Foreign Leader intervenes in Scottish Referendum,

Unionist Labour and Tory politicians as well as the media are crowing with delight  over US Barrack Obama seeming Intervention in the Scottish independence debate.

When asked at a G7 news conference in Brussels what the votes in Scotland and Europe meant to him and the people of the United States, Obama said the Scottish vote was for Scots to decide but that the United States wanted a "united" partner.

"From the outside at least it looks like things have worked pretty well and we obviously have a deep interest in making sure that one of the closest allies that we will ever have remains a strong, robust, united and effective partner,"

We can only wonder what the reaction would  be if any other foreign national leader  sought to seemingly influence a internal referendum (more below)

Or indeed if Obama had indicated that he saw no reason  why Scotland should not join the community of Nations.

There also seems little coverage of his call for the Uk to remain in the EU

But anyway as the Rev Stuart Campbell AKA Wings over Scotland in a Phone Programmer Obama’s intervention was a awkward, halting delivery from a usually brilliant speaker

But lets be clear Obama is no longer the magical Saviour of the World we pinned our hope on when he was first elected ,and his 2009 award of the Nobel Peace Prize which appears to be for what he might do in the future , is being to look like a very poor choice.

But not as bad as when back in January  the former USSR's leading news agency  reported  David  Cameron's Government sought  the backing of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the battle against Scottish independence, the former USSR's leading news agency has report

Official Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported that David Cameron's office wants support on the referendum from Putin's government

Itar-Tass, citing a source in the Conservative Prime Minister's office, said Britain was "extremely interested" in referendum support from Russia, which this year holds the presidency of the influential G8 group of rich industrial nations.

I imagine  after the intervention by the Russian President in the Ukraine that has been shelved or more likely locked a way in a dark cellar .

But it does look like Cameron's confidence in the Better Together campaign is so weak that he is seeking help from foreign leaders to help him in a internal matter.

Ukip come second in Newark . Progress or Flop?

So Ukip despite leading the European Election Poll have still to have to win a Westminster Parliamentary By-Election

By-Election 2014: Newark[19][20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Robert Jenrick	17,431	45.0	-8.9
	UKIP	Roger Helmer	10,028	25.9	+22.1
	Labour	Michael Payne	6,842	17.7	-4.7
	Independent	Paul Baggaley	1,891	4.9	N/A
	Green	David Kirwan	1,057	2.7	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	David Watts	1,004	2.6	-17.4
	Monster Raving Loony	Nick The Flying Brick	168	0.4	N/A
	Independent	Andy Hayes	117	0.3	N/A
	Bus-Pass Elvis Party	David Bishop	87	0.2	N/A
	Common Good	Dick Rodgers	64	0.2	N/A
	Patriotic Socialist Party	Lee Woods	18	0.0	N/A
Majority			7,403	19.1
Turnout			38,707	52.79	-19.61
	Conservative hold		Swing	-15.5

General Election 2010: Newark[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Patrick Mercer	27,590	53.9	+3.4
	Labour	Ian Campbell	11,438	22.3	−6.0
	Liberal Democrat	Pauline Jenkins	10,246	20.0	+1.6
	UKIP	Rev Major Tom Irvine	1,954	3.8	+1.0
Majority			16,152	31.5
Turnout			51,228	71.4	+8.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.7

At first glance this l would look like an impressive swing to Ukip but they failed in a seat that saw rge previous Tory MPercer resigning  after an investigation by the BBC's Panorama programme regarding allegations of paid lobbying without registering the interest.

Itis is allso a huge disapointment for Labour who gained the seat in the Bair landslid Fiona Jones  of 1997

General Election 1997: Newark
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Fiona Jones	23,496	45.2
	Conservative	Richard Alexander	20,480	39.4
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Harris	5,960	11.5
	Referendum Party	Graham Creedy	2,035	3.9	N/A
Majority			3,016
Turnout				74.5
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Jones was accused of fraudulently failing to declare the full amount of her election costs, and convicted of election fraud in March 1999 and had the Labour whip withdrawn. She was the first MP to be disqualified from membership of theHouse of Commons for that offence since it was introduced by the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act 1883. However, the Court of Appeal overturned her conviction within weeks: the disqualification was revoked, and she resumed her place in the House of Commons. However, she lost her seat in the 2001 general election. She later lost a civil case brought against the police for malicious prosecution, and ultimately succumbed to alcoholism.

She contested her seat in the 2001 general election, but lost to the Conservative candidate Patrick Mercer. So it possible Labour would have held the seat up to 2010

So Labour may have held the seat  up to 2010]

For the Liberal Democrats it;s another disaster.as they finish sixth.They wee once the Byelection masters particularly in the period of the Major government but now are beginning to look like a fringe party.

But what we really need to know where are the Ukip votes coming from?

Maybe i time to look at the numbers rather than the percentages.

The Tories ost 10159

Labour Lost 4594

Liberal Democrats Lost  9242

Ukip Gained 15477

12521 fewer People  voted 

So for example did Liberal Democrats vote go to Ukip or did it go to the Tories to stop Ukip or stay at home?

Maybe its time we had a decent poll of switches only then can we even hope to gather a true picture.

 

Its people like Nathan Gill who are the problem with Immigration.

It is a pity that the Mule failed to give at least some credit for a "Scoop" over the Hypocrisy of new welsh MEP Nathan Gill to Jac  O' the North

As they report 

It has emerged that Mr Gill, who lives in Anglesey, was a director of a number of family businesses that owned property and provided care services on contract to Hull City Council in Yorkshire.
He yesterday confirmed he had employed “dozens” of immigrants from new EU countries like Poland and others from the Phillipines. He also said he had provided “bunkhouse” accommodation for employees and others who had migrated from eastern Europe.
One of Ukip’s major campaign policies at the recent election was its opposition to unlimited migration from other EU countries.
Mr Gill said: “We employed people from overseas because we could not find local workers to do the jobs. We had a care home of our own, but mostly our workers were employed on home care contracts we had with Hull City Council and other organisations. The workers were paid more than the minimum wage, but not massively more.
“The amount we could afford to pay was determined by the amount of money we received from the council.
“Working in care is quite tough and we had a big turnover of staff. The bunkhouses were temporary accommodation we offered to people coming from overseas until they could get something more permanent. We charged £50 a week inclusive of electricity to people who would be earning between £200 and £300 a week. I wish I had that proportion of spending money left after paying my mortgage.”

 Mr Gill said he did not consider there was any inconsistency between his role as a Ukip politician advocating Ukip’s policies and his previous role as someone involved in importing labour from overseas.

He said:

 “So far as the workers from the Philippines were concerned, it was not at all easy to get work permits. We had to demonstrate the lengths we had gone to in trying to recruit local labour. Work permits would not have been granted if we could have recruited locally.One thing that that occurs to me that when looking at immigration it is people like Gil who are the problem.

In an age when people are on Zero Hour contracts and Manufacturing Jobs are no longer full time and workers contracts come from a Agency and not the place where they are working. It is open to the exploitation of workers.

Immigrants can be housed in condition like those used by Mr Gill and bussed to a place of work 

• They will be unaware of Employment Rights
• Or claim about working condition including Health and Safety
• They are unlikely to be a member of a Trade Union
• They will work for the Minimum Wage 

Its not the Immigrants who are the problem ,its the bastards who exploit them which as always been the 
case.

But the whole affair exposes the likes of those who represent Ukip.

They are the sort of people who believe there should be no Rules that they should be free to do what ever they like.
Of course that only apply to them anyone one who confronts  their vision if they ever get in to power will be dealt with severely

Gill of course can now just sit back spend his Wages as A MEP and do nothing  at all in the European Parliament.

Indeed I believe he has already indicated that what he intends to do.

One question that  mus be addressed, is why was it left tot a Welsh blogger with limited resources to expose this and were the media including the Wasting Mule aware of before or during the election.

One final point am I alone in finding Peter Black attempt to link story with events in Portsmouth where his Party lost the leadership of the council due to the Tories, Labour and Ukip voting for the Tory leader pathetic?

Don't lose your job if you are over 50.

Being unemployed and over 60 I must admit I was still somewhat taken back by the headline in the Mule

Prime Cymru warns: 'If you lose your job in your fifties you are statistically more likely to die that to find another job'
The report goes on to say ..

..... there are more than three times as many older people who are not in education, employment or training (Neet) and wants “equal measures” of support for the over-50s as younger jobseekers.It claims there are 214,000 jobless people aged between 50 and the state pension age in Wales while there are 62,000 younger jobseekers. The charity adds that more than 40% of unemployed men aged over fifty in Wales are still jobless after 12 months compared to 18% of young men; younger women are also twice as likely to find employment within a year than women over 50.Prime Cymru is concerned the “vast majority of programmes, projects and employability schemes are targeted at young people”. It states that 15% of people in Wales in their fifties have no formal qualifications – “at least twice the rate of any other age group.”It also argues that while in 2003 there were more than 90,000 people over fifty enrolled on part-time courses in Wales, by 2013 this figure had dropped to fewer than 48,000.

This has probably got worse since the change in sickness benefit and the movement of people off this into Jobseekers Allowance .

I recently been ill and was on Employment Support Allowance for about 9 months when I was sent to a Board which resulted me being classified as fir for work.

So I had to apply for Jobseeker allowance which resulted in me waiting in line on the phone only to have tp when connected to supply them with the information they already had.

Only three weeks later I was admitted to surgery for the removal of a Tumour from my pituitary gland that which had caused a relapse of the Acromegaly I had a 20 years ago.

On being discharged I decided that rather go through the rigmarole of signing on the sick I would continue signing on.

Unfortunately almost immediately afterI became very ill  I had to be readmitted to hospital and spent a further 8 days in their care.

So I now definitely had to claim ESA and was given a 6 week sick note by my GP

It took an age to get connected on the phone again and I had to start a new claim again given them the details they already had.

It took a month before I received any money. and if I didn.t have savings could have gone into serious debt.

Its worrying that I have to be actually certain that I m not going be ill again before rejoining Jobseekers Allowance because a system that ought to be simple is anything but, and seems designed to discourage anyone from claiming sickness benefit.or ESA as it is know.

So there you have it a man-over 60 unlikely to find a Job and who could be forced to seek non existent jobs even when to ill to take one up if by miracle offered one.

Tax Powers without real powers is compleatly pointless.

If "Scottish" Conservative leader Ruth Davidson is to believed n Scotland will be “full powers over income tax” as her party battles to persuade Scots to vote No in the September independence referendum.

Though it seems that this leads to a major shift  for her

The push by Scottish Tories to devolve sweeping tax powers contrasts with the provisions on offer to the Assembly, subject to a referendum, in the Wales Bill.

The Scottish Conservative-commissioned Strathclyde Commission recommended that the setting of tax rates and bands should be decided by members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs).

ther's a detailed comparison on this by Eurfyl ap Gwilym on Click on Wales  but maybe it a coment on this by that sums it up nicely 

Sion Jones says:If the Conservatives amend the Wales Bill now, to remove the lockstep, that could send a strong signal to Scottish voters that they are committed to the income tax proposals put forward for Scotland by the Strathclyde Commission today. Lack of trust in what a future UK Government will do in the event of a No vote in the Scottish referendum is an issue that the unionist parties need to address.

Plaid Cymru Treasury spokesman Jonathan Edwards said:

 “The Tory proposals for Scotland are for full income tax devolution for Scotland and go way beyond the tax-sharing arrangement between the Welsh and UK governments proposed in the Wales Bill. Full income tax devolution would give the Scottish Government maximum flexibility to boost their economy and achieve their social justice objectives. It would also increase borrowing capacity to invest in infrastructure creating jobs and growth.”

 “Whatever the result of the independence referendum in Scotland it seems that the Scottish Government will have far more job creating powers at their disposal. Wales must not be left behind and a first step would be for the Wales Bill to be amended in the House of Lords to remove the lockstep mechanism currently included in the Bill.”

But its the mighty Wings over Scotland who put the whole explain the Tories seemingly keenness over devolving Tax powers.

1. The Tories never expect to control the Scottish Parliament. They expect, quite reasonably given that Scotland hasn’t voted Tory for almost 60 years, that for the forseeable future it will always be controlled by either the SNP or Labour.

2. Therefore, it’s not in the Conservatives’ interests to ever do anything to make it stronger, because all it’s ever likely to do is get in the way of a Tory government at Westminster and cause trouble.

3. Therefore, anything the Tories actually propose will in fact be designed to have the effect of weakening the Scottish Parliament so that it can be less of thorn in Westminster’s side. This isn’t particularly evil, just sensible, pragmatic politics.

(In this particular case, the mechanism of weakening is to impose a large burden of additional and pointless bureaucracy in order to administer an abstract and unusable “power” and put extra strain on the Scottish budget, limiting its ability to introduce or maintain social-democratic policies at odds with Tory ideology.)

At least with this you can substitute Wales for Scotland and see what the Tories real agenda is.

I wonder how devolving powers even with the lockstep was removed how much real lleway  DevoMax will give a Scottish Parliament to adjust Tax to Scottish circumstances .

Don't get me wrong . There must be a time that a grown up legislature starts working on its own revenue but one wonders whether with out an almost Federal structure this can work ,

Having Tax raising powers without an increase in Powers in virtually every other sector probably means it will hardly be used.

All Women Shortlist may not be the answer, but we need one badly.

The BBC reports that

"A Labour MP at the centre of a row over an enforced all-women shortlist to replace her says local party members should be allowed to make their own decisions.
The Cynon Valley constituency needs a replacement as MP Ann Clwyd retires at next year's general election.
They have been told the new candidate must be chosen from a female-only shortlist.
The edict, from the Welsh Labour party, and has angered some local members.
Some now want to meet urgently with Labour, which says it has a proud record of increasing diversity in politics.
Local secretary Alun Williams said the constituency needed the best candidate, regardless of their sex, and the local party was being "taken for granted".
Ms Clwyd said she did not want to influence the process, but added: "It's completely up to the people in the party locally to make their own decision."

Whatever you think about All Women Short List you must admit  the number of Women MPS  who have  represented  Welsh constituencies is woeful I have prepared a List  of them (which I hope is accurate but please correct me).

 Past

• Megan   Lloyd  George Anglesey Liberal  1929-21/Carmarthen  Labour 1957-66
• Eirine White Flint East  Labour 1950-70
• Dorothy Ress Barry  Labour 1950-51
• Jackie Lawrence Preseli  Labour , 1997 -2005.
• Betty  Williams Labour Conwy 1997-2010

Present 

• Ann Clwyd, Cynon Valley, Labour Cynon Valley Labour 1984-
• Julie Morgam Cardiff North  Labour  1997 –  2010
• Jenny Willott, Cardiff Central, Lib Dem Libertal Democtat 2005
• Jessica Morden, Newport East, Labour  2005
• Nia Griffith, Llanelli,  Labour 2005-
• Sian James, Swansea East, Labour 2005
•  Madeleine Moon, Bridgend, Labour 2005
• Jessica Morden, Newport East, Labour 2005
•  Susan Elan Jones, Clwyd South, Labour  2010

To date there has been no Plaid or Tory Female MPs though unless there's a disaster in Dwyfor Meirionnydd Plaid should get their first next year.

Clearly we are wasting a great deal of Talent and whilst I accept the list above especially the current crop have hardly set Welsh pol tics alight the same could be said for the Men who represent us at Westminster.

The problem with All Women Shortlist is that it has been used by the Labour Hierarchy to impose candidates who are compliant with the Leadership and the Blair Babes of 1997 certainly give that impression.

I do not believe more Women will improve Parliament just because they are Women . They will behave just as badly as the men but we are clearly wasting talent 

But it is ridiculous the  since women were given the vote only a small number from Wales have sat on the Green Benches at Westminster.

It is 2014 for heavens sake and our Legislature whether in Westminster or Cardiff bay should by now be approaching 50/50 but  even with the efforts some parties have put in to improve this we seem as far as way as ever . 

Tory Historian claims " Devolution has ruined Wales".

The historian Hywel Williams an not the Plaid MP has written in the Telegraph a piece 

Claiming that Devolution has ruined Wales and that Handouts from Westminster combined with greater political independence have led to a loss of original thinking

 Hywel Williams was a cabinet adviser between 1993 and 1995 and and has long provided us with a somewhat revisionist view of Welsh history from the right  which while I find  that I be very rarely agree with his analysis at leas makes me thinkt usually pushing me the opposite way

He writes

Government expenditure now accounts for two-thirds of the country’s national income – a point at which Welsh dependence on the Treasury acquires a dimension that is neocolonial. The devolutionary settlement of the late Nineties gave Wales the appearance of greater autonomy, but the transfer of an ability to spend other people’s money has had an unfortunate effect. Greater political independence, if it is to be a healthy development, ought to be associated with intellectual originality. But Wales’s devolutionary world remains mired in a set of attitudes that see nothing wrong with centralised economic planning, however ineffective, and the steady extension of subsidies, however ruinous of enterprise.A devolution dividend should have been delivered by now – 15 years after the brave new dispensation. But most indices are bleak in terms of joblessness, secondary school results and of course the NHS, where the Welsh passion for the committee, given new life by devolution, has ensured a bureaucratic sclerosis.

I can'r disagree with some of his statement Devolution has not given us the dividend we needed or deserved .

But  this is because  of one of the factors that Williams does not highlight  the fact that the assembly is merely a outlet for spending Money and has no real powers to galvanise Wales.

We are after all only able to spen the pocjkt monney westminster gruduingly givres.

There a World of difference between an Independent Nation or indeed a federal state  that has control over is  its economy whilst all the Welsh Government can do his work out how to divide the money it gets from Westminster and with the NHS getting the bulk how to set priorities for the rest.

He writes

. And its self-congratulatory talk of being “radical” is framed by nostalgia rather than contemporary need. It may be difficult to justify state socialism in explicit terms these days but “community values” can work as a kind of synonym. Indeed, Cymry has its origins as a term for those who band together.
The fact that this self-ascription originated among 7th-century warriors on the run need not discomfit the Welsh rhetorician of today who wants to establish “community” as an unique national value. Schools and hospitals therefore exist primarily to serve “local communities” – a convenient abstraction which transcends duties of care to individual patients, parents and pupils.
Similarly, the derelict condition of the South Wales valley towns is supposedly alleviated by the existence of “community centres”. Social relationships are real enough as a source of strength and support. But enjoyment of others’ company is not a character trait that is unique to the Welsh condition, and few of my compatriots entertain that fantasy.

Coming from a supporter of the Conservatives  who have a leadership of Public Schoolboys its perverse to claim Wales    Wales has a ruling class whose composition is drawn from the major political parties

Williams offers criticism but very litle in solutions unless it to suggest we abandon the Assembly and submit  to the wise rule rule of David Cameron ,George Osborne and Iain Duncun Smith.  Indeed this seems to be part of the Tories Assembly Bashing campaign from Westminster Tories

We need to admit the failings of the Assembly but in doing so we must reject the idea that we can't provide answers ourselves.

But we need a reinvigorate of Welsh  life and ed that will not come from Blue or Red Tories in Westminster  but in the creation of an Independent Wales base on the sought of community socialism Hywel Williams  seems to be so opposed to.

One further point if you look at the article be prepared to read the comments column which invokes a number of insulting indeed racist views on Wales and its People . 

Reading this should to lead us not to rally around the Assembly and the Welsh Labour government but to realise that what we have insignificant for the job that needs to be done and Labour must change from its complacent government or be prepared  surrender power to a party that has a the sort of radical view for the future of Wales than Hywel wiliams would really hate.