Friday 17 January 2014

Huw do you think you are.

It seems Incredible when you think about it gut Welsh education minister Huw Lewis   today urge people in Scotland to vote to remain in the UK in the September referendum.

He may be new to the job but  he has inherited  14 years of Labour led ducation policies in Wales that have failed welsh students at al levels

Mr Lewis, who studied at Edinburgh University, will call for a “new progressive contract between the nations and regions of the United Kingdom for the common benefit of all” and echo First Minister Carwyn Jones’ call for a constitutional convention




Education Minister Huw Lewis
Education Minister Huw Lewis



The Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney Labour AM will say that devolution should not be a “Trojan horse for separation” but can be used as a “reconnection point for progressive politics”.
Wales and Scotland, he will argue in an article published to coincide with his visit, face deep problems which they “could never solve in isolation.”

This coming from the Labour Party who main argument in Wales is "We are not the Tories" and who were in power from 1997 - 2010 where the idea of "progressive politics" was largely absent.
 
Warning of the impact on education, he will say:

 “Take the challenge we face in the sphere of education and skills. All the talk from the SNP about the impact independence would have on higher education seems frankly unreal. They insist that an independent Scotland would continue to be able to charge tuition fees for students from the remaining UK countries whilst not charging its own students.
“Even if an independent Scotland were allowed to remain in the EU (which is by no means guaranteed), it is reasonable to assume that it would be obliged to offer the same fee support to English, Welsh and Northern Irish students as it provides to Scottish students. The people I talk to in Scottish higher education are also very concerned about what impact an independent Scotland would have on its ability to continue accessing the £3bn annually available through the UK’s seven research councils.
“As they, and their compatriots in Wales face up to the fierce global challenge of university competitors in China, India, or South Korea, it seems bizarre that the we should be talking about putting up additional barriers to their success rather than looking at ways in which Wales and Scotland can collaborate in new areas to strengthen their research capacities and compete in the modern world.”


Is this a call for say the Scandinavian countries to unite under one Government  , How can Norway with about the same population as Scotland survive and its not even in the EU

If Huw Lewis is looking at a Trojan Horse  he may look at his own idea of a convention which probably could only come about if Labour win the next election and in which  Labour MPs rather than Welsh assembly or Scottish Parliament would seek to dominate.

And along with their Tory counterparts  are unlikely to give up thier powers and potentially their seats to give more devolution to Scotland and certainly not Wales.

In my last post I was asked ." If I agreed that the Welsh Assembly has not been a great success so far". and i honesty I had to answer yes.

But I suspect my reason for this is different from Gwylim who posed the question.and that the failing of the Assembly are due to its lack of parity with Scotland and the failure of the Labour party to run it properly.

For a minister of a devolved government that has not been a success to tel another which largely has that it should not go further is laughable.


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