More Welsh AMs A Bit Of A Catch 22 Situation!

The National Assembly needs more members – not a second chamber, Presiding Officer Rosemary Butler told MPs.

Ms Butler told the Westminster Welsh Affairs committee that while she could see a case for the number of AMs going up from 60 to between 80 and 100 she did not back the creation of a second chamber for Assembly.


She told the MPs: 

“We just have to get it right the first time. You can afford to make mistakes because the House of Lords will send it back to you.
“We can’t afford to do that.

For some reason, Monmouth Conservative MP and committee chairman David Davies said: 

“The vast majority of legislative bodies have some kind of second scrutiny chamber that’s slightly detached from the main one... Why would you go for more members of the Assembly rather than a second chamber?”

Newport West AM Ms Butler said:

 “We have to have democratically elected members... I think that a second chamber would not be appropriate in Wales.
“I don’t think the people of Wales would accept one. I honestly think that we can do the job with more members as a unicameral [institution].”

David Davies I suspect  is not really a supporter of a second chamber  in Cardiff Bay but he raises a interesting point. 


Ms Butler has raised strong concerns with the draft Wales Bill. She warned that the legislation was being “rushed” and said it should be discussed by the Assembly which will be elected after the May elections.
Arguing that the changes proposed by the legislation could make it harder for a presiding officer to decide whether or not the Assembly has the “competence” to make a ruling in an area, she said: 

“Sometimes competence is difficult for me to decide. In the future, whoever is the presiding officer, it will be far more difficult to decide what is within competence and [what] is not and there that cannot be a clearer settlement.”

 
Raising concerns about the devolution process, she said:

 “It is piecemeal. Things are moving ahead at different paces in different parts of the country and I just feel it’s time that somebody stopped and said, ‘Where are you going? How are you going to deal with this? How are you going to be fair with all the other nations, as well as the big cities in the North, not to mention the big cities in the South?”

Ms Butler said she was not pushing for a “complete redraft” of the draft Wales Bill although she would “quite like” that to ensure that decisions are taken at the lowest possible level wherever possible in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.

Given that under English Votes for English Laws (EVEL) is now in place English MPs will have more powers over English only Legislation than AMs in Cardiff have over Welsh Legislation in that the chances that English MPs do not have the competence to carry out a piece of legislation it is an interesting dilemma.

Maybe Mr Davies was hinting that as laws under EVEL wil have to go the Lords they wil have more "Legality" than Welsh laws that are passed i the Assembly.

 The solution in the Bay however would be to strengthen the Committee stages of the Assembly to scrutinise Bills and for this to be successful we need more AM's .

Though it is unlikely  to go down well the the public in a Catch 22 situation in which to improve the Assembly we need more AM's but we can't have more AM's because the Assembly is failing in areas like Education and the NHS'

We can afford to have constant rows over "competence"  and Devolution must be sen to work.

The current Westminster Bill will make this  more difficult  and maybe that is the main reason d'etre behind it.

Murdoch's Empire latest attack on Corbyn is vilest yet.

It seems that Sky Mews is intent on becoming like its  US equivalent Fox news a vile right wing propaganda machine attacking everything that does not fit into their world view

Take this article by  Jon Craig Chief Political Correspondent on a report by Sky News claiming  that Mr. Corbyn, Jeremy Corbyn was under fire and this time those venting anger included Labour M.P.s. following the alleged reported killing of Jihadi John, where Mr Corbyn  in a statement said

 "It appears Mohammed Emwazi has been held to account for his callous and brutal crimes. However, it would have been far better for us all if he had been held to account in a court of law."

His statement which I for one agree with was issued well before the terrible terror attacks on Paris late Friday and early Saturday morning.


According to Sky News,

His critics are now calling him "Jihadi Jez". That’s because Jeremy Corbyn said it would have been better to put Mohammed Emwazi on trial instead of killing him.

The backlash against the Labour leader’s comments has ranged from fury to ridicule. And that’s just among Labour MPs and party supporters. But is the criticism fair?
In his statement, Mr Corbyn said: "It appears Mohammed Emwazi has been held to account for his callous and brutal crimes. However, it would have been far better for us all if he had been held to account in a court of law."
At least he was being consistent. In 2011, he suggested it was a "tragedy" that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been "assassinated" rather than being brought before the courts. That comment was bitterly attacked, too.
But on Emwazi, Mr Corbyn went further, adding: "These events only underline the necessity of accelerating international efforts, under the auspices of the UN, to bring an end to the Syrian conflict as part of a comprehensive regional settlement.

No name are given of Labour critics so they could anybody. I honestly don't think any MP would be so stupid.


For those of us on the Progressive Left  who doubt Mr Corbyn election wil make a difference to Labour's  long to the shift to the right  and will still look towards Plaid, SNP,and the Greens it is still disturbing that Mr Corbyn is being trated to such a vile attack.

If this is going tp me the standard of Murdoch's media  from his Newspapers as well as Sky News then the very democracy of a balanced and fair 5th estate is terrifying .

We cannot expect out Media to be neutral but we can expect it to be fair.

Murdoch  has a tendency to back whichever Party he believes  will win an election in the UK which explains his sometimes support for the SNP but it is likely that his empire in the UK will soon become like its US counterpart just a very nasty mouthpiece for the extreme right  vilifying any thing that is contrary to their own view'

There is a Petition by Change .org  demanding  Sky News remove this disgusting tasteless headline instantly, followed by an apology for the frivolous and disgraceful use of the term jihadi in this way.

You may have been fighting the Labour Party all of your life but sign it now. We can't allow this sort of smear to continue.

Kim Howells should listen to Peter Hain on the Paris atrocities.

There have been s number of Honourable and sensible reaction to Thursday's  atrocities  om Paris alas this did not include Kim Howells who the "Wasting Mule " describes as One of Wales’ leading political experts on terrorism has described the attacks on Paris as being part of a “holy war”.

Former Pontypridd MP Kim Howells, who chaired the Intelligence and Security committee and served as a Foreign Office Minister, said the attacks could have been in Cardiff or London or anywhere.


He said: 

“Whichever way you want to look at it this is a holy war that is going on.

“Everyone is saying it is down to France’s involvement in Syria and bombing Isis, but then in past they did not invade Iraq. It is a nonsense."

The Mule claims his comments were echoed by former Wales and Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain, who said no city in western Europe whose government was participating in action in the Middle East was safe. But there appears to be very different reaction from him in reality


Mr Howells said that France faced many of the same problems as the UK.

“I heard this morning there are 7,000,000 Muslims living in France.
“Even if only a tiny minority have sympathy to terrorism France, like Britain, is going to have problems.
“You cannot watch all the people all of the time.
“France is very proud of its liberty and secularism. But these people are determined to murder and kill.
“This could have been London or Cardiff or Glasgow or anywhere.
Mr Howells said that the security services needed extra powers to “deal with encrypted communications.”
“People need to think seriously about this now. Why would you give terrorists an even break?”

To be fair Peter  Hain probably because of Northern Ireland better

 "No city in Western Europe whose governments are participating in action in the Middle East is safe.
"Cardiff isn't safe, and we know some jihadis originated in Cardiff.
""At the same time, this would be equally catastrophic if this atrocity became a further recruiting drive for Islamophobia. That's not only wrong and evil but extremely counter-productive."
"Clearly security has to be improved in Paris along the lines that exist in London. It's sometimes resented as intrusion with CCTV and public buildings being properly protected, but that's only one part of the picture.
"Similarly on intelligence, I think the French are behind the curve with British intelligence on things like this."But I don't say that out of any complacency.
"The roots of this are a catastrophic series of foreign policy failures, most recently in Syria, which has been an abominable failure by the UK, US and Middle Eastern countries.
mely counter-productive."
"I don't say this as a party political point but if you look at the way the Prime Minister has handled the Syrian crisis it's been full of bombast and bluster.
We have got to learn the lessons of Afghanistan, Iraq and, under this Prime Minister, Libya, which have proved a disaster after Western attempts to barge in."
"But that's not in any way to condone or excuse terrorist atrocities but simply to say we are inviting a war if our foreign policy is a complete failure.
"I think there has to be concerted diplomacy to work with countries in the Middle East to take ownership of this battle against Islamic State.
""In the end, the vast majority of Muslims want to live in peace like everyone else.
"But the politics of the Middle East are broken. The West is allying itself with various powers but we have got to have a more even-handed approach."

 Mr Howells comments were also in the thoughts of Welsh Muslim leaders who condemned the Paris attacks, describing them as “evil”.
 
Muslim Council of Wales secretary general, Saleem Kidwai, denounced the killers as “criminals and terrorists".
He said: 

“They are not Islamic. They are not human beings to me.
“I cannot imagine why any human being would want to commit an atrocity and kill innocent people.
“If you are in a war zone and fighting an army then you can justify your acts, but killing innocent people?
“It is disturbing to me.”

“This is not a holy war,” Mr Kidwai said.
“These people are criminals. They are nothing to do with Islam or Muslims.
“If someone is called Mohammed Ali and they say, ‘Allahu akbar’ that does not make them a Muslim.
“If you are not following the basic principals of the faith it does not matter what your name is.
“Your acts define your faith not your words.”

“The most recent attacks in Paris are an affront to humanity.
“We mourn the deaths and offer our thoughts and prayers to the families who have lost their loved ones.
“The deaths in Paris follow terror attacks in Beirut and Baghdad.
“This attack is being claimed by the group calling themselves ‘Islamic State’ but there is nothing Islamic about such people and their actions are evil.
“Muslims globally, and here in Wales, reject the so called Islamic States’ political aspirations in Syria and Iraq, and we reject their attempt to justify their violence through religion.
“The Muslim Council of Wales extends its hand of friendship to all those in France who are suffering. Paris, Beirut and Baghdad will be in our prayers.”

I am convinced  Saleem Kidwai, speaks for nearly every Muslim in Wales and his words will be echoed by  the 7,000,000 Muslims in France of which the less than 1% who took part in the Paris atrocities mistakenly claim to share the same faith.

They do not and we should recognise this because the reason that these Roster t acts are carried out is to make the authorities crack down on al Muslims futher alienating them.

Dafydd El is bang on this time.

 Far to many years ago  I was working for a Printing and Dyeing Company where there was a Management Shakeup including bringing new people in .

Because one Manager was replaced by an outsider he couldn't be mad redundant so he was given a job of "Energy Conversation" which now may be seen as important and as soon as everybody new he had no real authority even the lowest worker effectively ignored him and he eventually left.

 I was reminded of this when reading Dafydd Elis-Thomas in the Wasting Mule saying that  the Assembly should decline its consent for the bill and called for the Wales Office to go “back to the drawing board”, suggesting what was on the table couldn’t be improved.

He continued   “Of the five attempts to re-write the constitution of Wales in my time in public life, going back to 1978, this is the worst,” 


The former leader of Plaid Cymru said he was attracted to the argument that the bill ran “contrary to even what the people of Wales voted for in the last referendum, when they voted for law making powers.”
The draft bill establishes a system of reserved powers – laying out around 260 policy areas that will be withheld to Westminster, with the Assembly handling both what isn’t listed, and what are listed as exceptions to the reservations.
Lord Elis-Thomas suggested that the model of reservations with exceptions would be less clear than the current system of conferred responsibilities, and could result in a “claw-back” in powers.

He said: “The law is less clear than it was before, and not just the law is less clear – what politicians can do (is less clear).”
“Let’s go back to the drawing board, let’s go back to the Northern Ireland Act and see how limited the exceptions were there,” he said.
Lord Elis-Thomas said his main issue with the bill was that “the Secretary of State or somebody on his behalf trawled around all the UK departments and looked for things they didn’t like, and they didn’t like the judgements of the Supreme Court and the Agricultural Bill case and all that stuff.”

The AM for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, asked what could be done to improve the bill, said: “It can’t be improved.”
Bills which change the constitutional set-up of the Assembly are thought to require consent motions to be passed in the Assembly itself.
He  added: “There are parts of the draft bill that require the consent of the National Assembly. At the moment I am minded to argue strongly that the Assembly should not allow consent.”
The AM said the parts of the bill that allows the Assembly to handle its own affairs – such as to change its electoral system – were “important to us”.
“But that should be separate from the powers issue,” he said. “The powers issue cannot be decided by the UK Government, it’s got to be decided by an agreement between the two bodies.”

There are those of you read thus Blog who have despaired about the utterings of Dafydd El over the years of the Assemblyn  but this time he is Ithink bag on.

Whether the Assembly would have the courage to Bloc consent however sems unlikely especially as it seems Labour may well have  collaborate with the Tories to stitch up the Silk Communion. 

Just the Manager I referred to above,  the Governments proposal seem to be weakening  the Assemble to such an extent  that we simply give up.

Next May those Parties who want to see the Assembly prosper  should  let us know what that envisage . I suggest that ant who do not see Wales having the same powers as Scotland in less than five years are not worth our consideration.

HMRC closures in Wales are devastating for some communities.

The news that  HMRC is to shut all of its tax offices in Wales and open a new branch in central Cardiff is disturbing particularly as it seems that the Welsh Assembly will have some Tax powers in the future


HMRC will shut its Swansea and Porthmadog offices in 2019-20 while the existing Ty Glas site in Llanishen, Cardiff, will also shut at the same time.
The tax agency has confirmed it is to open a new regional centre in the capital in 2019-20. Wrexham’s office will also shut in 2020-21. An office in Merthyr is alr


Staff working at Cardiff are expected to move to the new building while a “significant number of people” from Swansea will likely be able to do so as well, a leaked briefing document said.

But the document adds that HMRC recognises the planned new regional centre will be out of reasonable daily travel for many people working in Swansea.
It is all part of a massive reorganisation of HMRC’s estate across the UK – with staff officially informed of the plans on Thursday.
Workers in Porthmadog and Wrexham  

HMRC said it currently had around 2,900 staff in Wales, including 350 in Wrexham, 300 in Swansea, and 20 in Porthmadog. 

20 in Porthmadog does not look a lot but in a small towneven a number such as this can be devastating. as Plaid Leader Leanne Wood said

"The loss in jobs in places .... with population centres that are quite small relatively speaking, has a much bigger impact than it would in areas of a bigger size where it would still be a huge problem,"

It could also mean that Welsh Language Provision by HMRc could be more difficult to obtain in the future


Unions have called for a high-profile consultation while there are warnings at the implications that closing the Porthmadog centre will have on the Welsh language.

It also reflects a worrying trend to divert al our resources to Cardiff.

I do not support Devolution or Independence  to emulate the UK state with Cardiff becoming like London a drain on other parts of the Nations sucking in al the  important government jobs.

Government agencies like HMRC shoild be devolving work outside its main Offices rather than consolidating jobs in one area.


We live in a digital age where Workers in Porthmadog could as easily be on the next floor as far as a Cardiff or even London HQ are concerned.

Can it be  a coincidence  these job losses will be happening in a department that has just been slated by a Commons committee for gross incompetence, and customer service

Fifty per cent of calls to HMRC go unanswered  because there's no one to answer them, and no one seems to be available to deal with the thousands of tax dodgers' names given to them by the HSBC leaker.

This is how Government works now  highlight a problem that you would probably try to suppress just before you make  drastic cuts through a reorgainsation.
 
Its not just in Wales and as Munguin's Republic points in Scotland it is  particularly poignant 

as HMRC workers were told by the NO campaign that the only way to save jobs in HMRC, was to vote No. (An independent Scotland wouldn't, it seemed, have needed tax collectors???)

Indeed, they even managed to get people from HMRC to stand outside with banners proclaiming their jobs were only safe within the pooling and sharing UKOK. Save our UK jobs! Vote NO, they pleaded with Scottish Voter in the referendum'

It certainly leaves a nasty Taste in the mouth of many workers in the future.

Cameron Hypocrite or Out of Touch?

There have been many cases of hypocrisy  by politicians  over cuts to services where they vote them through  and then cal for them not to cut them in their own constituencies .

It is questionable whether Prime Minister Davis Cameron is being  hypocritical or just out of touch in the row over a leaked correspondence with the Conservative leader of Oxfordshire county council (which covers his own constituency), where Cameron  expresses his horror at the cuts being made to local services. 

 In leaked correspondence with the Conservative leader of Oxfordshire county council (which covers his own constituency), David Cameron expresses his horror at the cuts being made to local services

 In his letter to Mr Hudspeth – which was sent in September but has only now emerged –  Mr Cameron wrote: 

“I was disappointed at the long list of suggestions floated to make significant cuts to frontline services. “I would have hoped that Oxfordshire would instead be following the best practice of Conservative councils from across the country in making back-office savings and protecting the frontline.”
The letter also claimed the county council’s net expenditure, excluding schools, rose from £341m in 2009/10 to £438m this year

As George Monbiot in the Guardian points out 

  In his reply which yo can read in full here  Mr Hudspeth points out that the council has already culled its back-office functions, slashing 40% of its most senior staff and 2,800 jobs in total, with the result that it now spends less on these roles than most other counties. He explains that he has already flogged all the property he can lay hands on, but would like to remind the prime minister that using the income from these sales to pay for the council’s running costs “is neither legal, nor sustainable in the long-term since they are one-off receipts”.

Is Cameron being Hypocritical or out of touch ? Probably a bit of both . What the Tories  alongside their former Liberal Democrats coalition Partners (quick reminder to Peter Black here) have ben doing for the last 5 years have been cutting funding from Local authorities who then have no option but to make swinging cuts . The belief probably being that voters then blame the council when their Library or Leisure centre closes and not the Westminster Government.

Cameron  has however long believed in  his "big society" drive to empower communities, describing it as his "great passion".

In a speech in Liverpool, inn July 2010 the prime minister said groups should be able to run post offices, libraries, transport services and shape housing projects. 


It is surprising therefore that Cameron has not used the opportunity to suggest that Oxfordshire implement his Big Society.
 
Or ca it be out of touch as the Prime Minister  he realises that it is not that simple . Though he apparently believes  that cuts in even leafy Oxfordshire can be made by selling of the family jewels in the form of buildings.

But if "leafy" Oxfordshire  are struggling what  of those councils which are already poorer and have an higher expenditure on welfare provision within their own area?

What this row has exposed that even Tory Council leaders in our Town Halls are finding that they have reached the limit of the cuts they need to make even if they have been enthusiasts for doing so in the past 5 years.

As I have argued part of the reason the Tories and Lib Dems  wanted to push these cuts on our Local Authorities is that they believed blame will be placed on local council leaders and not Westminster.

But it may well be that people will be questioning whose to rely blame when their Library, leisure Centre Children's play group  closes  and look where it originated.

S4C a cycle or "managed" funding decline?

The BBC website carries the news that  the Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) has warned S4C risks entering a "cycle of decline" unless its funding is sustained, .

The think tank has also called for the Welsh language TV channel's independence to be safeguarded and for BBC Wales' budget to rise by £30m.

The IWA's Audit of Welsh Media has been published ahead of a sell-out summit in Cardiff on Wednesday.

Issues affecting the print, broadcast and online industries will be debated.

The IWA also recommends that:

• A media advisory panel to monitor industry trends should be set up by the Welsh government
• S4C and BBC Wales should maximise their collaboration, while maintaining distinctive services
• BBC2 Wales and S4C should broadcast in high definition (HD)
• Radio 1 and Radio 2 in Wales should carry Welsh news programming
• The BBC should create a separate iPlayer service for Wales
• Responsibility for broadcasting should be shared between the UK and Welsh governments
• A fund to pay for "innovative" online news services should be established by the Welsh government

 There is also an excellent response  by  Jamie Medhurst  to the IWA’s draft Media Audit findings on English language TV in Wales. om Click on Wales. and another by Lee Walters who sums up the audit thus

• Spending on English language television by the BBC has been cut by 25%, as has the number of hours produced
• S4C suffered a 24% cut in its central funding and ITV Wales is broadcasting a diminished service of just now 90 minutes a week on top of its news output
• There’s been a narrowing of the range of programmes, with genres such as light entertainment, the arts and drama are minimally represented or, in some years, not at all.
• Local content on commercial radio has been cut as ownership has been consolidated
• Welsh newspapers have seen a collapse in their print distribution – in common with most modern media markets. Although there are encouraging signs of the growth of online journalism, the commercial pressures on journalism raises question marks about the future of inquiring reporting and its ability to scrutinise Government all levels in Wales.

With the BBC facing a review and probably facing  more cuts and ITV Wales seemingly only interested in putting the bare minimum of "Welsh" programmes on its network all of them factual, the future looks bleak across all Chanels.

The example of S$C is a prime example on how the Westminster  government works however.

• First a series of stories appear in the media appear claiming of low audiences for certain S4C programmes .
• Next transfer funding to the license fee  so the blame for cuts can be transferred to the BBC and allow license fee payers seeing cuts in English Language programmes to question why they are also paying for S4C.
• When S4C cuts inevitability leads to a decline in program quality highlight low audiences once again.
• Finally get S4C to such a low ebb you start to question its existence.

The example of S$C  is not alone in a managed decline you can be forgiven for thinking that similar plans are being made for the NHS where deliberate leaks showing the NHS in disarray are not meant to encourage improvement .but  to get people to except some form of privatisation

With nearly four and a half years of this government still to go  by the next election the fate of S4C could well have be already sealed unless there is action now.

But any campaign should also cal for more English Language programmes  of a Welsh nature including non-factual programmes on the so called ITV Wales Chanel.

It should be but broadcasting and the media in general in Wales is unlikely to be a major issue in May Assembly election. But al the parties should outline in their manifestos  response  based on the IWA audit and what they see as thefuture not just for S4C but all our media.