Sunday 13 December 2015

Carwyn failed to connect to us but maybe he did with his party.



Although A “meet the people” tour of Wales undertaken by First Minister Carwyn Jones is under fire after it emerged that it cost taxpayers £18 for every person who attended.There are other questions that ned to be answered


"Carwyn Connects" saw the Welsh Labour leader attend a total of nine events in places like Newport, Bangor, Carmarthen and Aberystwyth.
According to the Welsh Government, the tour was an important part of the democratic process where voters were given the opportunity to question the First Minister in person.

Following a Freedom of Information request submitted by Plaid Cymru , it has been revealed that the nine events attracted the attendance of 712 people at a cost of £13,021.90 – or just over £18 for each attendee.
Within the total bill, more than £7,500 was spent on staging and audio visual equipment.
 
The correspondence revealed: “Work on the Carwyn Connect events forms part of the day-to-day work for staff within the Communications Division of the Welsh Government and there is no dedicated staff allocated to work on these events.”

Plaid Cymru’s Cardiff West Assembly candidate Neil McEvoy said: 

“This has proven to be an expensive vanity exercise for the Labour First Minister and his lacklustre administration in Cardiff Bay.
“Many people justifiably questioned the timing of this tour with it being so close to the Assembly election.
“What makes it worse is that it’s the first of its kind during the entirety of the fourth Assembly.
“Had the First Minister conducted a tour of this kind each and every year during the fourth Assembly there would not be as much suspicion as there currently is.
“The Labour First Minister now needs to justify why he has decided to spend this large amount of public money on a tour that will end just a few months before people go to the polls in May to decide who will form the next Welsh Government.
“It is probably no coincidence that Carwyn Connects coincides with the woes of the Labour Party in Wales.
“Most people I have spoken to are deeply cynical about this exercise and they are right to be cynical in my book.”
There are some other questioned that need to be ne asked  one of which is what difference was there between  Carwyn and the Minister that accompanied him on "Vanity" Trip of  Carwyn Connect” where the First Minister  met the people all 721 of them   so that they get there say on government services and  a Labour party initiative where Carwyn Jones in what apparently 
was a series of events

Such as when  Carwyn Jones  hosted a Q&A session at Gorseinon in Gower. with Labour members and community groups in a series of open Q&A sessions designed to develop new ideas for the Welsh Labour manifesto for May 2016. where he was  joined by Deputy Culture Minister Ken Skates, who has been given the job of preparing the manifesto.

Did these overlap at all? I suspect even Welsh Labour  would not be so Cynical  but it would be useful to se a map in which the dates of each of the "separate" initiatives coincided (if at all) to remove any concern that any Transport and Hotel costs on the failed " Carwyn Connects Tour coincided with his postion as Leader of Welsh Labour

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