If the Wasting Mule has a favourite AM,then I am in no doubt its Leighton Andrews
On Thursday columnist David James,seems unable to suppress his glee when he reports that
He’s back... the one-man headline-making, administrative sledgehammer that is Leighton Andrews is back.In his fiery, four-year stint as Wales’ Education Minister, the Rhondda AM wasn’t afraid to fill a few skips with the redundant wreckage of a university or two.And the public written statement he issued on Wednesday on funding for the body that represents Welsh councils suggests he plans to add the gravestones of a few more public bodies to his CV before he is finished in his new job as Minister for Public Services.Mr Andrews’ statement yesterday announcing he is cutting funding to one of the key bodies that has opposed the Welsh Government’s desire to cut the number of councils in Wales will send a powerful chill through Welsh town halls.The £1.6m grant to the Welsh Local Government Association isn’t a huge sum of money in the context of the Welsh Government’s budget yet the symbolism of the public statement revealing it – and the quotes that went along with it – are hugely tellingAfter revealing he was cutting the funding, Mr Andrews went on to say: “I will shortly be inviting Cabinet colleagues to review whether the range of current grants they provide to the WLGA... remain appropriate, or whether there may be alternative arrangements which could produce better outcomes for public service delivery.So What we have is Minister intent on reforming our Councils attempting to silence any opposition by getting rid of a potential opposite vire.And from its statement it does look like that he Intends to get rid of the WLGA
“I recognise the implications of this decision for the WLGA and I also recognise that good work has been done in the past to support improvement within local authorities.“My decision is a reflection that the scale of our ambitions for the future will require a very different kind of support.”The worst Ministers are the ones who are indecisive and dither unable to come up with a decision and the saying goes
like a cushion - bearing the imprint of the last person who sat on him.
Equally we have Ministers like Leighton Andrews who come to a conclusion and ignore any arguments against what he wants,even if he or she might come to the conclusion they themselves may be wrong.
In their eyes the greatest virtue is to be decisive and all opposition must be crushed .
Whatever your views on Local Government,it needs thinking out and the current proposal of simply merging councils are to simplistic,and will cause more problems in the future.
Leighton Andrews and the Mule seem to revel in his role in a Hatchet man its a pity that those who think he's going about it the wrong way will be silenced
Wales deserves better a Minister who will listen to or tolerate opposing view and a National Newspaper that does not realises that what it sees as decisiveness is in reality political arrogance,
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