Saturday, March 31, 2007
  2007 WELSH ASSEMBLY ELECTION MANIFESTO SPECIAL: PLAID CYMRU
PLAID CYMRU (available for download on plaidcymru.org)

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Move our nation forward. To build a real national movement for the whole country and for the future.

The ideas here address the most pressing problems we face as a nation: rising debt and the lack of housing, the crisis of climate change, poor access to health care and the low-wage economy.

>According to Ieuan Wyn Jones

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Saving Wales - the energy plan

Saving energy is easier than finding more.

A Plaid Government will cut energy use by 10%, a 3% a year reduction

We will create a national Energy Saving Plan with non-means tested energy efficiency Grants of up to 50% of the costs of insulation – with more available for low-income groups and the elderly and in disadvantaged areas.

>Surely, “more available for low-income groups and the elderly and in disadvantaged areas” is means testing.

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Universal Affordable Childcare

Our children are our future. Good childcare is vital for our children, important for parents and essential for the economy. Current childcare provision in Wales is expensive and patchy.

In the first four years of a Plaid Government, funding for childcare will be nearly doubled to £100m per annum

>Labour in Westminster have shown it’s not how much money thrown at problems that is important, it means nothing if it’s badly spent or squandered on administration.

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One laptop per child

We need to give our children the tools for success in the twenty first century… We owe it to our children to make available to them the medium of our time.

By giving a laptop to every child, with the latest educational software, for their entire time in secondary school, we can make Wales the most knowledge-rich nation in the world.

>What is the cost of all that software licenses? Additionally, plaid must remember that the exams are still going to be on paper – so they can’t let the handwriting skills go completely.

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Stamp out student debt

Better chance in life and the security to succeed.

Reduce the debt burden of graduates who live and work in Wales.

>There are not enough graduate roles in Wales to sustain the Idea, its not for being tired of Wales that people leave its because there are very few graduate jobs in Wales (trust me I’m currently looking) coupled with the fact that average graduate salaries in Wales are about £4000 less that it is in England. People aren’t able to stay. How are you going to provide graduate roles on a financial par with those across the border to encourage people to stay?

A Plaid Government will support students who graduate from Welsh Universities and Colleges and work in Wales for five years by paying their student loan repayments during that period.

>Like I just said there are not enough graduate jobs in Wales for this to be a real problem, and as for actually helping students did you know that the majority of students have to earn around £18,000 for their repayments to cover the interest on the student loans – and with average graduate salaries in Wales being around £15,000 that’s not likely. Additionally what rate are the Plaid government going to pay, the minimum rate which you pay when you earn over £15,000 which as I said doesn’t even cover the interest, or a higher rate? Or are they going to repay the amount that you would pay. But as I said, you would be lucky in Wales to have a graduate job that triggers the repayment mechanism.

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First home grants

The average property in Wales costs more than six times the average annual Welsh salary.

To help first time buyers get a foothold on the property ladder a Plaid Government will offer grants of up to £5,000,

>Surely, this will only result in pushing up the cost of affordable homes (which were built with first time buyers in mind) by £5000! It will not help, we need restrictions on second homes / holiday homes, how about a requirement that all homes in Wales must be occupied for 9 months a year. Otherwise they can be sold by the local authority – money, minus a commission, being repaid to the owner, (exemptions for people in nursing homes or in hospital etc…) that will stop the weekend villagers, which are diluting communities and damage language heartlands. (And it will cost less)

…to all first time buyers who save for three years in a government-supported scheme.

>There is the catch. Just indulge my crude sums for a moment. For shared accommodation in Swansea (of the private sector student digs) it cost (on a rough average) £45 per week. So how much does it cost to rent for three years?

At £45 per week that’s 45 x 52 = £2,340
£2,340 x 3 = £7,020

>So to rent for three years on in a town where cheep shared accommodation is prevalent thanks to the university and the institute, it will cost you £7,020. So would you pay for rented accommodation for three years at a cost of £7,000 in order to get a £5,000 grant? Not to mention the real value of £5,000 in three years time with the current boom in house prices make this policy illogical .

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Plaid will reduce business taxes and kick start our economy

>Could this provide the graduate roles in Wales to enable people to stay. It raises the question – does the Assembly have tax varying powers in the new legislation?

Business throughout Wales needs to be encouraged to invest in order to expand and create more jobs.

>Following the Irish model – this has been very successful.

Reduce business rates by up to a half and seek to offer a corporation tax rebate of up to a third in West Wales and the Valleys. Targeted tax cuts will kick-start business growth and transform the prospects of some our most disadvantaged areas.

>What will happen when the special introductory tax rates stop?

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A new community health service

Nurses in schools, check-ups at work and ‘Centres of Wellbeing’ the length and breadth of Wales.

>What is a centre of wellbeing?

Promoting wellbeing as about tackling illness.

Stop the hospital closure programme in its tracks

Make decisions about local health services accountable to local people.

We will create a Patient Rights Contract

>Does that mean the NHS will have to pay out compensation if it breaks the contract – which would take money away from front line services.

Children’s Health Service will place a new emphasis on the health of the next generation.

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Strong foundations education is a fundamental right.

>Probably the only sentiment (so far) that all parties can agree on.

Educare,

>Why, oh why, oh WHY make up words – it’s not big and it’s not clever.

Educare, in which all care is educational and all education involves caring, will be the foundation of our early years’ policy.

A Plaid Government will prioritise universal, affordable, and high quality childcare, provided by a range of deliverers, for every family in Wales.

Proven educational benefits,

>Proven by whom? No reference to an academic article / research paper / book / another country.

We will replace A-levels and GCSEs with a more broadly based baccalaureate.


>As a teenager, I had my A-Level results gerrymandered so I’m always sceptical about changing systems. Additionally I was of the first academic year which had to do AS-levels and even after Christmas, the teachers were saying “we have to teach you every thing because the exam boards haven’t decided which sections will be on the exam.” PLEASE, if you get in take it slowly, the world doesn’t have to change tomorrow. Next week or next month will be fine!

Based on the renowned International Baccalaureate. A vocational as well as an academic form of the Welsh Baccalaureate will give students a genuine choice of qualification at fourteen.

>Vocational, what about the languages (English and Welsh), maths and sciences? Will students be able to opt out of these at 14? What happened to making Wales the most knowledge rich nation in the world? (p11)

Under a Plaid Government, education and training will be compulsory for all to age eighteen…This move is vital to tackle youth unemployment, improve workforce skill levels and equip the next generation for our rapidly changing society and economy.

>Good job under 18s can’t vote.

Saturday schools for sport, music and the arts will be introduced on a pilot basis, as well as summer schools for students who fall behind in their studies.

>Definitely a good job that under 18s can’t vote! Incidentally, do the teaching unions know about this? Can’t imagine that they will be happy to give up holidays, but I believe it’s a good idea. Although it does raise the question: how do you decide if students are falling behind – or not achieved the level that you have expected them to attain? More tests, attendance, class grades, whim of the teacher?

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Welsh medium education should be a choice for all in Wales, but the demand is not being met by current provision.

>Figures to prove that please.

A Plaid Government will ensure that pupils with special educational needs have access to the provision they need to meet those needs in the language of choice on the basis of equality throughout Wales.

>In mainstream school or separate special schools?

Provide teachers with the support and training to give them genuinely professional status. Plaid

Will ensure that children are taught by qualified, registered teachers supported by classroom assistants.

>Genuinely professional status? Are they saying teachers aren’t considered professionals?

Plaid will create a clear training and career pathway for classroom assistants supported by a national pay frame.

We will also guarantee a year’s teaching experience to all teachers who are newly qualified in Wales to ensure they can complete their Induction year and become Qualified Registered Teachers.

>Well there is no point in half training someone is there!

Promote good health among children and young people.

School-based dental service

Free nutritious school meals for primary school children. This will help pupils to perform better academically and lay the basis for healthy eating habits.

>Based on what studies?

Plaid will seek a ban on the advertising of unhealthy food and drink on children’s
Television

>Will the assembly have this power?

Encourage schools to get rid of junk food vending machines.

>Why encourage? Why not ban?

Free fruit at primary schools will help educate children’s palates as well as delivering immediate health benefits.

Greater out-of-classroom learning,

Increased walking and cycling to improve children’s health and national Wellbeing.

>Does this mean a discouragement to the school run?

More resources towards Physical Education and end the sell-off of school-playing fields and playgrounds.


>EXCELLENT IDEA – but – surely this is symptomatic of a lack of funding for infrastructure? How are you going to redress this?

We will also give children free access to council-owned swimming pools.

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Looked after children

>What are looked after children? Children in foster care? Children with disabilities / health problems?

Independent and centrally funded advocacy service

>Isn’t that the role of the children’s commissioner?

Leaving grants will be standardized across Wales,

>What are leaving grants?

Local Authorities to exercise responsibility for looked after children until they are 21 years of age,

Plaid will increase the number of 20mph zones in residential areas and 10mph zones Outside schools during school hours,

>People don’t stick to 20mph limits outside schools, how are you going to make then stick to 10mph – bearing in mind that the assembly doesn’t have dominion over policing.

Community and continuing education are crucial for many who wish to return to education and training.

Plaid will continue to oppose top-up fees

Fight to reduce the burden of debt for graduates who live and work in Wales for five years.

>Why aren’t they opposed to tuition fees too?

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Plaid Government will establish Wellbeing Centres in communities across Wales,

Each Wellbeing Centre will be staffed by a multi-disciplinary salaried team, offering the range of services identified in an assessment of local needs.

>Why not go the whole hog and create a system of health MOTs?

Targeting chronic conditions through disease management and prevention will be central to their work.

A Plaid Government will therefore bring Wales into line with most European countries and place a new legal requirement on employers to provide workplace health services.

>Thereby taking away all the benefits of lower business / corporation tax?

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Patient Rights Contract which will set out the protected core services that must be made available within any locality…The Contract will also, for the first time, create a system for no-fault payouts if patients receive sub-standard care.

>Might help reduce legal costs, but I’m unconvinced.

We will a create a National

>Poor show Plaid having such a mistake in your manifesto.

We will a create a National Institute of Health Research in conjunction with the Welsh Medical Schools to accelerate breakthrough medical research in chronic diseases currently ignored by the pharmaceutical industry

The short term a Plaid Government will require Local Health Boards and Local Authorities to share their budgets in order to cut bed blocking.

>Inspired.

Plaid believes in securing free care provision for older and disabled people, in principle and as an aim.

>Then why not say: “a plaid government would introduce free care provision for older and disabled people.” But remember Labour reneged on that same promise at the last election. So securing free care, what does that mean? Lobby Westminster for money to introduce free health care, not really a promise.

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Create Benefit Take Up teams in every Local Authority to ensure that older and disabled people receive benefits to which they are entitled.

>Long overdue.

A flourishing economy is vital to the success of the nation. The fact that the relative GVA per capita in 15 of Wales’ 22 counties remains at 65% of the UK average is a clear indictment of the failure of the economic policies pursued by Labour and Conservative governments over the past 30 years

>GVA isn’t the normal standard of assessing economic performance GDP, GNP? So what is GVA – Gross value added? What does that mean? Anyway what they are saying is “Labour and Conservatives have failed Wales so let us have a go; we believe that we can do better.”

We are committed to supporting locally based production and services throughout Wales.

To help successful companies invest in their future, we propose to cut business rates by up to half and, if possible, the effective corporation tax rate by up to a third. We believe that this would be a better use of taxpayers’ money than grants as the cost to government is closely aligned to a company’s success.

>That makes sense.

We will target this support particularly at businesses in the West Wales and Valleys area, where we will ensure that the new European Convergence Funds are used effectively to release local potential and plug the still-yawning income gap with the rest of Wales and much of Europe.

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As well as targeted tax cuts, our strategy will include using the public sector’s purchasing power to support local business. We will make it easier for smaller companies to compete for public procurement business by structuring contracts appropriately and offering clearer information about the process.

>At last a government has realized that the cheapest quote isn’t necessarily the most cost effective, just think instead of just looking at the face cost of projects governments factored in the additional (potential) costs of unemployment benefits they would have to pay if the (in this case) Welsh firm lost a contract to a (say) French firm and all the additional losses of subsidiary profits of associated businesses, in addition to lose of Income tax etc… it would probably work out more economically viable to support Welsh businesses.

We will fully fund Tir Mynydd for the next three years and we will work with farmers’ representatives to secure a new scheme for 2010 onwards and negotiate a fair deal with the European Commission for Welsh farmers.

>Whets Tir Mynydd?

We will engage with all the relevant players to make sure that changes to the CAP and the support mechanisms for farmers post 2013 will not weaken our rural economy or damage the environmental gains, which are essential for a thriving and sustainable countryside.

To help support Welsh agriculture we will aim to ensure that 80% of all publicly procured food is sourced locally by 2015.

>Welsh produce for Welsh schools it is then.

Our vision for a modern all-Wales transport system will unite the nation and promote more equitable economic prosperity.

Creating better links, both road and rail, from the North, the West and the South Wales Valleys to Cardiff will be a priority. We are committed to reopening a limited number of railway lines and to dual track single lines.

We will draw up a firm programme to upgrade North/West - South road links to be completed by 2015. We will create a fast, convenient national long distance express coach service, well integrated with feeder rail and local bus services.

>Again they refer to drawing up a firm programme, now do they mean that the programme will be fully drawn up by 2015 or that the road will be completed by 2015?

We will give a new impetus to the flagging programmes to extend cycle paths and urban bus lanes; promote park and ride schemes and plan seamless links between transport modes.

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We will re-regulate buses and establish a new national transport authority, setting fares, routes and timetables, so that services run where people want them, not where the greatest profit is to be made. We will continue to support the restoration of full public ownership of the rail system.

Non-means tested energy efficiency grants of up to 50% of the cost of home insulation and other household energy efficiency measures will be available throughout Wales. There will be a similar scheme for business energy saving.

We will seek the transfer of power over building regulations to the Assembly as soon as possible.

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Plaid will ensure that Government properties are Zero Carbon by 2012.

A Plaid Government will bring clean secure energy to communities across Wales by
Supporting a range of alternatives including marine power, micro generation and fuel cell technology.

We will create a Welsh National Forest of native trees to act as a carbon sink and will seek to ensure that economic projects do not harm our landscape.

And their communities. A Plaid Government will develop a labour market strategy to ensure that both young people and older workers develop skills for the future; that those who are economically inactive can contribute to a revitalised Welsh economy; and to help spread employment opportunities in a more balanced manner across the country and to different social groups. We will promote employee ownership of small and medium sized enterprises.

Wales has the necessary balance of skills for a vibrant future. As part of our strategy to strengthen the science base in Wales, we will create a national science academy to spur invention and innovation.

>How does this reconcile with vocational baccalaureate which implies that people can elect out of academic studies at 14?

In order to combat the scourge of the low-wage economy we will create a national living wage set by an independent Welsh Pay Commission with which all contractors for publicly funded contracts in Wales will be asked to comply.

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Devolution means more than merely devolving power to Cardiff – it means empowering the people who make up our communities and distributing regional and individual prosperity to every part of Wales.

We shall seek to place a new statutory responsibility on local authorities to promote culture in communities across the country.

We shall maintain and strengthen the Post Office Development Fund and work with the Post Offices to develop a full range of over-the-counter banking services geared to people who otherwise would be excluded from financial services, effectively creating a ‘people’s bank’.

The shortage of affordable housing to rent or buy is one of the biggest barriers to community cohesion, even to survival in some cases. The planning system at present favours the rich at the expense of the poor. The property ladder has lost its bottom rung and first time buyers are being priced out of the market.

would seek to have the powers over all planning matters transferred to the Assembly and would create a new planning system for Wales with the aim of providing houses to meet local demand,

>Isn’t the assembly already responsible for planning?

Will introduce first home grants

We will repeal the ‘Right to Buy’ in housing hot spots where there is a shortage of rented accommodation.

We will introduce a new planning class for second homes to allow local authorities to limit the number of holiday homes where they exceed 10% of housing stock.

>Limiting second home stock is a good idea, and will help more (in some picturesque areas) than the £5,000 grants in my opinion, and will have the fringe benefit of aiding the preservation of Welsh language communities.

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oppose the principle of stock transfer and will seek powers to ensure that councils have a level playing field alongside housing associations so that they can develop and maintain their housing stock, and that housing receipts are spent on repairs and renovations to reach the Wales Housing Quality Standard.

The success of our housing strategy will deal with many of the underlying causes of high and growing homelessness in Wales, which we are determined to eradicate within a decade.

>Eradication of homelessness within a decade, that’s a pretty bold objective and its hidden away in the small print (as it were) of the manifesto.

We will develop a national Safer Communities Strategy, which will seek to break the links between substance misuse and crime and which prioritises rehabilitation.

>Tough of the causes of crime, where have I heard that before? I’m sceptical about the application but the basic principle I believe to be correct.

To help ensure that the strategy can be fully implemented we will seek the devolution of
Criminal justice services from the UK Home Office to Wales,

>This manifesto has a lot of intent to have a further devolution settlement. Perhaps Plaid would have been better advised to concentrate the manifesto on the powers that the Assembly have.

We will seek means of applying the measures contained in the Children Act 2001 instead of anti-social behaviour orders.

>What are the measures in the 2001 Children’s act? They say it as if it was a viable alternative to ASBO (Which lets face it – puts a generic term on a plethora of low-level crimes – e.g. vandalism, graffiti, intimidation etc…)

Over the course of a four-year term, a Plaid government will seek to fund up to 500 additional police officers.

>THE ASSEMBLY WILL NOT HAVE POWERS OVER THE POLICE FORCE.

We will implement fully resourced strategies to reduce hate crime: child, domestic/sexual, racial, homophobic, and vulnerable adults’ abuse. We will ensure that crime victims and witnesses are properly supported.

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Communities will benefit from better amenities for young people to help counter the attractions of ‘hanging around the streets’, drugs and alcohol misuse.

>In all that plaid have said about housing and school sports fields etc… they have said nothing about compelling developers to create new green spaces sports fields parks etc…

We will Encourage local authorities to place free cash machines on council properties used by the public and to make reasonable access to free ATMs a condition when granting planning permission for new developments.

Civic service in the community will be an integral part of the education curriculum. A new national citizens’ service – a civilian equivalent of the TA - will be created for adult volunteers wishing to continue with civic service after completing their education.

We will seek the power to require Local Authorities to implement universal, meaningful recycling,

>As a part-time resident in Swansea (spilt my time between my parents and grandparents), there are key items which are not being collected; Plastics, Cardboard, etc… if these were collected then we would have hardly any waste to landfills.

Plaid is committed to fair votes for all and will seek legislation to introduce the Single Transferable Vote for every election in Wales,

>Does this mean lowering the voting ages? As for the system itself, you rank your preference of candidate, which means that more people are satisfied with the resulting candidate.

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The Welsh language belongs to everyone in Wales, whether or not they speak it. It is a national treasure, which must be safeguarded and promoted.

>I concur, but if they would like to teach it to me I would be grateful.

A Plaid government will introduce a new Welsh Language Act, which will form the basis for creating a bilingual Wales. It will give official status to Welsh, create rights for individuals to receive services through the medium of Welsh, and create the post of Language Commissioner to ensure that the interests of Welsh are proactively safeguarded and promoted.

>Again I hope that they teach me the language.

Plaid is totally committed to promoting a confident and creative culture in Wales. Culture and the arts are an integral part of the process of regenerating our communities, by creating a sense of identity and developing our potential as a nation.

Establish a body similar to Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru working through the medium of English.

>Establishing an English language Welsh cultural identity as well.

Strong and independent media in Wales are vital in the digital age. A Plaid government will create a media strategy for Wales with the aim of developing strong broadcast and print media in Wales, for the people of Wales, in both Welsh and English.

>I personally believe that the lack of a Welsh based print media is damaging to Wales, an equivalent to ‘The Scotsman’ would be severely overdue.

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We will seek to maintain and increase S4/C’s budget so that it can meet the digital challenge.

Sport can play a role in making society healthier as well as raising Wales’ profile on the international stage.

>I agree, a nation based on sport seems to fit the Welsh psyche and will enable Wales to be known internationally in a wider spectrum than its size would suggest (if you believe Peter Hain)

We will support and encourage a bid to host the Commonwealth Games in Wales.

>Which would mean a development in sporting infrastructure in Wales, can only be good. Creates national as well as community pride, increases Wales’ recognition on the international stage. Would be cool to watch too.

A Plaid Government will make full and creative use of limited National Assembly powers in international relationships to develop a distinctive Welsh position on global affairs.

>Is there any point in spending money on that? They must think that it will create more inward investment.

We look forward to Wales taking its own decisions on the world stage and to being a full member of the European Union and United Nations. As an interim step, we will seek to obtain observer status for Wales at the UN, and will seek associate membership of the Commonwealth and other appropriate international bodies. We will support the .cym campaign to gain domain name status for Wales on the Internet.

>Is this the independence clause? DOT CYM would be helpful as an aid to national cohesion, linguistic survival, but would this ghettoise Wales outside of the immediate gaze of the world? I think that pushing for full Parliamentary powers would be better for Wales at this moment.

Welsh global trade strategy will include clear steps towards winning international Fair Trade status for Wales and making Wales an international centre of excellence for socially responsible business and ethical procurement.

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A Plaid Government will insist that the UK Government consult with the National Assembly on European Commission proposals and accept Welsh participation in UK delegations in all relevant negotiations at Council of Ministers level.

>Your hoping.

Plaid consistently and emphatically opposed the war on Iraq and will continue to press for the withdrawal of UK forces and the dismantling of their military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will also continue to work for an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian land as part of a lasting and fair two state solution and will press the UK Government not to facilitate the selling of arms to unstable regimes.

>Good. But again it’s out of your remit.

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Plaid Government will explore new methods of raising sufficient finance to radically improve the quality of publicly owned assets in Wales. One financing vehicle we will investigate will be a Welsh public investment bank which could raise funds directly on the capital markets instead of having to satisfy shareholder interests.

>Plaid would start a bank, and the government would take the profits and not shareholders. As long as they don’t pay the directors £21,000,000.00 of bonuses I’ll put my money there. (Well some of it – don’t put all your eggs in one basket)

We will initially cap Council Tax for the elderly and, in due course, scrap Council Tax and replace it with a local income tax, a move that will directly benefit people on low incomes, whether working or in retirement.

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The fundamental principle of our approach to governance is that sovereignty rests with the people of Wales. Plaid Cymru believes that power should lie in the hands of the people. It is the inalienable right of the people of Wales to decide our own future, to decide where power should be exercised, by whom and for which purpose.

A Plaid Government will call a referendum during the next Assembly term to establish a Proper Parliament for Wales, on the model set out in the Government of Wales Act, 2006.

>Yes, PARLIAMENT FOR WALES.

Our vision of an independent Wales is rooted in the needs of the everyday lives of the people of Wales. The evidence across Europe is overwhelming - the citizens of small and medium sized independent countries such as Ireland and Sweden are wealthier and healthier. The people of Wales deserve such a future too.

>Interesting, Ireland have proved that low commercial tax coupled with excellent spending of EU development funds, in addition to Euro membership have provided a booming economy with unprecedented prosperity for Ireland – I’m sure that this can be recreated in Wales – are plaid able to deliver that?

We will establish an Independent National Commission on the Governance of Wales to produce proposals for a clear and effective system of governance, reducing bureaucracy and the number of overlapping bodies, and increasing the funds available for front line services.

>Rationalising government, will save taxpayers money, and efficiency benefits, but what about staff redundancies?

COMING NEXT: CONSERVATIVES
  1:24 PM 0 comments links to this post
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
  07/03/07 – THE IDIOSYNCRASIES OF LABOUR
TELETEXT 322 MAR 01 21:19:32

Tory plan ‘threat to Wales’

Tory plans to block Welsh MPs from voting on English issues could lead to Wales having a “second class” status in the UK, Peter Hain has warned.

The Welsh Secretary accused the Tories of “opportunism” and warned the plans could lead to the break-up of the UK.

Separation from the UK would leave Wales “nigh on irrelevant” on the world stage, Mr Hain warned as he opened at St David’s Day Welsh affairs debate.

The Tory plans are simply adjusting the anomalous situation that labour created within Britain where Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are given home rule, and therefore, self determination where as England are still under the direct rule from the British parliament. This is either an appalling oversight or a magnificent piece of governmental manipulation.

Theory 1 – Appalling oversight – Working on the theory that Westminster is the English parliament, within which Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are permitted to send representatives. The oversight would be the fact that it was deemed not necessary because as the representatives of the ‘Celtic fringe’ withdrew from Westminster the parliament would revert to its original role as a parliament for the English.

Theory 2 – Appalling oversight – Labour are in a conundrum about what they want for the UK, either an Americanised federal system, or a centralised (on London) system which we have experienced for the previous 300 plus years. This indecisiveness has caused there to be a fundamental constitutional dilemma where England have not been attributed the same level of self-determination as the ‘Celtic fringe’, a discrepancies, which other political parties are attempting to rectify.

Theory 3 – Appalling oversight – there were growing calls in the ‘Celtic fringe’ for devolution, in order to protect yourself from a re-occurrence of Thatcher-esq policy impositions that are designed for the needs London and the South-east England and therefore grossly inadequate for the needs of the ‘Celtic fringe’

Theory 4 – Magnificent piece of governmental manipulation – for this you have to ask yourself why when considering, devolving the United Kingdom would you deliberately overlook England. For this purpose perhaps? To score political capital over the opposition that seek to redress this anomaly. So that they can secure a stranglehold over the ‘Celtic fringe’ as they are seemly fighting for the virtue of the respective nation.

Which ever one it was you have got to admire the audacity of Peter Hain saying that the Conservative plans could lead to the break-up of the UK. Surely devolution – devolving the UK into it’s constituency countries – was the thing that made the disintegration of the UK inevitable not giving self-determination to the English nation.

As for his comments that Wales will be “nigh on irrelevant” on the world stage, I question what he is basing this on, Ireland managed to manipulate its tax system in order for it to boom, Luxemburg, Belgium, Holland are similar either geographically or population wise and they are not insignificant, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, similarly are not irrelevant, not to mention Monaco, and every other tax haven that I can think of. Small countries as a rule of thumb punch above their weight in the world. It is narrow minded and simply alarmist to say that if you don’t vote Labour then the sky will fall. But in all things Welsh and separatist that is exactly how Labour reacts time and time again.
  9:15 AM 0 comments links to this post
Friday, March 02, 2007
  02/03/07 – CLEAR RED WATER
Rhodri Morgan once claimed that there was “Clear red water between Cardiff and Westminster.” However, now Peter Hain is making Assembly Policy by saying that, “coalitions were a matter for First Minister Rhodri Morgan, but Labour would not accept one with Plaid.” So if Mr Morgan decides that a Labour – Plaid coalition is desirable English Labour will reject this plan and veto any such action. Now to me that doesn’t sound like Wales is determining its own political affairs, the thin veneer of self-determination has been removed by this autocratic decree by the Welsh Secretary (soon to be Governor General of Wales).

This story just illustrates how fearful that Labour are of Plaid, They are very similar ideologically, however, this determination not to legitimise Plaid is neurotic to say the least and is demonstrated by the fact that Labour are willing to cut their nose off despite their face instead of recognise Plaid as a legitimate and practicable political party.

Full text below (from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6409729.stm )

Hain rejects Lab-Plaid coalition

Welsh Secretary Peter Hain has ruled out Labour governing in coalition with Plaid Cymru if there is a hung assembly after the elections in May.
He said coalitions were a matter for First Minister Rhodri Morgan, but Labour would not accept one with Plaid.
In a St David's Day debate in the Commons, Mr Hain said Plaid was plotting a Conservative-led coalition.
Plaid MP Adam Price accused Mr Hain of being naive and asked whether he was "playing the outspoken maverick".
Labour was in coalition with the Liberal Democrats from 2000 to 2003 after failing to win a majority in the first assembly elections in 1999.
But Labour leaders, including Mr Morgan and Prime Minister Tony blair, used their Welsh party conference last weekend to accuse the opposition parties of planning to enter a Tory-led coalition this time round.
Plaid, however, has insisted that it would not serve under a Conservative first minister.
If Labour fails to win a majority on 3 May, Mr Hain's statement appears to mean his party might have to rely on the Lib Dems and independents to stay in power.
Asked by Plaid's Adam Price to clarify his position on a Labour-Plaid coalition, Mr Hain said: "I'm ruling it out.
"There is no prospect of that at all.
"This is a matter for Rhodri Morgan and his fellow Welsh Labour Assembly Members. But I don't think Welsh Labour would accept that."
In a statement, later Mr Price said: "Has Peter Hain discussed this with Rhodri Morgan or is he playing the outspoken maverick he has played in the past?
"He quite regularly takes a different view to those who actually make the decisions.
"Mr Hain is also naive to think that it is up to him to decide on matters to do with the Assembly. Let our colleagues in the assembly - from both parties - decide."
A spokeswoman for Mr Morgan later repeated his argument that Labour were fighting the election to form a majority government.
On the prospect of a coalition with Plaid Cymru, she said: "I don't think there is going to be much of an appetite for it".
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