Changing Boundaries Changing Democracy

Cheryl Gillian The Secretary of State for Wales ( but not much longer I suspect)  yesterday published a Green Paper on 'Future Electoral Arrangements for the National Assembly for Wales'. Its a 12 weeks 'consultation paper'. 

For a consultation it is like Hobson Choice because only one solution to the future of Welsh Elections is given.

1: The Proposals are That the National Assembly should continue to have 60 members.
Despite the fact that it will undoubtedly take on more powers in the next decade. This would with the other proposals fix the number of Am's irrespective of any increase in Workload of AM's.

2: That the Assembly electoral boundaries should be changed to allow for 30 rather than 40 Assembly constituencies, coterminous with the new constituencies being introduced for the House of Commons. Or if the decision is to retain the current 40 constituencies, the boundaries should be adjusted to equalise the number of voters within each constituency.


The 1st part makes the assumption that the number of Welsh Seats will be fixed for decades and the second looks like a nightmare as in the Westminster proposals people will be lumped together just to make up an number irrespective of any identification.


3) That the ban on candidates standing for a constituency and also taking a place on the 'regional list' should be removed.


I agree with this but if there is a 30/30 split then almost all the leaders of the Parties Will chose the regional option realising that being on top of a list of 6 for a region will ensure their election and that they would not have to nurse a potentially marginal constituency but concentrate on their Assembly profile .


4: That Assembly members should cease to be allowed to sit in The House of Commons or The second Chamber.

This has some merit; But why should this apply to Wales alone? and not Scotland and Northern Ireland  . The Spanish Second Chamber has 264 members . 208 directly elected and 56 appointed by the assemblies of the autonomous regions. Perhaps this should be considered along with Lords reform?


Since Labour are the Party who have most to lose from this. They (despite Pater Hain) are opposed arguing that such decisions should be made in Wales. Though they seemed quite happy with Westminster changing the rules on standing for a constituency and also taking a place on the 'regional list' . When they were in power there.


Plaid Jonathan Edwards although making it clear he supported STV made a similar proposal to Cheryl Gillian last year something that might haunt him when the issue is debated and the Liberal Democrats will probably go along as at the moment regional seats are their future. Though theylike Plaid wil make a half-hearted  case for STV.


So we have a consultation paper which gives us very little choice and clearly with the argument that there should be boundary changes even if we remain with 40 Constituency seats.


Once again the future Democracy of Welsh Government will be decided at Westminster with a token consultation period where those who support a greater form of proportional representation will be ignored.


This would never happen in Scotland and Northern Ireland and shows once again the contempt that Westminster holds for the people of Wales and that when they accept devolution of power to Scotland and Northern Ireland they still feel that somehow Wales don't deserve it.


Update 12:00Pm


Subordinate Central has quoted La Pasionaria as saying.

“We broadly welcome the UK Government’s proposals to protect, and possibly increase, the proportional element and fairness of our voting system. Welsh Liberal Democrats have long argued for a fully proportionate system of voting but given the current political situation we believe that any step to make our National Assembly more democratic and accountable is welcome.

So that's we are going to have to accept this and we won'y be rocking any boat by arguing for STV or by upseting Labour too much as we look to be their coalition partners.

Are there to many Bosses in the Bay?

The Western Maul reports that . Almost four out of five of staff working for the Welsh Government are designated as managers, astonishing new figures have revealed. The  Mule claims that the statistics, released to the Welsh Conservatives following a written question from leader Andrew RT Davies, show that of the 5,424 employed by the Government as of March this year, 4,189 – or 77% – were classed as managers

A reply sent to Andrew Davies  by the Welsh Government’s permanent secretary, Dame Gill Morgan, showed that currently, of 5,424 employees, 4,189 are managers.

Of these, 1,090 are at management band 3, 1,269 at management band 2, 888 at management band 1, 647 at executive band 2, 175 at executive band 1 and 120 are senior civil service.

Just 1,156 are classified as "team support" – below management level – while 79 were classified "other".

But this is the Way the Civil Service Works . When I worked briefly for Custom and Excise on a temporary  basis in the 90's . I was on the lowest level and Administrative Assistant Every one was above me.

For lower grades many departments overlay their own grading structure however the across government is as below.

Grade	Military Equivalent
Grade 6
Grade 7	Colonel, Captain, Group Capt
Senior Executive Officer (SEO)	Lieutenant Colonel, Commander, Wing Commander
Higher Executive Officer (HEO)	Major, Lieutenant Commander, Squadron Leader
Executive Officer (EO)	Captain, Lieutenant, Flight Lieutenant
Administrative Officer
Administrative Assistant

This is only a guide and  the comparison with Military rank somewhat misleading as EO was considered quite a low position.

But  I suppose since from Executive Officer up. The post holder was responsible to the person below them then  the But as  Welsh Government said that all staff above team may well have  classed as management, as they would have some level of supervisory responsibility, whether they were managing staff, projects or finances.

So on the project I was working on only a few of us (Most of whom were on temporary contracts)  would probably  not be classed as managers. However this was an Important project that involved expertise on Custom's procedure so it didn't reflect the Civil Service as a whole. and I suppose the close to Government probably needs people with more expertise than in other parts of the Civil Service.But as I said  the Executive Offices (of Which there were the most) were hardly exalted positions . Being were those who entered  with a degree started out.. So it would appear they would be immediately be classed as managers.

We should take note of this and study the figure  to see if we do have "To Many Chiefs and not enough Indians ". But it may be that calling some one a manager in the Assembly is just a term to say that they simply give an annual assessment of the Admin Officer below them.

Lab/LibDem Coalition in the Assembly ?

Peter Black has commented on the alleged snubing of Leanne Woods, by the Trade Union Unite .Which in fact was a Labour Loyalist believing that he solely spoke for his members in what is supposed to be a Democratic Institution.

But its Peter's end comment that is perhaps of greater interest He writes......

"Labour too appear to have commited a tactical error in the vehemence of their response. Clearly, there is no love lost amongst the former coalition partners, but the rift between them is growing wider.
Labour do not have a majority in the Assembly chamber and need to work with other parties to get things done. All they have succeeded in doing this week is to close down their options and hand a stronger negotiating hand to the Welsh Liberal Democrats".

This resulted in the following exchanges

"a stronger negotiating hand to the Welsh Liberal Democrats"

Yes, after the hiding you got in the local elections - just about everywhere!# posted by maen_tramgwydd : 11:32 AMI don't see the relevance of that to what goes on in the Assembly# posted by Peter Black : 11:35 AMI think that Welsh Liberal Democrats should resign themselves to the role of vocal spectators in theAssembly and local government for some time to come.# posted by Martin : 1:11 PMI cannot see why we should do any such thing. We are a party of government and our elected representatives have a duty to secure the best possible deal for their constituents and to seek to implement our policies. We will take whatever opportunities are available to do that.

It seems that Peter is making it clear that the LibDems are seeking to enter coalition with Labour in the Assembly. Indeed there seems to be more than a hint of as desperation here . As although Plaid and the Conservatives did badly in the local election . It was disastrous for the Liberal Democrats.


They now have only 73 councillors throughout Wales.

Control None,

Lead None, 

Are the Largest Party on None 

and there are 7 councils where they have no councillors at all.


Peter obviously thinks that only option is get into some position of Power in Wales by forming a Labour Coalition with Labour. Who probably feel they currently hold all the cards So if the LibDems do join it is unlikely they will get anything out of it apart from their Pupil Premium project.


Maybe that's all the Libdem can do hope La Pasionaria (and maybe Peter Black) himself secure a  minor cabinet post and get positive publicity. 

Though it didn't work for them last time they formed a coalition with the Assembly as iit also failed to do for Plaid.

In fact if I was Labour leader I would invite the LibDems in . The only strength of the latter in the Assembly is La Pasionaria attacks on the Welsh Governments handling of the easy targets of Health and Education where any opposition can find fault. Giving her a seat in the government will remove a relative thorn in their side.

I don't see any advantage for the LibDems or Plaid in any coalition with a minority Labour Government . The desire for a Cabinet post may be strong but neither Party is in a position to wrench major concessions from Labour (Such as bringing in STV) and perhaps they should concentrate on being effective oppositions

Union Leader shows his loyalty lies with the Labour Party not its members

Leanne Wood's attempt to form a new Progressive Alliance which met with some interest from from the
Public and Commercial Services Union  has been completely rebutted by Unite or rather the Union's "Leader"  in Wales.   Labour Loyalist Andy Richards, who made it clear where his if not his members interest lay.

In a statement accusing the Plaid Leader of opportunism. he said...

“Unite Wales is already committed to working with our fellow trade unionists and other community organisations in Wales to fight the UK government’s austerity agenda and further action against the cuts is high on the agenda at next week’s conference.
“But we want to go one step further for the people of Wales and next week will open our discussion on ‘Making Devolution Work’ – a positive progressive policy debate on how we work within a devolved Wales to win for workers and the Welsh economy as whole.”
Past experience meant that unions would “not be fooled by Plaid Cymru’s attempts to portray themselves as trade union friendly nor are they the party of Welsh working people”, he went on.
“There is only one party for the working people of Wales, the party that the trade unions founded to give a voice to working people – the Labour Party. This is why it is called the Labour Party,” .

So

• Unite "is committed to working with our fellow Trade Unionists . Apparently only  as long as they support the Labour Party it seems.
•  Past experience meant that unions would “not be fooled by Plaid Cymru’s attempts to portray themselves as trade union friendly nor are they the party of Welsh working people” but they can continue to fooled by a party that has been in power for 13 years and did little to improve workers rights. Does Andy Richards really claim that the Blair/Brown Governments.Who made it clear even before coming to power  that they were focusing on "Middle England" were fighting for the working class? When in recent years has Labour at Westminster,Cardiff Bay or Local Authority stood up for the working class.
• “There is only one party for the working people of Wales, the party that the trade unions founded to give a voice to working people – the Labour Party. This is why it is called the Labour Party,” . There are thousands of working people in Wales who have never supported the Labour Party who are as loyal Trade Union Members as Andy Richards but are denied a voice because of the Unions blind loyalty .to Labour or even some of their leaders attempt to represent that party at Westminster or Cardiff Bay as a MP or AM.where these career politicians will ignore their former members struggles.

A few weeks ago in the three councils that treated his workers appallingly by cutting their wages Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend ,and Rhondda Cynon Taf. Labout swept the board as they did in the rest of Wales. 

In this they were aided by Unions like Unite who represent many of the workers affected by these cuts who still showed loyalty to a Party that where behaving worse than Tory ones when they failed to denounce the Council Leaders for their betrayal of the Working Class members employed by these councils. This with the tacit and sometimes enthusiastic backing of the Welsh Media saw thousands of Welsh people giving their support to a Party whose response to coalition cuts was to ask "How Deep do you want them"

Richards may have a point when he accuses Leanne Wood of opportunism (She is a politician after all). But to reject outright overtures from anyone,  because it could threaten his members loyalty to the Labour party rather than to his Union Is not one of them.

Unite is there to fight for its members.Not to see a a right wing  Tory Lib/Dem Government that treats workers with contempt, replaced with a right wing Labour Government , that does the same out of historical loyalty.

The Western Mule report gleefully claims that

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood’s dream of building an “alliance of progressives” against UK Government cuts looks over before it even got started..

Andy Richards s  reaction  to her overture shows she has a long way to go: But then the Union Leaders who see their role in supporting Labour rather than its members are probably not her target.

Denbighshire literally elects the wrong Councilor.

Denbighshire council has apologised after a Labour candidate appeared to have lost an election when votes were wrongly handed to a Tory rival.


Council said human error was to blame for votes for Paul Penlington being counted towards Allan Pennington in the elections on 4 May.


In a night which saw big gains for Labour in the County Particularly in Rhyl and Prestatyn the result in Prestatyn North.was declared as


.

Prestatyn North - results  2012

Election Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Carys Louise Guy-Davies	Labour	633	13%	Elected
Jason Mathew McLellan	Labour	598	12%	Elected
Allan Geoffrey Pennington	Conservative	580	12%	Elected
Michael Adrian German	Independent	557	12%	Not elected
Isobel Marion German	Independent	538	11%	Not elected
George Peter Anthony Flynn	Independent	472	10%	Not elected
Gwynn Alexander Clague	Independent	438	9%	Not elected
Paul Penlington	Labour	366	8%	Not elected
Michael John Eckersley	Conservative	325	7%	Not elected
Michelle Monique Marie Pope	Conservative	314	7%	Not elected

The result saw a big swing to Labour on the previous election

Prestatyn North - results 2008

Election Candidate	Party	Votes	%
George Arthur Green	Conservative	741	15%	Elected
Allan Geoffrey Pennington	Conservative	709	14%	Elected
Michael John Eckersley	Conservative	696	14%	Elected
Michael Adrian German	Independent	684	13%	Not elected
Isobel Marion German	Independent	634	12%	Not elected
David Cooper	Independent	476	9%	Not elected
Velma Wilshaw-Cryer	Labour	396	8%	Not elected
Patricia Irene Dawson	Labour	391	8%	Not elected
Amanda June Wiggan	Labour	366	7%	Not elected

It is not unusual for a popular councillor to survive  a swing against his party but eyebrows must have been raised particularly  amongst the Party Tallymen  watching the count 
.
Mr Penlington (Labour)  would have been just ahead of Mr Pennington (Con) with Ms Pope (Con ) at the bottom of the Ballot paper.


I can see how a few votes could have gone astray but this is frankly ridiculous. I don't know when the ward was counted and tiredness on behalf of the counting staff (and Tallymen) may have some factor but the system of counting seats with multiple seats is usually quite efficient involving special sheets.and of course the Party is quite clear.


And lets face it in Wales there must be  many vase of a number of Joneses from different Parties being grouped together and in this case there was a clear difference in the candidates first names.

If I had been refering to "Paul Penlington" and "Allan Geoffrey Pennington" instead of Mr then the error would be glaring.As  you can see Mr Pennington was declared the winner of one of three county council seats in Prestatyn North with 580 votes, and Labour's Mr Penlington received 366
.
It has been  that if the votes for Mr Penlington had been allocated correctly, he would have won for Labour with 605 votes to Mr Pennington's 340 which would reflect those of the other candidates for both parties.


However, the council confirmed a mistake had been made, and it was now up to Mr Penlington to decide whether to challenge the result.


Labour has a week to decide whether to challenge the result before a judge


On the evidence there will undoubtedly be be a court challenge which should reverse the result.Or Mr Pemnnigton if it is clear an error has been made could resign and a By election held which should if there is any lustice see  Mr Penlington  the only candidate.

Owen Smith gets a Non-Job.

Owen Smith will have to expand his 

Horizons

To a Fanfare of indifference from the UK Media Pontypridd MP Own Smith ,has been appointed to the Shadow post of Secretary of State for Wales .


The Pontypridd MP says he has had no animosity from his Welsh colleagues in Westminster after replacing Peter Hain as Shadow Welsh secretary.

He said......

: “There are lots of Welsh Labour MPs who could have done the job but I want us to be a team.

“The Labour group is a very strong group and collectively I hope that I can bring us forward in Westminster.

I am afraid I strongly disagree with him. It.s clear of the lack of Welsh Labour MPs to reach either Cabinet or even Shadow positions (compared with their Scottish Colleagues )   showed that they have failed to impress leader Ed Miliband as those who have gone before him have also little regard for his MPs from Wales and its likely Own Smith will be the only Welsh MP around the Cabinet table should Labour regain power in the next election.


However to fair to Owen Smith he has looked better than recent intakes and above the usual Labour placeman/woman from Wales whose role is usually to be Lobby fodder for the party and loyal when told what to vote correctly. 

Smiths political careerer almost ended before it really started., Smith worked for five years in the Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals industry Which I believe developed Viagra.

In 2006 he was selected to stand in the Blaneau Gwent By-election after the death of Peter Law ,but in a surprise to most he was defeated by Independent Dai Davies.

Fortunately for him Pontypridd's MP Kim Howells announced his intention to retire at the forthcoming election and Smith was duly selected to stand for Labour.

However it was still not plain sailing as there was a swing of 13.3% to an aggressive LibDem opponent and it looked for a moment that the normally safe seat may be threatened . However the LibDem threat has probably gone and even boundary change will not affect Owen Smith winning easily at the next election.

He is of course the son of the Historian Dai Smith. Who always give me the impression that nothing important happened in Wales before the Industrial Revolution and Wales virtually stopped once you reached Merthyr. Dai often accuses Welsh Nationalists of being narrow minded and parochial  not seeing the irony of his own one eyed view of Welsh History.

His son has played Pontypriid well and as a genuine supporter of the towns (I saw him at matches well before he was a candidate) Rugby team he has heard the discontentment with the fact there's no regional Ruby club based there  and has called for a 5th region
to be created,

Though if we can't support 4 regions it will be difficult to add another and it should  certainly not  be done to further the status of the local MP.

The worry of course is that Owen shares his Fathers Valleys parochialism and not see the picture beyond his own area a accusation often laid at his predecessor Kim Howells.

A Labour MP Secretary of State who cannot relate to the whole of Wales is as bad as a Tory Secretary of state who represents and English Constituency. 

Mind  you I suspect that once the Scottish referendum is over the post will cease to exist and Owen Smith has only a few years to impress his boss in order to get a real job.


He may be needing the political equivalent of Viagra to achieve this.

What are the Independents in Powys?

I will leave it to Y cneifwr to explain the new arrangement in Carmarthenshire  which see Labour and Independents  reforming their alliance but see Labour's replacing the Independent Meryl Gravel as leader (Presumably Kevin Madge and once again excluding the largest party.Plaid Cymru.


The council alliances are coming together where there is no Party in overall control but Powys seems to be still in deadlock.


There's  an Interesting post  by Peter Black (yes really) on the complexities of the Independents he makes the comment....

As a party politician I have always been troubled by the concept of an independent, largely because I have never been clear what one is. Obviously, I would expect somebody who considers themselves to be an independent to avoid party whips, but surely that is not enough. What do they stand for? What are their politics and what values do they bring to policy decisions?

In a number of councils there may be a number of Independent groups or one clearly  large one. The practice of the BBC and others lumping them together doesn't help. The situation in Powys is even more  confusing because there are two large Independent groups Powys Independent Alliance and the Shires Independent Group.

According to the leader of the "Shires" group 

There are fundamental differences between the two independent groups as the electors were aware at the time of the election.

However if you were to look at the election results on the Powys Council website then  they appear to simply referred to as Independents  (though they are registered groups).

Only fifty  seats of the 73 available were contested in Powys at the local elections on 3 May, and the council is currently under no overall control..

The last council was run by a coalition of Powys Independent Alliance and the Liberal Democrats which strangely Peter Black neglects to inform us). Which leads to me to speculate that this group is made up largely of Liberal Democrats who do not wish to disclose their allegiance whilst the Shires group name leads me to suspect that they consist of closet Tories.

Of course it could be the other way round or they could both be filled with Labour or Plaid supporters.But who knows?

Of course I've met Labour,LibDem, Conservative and Plaid members who either disagree with ,or sometime have no idea what)  party policy is on a issue and simply vote as they are told to particularly  in the case of Labour. 

But usually you have some ideas not only where the individual candidate stands but of the Policies of his or her party and how this will affect how your council or government is run.

With Independents you may have an idea on their attitude to potholes or closing the local school but what about the fiscal policy how would they vote on cuts?

For those living in Powys who actually had a chance to vote  and nearly a quarter Wards they didn't it must have been confusing

Of course with such small wards they well have known their candidates and simply voted on their personalities it would have probably been harder to vote on their politics.