Unholy Alliance to be tested in North Lanarkshire.

A intriguing story drom Scotlamd as emerges as Conservative candidate who won a council seat in May has refused to take up the job, STV News has learned.

Sandy Thornton was elected to serve on North Lanarkshire Council after he won a seat in the Fortissat ward.

Following May's election, Mr Thornton has declined to sign the official paperwork needed to become a councillor.

STV News understands Mr Thornton did not attend the election count or even have his official council photograph taken.

It is believed Mr Thorton was a paper candidate and not expected to win.

A by-election will now be held on September 7. The local poll is estimated to cost taxpayers around £25,000.

Fortissat - 4 seats
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6
	Labour	Martin McCulloch	29.29	1,477
	SNP	Thomas Cochrane (incumbent)	20.15	1,016
	Conservative	Sandy Thornton†	13.29	670	678	678	691	948	1,121
	A Better Britain – Unionist Party	Jeffrey McDonald	11.08	559	574	574	591
	Independent	Charlie Cefferty (incumbent)	10.09	509	527	527	661	754
	SNP	Mags Murphy	8.9	449	469	475
	Labour	Kenneth Stevenson	7.2	363	715	715	806	891	1,117
Electorate: 12,051   Valid: 5,043   Spoilt: 139   Quota: 1,009   Turnout: 5,182 (43.0%)

The Council seems to be a prime example of the Unholy Unionist Alliamce  between the Lanour Party and the Tories as the election saw the Scottish National Party overtake Labour as the largest party on the council. Despite victory for the SNP, North Lanarkshire is now a Labour/Tory council, after Labour leader Jim Logue was appointed Leader of the Council with the support of the ten-strong Conservative group, at the first meeting on 18 May after a deal between the two parties, which saw the Tory leader appointed as convener of the Audit & Scrutiny committee

So although it is difficult to predict a Byelection  which is based on a Multi member seat elected by the Single Transferable Vote (STV). Given the fact that the lead Labour Candidate was welll ahead on the First Preference vote (on a generally bad night for the party) this should see a Labour win.

Will the Tories put up another paper candidate?  what will the reaction of the electors particularity Labour voters be to Labour 's alliance with the Tories?

This may well see a Unionist/Nationalist battle in which the Unholy Aliance  will be exposed for what it is.

Indeed we may well see the future of Scottish Politics laid bare, where this leaves Labour in Scotland , will be interesting , How are the Corbyn supporters going to explain that their Scottish Branch are in the pockets of Ruth Davidson's Scottish Tories?


s

Tories will not tell us why Policing is not devolved.

The Blog Plaid  Wrecsam should be a model  for all Plaid  Constituency or local Branch.

Yesterday they  told us  that 

Figures provided by Dyfed Powys Police show that if policing in Wales was funded on the basis of population, they would be better off by £25 million per year. Devolving policing to Wales, bringing Wales into line with Scotland and northern Ireland, would ensure that policing would be funded through the Barnett Formula, which is based on population, rather than the UK Government’s police funding formula.

The UK Government also intends on reforming its police funding formula which, if implemented, would deliver a further £32 million cut to the Welsh police forces.

Devolving policing could therefore protect the Welsh police forces from Westminster’s £32 million cut and instead deliver a £25 million boost to their finances.

Llyr Gruffydd, Plaid Cymru’s North Wales AM, said:

“The fall in police numbers is being felt acutely in certain communities here in the North, where anti-social behaviour is on the rise and there’s a feeling that police can’t cope. Losing one in every 12 police officers in the last seven years would stretch any organization and it’s clear that frontline policing has suffered as a result of Tory cuts and UK central government policies.”

At the same time Plaid's leader in the House of common pushed the claim that Welsh police forces would be £25m a year better off if the service was devolved,

Liz Saville Roberts challenged Theresa May at Prime Minister's Questions, saying Wales had lost 750 officers since the Tories took power in 2010.

Mrs May said crime was at a record low, and that the Conservatives had protected police funding since 2015.

She also pointed to the creation of the National Crime Agency and a national cyber crime unit as boosting resources.

Ms Saville Roberts, who leads Plaid Cymru at Westminster, told the House of Commons:

"Police officer numbers in Wales have dropped by 10 per cent since her party came to power."

Referring to figures provided by Dyfed-Powys Police, she added: 

"If policing were devolved - as it is in Northern Ireland and Scotland - Welsh forces would have extra funding worth £25m at their disposal.

"This would more than replace those lost officers.
"What justification is there for refusing to devolve policing?"

Of course this being Prime Ministers Question Time , Mrs May did not  actually give an answer  only flim-flim flsm

She said,

“We’ve been round this discussion before but can I just address the central issue of what the honourable lady is talking about which is about police budgets and is about the number of police officers.

“We are currently protecting police budgets, we’ve been doing that since 2015.

“That, I believe is acknowledged across the House and we’ve not just protected those police budgets – we are ensuring that the Police have the capabilities they need to deal with new types of crime - creating the National Cybercrime unit, creating the National Crime Agency – these are all important steps to ensure the Police can do their job of cutting crime and crime is at a record low.”

Nothing about Plaids question of why unlike Northern Ireland and Scotland  We do not have Policing devolved.

The answer is presumably  that we are not grown up enough for such responsibility.

At least it would be an answer and not a delve in to the Tory Book of Lies Facts.

The Tories are not solely to blame for Grenfell.

For some years Mu family lived if Council owned flats in Beddau  it was a hideous looking which quickly gained the nickname  Coldiz or Alcatraz.

To me it resembled a multi-story car park.
For years there was a run our that it has won a prize  and I latter found out that ir was fir housing the maxim number of people in the minimum amount of space.

The thing was that Beddau is not an inner City  and there was space to build normal social houses.

Then of course came Thatcher and the right to buy which was  supposed to create a property owning democracy but in many case the original buyers moved on and many of these homes are now part of the buy to rent  scene,

I am nor trying to relate my own experience  with  that of the tragedy that has happened in Kensington and the Grenfell fire.

But it should be pointed out that this could    have happened  in other Cities and Burroughs and to simply blame the Tories who control the councils is wrong.

Having lived in London I know that the cost od accommodation is beyond that of the vast majority people  and particularly low paid.

The solution in inner cities id to place them in the sort of Tower Blocks like Grenfell so those who service the more well off are nearby.

Pt may well be that Councils turn a blind eye to overcrowding as more than the allotted number  live there and that is why many believe the death toll in Grenfel will be much higher than expected from the registered residents.

The anger directed at the Tories is justified but Labour Councils on London and elsewhere have failed to address the problem and the same cam be said of our devolved  governments.

We need to make sure that the tragedy of Grenfell  does not happen again anywhere in the UK but we need to address the wider issue of why so many people were living there?

Of course the solution in London will be different in Cities, Urban and Rural  areas but we need to address how to accommodate those who need housing but can't afford to buy.

It is clear that Grenfell could have happened in a Labour (or other ) run  Borough

All parties need to address these issues  and those currently solely blaming the Tories need to take a hard look at what they have done to address the issue.

We need an All Wales Deal not City Deals

I must admit that I am somewhat sceptical of City Deals , It seems to me that  it could lead to centralisation of  resources and and over concentration to the detriment  of those living outside the designated area

So Labour AM  Eluned Morgan should be applauded in saying  that Rural Wales needs the equivalent to the city deals struck around Cardiff and Swansea. 

Ms Morgan said a strategy is needed as a matter of urgency so rural areas can have the same kind of attention parts of urban Wales have had.

It is one recommendation in a wide-ranging report calling for a coherent rural economic strategy post-Brexit.

The Welsh Government said it would ensure rural interests were protected as the UK prepared to leave the EU.

The Labour AM for Mid and West Wales has worked with a group of business people to draw up the report, which she is presenting to Economy Secretary Ken Skates on Monday.

The Cardiff City Region Deal is expected to be worth £1.2bn to the capital and surrounding authorities over 20 years - while the Swansea Bay equivalent has been billed as potentially triggering £1.3bn in investment.

 Ms Morgan said .

"There are two major challenges confronting rural Wales today," "One is Brexit and the fact that we are not only going to be losing structural funds... but also we will be losing subsidies to farmers."Secondly, there is and has been a focus in Wales in recent years on city deals. That money is now being agreed with UK central government and there is as yet no such deal in sight for rural Wales."That's why we have to start to develop a strategy where we can catch-up and have the same kind of attention that those city areas have had.""We now need a rural deal," 

The report said consideration should be given to establishing an independent rural commissioner, to be responsible for rural-proofing policy and to ensure rural Wales is considered in Welsh Government programmes.

It said a "plan must be in put in place... to ensure rural Wales has an ability to flourish economically in the future, and continue to be a viable environment for young people and old to live and work."

However  if we were to to do this it would effectively mean that  we are basically investing  in Rural Wales in the same way we are in the Cities,

We could also see  calls for a new Strategy  for the Valleys or we will see resources  being put in to the coastal cities  and draining resources from areas like  the Rhondda.

In other words  we need  an All Wales Strategy ,

Well that is what the Assembly is there for and our AM must insure that we simply follow Westminster diktats  on City Deals  that bypass any plans that "Our Welsh Government" have especially  if as been pointed out it may have a departmental  affect on other parts of Wales .

However we need an Assembly with not only the political power but the political will to do so.

Despite Eluned Morgan's  statement at the moment  we have neither.

Can Plaid rise to the challenge ?

End collective worship in Welsh schools

After yesterdays blog  on the religious  sectarianism of Irish (and to some extent  Scottish) politics the issue of the role of religion in Wales has been raised by two School Children.

Despite the fact that until the devolution  Act the only pieces of unique  Welsh Legislation were  of 1881 (which was repealed on a UK wide Act in 2003 and the Church  Disestablishment Act , which took effect  in 1920.

Both reflected  the Non- Conformist nature of Wales ,

But is it now not time to accept that Wales is a largely secular Nation in which religion does not have the role it used to have.

It is still a legal requirement for schools to hold collective acts of worship.

But the Petitions Committee wrote to Ms Williams asking her to consider if it was compatible with human rights law.

The committee took the decision on Tuesday after receiving a petition from Cardiff schoolgirls Rhiannon Shipton and Lily McAllister-Sutton, who had collected 1,333 signatures.

The petition called on the assembly to urge the Welsh Government to pass a law that removes the obligation on schools to hold acts of religious worship​.

The girls, who say they do not believe in God, said it was time their school - Glantaf - and others in Wales, adopted modern attitudes.

The committee also received another petition, launched in response, to keep the current guidelines for religious assemblies.

This petition, submitted by Iraj Irfan, was signed by 2,231 people.

A Church in Wales spokeswoman said:

 "The law that requires a daily act of worship in schools is not a mandate to compel pupils to recite the Lord's Prayer, and be so inspired that they turn up at church the following Sunday.
"Rather, it is an invitation to experience what faith and commitment means, in a broadly Christian way, whilst understanding and appreciating other faith perspectives."
..... "Often young people are put off collective worship in schools because it is not done particularly well.
"Collective worship should be a richly rewarding spiritual experience that is creative, interactive and informative."

When I was in School  many years ago I had already  ceased to believe in God  by the age of eleven  and yet had  to take part i the School Assembly .

Catholics  held their own service  and would troop in half way through for the Headmasters announcement m which sometimes  called on my form to remain behind,

Today many Schools have a number of Faiths in both Staff and Pupil makeup and it is ridiculous  to pretend that only one Religion is  dominant  let alone that based on the disestablished Church in Wales.

It may be that the nature of the School Assembly may be more collective nature , but it does not take in to account Nonbelievers 

Ysgol Glantaf's headmaster Alun Davies has said he respects the fact two of his pupils have expressed their opinion and that the school encourages this.

He said while the emphasis was on Christianity, there are times when the school holds assemblies when pupils come together to discuss other themes and moral issues.

But Wales Humanists have described the practise as "archaic".

Coordinator Kathy Riddick said:

 "Forcing children to worship a god they may or may not believe in is obviously unacceptable and represents an affront to young people's freedom of religion or belief."It shouldn't take two school pupils to convince the Welsh Government of this, but nevertheless we hope Kirsty Williams will now give this the attention it deserves and remove this archaic and discriminatory requirement as soon as possible."

I concur  Religion should be a matter of choice rather than compulsion, its place in schools should be part of an explanation of Faith and what they are as part of a spectrum  of tier History, Philosophy and social position.

The Nasty face of Unionism.

To some extent Wales  has not experienced the Sectarian  Politics  of Northern Ireland and parts pf Scotland , 

Although there were Anti-Irish riots in Non-conformist Wales  we sometime found common cause

Addressing a large and enthusiastic audience at Blaenau Ffestiniog on 12 January, 1886, Michael Davitt, the leader of the Irish Land League, declared:
“I rejoice that there is now a kindlier feeling and a better understanding between the Irish and the Welsh than that which obtained in years gone by.”
The meeting was chaired by Michael D. Jones, passionate land reformer, pioneer of the Welsh settlement in Patagonia and father of modern Welsh nationalism. The contribution of the two Michaels was the subject of an eloquent panegyric by the proposer of the vote of thanks.
“One Michael with his angels”, he said, “had thrown down Satan, what could two Michaels, one Welsh, one Irish, do if they worked in harmony.”
The speaker was David Lloyd George. He was then twenty‑three years old and this, his first major public speech, much impressed Davitt.
“You must get this fellow into Parliament”, he told Michael D. Jones. “He is saying in Wales what we are saying in Ireland.”
Four years later Lloyd George won the by‑election in Caernarfon Boroughs, thus launching his fifty‑five year career as a member of the House of Commons.

OK DLG may not have eventually ensnared  him self to Irish Nationalism . but then as niw we should  realise we have a common cause

so as we eventual head for Independence  we migh not sww such a statement as that of the Orange Order in Scotland as Wings over Scotland pointed pit

We can only  shudder to think what the reaction of Westminster Government reliant  on what could be legitimately called the political arm of the Orange Oder the DUP when Indyref 2 is called. 

Non Conformist Wales has slowly died along with Anti- Irish ( Catholic) sentiments  though it is now immigrants from the Rest of the World who are the victims  of the  prejudices we share. 

However when we finally get the courage to seek out own independence , we can only hope that  the nasty fave of Unionism does not  emerge 

Reading some of the comments after the Guardians  appealing attack  on Welsh Medium education  there are some real nasty Anti-Welsh Bigots who may emerge together  if not under a Orange flag something reminiscent.

Pork Barrel politics in Northern Ireland would be disastrous.

Wales Online have published what Northern Ireland   cam expect  from The UK Government has in return for the DUP propping up Theresa May’s minority Conservative administration.

The deal will boost Northern Ireland’s spending power by nearly £1.5bn and allow the type of investment in the health service, education and infrastructure that many people would love to see happen in Wales.

1. £200m for roads
2. £75m broadband
3. . Replacing lost EU funds
4. Giving N.Ireland the power to slash corporation tax
5. A 'comprehensive and ambitious set of city deals' for Northern Ireland
6. Devolving VAT on tourism business and tax on flights?

The interesting thing is that Northern Ireland hasn't even got a functioning executive at.the moment as the final final deadline  on the talks for the Northern Ireland Government is extended once again.

The BBC understands the latest round of Stormont talks ended at about 19:30 BST on Friday, breaking up fairly abruptly and not in a positive mood.

Sinn Féin said no progress was made but added talks will resume on Saturday.

The absence of devolved government in Northern Ireland "cannot continue for much longer," Secretary of State James Brokenshire has said.

He spoke after another day of talks between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin ended with no deal.

Speaking on the BBC's Any Questions programme, Mr Brokenshire said: 

"We've obviously had an extended period where Northern Ireland has not had politicians making decisions.
"The Northern Ireland Civil Service has effectively been running the show here. That cannot continue for an extended period, for much longer.
"I've already had to make certain statements over the budget to ensure that civil servants are able to do their job, so yes, it is about that focus on what now needs to happen."

If the Talks finally collapse then Northern Ireland would come under direct rule . leaving Mr Brokenshire  in charge of all the above.

This may in fact suit the DUP because  they can influence the Secretary of State to implement the sort of Pork Barrel Sectarian politics reminiscent of the Six Counties in the Past.

The General Election  has shown how east that could be  carried out  with a distinct  difference where the representation in Westminster lies/



It would be relatively simple  for a Unionist influenced Secretary of State  to allocate most of the resourced  to Orange areas , without facing the opposition and exposure that would happen in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

What that means for the Peace Progress is very dangerous.