So what can the Welsh Parties take from the General Election
Labour.
Clearly the big winners. Gaining athree seats from the Tories nd coming close in others including Arfon.
What is it in Gwynedd where the Unionist Parties can't put up anything like of a slate of candidates and yer challenge Plaid?
It will be interesting question how much Labour success in Wales was due to the Corbyn effect or Carwyn Jones Faux Nationalism and the "Welsh" Labour brand.
With the Right Wing Bigots of the DUP pulling the strings at Westminster it will be interesting as the Northern Ireland Party gains extra funding. Will "Welsh" Labour "Stand up for Wales " and deman quid pro quo for us , or will as son as they cross the Threshold of the Palace Westminster become jusy Lobby Foder for the main Labour Unionist majority and Wales become secondary to thier loyalties .
ANd what of the likes of Owen Smith, Stephen Kinnock and Chris Bryant will they drop their opposition to the Corbyn "Who couldn't in their" eyes win and now become at least in public loyal to thier leader
Tories
Will be wondering where it all went wrong from projection of them becoming the largest party in Wales to loosing three seats .
They may have increased their vote in most Constituencies and yet laosy . Thier Welsh leader Andrew R t Davies was right to sy "There are no prizes for coming second".
His personal spat with Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns may have not affected the average Tory voter that much
I suspect there will be now attempts to copy "Welsh" Labour and the Scottish Conservatives and try to establish themselves as a "Welsh" Brand, but in order to do this they will need to have a clear leader and as Andrew RT Davies went off holiday in a huff during the campaign , He might not be the choice of the party.
Plaid
Yet another campaign where they remain static and they failed in most of thier targets seats and went in fact backwards. (OK thats not static but you know what I mean),
Squeezed by the Presidential style two party system. I wonder how they can ever overcome this obstacle.
They were saved by winning Ceredigion . Only the most fanatic Plaid supporter probably thought this would happen and from a largely unknown even to many Plaid supporters Ben Lake pulled of a remarkable achievement, Whether he has time to create a personal vote . will depend on the events in Westminster but he seems to have the sought of personalty to do so.
Liberal Democrats.
From being strong challengers in 2010 in a number of Weksh seats to being wiped out and losing not only their last Welsh seat but again dropping in thier overal vote.
The loss of the leader Mark Wiliams is going to have a huge effect on the Party. As I understand the "Welsh" leader must be either an AM or MP . That only leaves tier former leader Kirsty William who is currently a minister in the "Welsh" Labour Government , In "not a coalition". If as it seems she becomes leader again she will probably have to redefine her role in the Welsh Government . I don't think any Party leader has ever served in a Government which is not a coalition . But a formal coalition may with one person will not be to the liking of many Labour AM's and I wonder how this play.
Ukip
It is at least a pleasure to say they look dead in the water and have no future here.
Labour.
Clearly the big winners. Gaining athree seats from the Tories nd coming close in others including Arfon.
What is it in Gwynedd where the Unionist Parties can't put up anything like of a slate of candidates and yer challenge Plaid?
It will be interesting question how much Labour success in Wales was due to the Corbyn effect or Carwyn Jones Faux Nationalism and the "Welsh" Labour brand.
With the Right Wing Bigots of the DUP pulling the strings at Westminster it will be interesting as the Northern Ireland Party gains extra funding. Will "Welsh" Labour "Stand up for Wales " and deman quid pro quo for us , or will as son as they cross the Threshold of the Palace Westminster become jusy Lobby Foder for the main Labour Unionist majority and Wales become secondary to thier loyalties .
ANd what of the likes of Owen Smith, Stephen Kinnock and Chris Bryant will they drop their opposition to the Corbyn "Who couldn't in their" eyes win and now become at least in public loyal to thier leader
Tories
Will be wondering where it all went wrong from projection of them becoming the largest party in Wales to loosing three seats .
They may have increased their vote in most Constituencies and yet laosy . Thier Welsh leader Andrew R t Davies was right to sy "There are no prizes for coming second".
His personal spat with Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns may have not affected the average Tory voter that much
I suspect there will be now attempts to copy "Welsh" Labour and the Scottish Conservatives and try to establish themselves as a "Welsh" Brand, but in order to do this they will need to have a clear leader and as Andrew RT Davies went off holiday in a huff during the campaign , He might not be the choice of the party.
Plaid
Yet another campaign where they remain static and they failed in most of thier targets seats and went in fact backwards. (OK thats not static but you know what I mean),
Squeezed by the Presidential style two party system. I wonder how they can ever overcome this obstacle.
They were saved by winning Ceredigion . Only the most fanatic Plaid supporter probably thought this would happen and from a largely unknown even to many Plaid supporters Ben Lake pulled of a remarkable achievement, Whether he has time to create a personal vote . will depend on the events in Westminster but he seems to have the sought of personalty to do so.
Liberal Democrats.
From being strong challengers in 2010 in a number of Weksh seats to being wiped out and losing not only their last Welsh seat but again dropping in thier overal vote.
The loss of the leader Mark Wiliams is going to have a huge effect on the Party. As I understand the "Welsh" leader must be either an AM or MP . That only leaves tier former leader Kirsty William who is currently a minister in the "Welsh" Labour Government , In "not a coalition". If as it seems she becomes leader again she will probably have to redefine her role in the Welsh Government . I don't think any Party leader has ever served in a Government which is not a coalition . But a formal coalition may with one person will not be to the liking of many Labour AM's and I wonder how this play.
Ukip
It is at least a pleasure to say they look dead in the water and have no future here.
3 comments:
Has politics in Wales been reduced to three parties? It would appear that UKIP is on its way out. No councillors, no MPs and in many places no candidates. They seem to be living on borrowed time in Cardiff Bay. It was only the BBC that thought it was apporopriate to have two Ukip people on their election night lineup while everyone else had one representative.
The Liberals have no MEPs, no MPs, are not in power in any of the 22 local authorities. I don't think they even run any of our large town councils. The once great Liberal party is now reduced to one full-time elected representative, but they do have quite a few unelected "Welsh" Lords that legislate for us.
The Greens are no longer appearing on discussion panels,how long will it be before the Liberals and UKIP are a memory?
The reality is Labour did well, but not well enough to win and excercise power which is what it is all about. I'm sure they will be looking at the two Pembrokeshire seats, Aberconwy and the Vale and saying what could we have done. Following the three terror attacks it is clear this is no longer a Tory owned policy area. Interesting that £7 million extra for Dyfed Powys Police and £35 million extra all Welsh forces was not looked at as a real campaign option for Welsh Labour. Devolving of police and criminal justice would give a Barnet consequential that would provide this money. These areas are devolved in Scotland, Northen Ireland, London and Manchester and supported by all the Police & Crime Commissioners in Wales.
In a way it is a wonder that Labour did not do better against a Tory party that went on about Foxhunting, upset loads of people with their proposals about social care and their demetia tax, proposed to use nuclear weapons in a first strike context and suggested
getting rid of the triple lock on pensions. When the cuts in the police came to the front of the debate it was clear that the Tory austerity programme was costing us all too much.
So a Tory leader that threw away three years of rule set against a background of a divided and ineffective opposition now is being bailed out by an Irish political party that have MPs that have been endorsed by paramilitary forces. You could not make it up.
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