National Left

Tuesday, 11 October 2016

Was Alun Cairns' smear part of a Question Time setup against Plaid?

Plaid Cymru have taken their complaint to the Speaker of the House of Commons about Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns’ claim there are “nationalist activists that take direct action against people who come in”.

During an appearance on BBC Question Time last week, Mr Cairns told Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood that “many” of her party’s members have “taken direct action in the past” and “broken the law to that effect”.

Mr Cairns also remarked that it “wasn’t so long ago that some of the cottages were being burned down”.

Speaking in the Commons, Arfon MP Hywel Williams said:

“Despite many requests to the Secretary of State, he has failed provide any evidence for this. Neither has he withdrawn his accusations nor apologised.
“People throughout Wales are outraged at these slurs on their communities. But for us today, his accusations relate to Plaid Cymru members.
“I am a Plaid Cymru member. Is he accusing me? Or [Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP Jonathan Edwards] or [Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP Liz Saville Roberts], English by birth and bought up in Eltham in London?”

Commons Speaker John Bercow said:

“[The] Question Time to which he refers is that on the BBC, not that in the House of Commons. While my responsibility extends to the latter, it does not do so in respect of the former, as I dare say the honourable gentleman knows very well.
“His views, nonetheless, are on the record.
“I do not treat what he has said in any way with levity or disinterest but as a matter of fact it does not fall within the remit of the chair to handle.
“We shall have to leave it there for now.”

The hashtag #WeAreWales was started on Twitter after many users took offence to some of the Welsh Secretary's comments n Thursday night's Question Time

ople are very proud to be Welsh

Being Welsh can mean a lot of different things

It doesn't matter if you speak Welsh or not...

There were even contributions from Labour AM and MPs including the First Minister.

Carwyn Jones' tweet

However maybe we need to know what part the BBC played in "setting up" the conditions for Mr Cairns atrocious smear.

The speaker assertions that

"Question Time to which he refers is that on the BBC, not that in the House of Commons".

Has merit so may be we shift this to the BBC and ask them

Did they Trawl the initial question about proposed changes to the Welsh policy of a school in Carmarthen in order to attack Leanne Wood ?

Question Time when it comes to Wales has a record of ignoring Welsh Topics and only seem to allow questions that are of the anti Welsh Nationalist nature.

And Why weas the Chair David Dimbleby reluctant to intervene and "Question" Cairns smears?

What is the BBC policy on inviting guest on Question time ?

Often there is only one or two panellists from Wales as would have happened on Thursday if Neil Hamilton had not replaced someone who puled out.

What is the procedure for choosing the Questions from the Audience.

Are questions about Wales ( where many of the panel are ignorant of the facts) only allowed to trap the Plaid panellist?

Its time the BBC explained its methods and policy on Question Time in a Welsh context indeed its time to question its so called impartiality over the nature of the program.

Monday, 10 October 2016

Does Peter Hain only supports a referendum if it gives him the result he wants?

The Tanned one Former Welsh Secretary Peter Hain will apparently according to the Wasting Mule launch a devastating attack on the plan to devolve income tax powers to the National Assembly without a referendum today .

Speaking in advance of a House of Lords debate on the Wales Bill Lord Hain, who retired as Labour MP for Neath at the 2015 general election, described the decision to remove the need for a referendum as

“a flagrant and cynical breach of promise to the electorate”.

In an article for the Mule, Lord Hain states:

“The current Secretary of State for Wales, Alun Cairns, was a government whip and voted for the 2014 [Wales] Act which put into statute the necessity for a referendum just two years ago. So why has he, and why have the government, done a U-turn after such a short space of time? Is he frightened that, if invited to vote, a majority – maybe a large one – in Wales would turn down the powers?”

So is Mr ( sorry Lord Hain's) call for a referendum about democracy coming from him because he believes the bill will be defeated in a referendum?
Supporting or opposing referendums because you can win or hope it is defeated is hardly democratic.

Lord Hain goes on to express serious concern that the Conservative Government is seeking through Income Tax devolution to place an extra burden on Welsh taxpayers. He says:

“Pooling and sharing the UK’s resources also enables redistribution from richer to poorer parts of the UK – like the coalfield communities of the South Wales Valleys. With around 40% of UK GDP concentrated in London and the South East of England, why on earth would Wales choose to cut itself off from that?”

So is Mr Hain seriously saying that we should continue as poor West Britons ? Dependent for ever on hand outs from our richer Masters in the South East of England.

As the Proclaimers sang " forever going cap in hand".

Actually I have some sympathy with the argument against Tax Raising Powers believing it is a Trojan Horse designed to give the Tories a political advantage as an low tax party in future Assembly elections .

However we must realise that to get us out of the dependency Hain was talking about we must take control of our future and that means taking responsibility across the whole spectrum of powers and that means Tax Raising Powers.

Of more importance is whether we have control of how we vary Tax rates and how much leeway we will be govern

The original legislation stated that if the people of Wales vote in a referendum for the Assembly to gain income tax-varying powers AMs would only be able to adjust rates in unison.(the Lockstep)

This seems to have been removed although the devil as always will be in the detail.

Maybe there should be a referendum but are we going to have to do so every time the there another measure of Devo Dipyn Bach,?

Tax Powers are of course not a small amount and I agree with Hain that it would probably be defeated.

Where I disagree with the Tanned One is that I would support a referendum on Major changes because it shows the will of the Welsh people not because I believe it can be Won or Lost

Sunday, 9 October 2016

When Owen Smith was on the Bus.

In a recent Blog post Pontypridd AM Mick Antoniw reported on joining First First Minister Carwyn Jones on visit the new Edwards Coaches site in Llantrisant, where they were met by owner and MD Mike Edwards.

During the visit Mick Antoniw said,

“Edwards Coaches is a real home-grown success story. With over 500 employees it is one of the biggest employers in Taff Ely. The new Llantrisant site, which I was pleased to help them acquire from the Welsh Government, will allow the company to expand further still. Edwards is a great example of what’s happening all across Wales, with the Welsh Government creating the right conditions for talented local people to make a success of their business and generate even more high-quality jobs.”

It is interesting to note that The cost of the Owen Smith campaign bus for his doomed leadership campaign was was £5,851, donated by Edwards Coaches

The Bus came in to some which was mocking on social media for the unfortunate hand positioned near the leadership contender’s groin –

Since Mick Antoniw was one of the few AM or MPs to come out for Corbyn there may not be any connection between the two stories other than the name of the Bus compamy.

The two AM shares an office with Pontypridd colleague Smith, so there may well have be interesting debates inside the Market street HQ.

As i said there is no suggestion of anything wrong here and as the Pontypridd MP and AM both Smith and Antoniw should support a local company.

Whether that should be reciprocal in the donation of a £5,851 campaign bus seems to me however questionable .

Saturday, 8 October 2016

Risca East and Gilfach Byelections.

There were two By-elections on Caerphilly Council on Thursday a council where Plaid must have hopes are intent on gaining a fir number of seats next May

Caerphilly UA, Gilfach – 6th October 2016Labour 254 [57.9%; -28.0%]
Plaid Cymru 150 [34.2%; +20.0%]
UKIP 6.4% [+6.4%; +6.4%]
Green 1.6% [+1.6; +1.6%]
Majority: 104
Turnout: 28.8%
Labour hold
Percentage change since 2012

Previous Result 2012

Labour 553 (85.87%)

Plaid 91 (14.13)

Caerphilly UA, Risca East – 6th October 2016

Labour 400 [58.9%; +1.6%]

Plaid Cymru 120 [17.7%; -1.1%]

UKIP 117 [17.2%; +17.2%]

LD Matthew John Kidner 42 [6.2%; +6.2%]

[Independent [0.0%; -24.0%]]

Majority: 283

Turnout: 14.5%

Labour hold

Percentage change since 2012

Previous Result

Labour 953, 789,769

Plaid,312,275,186

Independent 399

Neither seat are probably on Labour hit list for next May the Gilfach (Bargoed)result willbe encouraging whilst they need better results than Risca East'

The divergence in tjhe Labour vote between the Two wards may well reflect the impact of Labours Local Plan which has had a mixed reaction among the electorate.

Plaid obviously would like the sort of swing they received in Gilfach replicated next year . They may well be hoping that there will be straight fights between them and Labour in a number of seats , where voters ho do not want a Labour council do not support another Party.