of public money on a full scale portrait and a coat of arms.

Today's Telegraph highlights the fact that the total cost of this extravagance has risen to £44,000 after some unaccounted for bills were unearthed.

The portrait, by the British artist Brendan Kelly, cost £22,000 and will hang with the coat of arms in the Speaker’s residence in the Palace of Westminster, alongside those of previous holders of the office.

The coat of arms itself is an astonishing piece of work, containing a ladder to highlight how far the taxi driver’s son has risen in life. There are also pink triangles to signify Mr. Bercow's support for gay rights and some roundels or golden balls supposedly to signify his love of tennis, though I guess that bit is open to interpretation.

It is hardly a traditional approach to heraldry but then it is hardly cut price either.

Time travel and the large Hadron Collider

2011-12-01T11:22:00.003Z

I suppose it was inevitable that the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland would start to attract the more eccentric members of society, however I cannot say that I expected time travellers.

According to this piece a would-be saboteur has been arrested at the Large Hadron Collider. Eloi Cole, who is described as a strangely dressed young man, said that he had travelled back in time to prevent the LHC from destroying the world:

The LHC successfully collided particles at record force earlier this week, a milestone Mr Cole was attempting to disrupt by stopping supplies of Mountain Dew to the experiment's vending machines. He also claimed responsibility for the infamous baguette sabotage in November last year.

Mr Cole was seized by Swiss police after CERN security guards spotted him rooting around in bins. He explained that he was looking for fuel for his 'time machine power unit', a device that resembled a kitchen blender.

Police said Mr Cole, who was wearing a bow tie and rather too much tweed for his age, would not reveal his country of origin. "Countries do not exist where I am from. The discovery of the Higgs boson led to limitless power, the elimination of poverty and Kit-Kats for everyone. It is a communist chocolate hellhole and I'm here to stop it ever happening."

The report says that Mr Cole was taken to a secure mental health facility in Geneva but later disappeared from his cell. You could not make it up, or could you?

Winning the lottery

2011-11-30T16:40:00.002Z

I was a bit stunned but very pleased yesterday to discover that my name has been drawn to introduce private members' legislation in the Welsh Assembly.

My aim is to impose stricter controls over Park Home site owners. If I am given leave to proceed my Bill will aim to provide better protection to those who own property within Park Home (Mobile Home) sites and monitor and regulate site owners.

At present there is little protection for residents from unscrupulous Park Homes site owners, a minority of which may exploit their position for personal gain. Problems can include poor site management, and vetoing or deterring legitimate sales.

Meetings between potential buyers and site owners will be independently monitored and a system of arbitration will be established for for park home owners who feel that they have lost money as a result of undue interference.

The Bill will also develop a “fit and proper” persons test for park home site owners, acting as a licensing system, so that park home owners can be confident that their park home site is effectively managed.

Kissing and making up

2011-11-29T14:00:00.004Z

We are about to embark on one of the largest public strikes for some time because talks between the unions and government have supposedly broken down and the position is irretrievable, and yet according to today's Independent, that may not be the case at all.

The paper says that a meeting between Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office Minister, and Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, alongside other union leaders, could be scheduled for next week.

This is likely to lead to two weeks of "intensive negotiations" in an attempt to strike a broad deal on pension reform by Christmas. The paper adds that senior sources on both sides of the dispute say that, despite the increased public rhetoric surrounding the strike, a deal to head off future industrial action is "entirely achievable".

If that is the case then why are these strikes even taking place?

Plan B?

2011-11-28T07:01:00.002Z

In fact the Chancellor's statement on Tuesday does not constitute a fully fledged Plan B because the billions of pounds extra he plans to spend on infrastructure projects has largely come from savings. Nevertheless. a refocusing of expenditure can deliver a more beneficial multiplier effect, especially as much of this expenditure is designed to lever in huge sums of private money.

The Independent says that plans for a £30bn infrastructure programme will be a key element in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement. In addition the Government will underwrite loans of up to £40bn to small businesses and will increase the levy on the banks' balance sheets:

Among the first projects to get the go-ahead tomorrow will be a £600m programme of school building to create some extra 40,000 places, mainly for primary-age youngsters, over the next three years.

The cash will be targeted on major cities facing demographic pressures. Other plans will be announced to build roads, bridges, public transport and telecommunications links and power stations, as well as to roll out broadband across the country. Mr Osborne hopes the schemes will generate contracts for industry, safeguarding and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.

He will attempt to increase the amount of credit flowing in the economy by underwriting up to £40bn in loans to small and medium-sized companies. The move will enable the banks to borrow more cheaply, passing on the savings to firms in the form of lower interest rates.

From the Welsh perspective, we will be waiting to see how this re-ordering of Government spending translates into consequentials for the Assembly's budget. It is not a straightforward 5.9% as it depends on whether we have already had a consequential from previous spending plans or not.

Daily Mail publishes a correction?

2011-11-27T13:14:00.001Z

It would be nice to think this were real!

No going back to the 1980s

2011-11-27T10:11:00.002Z

And thank goodness for that! The main message from Nick Clegg's interview with today's Observer is that this is not a Conservative Government nor is it driven by ideology in the same way as Thatcher's early governments were:

The deputy prime minister is in overdrive, dismissing questions that challenge his views. "Hang on a minute," he says repeatedly, before ploughing on with his original arguments. He paints himself as the one key figure in the coalition who can understand the concerns of those struggling in today's sickly economy — and temper the sink-or-swim approach of the Tories.

"I'm acutely aware, probably more than anyone else sitting around the cabinet table, as the only senior cabinet member from a big northern city suffering some very, very difficult times, how important it is not to repeat the mistakes of the 1980s and to take remedial action now."

He points to a series of measures, including his £1bn Youth Contract to tackle rising unemployment among 16-24-year-olds that he announced on Friday, as evidence of the Lib Dems' distinctive approach and influence — and of his own personal political priorities.

"Whether it's on youth unemployment, whether it's on youngsters, whether it's on getting behind advanced manufacturing and not putting all our eggs into the City of London basket, I don't think that would have happened without the coalition."

Getting the economy back on track of course is not easy, and means that difficult decisions have to be made. Many of those decisions were avoided by Labour simply because they were too hard.

What is important is that the influennce of the Liberal Democrats continues so as to ensure that the needs of the less-well-off are paramount and that it is the wealthiest in our society who are hit the hardest.

All the advance briefings about the Chancellor's statement on Tuesday indicate that this message is getting through and is being translated into Government action.

Paper-free democracy

2011-11-26T05:52:00.000Z

The Welsh Assembly has striven to be paper-free but it seems they still have a lot to learn the Dutch Senate.

According to this article they have decided to distribute meeting documents to its 75 Senators by tablet computer:

At the start of the first session after the summer recess, the Senators each received an iPad with an application (App) designed especially for the Senate. The Members of the Senate can use this modern communication tool to consult and manage the complete information flow of calendars, legislative bills, parliamentary correspondence and other meeting documents.

Perhaps we need to get the Welsh Assembly's ICT system more stable before embarking on such an adventurous departure from tradition.

Pravda in Wales?

2011-11-25T09:42:00.002Z

To be honest I thought that we had moved on from the mindset that top-down state intervention could solve every problem, however it seems that Plaid Cymru continue to live in the 1970s and so it is no surprise that one of their AMs has written a piece for Wales Home today calling for the Welsh Government to take over the Western Mail newspaper.

I think we should be clear, there is nothing radical about a state buy-out. That sort of lazy politics should lie some distance behind us. These types of solutions defer decisions, they do not resolve anything.

I was though particularly taken by the reaction of Trinity Mirror as reported on the BBC. They said that they were "not going to dignify this with a comment".

Important as journalism is to the effective scrutiny of government and political life, it is difficult to get away from the fact that the Western Mail is a business and that it stands and falls on how many papers it can sell and what revenue it can derive from advertising.

I am not in favour of a state owned press. Such a concept conjures up images of Soviet Russia. If we were to go down that route then we would see an end to objective reporting and the holding to account of the Welsh Government by independently-minded journalists.

I think that the Welsh Government has enough on its plate in trying to sort out the economy, education and the health service without asking them to sort out the problems of the Western Mail as well. Equally, I am not prepared to hand over to Ministers the ‘national newspaper of Wales’ so that they can turn it into their own propaganda sheet.

Employee relations the Labour way

2011-11-24T20:09:00.003Z

Labour have a bit of a reputation in South Wales for the way they deal with their employees. In Rhondda Cynon Taf they imposed new terms and conditions on their staff, Neath Port Talbot lost £20 million of taxpayers’ money in Icelandic banks whilst at the same time cutting the wages of their staff and, in Bridgend, Labour have delivered a job evaluation outcome that was described by one Unison official as the worst example he had seen in Wales in terms of outcomes for particular workers.

Now the Western Mail reports that Rhondda Cynon Taf actually paid a solicitors' firm nearly £100,000 for advice on how to cut the pay and conditions of workers. No wonder they could not afford to pay a fair wage to their staff.

Abuse of the day

2011-11-24T11:20:00.003Z

This morning's Western Mail reports that a prospective Plaid Cymru candidate who lives within my region has withdrawn plans to stand for election after posting some dodgy jokes about Raoul Moat on Facebook and Twitter.

Apparently, he does not like me either, describing me as dull, humourless and tedious. You would think he had actually met me.

Hacks and hacking

2011-11-23T14:21:00.002Z

If one thing has become clear from the Leveson Inquiry, it is that the unsaid understanding by many people that the illegal interception of voicemails was "much more widespread" than just the News of the World.

The Independent reports that Mark Lewis, who represents some of the victims of phone-hacking, told the Inquiry into press standards that illegally accessing the phones of celebrities and other people in the news was "too easy to do" for journalists:

He suggested that reporters, at least initially, thought of the practice as no worse than driving at 35mph in a 30mph zone.

Mr Lewis said the News of the World was the paper caught out hacking phones because its private detective, Glenn Mulcaire, kept such detailed records.

He told the inquiry: "In a way, I feel sorry for the News of the World, or certainly the News of the World's readers.

"Because it was a much more widespread practice than just one newspaper.

"It was just simply that their inquiry agent, Glenn Mulcaire, had written things down and kept the evidence.

"The fact that evidence doesn't exist in written form doesn't mean to say that the crime didn't happen."

This inquiry is going to open our eyes to many journalistic abuses, which it will hopefully translate into recommendations for action. Balancing those with the need to retain the freedom and independence of the press is the big challenge.

Funding political parties continued

2011-11-22T14:03:00.003Z

Given that Nick Clegg gave a clear signal only last week that it is impossible to ask taxpayers to provide more money to fund political parties during this a time of austerity it is difficult to see where exactly today's report from the Committee on Standards in Public Life is going to go.

Following a 15 month inquiry they have recommended that an extra £23 million a year of taxpayers' money, the equivalent of 50p per voter, should be used to fund political parties as part of an effort to clean up the system. This would then enable a £10,000 cap on individual donations and restrictions on trade union funds.

Committee Chair, Christopher Kelly has at least acknowledged that his committee's findings will not make "comfortable reading" for the political parties, but added: "We think they are nonetheless justified.":

Launching the report, he said: "The issue of party funding cannot be shelved until the next scandal brings it to the fore.

"All three main parties now depend on large donations from a very small number of rich individuals or organisations for the funds necessary for their survival.

"This cannot be healthy for democracy."

Mr Kelly called on party leaders to show the "political courage" to adopt his proposals to clean up party funding.

He warned: "For as long as the system remains as open to corruption as the present arrangements, the possibility of another scandal will remain.

"Trust is very hard-won and easily lost."

Despite all that, and the very strong case to adopt these reforms, it is hard to see how this report will avoid doing anything but end up on a shelf somewhere gathering dust.

How the Lib Dems continue to restrain Tory extremism

2011-11-21T09:12:00.003Z

Yesterday's Observer contains more details of the sort of discussions going on within the UK Coalition, both publicly and in private, that demonstrates the way the Liberal Democrats continue to restrain the Conservatives in Government.

What is important about these divisions, as the paper terms them, is that they give the lie to claims that the Government are acting in an ideological way so as to pursue the interests of a privileged elite. There may well be one or two with that agenda, but all the evidence points to a pragmatic government working to maintain a social justice agenda, whilst enabling the poorest in our society to improve their lives.

The issues that the Observer highlights are the continuing controversy over the 50p tax rate, trade union law and benefits policy. They say that Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury, challenged a claim by Francis Maude, the Conservative Cabinet Office minister, on possible changes to trade union laws by dismissing the idea of linking the current strikes to a potential threshold on trade union strike ballots.

Danny Alexander also underlined Liberal Democrat unease about George Osborne's plans to reduce the welfare bill next year by changing the way payments are calculated. The chancellor is uneasy about using the current method – uprating payments in line with the previous September's rate of inflation – because it reached a high of 5.2%:

Alexander told Sky News: "We have made some very difficult decisions over the past 18 months to make savings in the welfare system … They haven't been arbitrary one-off changes. Of course, in looking at this uprating issue, which as you say we are looking at, we need to make sure that we handle it in that same way. I am not going to get into what we are going to be announcing in ten days' time but those discussions are still going on but both Liberal Democrats and Conservatives are committed to not balancing the books off the backs of the poor and it is very important that we stick to that principle."

Lib Dem sources said Alexander would be pressing hard in the quad this week for the status quo to be upheld in uprating benefits, but that the party may have to give ground. "We don't have a majority Lib Dem government," one source said.

Alexander also challenged the assertion by the chancellor in his budget in March that the 50p top rate of tax would be a "temporary measure".

Osborne announced in the budget that he had commissioned HM Revenue & Customs to see how much revenue the 50p rate raises, amid Conservative suspicions that it acts as a deterrent to business.

Alexander challenged this view, saying the focus should be on cutting tax for the least well-off. "We'll see what the numbers show. I suspect it will show that it is bringing in money for the government. But we'll have to wait and see.

"Insofar as we have the capacity to cut taxes, and that capacity is very, very limited because of the difficult circumstances I was talking about earlier, I think the focus should be on low- and middle-income earners, that's why we have set out our first income tax priority is to ensure no one earning £10,000 pays any income tax at all."

As it said in the article, the Liberal Democrats are not in a majority and cannot get their way all the time, however they are fighting hard for what is right and I have confidence that our Ministers will work in the best interests of the country to keep the government's focus on those most in need of government support.

Is Jo Swinson the fourth Welsh Lib Dem MP?

2011-11-20T11:13:00.005Z

Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement this morning, had an intriguing piece based on a book by Professor Norman Davies (Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe) in which he reveals an ancient Welsh speaking people were based along the River Clyde and ruled there for the best part of the first millennium.

Research elsewhere on the internet reveals that these Brithonic peoples founded the city of Glasgow and supplied us with our earliest examples of Scottish literature, written in Welsh. The BBC's Birth of a Nation page has more:

Sailing up the Clyde towards Glasgow there is a vast and imposing sentinel guarding the river at Dumbarton. As a fortress it has a long and proud history, and, in fact, has a longer recorded history than any other in Britain.

The rock was the centre of the Kingdom of the Britons, that stretched along the River Clyde, north into Stirlingshire and south into Ayrshire. Known as Dun Breatann - ‘Fortress of the Britons’ or 'Alt Clut' (Rock of the Clyde). It was the centre of a flourishing Britonnic culture that spoke Old Welsh, or Cumbric, which is now almost entirely forgotten.

They continue: Early Britonnic kings, such as Rhydderch Hael (c580-612 AD), helped to secure Christianity in Scotland by supporting St Kentigern (aka. St Mungo), the founder of Glasgow.

By the mid 7th century only Dumbarton, of all the Britonnic Kingdoms of Scotland, had survived the Angles’ onslaught. This has left us with the image of the Britons as doomed, heroic losers of the Dark Ages - an image depicted by their own poetry and their seemingly hopeless strategic position, trapped between the powerful Picts to the north and the Angles to the south. However, this is a mistaken image. The Britons were perfectly capable of defeating even the mightiest of their opponents.

This Kingdom was eventually brought to an end by Olaf the White, the Norse King of Dublin though this led to the emergence of a new kingdom, further up the river at Strathclyde.

East Dunbartonshire of course is represented by the very Scottish Liberal Democrat, Jo Swinson, who comes from the area. This leads one to pose the fanciful question, is she actually the fourth Welsh Liberal Democrat MP?

Spoof Twitter accounts

2011-11-19T17:02:00.005Z

As the last couple of days has been all about Twitter for me, I thought this item on the Wales on-line site was particularly apt.

They have highlighted ten spoof twitter sites, some of which are funny whilst others are in rather bad taste. Number one naturally, is a Welsh Twitter spoof focussing on Business, Enterprise, Technology and Skills Minister, Edwina Hart.

They say that RedwinaHartski is just about the funniest of all the Welsh sham Twitter accounts out there, making light of the Business and Enterprise Minister’s left-wing credentials. It describes Mrs Hart, who recently said she “regrets capitalism”, in Stalinist terms as the “Commissar for Business and Enterprise in SSR of Wales”.

Among the missives fired off from the account include an update to her 270-odd followers that she’s “enjoying a coffee at Tsarbucks”.

Subtly highlighting the irony of a leftist heading up Wales’ business policies, Redwina was keen to comment on the recent “Occupy Cardiff” protest by anti-capitalists.

“As Minister in charge of business, I support wholeheartedly the #OccupyCardiff protest aiming to stop me having to meet any businessmen,” she tweeted.

Also featured is Carwyn Jones in an account called Carwynsitting. This account has been quiet of late, last posting in July, though the description of the First Minister as “part time First Minister of Wales, part time popular BBC weatherman” is a non-too-subtle reference to the apparent inter-changeability of Carwyn with Derek Brockway.

My favourite tweet from this account is: my welsh gov will call for devolution of energy from small streams and puddles to Wales. Rivers and waterfalls to remain Westminster issue

Will Britain end up joining the Euro?

2011-11-18T13:44:00.002Z

The more Euro-sceptic, Tory-supporting press, has jumped on the words of German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, that the UK will have to adopt the euro 'faster than people think' as if it is a major threat to life, the universe and everything.

The Daily Mail in particular is rather scathing, describing the comment as an astonishing claim that comes despite deepening crisis that threatens the existence of the single currency. They also say that Germany has drawn up secret plans that could prevent Britain holding a referendum, which could lead to powers being clawed back from Brussels.

If all this is sounding a bit 'Hello, hello', then that is because it is. Germany has its own position to protect as does Britain, but neither country is going to allow the other to interfere in any process that is in their own national interest. Nevertheless, Mr. Schäuble is not quite in the real world when he suggests that all of Europe will eventually have to adopt the single currency:

He told a German news agency that his government 'respects' Britain's decision not to join the euro, but predicted that when the currency stabilised the whole continent would queue up to join, and added: 'It will perhaps happen faster than some in the British Isles currently believe.'

I would suggest that the rush to sign up new members to the Euro club irrespective of their economic stability is part of the present problem. Germany would do well to consolidate what they have and bring the Euro currency nations under a single central bank before they even start looking to expand it further.

Paperless Government

2011-11-17T12:43:00.002Z

The Welsh Assembly has already made attempts to run a paperless Government, with varying success. All the agendas come to us electronically and we print them off for committee meetings. Having said that though, I believe we do generate less paper than we could do if we did not have this reliance (some would say over-reliance) on ICT.

Now it seems that the UK Government is trying to follow suit, though I do not expect to see computers on the benches of the House of Commons anytime soon. According to the Telegraph the days of ministers lugging round heavy Red Boxes filled with official papers could finally be coming to an end. This is because Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has indicated he wants to see them computerised.

Mr Maude believes that the UK should be emulating Estonia, where paperless systems are already in place:

He told how on one visit to the country he had gone into the Cabinet room and seen that ministers were all working from screens rather than notes.

''We need to get our technology much better,'' he said. ''The technology that we had in the Cabinet Office that I inherited... I could not take my Red Box home on disc.''

I have to say that despite a lot of Ministerial work in the Welsh Government taking place by e-mail, it is my observation that Ministers here still take home traditional boxes stuffed with paperwork. Perhaps they should follow the UK Government's example.

More importantly, why are Welsh schoolchildren still using paper and pens when in parts of England they work off their own computer tablets? It really is time we caught up.

Clegg rules out more funding for political parties

2011-11-16T10:45:00.003Z

The Guardian report that the Deputy Prime Minister has ruled out extra state funding for political parties for the whole of this parliament.

Nick Clegg believes that it is impossible to ask taxpayers to provide more money for politics at a time of austerity, though the paper believes that this pronouncement raises questions over the value of a report due to be published next week setting out plans for a reform of party political funding.

They say that one of its central proposals will be an increase in state funding by as much as £100m over the course of a 5 year parliament to fill a void that would be created by a loss of donations due to the imposition of a £10,000-a-year cap on individual and union donations:

The report is in danger of being stillborn since Labour has said it opposes planned reforms to the union party link and the Tories oppose a cap being set as low as £10,000. Clegg's rejection of state funding at this stage means all three parties are opposed to key aspects of the proposals due to be published next Tuesday.

Despite this Clegg says he would like to proceed with as much cross-party consensus as possible and claims he is determined to achieve what reform he can. Frankly, though the initiative is looking dead in the water.

Baroness Trumpington unimpressed by Lord King comments

2011-11-15T14:25:00.002Z

Classic!

NFU and Badger Trust work on joint TB vaccination project

2011-11-15T13:49:00.002Z

Some good news on the bovine TB front comes with a press release from the Badger Trust which reveals that the National Farmers Union and the Badger Trust are working togther on an initial project to vaccinate badgers on two farms owned by members of the NFU.

They say that NFU chief farm policy adviser John Royle and Badger Trust Director Simon Boulter have agreed a joint project in which the badgers on two farms owned by NFU members will be vaccinated. In addition, the Badger Trust has identified five other landowners around the UK wishing to vaccinate badgers and is working independently with them as part of the initial trial project:

Vaccination on all seven farms started in October after surveys were carried out to identify active badger setts and licences have been granted by Natural England. The vaccination project will run until the end of November 2011 and resume in May 2012.

It is hoped that the two programmes, although small in scale, will help to identify whether the injectable vaccination of badgers is practical and cost effective. The NFU and the Badger Trust will continue to encourage research and development into an orally-delivered badger vaccine.

This is a welcom sign that at least one Farmers' union is prepared to engage on this issue and look at alternatives to a cull.

Another potential Downing Street scalp?

2011-11-15T13:30:00.002Z

The BBC has news of yet another Government special advisor who, it is alleged, is not up to the job and is in danger of dismissal.

In this case it is Larry, the cat brought in to tackle Downing Street's mouse problem. He is under pressure after reports that a mouse appeared at a recent prime ministerial dinner. The BBC say that David Cameron was with other ministers, including Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, when the offending creature appeared.

Rather worryingly, Larry has had the political equivalent of the Chairman's vote of confidence in the football manager, when a spokesperson for the Prime Minister said there were no plans to sack him: "Larry brings a lot of pleasure to a lot of people."

He said the cat was "doing well" in his new home and although he was "not very keen on men", he had made an exception in May when he was happy to be stroked by US President Barack Obama.

Four-year-old Larry came to Downing Street from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and was said to have "a high chase-drive and hunting instinct", developed during his time on the streets.

A spokesman said he had also shown "a very strong predatory drive" and enjoyed playing with toy mice.

Larry has struck up a friendship with Maisie, a cat who lives at the nearby St James' Park keeper's cottage. Let us hope Maisie is not distracting him from his other duties.

Diversity or bust?

2011-11-14T08:21:00.004Z

A headline like "Give MPs more benefits, says diversity report" is bound to raise a few hackles, which is presumably why the Independent chose to use it, however on reading the article it soon becomes clear that the sub-editors were thinking of a different piece.

The suggestion is actually that candidates, not MPs, should have a statutory right to time off work and state funds to cover loss of income in an effort to encourage more diversity. However, it is not clear how the authors propose to fund this, nor how they suggest we get acceptance amongst businesses or the public for what effectively is a backdoor way of funding political parties.

I am though sympathetic. They are correct in identifying that the cost of candidature both in terms of money, time and the impact on family life is a major deterrent to some high quality candidates. Unless there are support mechanisms in place then many people are not in a position to put themselves forward. That though is a matter that should be addressed by the political parties themselves.

The quickest way to secure more diversity amongst the political elite who do get elected is to change the voting system so as to make it fairer. At least then those who are interested in standing will know that there is a chance of success, simply because the way people vote will be reflected in the outcome.

Welsh Labour and those elusive mandates

2011-11-13T12:54:00.004Z

Maria Pretzler has an excellent blogpost on Welsh Labour proposal to replace the Assembly's semi-proportional voting system with first-past-the-post. As she points out, the effect of this would be to create a permanent Labour majority in Cardiff Bay.

This is how she believes it would impact on Labour in Wales:

■ May 2011 (AMS): 42% of the vote, 50% of the seats (30 of 60)
■ Estimate for double FPTP in May 2011: 42% of the vote, 68% of the seats (41 of 60)

Under the new system, the 55% voting for the other three parties in the assembly would be represented by just 19 seats.

Labour's excuse for this gerrymandering is that any changes to the balance between constituency and regional members as a result of boundary changes has no mandate. A lack of mandate of course has never worried Labour in Government before. After all, where was their mandate for taking us into an illegal war in Iraq, or introducing tuition fees and top-up fees in defiance of promises in their manifesto?

This is a flimsy excuse but even if it weren't, I would argue that a switch to 30:30 as a result of a constituency review has far more of a mandate than the proposed system now being propagated by Peter Hain and Carwyn Jones.

In fact the mandate for the Assembly's voting system lies in the 1997 referendum, when voters supported a partially proportional system of electing AMs, in which the constituency boundaries were tied to those for Westminster. There have been boundary changes since then, which have passed without protest, though of course the total number of constituencies were not reduced. Then again, that has always been a possibility, even on a conventional review. How would Labour have coped then?

What clearly does not have any mandate is a switch to 60 members elected in 30 constituencies by first past the post. If such a system had been put to voters in 1997 then it would have guaranteed a 'no' vote.

Labour are playing with fire in putting their own narrow, sectional interests above those of Wales. They have already fiddled with the system once, in 2006 when they restricted the rights of candidates. Is Peter Hain to lead another attempt to undermine Welsh democracy?

Green agenda parked in lay-by

2011-11-13T09:48:00.002Z

This morning's Independent reports that, following the decision by the UK Government, David Cameron today faces a revolt of business leaders, councils, environment campaigners and unions furious at his decision to cut funding for household solar energy, severely undermining his claim that the coalition would be the "greenest government ever".

The 55 individuals and groups warns that the Government will "strangle at birth" Britain's booming solar panel industry, threatening 25,000 jobs by halving the state subsidy for the popular "feed-in tariff" scheme:

The feed-in tariff scheme is one of the most popular environmental measures introduced by any government. It has already been adopted by 100,000 private and housing association homes, and was championed by David Cameron within weeks of him becoming Conservative leader.

Yet last month ministers announced that, from 12 December, the subsidies would be cut in half, despite claims they were consulting on the plan.

A letter by a broad alliance – from the Federation of Small Businesses and house-building organisations to council leaders from all three political parties, as well as the Town and Country Planning Association – has been organised by Friends of the Earth and the Cut Don't Kill campaign, which is pressing for the Government to temper the reforms. Mr Cameron and Chris Huhne, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, are also under pressure from the Confederation of British Industry, whose chief, John Cridland, said the measure was an "own goal". Mr Huhne has also been warned that 20 Liberal Democrat MPs – more than a third of the parliamentary party – are fighting the proposals.

In scathing language, the letter tells Mr Cameron: "This could only knock confidence in the UK's determination to build a low-carbon economy and hugely undermine your determination to lead the 'greenest Government ever'."

The Welsh Liberal Democrat Group in the Welsh Assembly have also publicly denounced the cut. The Party's Environment Spokesperosn, William Powell has written to Chris Huhne, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, to urge him to reconsider. We are particularly appalled that the cut has been made before a consultation on reform has concluded.

I am concerned at the impact of these changes on local jobs. One Swansea-based electrical company who contacted me expressed serious concerns about the speed with which this change is being implemented. They said that the backlash from customers has been massive already; with many cancelling, and requesting refund of their deposits. At the same time, his company are attempting to secure two to three times the proposed levels of stock, to allow them to get through as many customers as possible within the time allocated. They did not know if the company would survive the week.

There is no doubt that the FITs scheme has been a victim of its own success, with nearly three times as many applications received than anticipated, making the initial rates unsustainable in the medium to long term. However, I believe that by making this premature announcement, while the consultation on FITs reform is still underway, the UK Government is risking our long term renewable energy requirements for short term savings.

More top ten lists

2011-11-12T10:48:00.003Z

Having already indulged myself once this week by blogging about Silvio Berlusconi's top ten gaffes, japes and pranks, it seems only right that I should also make reference to Republican Presidential Candidate, Governor Rick Perry of Texas and his Top 10 excuses for a disastrous debate performance.

The Daily Telegraph refers to what it describes as excruciating footage of Mr Perry, once the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination and seen as the main challenger to Mitt Romney, struggling for 53 seconds during the debate whilst failing to remember the third government department he would abolish:

From the moment the debate in Michigan ended, the Perry campaign decided the only thing it could do was admit the mistake, use it to try to make the candidate seem human and attempt to create a minute of television that might trump the "brain freeze" footage.

Mr Perry went some way to achieving that by taking the stage on the David Letterman Show on CBS in a feature entitled: "Top 10 Rick Perry Excuses".

Smiling broadly and showing some fine comic timing, self-deprecatingly Mr Perry reeled off his excuses. Number nine was: "I don't know what you're talking about. I thought it went well.

Perhaps the best received was number six: "You try concentrating when Mitt Romney's smiling at you. That is one handsome dude!"

Number four was: "I had a five-hour energy drink six hours before the debate." There were enthusiastic responses for number two, a reference to a rival accused of sexual harassment: "I wanted to help take the heat off my buddy Herman Cain."

Mr Perry's top excuse was a play on the story that a teenage singer had allegedly made a fan pregnant during a brief backstage encounter: "I just heard Justin Bieber is my father."

Unfortunately, the ploy does not appear to have worked. Still Mr. Perry can always take up a new career as a stand-up comedian.

Meanwhile, back in Scotland

2011-11-11T08:06:00.004Z

Whatever you think of Alex Salmond, you have to give him credit for forcing others to address his agenda. The question though is whether it is the right agenda at the right time? Do people really want the Government to be focussing on Independence in a time of economic crisis?

David Cameron clearly has a problem with this. Judging by this article in the Independent he is finding the whole debate very distracting and would like Scotland's First Minister to get it over with so that everybody can move on.

The paper says that the Prime Minister is considering a UK-led referendum on Scottish independence to prevent the Scottish Nationalists from setting the terms, question and timing to suit themselves:

Some of the Prime Minister's aides want him to organise a Scottish independence referendum, set and run by Westminster – and they are in discussions with Labour to seek cross-party support. They believe this referendum could be held in 2012 or 2013 – much sooner than the 2014-15 timetable favoured by Scotland's SNP First Minister, Alex Salmond – and it would contain a straightforward Yes/No question on independence.

It is understood that the Prime Minister has yet to make up his mind but he has allowed soundings to be taken, both on his own side and on the Labour benches, to discover whether there is widespread support for this ploy of hijacking the referendum issue from the SNP.

This makes a lot of sense, especially as Scotland is not in a position to decide its own fate. Whatever the outcome of that referendum the consent of the rest of the United Kingdom will be necessary for any change. I am sure Nationalists will find that fact unpalatable but that is the way it is.

The main motivation behind this latest move though appears to be a desire to prevent Alex Salmond using the referendum for his own political ends and ensuring it focuses on the matter in hand:

One of the other issues which Mr Mundell has been exploring is whether the Coalition Government might be able to amend the current laws to force the Scottish Government to ask a clear Yes/No question on independence.

Mr Salmond has made it clear he favours a three-option referendum with the Scottish people being asked to back full independence, the status quo or "independence lite" – a settlement which many unionists believe would leave Scotland independent in all but name.

There have also been suggestions from the Nationalists that Scots would be able to choose more than one option in the referendum – prompting critics to warn that the SNP could secure independence even if this was only the second-best supported option.

Conservative ministers at Westminster want to stop all these developments, moves they believe are simply attempts by Mr Salmond to manipulate every part of the referendum process to suit himself. As a result, plans have been discussed for a "Clarity Act".

Modelled on a Canadian law of the same name, the Act could force the Scottish Nationalists to put just one simple question to the Scottish people. It is understood that ministers are considering inserting a new clause into the Scotland Bill which would perform the role of a full Clarity Act by setting strict terms for any referendum on Scottish independence.

It is an issue that will be well worth watching over the coming months.

Update: Wikipedia has more on the Canadian Clarity Act:

On September 30, 1996, Dion submitted three questions to the Supreme Court of Canada constituting the Supreme Court Reference re Secession of Quebec:

1.Under the Constitution of Canada, can the National Assembly, legislature, or government of Quebec effect the secession of Quebec from Canada unilaterally?

2.Does international law give the National Assembly, legislature, or government of Quebec the right to effect the secession of Quebec from Canada unilaterally? In this regard, is there a right to self-determination under international law that would give the National Assembly, legislature or government of Quebec the right to effect the secession of Quebec from Canada unilaterally?

3.In the event of a conflict between domestic and international law on the right of the National Assembly, legislature, or government of Quebec to effect the secession of Quebec from Canada unilaterally, which would take precedence in Canada?

As soon as these questions were made public, both parties of the National Assembly, the Bloc Québécois and numerous federalists denounced Ottawa's gesture. An Act respecting the exercise of the fundamental rights and prerogatives of the Québec people and the Québec State was passed in the National Assembly of Quebec by the Parti Québécois government two days after the Clarity Act had been introduced in the Canadian House of Commons.

On August 20, 1998, the Supreme Court answered, concluding that Quebec does not have the right to secede unilaterally under Canadian or international law. However, the federal government would have to enter into negotiations with the Quebec government if Quebecers expressed a clear will to secede. It confirmed that the Canadian Parliament had the power to determine whether or not a referendum question was clear enough to trigger such negotiations. The Canadian constitution would remain in effect until terms of secession were agreed to by all parties involved, and these terms would have to respect principles of democracy, minority and individual rights as outlined in the Canadian constitution.

Both the government of Quebec and the government of Canada publicly stated that they were very pleased with the opinion of the Supreme Court, which stated both that Quebec could not legally separate unilaterally from Canada and that the Canadian Parliament would have a 'political obligation' to enter into separation negotiations with Quebec in the event that a clear majority of its populace were to vote in favour of independence.

Speaking a different language

2011-11-10T08:10:00.004Z

As unlikely as it seems, today's Western Mail article about dealings between Welsh teachers' unions and the Department of Education in Westminster actually offers no surprises to those who have regular dealings with UK politicians and civil servants.

The paper says that Elaine Edwards, general secretary of Welsh teaching union UCAC, believes that there is an “ignorance about Wales” emanating from London which does not reflect well on the DfE:

Ms Edwards questioned the department’s understanding of devolution after a recent conversation about a focus group on new professional standards.

She said: “I told the official I could nominate a teacher from a Welsh-medium school – a former president of UCAC – to join the group, as had been requested.

“I had already assured her that whoever was nominated would be prepared to speak with her in English, but she reiterated this in an e-mail and during our telephone conversation she asked: ‘And can he speak English?’

“I was astounded by her question.”

Although the majority of education is devolved in Wales, teachers’ pay and conditions are currently dictated by the Coalition Government.

But Ms Edwards, who is calling for the devolution of pay and conditions, said there remains confusion over what Westminster is and isn’t responsible for.

She said: “Initially, when the official from the DfE telephoned she said proposals were at an early stage and that they would be holding regional focus groups with teachers – but there were none in Wales. I was told it was too late to do anything about it.”

Ms Edwards warned a senior official against “disenfranchising” 38,000 teachers and eventually managed to secure a Welsh focus group.

“There seems to be a lack of clarity and confusion of who is responsible for what,” she said.

“If pay and conditions aren’t going to be devolved to Wales in the foreseeable future government officials have to be made aware of Wales’ place on the radar. There is an ignorance about Wales.

“It may be a one-off, but I’d like to see greater awareness of devolution and the respective responsibilities of both governments, where education is concerned.”

Another union official, Dr Philip Dixon, who is the director of education union ATL Cymru, is also unsurprised:

“The ignorance of Wales at Westminster seems to grow rather than diminish. We have had all sorts of strange questions posed to us, possibly because heads are spinning from almost daily madness emanating from their Education Secretary.

“We should be very grateful for devolution. Westminster must get its act together and realise there’s a world outside London and there are devolved nations which have control over their own internal affairs.”

You would have thought though that after 12 and a half years, Westminster officials would have grasped the issues and be able to deal with them sensitively.

Update: Just to be clear I do not support the devolution of teachers' pay and conditions to Wales. I do not think such a move would be in their best interests.

Gaffes, japes and pranks

2011-11-09T14:21:00.003Z

It is never wise for any politician to start listing the gaffes of others, however I was intrigued by this article in the Telegraph that may act as a short commentary on the rapidly diminishing career of Silvio Berlusconi.

The paper lists Silvio Berlusconi's top 10 gaffes, japes and pranks, most of which do him little credit as a European leader. Here is a sample:

3. March 2009. The 72-year-old self-made billionaire said his response to the global economic crisis was different to that of President Obama because "I'm paler".

"I'm paler because it's been so long since I went sunbathing. He's more handsome, younger and taller," quipped the media mogul.

Also accused of being racist, or at least gauche, in November 2008 when he hailed then President-elect Obama as "handsome, young and also sun-tanned".

Mr Berlusconi accused his critics of lacking a sense of humour, and a few days later repeated the observation about Mr Obama's mixed-race skin tone.

4. January 2009. Causes outrage by saying that although he was considering deploying 30,000 troops to Italy's cities, there would never be enough soldiers to protect Italy's many "beautiful girls" from rape.

5. At an awards dinner in January 2007, Berlusconi said to a former showgirl and men's magazine model, Mara Carfagna: "I'd go anywhere with you, even to a desert island. If I weren't already married, I would marry you straight away."

His wife, Veronica Lario, reacted by writing a letter published on the front page of La Repubblica newspaper calling for a public apology.

She duly received one. Mr Berlusconi later made Ms Carfagna his equal opportunities minister.

I do not believe that any other European leader would have survived a list of episodes of this nature.

Resorting to the courts

2011-11-08T14:14:00.003Z

This morning's Telegraph contains an interesting article on the SNP's much-talked about Independence Referendum.

This is particularly relevant given that a number of Plaid Cymru figures are already pre-empting the result of that plebsicite and demanding that we make contingency plans for an emasculated British state. I would contend that not only are they taking the vote for granted but also that they are deliberately misleading people on the process should a 'yes' vote emerge.

The paper says that one of Scotland's leading QCs has claimed that the planned independence referendum has a “high chance” of being struck down by the courts as illegal.

Aidan O’Neill says that only Westminster has the authority to hold a vote on breaking up Britain, but adds that he believes that Mr Salmond may seek “political advantage” by crying foul when his proposals are declared unlawful.

The UK Supreme Court would ultimately decide on whether the referendum was legal, he says, but he notes that both the First Minister and Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Minster, have “form” in attacking its judges.

The Prime Minister has also hinted that he will take charge of the referendum if Mr Salmond continues to refuse to ask a single “straightforward” question. At the same time the Coalition Government is examining the legality of the First Minister staging the vote amid widespread expectations of a third-party legal challenge on the grounds constitutional affairs are reserved to Westminster.

This is far from a straightforward matter but then I expect Alex Salmond knows that and is counting on these sorts of challenges to bolster his own support in Scotland.

Twitter, Scotland and Wales Home

2011-11-07T09:12:00.001Z

I have an article on Wales Home today regarding the Scottish Parliament's decision to ban the use of Twitter in its chamber. Pop over and have a read.

Looking for the money

2011-11-07T08:31:00.004Z

A number of stories today relate to the spending of the £14 billion or so given to Wales by the Welsh Government. In particular the Western Mail highlights the report of the Assembly Finance Committee on the draft budget and the damning criticism contained therein of the lack of transparency and accountability surrounding that document.

The all-party Committee says: “[We] remain concerned that few specific targets or objectives with measurable outcomes were clearly presented for scrutiny, against which committees could consider the potential impact and effectiveness of the allocations proposed in the draft budget, and evaluate value for money achieved with resources allocated. In the current financial climate, with limited resources available, we consider it to be critical that those scrutinising public expenditure – as well as all individuals involved in delivering public services – are clear about the ultimate outcomes that are intended to be delivered by such expenditure.”

It continues: “We recommend that in presenting future draft budgets, the Welsh Government seeks to make all relevant and requested information on proposed budgetary allocations [available] to National Assembly for Wales committees, providing a sufficient level of detail for scrutiny in a consistent and co-ordinated manner, at the time of the draft budget’s publication, or as close to it as reasonably possible.”

The Committee also expresses concern that the Finance Minister did not seem to realise that her Cabinet colleague had frozen all new health capital spending for the time being, and also articulated considerable doubts as to whether health spending could be contained within the budgets set for it.

This leads us onto two other stories, one of which is directly due to a concession won by the Welsh Liberal Democrats that all Welsh Government spending above £25,000 will now be published monthly by ministers. This provides useful information by which we can scrutinise Ministers, unfortunately it comes after the fact. If we had anything approaching this level of detail when approving the budget then we would be able to question it far more effectively.

The BBC report that Welsh government has spent nearly £42m on IT, marketing and management consultancy in the first five months of this financial year. As a Management consultant says on their site this spending may well be perfectly justifiable, however there is no getting away from the fact that it dwarfs the £34.5m given to the voluntary sector in the same period.

This £42m is rougly equivalent to four new Primary Schools or one and a half new Comprehensive Schools. That is why we need more than just the published figures but a proper justification for the expenditure.

Finally, the BBC also report that the NHS in Wales is spending £700,000 a year paying managers whose posts were scrapped during a shake-up of the health service in 2009. A total of 120 managers who lost their jobs were kept on and had their salaries protected.

Naturally this is concerning at a time when health service budgets are being squeezed. However, the most astonishing part of this story is the criticism of the policy by a Plaid Cymru AM, when it was his party in government who put it into effect and constantly defended it in committee and Plenary meetings.

Illegal stop and search?

2011-11-06T08:41:00.002Z

When I saw a tweet a few days ago from a reputable source suggesting that passengers at a London transport venue were being asked for identification by police I thought it was strange but, as I had no more details I moved on.

Today though, a story in the Observer leads me to believe that it could have been part of an operation whereby Border agency officials are conducting unlawful passport checks on buses and other public transport to try to catch illegal immigrants.

The paper says that documents it has seen suggest that staff from the UK Border Agency have been "regularly" targeting coaches at bus stations "to prevent illegal migrants from making use of the public transport network".

They add that the practice appears to be illegal, with officials only authorised to examine passengers at air or sea ports. One bus passenger subjected to the identity checks is quoted as describing them as "harassment" and behaviour that had no place in a democratic society.

One victim of these checks wrote to complain and gave an account of what happened to him:

British-born Pete Clark, 56, from Liverpool, has described that he had no idea who the officials were when they physically blocked him leaving a National Express coach travelling to the city from Leeds until the passengers revealed identification "deemed suitable."

"None of the persons involved gave an explanation of who they were, what they were doing and on which authority." he said "Their attempt to prevent passengers from going about their lawful business amounts to harassment."

He said that he had recently been working in Africa and had witnessed the heavy-handed behaviour of police and state officials acting on suspicion of illegal behaviour: "I have always considered the country of my birth to be free of this sort of constant intimidation. Sadly, this seems not to be the case. Such routine actions under repressive regimes worlwide have no place in a free democracy such as the UK."

In a letter to Clark, the UKBA explain that the intelligence operations on coaches were permitted under the immigration act 1971. Yet the act itself states only: "An immigration officer may examine any persons who have arrived in the United Kingdom by ship or aircraft."

This is a very worrying development. Day-to-day operations of agencies are not of course supervised by politicians but, now that this is in the open, the Government should investigate and put a stop to any illegal practices.