Will Miliband punish Scotland for abandoning his party?

If Labour were to be decimated in Scotland  would they abandon the country altogether and simply concentrate on wining in England and Wales

This seems to be a tactic advocated by Labour Uncut where an anonymous contributor  has advocated  the scraping the Barnett formula

He or she writes

Seemingly, there is little Ed Miliband can now do to diminish the threat posed by the SNP’s remarkable insurgency. Poll after poll shows Labour facing a total wipe-out in Scotland. It isn’t a case of just losing badly; this is the stuff of total annihilation.
Meanwhile, the Conservative campaign thinks it’s on to something by warning that a minority Labour government, reliant on a bloc of SNP votes, will be a bad deal for England. As a message, it’s an exocet targeted at voters in battleground seats south of the border, where the prospect of the Scottish tail wagging the English dog seems iniquitous.

Ed Miliband can’t fix the first problem; what will be, will be. Scottish Labour is going down in flames. The bigger question for Labour strategists is whether its woes in Scotland are cyclical, the tail-end of the vortex generated by last autumn’s referendum on independence, or a more structural shift. Has the SNP now eclipsed Labour as the social democratic voice of Scots, as they contrast their simple promise to end austerity with Labour’s more complicated (and more realistic) UK-wide offer?
Although Labour’s campaign in Scotland is doomed, it can still use its setback to address its second problem: showing the SNP would not be left calling the shots.
All the party needs is a popular measure that confronts the Tory narrative that Miliband is in Sturgeon’s pocket. Something that shows Labour can make tough choices and, crucially, reassures voters in English marginals that it’s is on their side.
There is a policy proposal that fits the bill, a magic bull

 There is a policy proposal that fits the bill, a magic bullet Labour can fire that hits all these targets: scrap the Barnett Formula.There is no-one in British politics who can make a plausible case for a public spending formula that sees a fifth more spent on Scotland than England. The only reason it has not been amended out of history by now is down to decades of political inertia and a tactical belief that it would add grist to the nationalists’ mill in the run-up to last autumn’s referendum.
Well, to mix metaphors, that ship has sailed. Now, in the interests of good government, let alone basic fairness, the formula has no place and its demise is timely, regardless of the election. But it remains a powerful card for Miliband to play. By coming out now and arguing that the Barnett Formula is outdated and unfair has no electoral downside for Labour. The Scottish party’s fortunes simply can’t get any lower.
So while scrapping Barnett would be unpopular with Scottish voters, it would be a bold, transformative move that showed Ed Miliband was primarily concerned with hard-pressed English taxpayers. (Furthermore, it would even amount to a clear Labour spending cut).

We can only assume this is a tongue in cheek argument  

It would make what may be a protest vote albeit the biggest one ever permanent  and increase calls for another referendum which a combined Tory-Labour  would find that it this time would  have to refuse the Scottish Parliament because it would almost definitely lead to a YES

 vote.

The reason it was granted last time was largely due to the fact that Cameron  expected a decisive NO vote that would end any call for Independence for  a generation.

That is why Westminster did not allow a third option of major Devo-Max  (Yes tautology) which would have probably led to a Yes vote for that option.

No one and I mean No one could have predicted after the NO vote last year would lead the landslide for the SNP next week,

The Union will be shaken to the core after May 7th  how they react  will be much of the story of the next parliament but punishing the Scots for daring to break a century of loyalty to Labour in particular is not the answer, 

More evidence of Lib Dem Duplicity (and not a very clever attempt at that)

I wonder considering their standing in the Polls if the Liberal Democrat are using their "Little Bar Charts" .

You know Only the LibDems can beat TheTories, Labour, ,Plaaid or whoever is the incumbent.

Often misleading  and distorted  they are usually a plea for tactical voting.

They can be successful in some constituencies but would they work in this election?

No matter . Just claim your candidate is going to win anyway.

But as Blog Menai has discovered thy are not exactly being original.



In two neighbouring Constituencies  despite no evidence from any polling they claim their candidates  are going t win and their opponents are losing ground.

They even managed to find two voters to come up with identical quotes,

The only difference between the two front pages seems to be in Ceredigion they are attacking Plaid and in Montgomeryshire their former Tory allies


If I was conducting the campaign  for Plaid or the Conservatives  I would copy the above Photo and put out a special leaflet  pointing out the similarity between the two  and asking .

"Can you really trust the Liberal Democrats to tell the Truth?"

Plaid Leaflet for Ponty pretty good.

After Yesterdays Blog bemoaning the lack of Election Communications Lo and behold the Plaid leaflet has arrived and its pretty good. Fully Bilingual and well presented i can only hope most of the electors of Pontypridd see it before voting

If i have a quibble its that the font may be hard for people with poor vision to read

It reads well on the Anti-Austerity Agenda attacking the Bed-Room Tax and  calling for a Living Wage etc

It does slip into devolved issues by calling for 1000 more Doctors which even for the Assembly Elections  may be more of an aspiration rather than a policy.

It is perhaps the first time that an endorsement by the Party leader in this   Leanne Wood  will prove a major advantage over the other major parties.

She is after al the most popular party leader on Wales and has pushed her and the party's profile on to the major stagge like no Plaid leader has done before/

Indeed particularly in areas where Plaid are not strong getting Leanne on your leaflet could well be the most important part of it.

All in all a very good leaflet 9/10



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Plaid Candidate in Bilingual Leaflet Shock.

I'm still  awaiting election leaflets from Plaid,:Liberal Democrats, Greens, Socialist Labour  and TUSC with 10 days to go time is ruining out and those voting by post may well have done so before I receive them.

I know the Plaid leaflet has been delivered to some in Beddau so why has Royal Mail failed to reach the rest of us?

Anyway the Plaid Leaflet is of course Bilingual  surprisingly was the Tories (alas Labour failed in that respect(.

So it was infuriating to see the Blog Penarth Times attacking  a Plaid Candidate for having a Bilingual Leaflet.

Under the Banner

PLAID CYMRU’S NON-WELSH-SPEAKING ELECTION-CANDIDATE ‘WRITES’ TO VOTERS IN WELSH

They attack is on the Plaid Candidate for Cardiff South and Penarth





They then feign surprise over this

The bi-lingual pamphlet, which includes both Welsh and English verions of  Foday’s personal letter to electors and is “signed” by him,  gives what some might say is a misleading impression that the Plaid Cymru candidate is Welsh-speaking.


In fact Ben Foday has publicly declared in a hustings meeting in St Mellons that, as a first generation immigrant, he does not speak Welsh –  but there is no rider to this effect in the pamphlet itself, nor is there any background information given on the candidate

The Blog then goes on to make a thinly disguised attack on Mr Foley history seemingly surprised that someone who came to Wales in 1982 should have played a role in Welsh public life.

they write 

However in a 30-year career Ben Foday appears to have picked up a raft of appointments on various public bodies and is said to have “worked in several fields including the management of social housing for 10 years before joining Newemploy (Wales) Ltd,a Community Voluntary Organisation, as director .  He served as a non-executive director of the old  Llandough Hospital and Community NHS Trust and was a  board member of long-dissolved Cardiff Bay Development Corporation.

One can only wonder what it is about Mr Foley Penarth Newa objects to.

After all they begrudgingly point our in a foot note,

 [PDN Note]  At this election the Labour Party has also included a Welsh-language letter which gives the impression of having been written by its canddate Stephen Doughty in some versions its election literature,. Some Conservative literature is also bi-lingual 

So why single out Ben ?

Maybe its because they think al Plaid members should be Welsh speakers

 The Welsh Language still has a particular resonance for Plaid Cymru because the party was originally founded to keep Wales Welsh-speaking –  and originally had the aim of making Welsh the official language of Wales.Although the Welsh Language is no longer the burning issue it once was, hundreds of monoglot English-speakers continue to find themselves excluded from senior positions in public organisations because they can’t speak Welsh – and compliance with the Welsh Language Act (legislation backed by Plaid Cymru)- still imposes huge costs on a wide variety of public organisations.

For some reason I think I prefer this diatribe to be part of an anti Welsh Language nut job rather than any other alternative, 

 

Listen to the People Gordon

As Harold Wilson said "A week is along tine in politics"

I imagine after thee Scottish Referendum campaign  few that within a year the prospect of a second referendum  was well off and it would be a generation before it happened again.

Indeed I imagine Labour  in particular rubbing their hands with glee and  making jokes about the SNP holding their National Conference  above a pub in Fife.

To everyone amazement there was Tsunami (rather than a surge) in support  and Membership for support for the SNP and al the polls point to them taking the majority of Parliamentary seats on May 7th.

That does not mean that a second referendum is on the card despite  former Prime Minister Gordon Brown saying the SNP have a "chilling" plan for a second referendum on independence.

Campaigning in Renfrewshire, he said the nationalists want an SNP vote in the general election in order to "force" a second poll.

 Mr Brown said the SNP wanted to win seats in the House of Commons "not to deliver social justice" but to "deliver" chaos and constant crisis".

He referred to a video posted on YouTube last month, understood to have been filmed in November last year, featuring SNP candidate Mhairi Black.

He said:

 "There is an SNP candidate in this constituency. She says vote SNP, get SNP MPs at Westminster and we will twist their arms and get another referendum.
"Remember what the SNP used to say - the referendum was once in a generation, then it changed a little to once in a lifetime, then it was once every 15 years and now when you ask Ms Sturgeon about this her answers are all evasion. She cannot give a straight answer to the question."

 Responding to Mr Brown's comments, an SNP spokesman said Ms Black had been making the point that 

"if the people of Scotland do in the future decide there should be another referendum the Westminster establishment must not stand in their way.

And that sthe point if the people of Scotland want another referendum then who is Mr Brown to  deny them .

There was nothing in the SNP manifesto about a second referendum but there might be in the Scottish Parliamentary elections next yeat .

If there is a clear majority of SNP MSP and if it was in their manifesto  then the people will have  spoken . The Unionist mantra of "You've had your chance" will not wash.

The danger for those who seek Independence however may well come from the SNP finding be influential in Westminster and in control in Holyrood  a little bit to tempting. and may discourage them from risking another referendum.

At least Carwyn admitted Plaid are a progressive party.

Labour's Welsh Leader (or is he) Carwyn Jones has come out of his enforced  purdah  by  urging Plaid Cymru and other “progressive” voters to back Labour in the general election to ensure David Cameron is removed from Downing Street.

It shows that Labour are getting desperate that they are prepared  to admit Plaid are a progressive  party

The First Minister: said....

“In every constituency I’ve visited in Wales someone has told me they’re coming back to Labour after years of voting for other parties – or they’re saying they are lending us our vote this time to kick out the Tories.
" A progressive alliance of Welsh voters is building up and we want more people to join.
'Don't split progressive vote'
“The vast majority of voters, up to 75% of them in Wales, will be going to the polls in less than two weeks with one big thing in common – they want an end to Tory rule at Westminster.
"But many of them are going to wake up disappointed if we let the Tories in the backdoor by splitting the progressive vote where Welsh Labour can win.

So to avoid a government intent on replacing trident, carrying on the austerity programme, being cutting  welfare  we should vote for  a party er  that is intent on trident, carrying on the austerity programme, being cutting  welfare  

Labour should wake up to the fact that people are considering voting foe the Progressive Bloc  of  Plaid SNP,Greens and  Mebyon Kernow because they reject the idea that voting for a Party that carry's on with similar policies (albeit watered down)  simply because they are not the Tories '

In 1997 people with the same views were cheering every Labour  defeat of a Tory candidate and were pleased to see Tony Blair enter Number 10 .

Only to find that Blair was as much an heir of Thatcher as John Major . Indeed he was worse, sacrificing British servicemen and Women in ill advised interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan,  in order to enhance his standing on the World stage.

We don;t  need to vote for the   Red Tories  because the alternative of a Tory government makes us fearful 

Scotland is showing us the way and a progressive Left of Centre party is going to make it hard Labour or the Tories to carry on the decades of Tatcherite policies  whether Tory,Red Tory, or Tory-LibDem.

We need as many from Wales  via Plaid , in England via the Greens or Cornwal via Mebyon Kernow  to aid them.

Waking up on May 8th to see Ed Miliband enter Number 10 is not enough we need to know he's going to listen to those who see an alternative to xenophobic right of centre parties.

How to change the Welsh Light Bulb.

National Left asked leading Welsh Politicians how to change a Light Bulb.

Stephen Crabb: Secretary State for Wales:

"We are the Party of Light Bulb change.  However we don't  see any cal for an increase in brightness and propose a modest rise subject to a referendum on how the electricity bill is payed".

Andrew RT Davies . Leader of the Welsh Conservatives:

"I haven't seen what Stephen Crabb has said , but I have my own plans for changing the Light Bulb".

Owen Smith: Shadow Secretary of State:

" I will be changing the Light Bulb but I remind you that light from the rest of the Street is important and we must use that as well".

Carwtn Jones: Leader of "Welsh" Labour 

Carwyn was unavailable to comment.


Kirsty Wiliams: Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats :

"We  would have liked to change the Light Bulb, but were prevented from doing so by our coalition partners . However we did make sure that the curtains remained open and deserve credit for that ".

Pippa Bartolotti leader of the Gren Part in Wales

"We want and Eco friendly Light Bulb."

Nathan Gill Leader of Ukip in Wales.

"These are foreign made Light Bulbs and we believe we should return to British  made Victorian Gas Lighting".

Leanne Wood: Leader of  Plaid Cymru.

"We want to change the Light Bulb, but frankly the whole house needs rewiring".

Leanne Wood the most viable Politician in Wales.

It would have made some sense if the as the BBC caled it "Welsh political leaders" debate had stuck to on non-devolved issues'

It may have avoided the question of who the leaders of the Labour Party and Conservatives in Wales were .Carwyn Jones or Owen Smith  for Labour or Andrew RT Davies or Stephen Crabb for the Tories 

Wednesday evening's event pitched six parties against each other in Cardiff.

This of course was a boon to Tory Stephen Crab who could go on the attack from the start rather  than defending his Parties 5 year record in Westminster.

Mr Crabb said the UK government had made money available for the Welsh government, but it had chosen to spend on "otherprojects" rather than the NHS.

But Labour counterpart Mr Smith said: "The first and only cuts thrive been to the budget for Wales were the 10% you introduced."

It hard to be unbiased when calling a winner but Leanne Wood seems to hive found the biggest response on social Media

And i believe polling expert Dr Roger Sculley give the debate to Leanne.

Labour Owen Smith who has been touring constituencies in Wales seems to have accepted that Plaid are the biggest threat to his party and continued  to argue that Wales was to small and poor for Independence and despite 5 years of Austerity from a coalition we did not vote for yhr Union was a wonderful thing and we should not contemplate leaving it.

I suppose he would have used the same argument to the Baltic States saying they should not have left the Russian Federation.

La Pasionaria (Kirsty Williams ) managed to tajke advantage that she was not in the Westminster Bubble

The devolution part of the debate tooks a surreal track when The leader of Ukip in Wales earned groans in a TV debate on Wednesday night when he compared whether there should be more devolution to children wanting more food.

“Asked about whether there should be more devolution, Nathan Gill, Ukip MEP and Wales leader, said:

 “No I don’t think so. When my children ask for more food I normally say to them finish what is on your plate first and I will give you some more food.”

“The Welsh Assembly are not children Nathan,” said Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood, who got a huge cheer.

“Oh for heavens sake, I was using an analogy,” he replied.

Yes and a crap one.

It will be interesting  to see what happens in next weeks Leaders Debate and whether Leanne Wood can cary on what has been the most impressive campaign of any Plaid Leader in any General Election  and see her pol as the most popular politician in Wales according to  the Welsh Barometer poll

 

• David Cameron: 3.8 (+0.4)
• Ed Miliband: 4.5 (+0.5)
• Nick Clegg: 3.5 (+0.4)
• Nigel Farage: 3.3 (-0.1)
• Natalie Bennett: 3.9 (no change)
• Stephen Crabb: 3.6
• Owen Smith: 3.9
• Kirsty Williams: 4.4 (no change)
• Leanne Wood: 4.8 (+0.4)
• Nathan Gill: 3.0
• Pippa Bartolotti: 3.3 (-0.6)

Ind ed perhaps the biggest  indication that she has struck a chord with the Welsh Public with  significant fall in the number of   Don’t Know 's  which people responded in the poll

• David Cameron: 6% (-1)
• Ed Miliband: 7% (-1)
• Nick Clegg: 7% (-2)
• Nigel Farage: 7% (-2)
• Natalie Bennett: 35% (-19)
• Stephen Crabb: 54%
• Owen Smith: 66%
• Kirsty Williams: 41% (-2)
• Leanne Wood: 22% (-17)
• Nathan Gill: 66%
• Pippa Bartolotti: 65% (-8)

Since the poll she has generated even more interest . If there is a rise of support in Plaid support then she must take most of the credit.  

Pontyclun Hustings (Pontypridd Consituency)

Last Night I went the the hustings in Pontyclun   for the Pontprisdd  Consistency which was well attended  and well run perhaps a little bit to much . Well. I do like a bit of an argument


Before hand we were given a brief outline of some of the candidates stand  on the issues which were to cone up

So how did they do
Socialist Labour Party
Damien Biggs
Not bad. A bit of a relic of the "Nationalise everything past" but started by rightly blaming everything on the Bankers  and attacking the Government Austerity program 6/10

Green
Katy Clay
Sorry to say disappointing  well of her brief and completely out of her depth . If there were any undecided voters was the least likely to swing anyone her way 2/10

Plaid Cymru
Osian Lewis

Made his case well  and knew his brief . Was sorry to here him use the line "We are to poor for Independence now but work for it  in the future" . With more experience will undoubtedly be a excellent candidate 7/10

Conservative
Ann-Marie Mason

Being  a former Labour councillor from Bristol  may behind her somewhat being  confused on Tory Policy her Pro-Frracking  stand did not go down well and she came of second best in aa argument with a member of the audience  which was the highlight of the evening 5/10

TUSC
Esther Pearson

The candidate did not turm up due to a family crisis . Her replacement however  was probably the Star of the night well briefed on Austerity  and its causes probably the best reformer on the night  so it was ironic he was not standing 8/10

Liberal Democrat
Mike Powell

How are the mighty fallen  pushed Labour last time with a swing of 13.3 but last night lost the audience and looked kike a boxer who had one fight to many 3/10


Labour
Owen Smith

Preformed as well as you expect from a shadow Cabinet Minister .  His cal for further devolution looked hollow  however. With a constant  argument to preserve the Union  seemed to think Plaid were the biggest threat 7/10

UKIP
Andrew Tomkinson

Did not up and sent no replacement  0/10


So only Plaid, Labour,and the TUSC were probably briefed well enough to encourage someone to  vote for them.

But on this it looks like it may be a tussle between Plaid and Labour  when it comes to voting

Labour-Tory coalition anyone?

That notoriously unstable country of Finland  has bean plunged into further  political chaos  after no party once again were able to win a majority of seats in the General Election on Sunday

Not really Although the Center Party of  was the largest party after the election they were well short of the 101 they needed to win an absolute majority

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Centre Party	625,687	21.10	49	+14
National Coalition Party	539,615	18.20	37	–7
Finns Party	523,045	17.64	38	–1
Social Democratic Party	489,705	16.51	34	–8
Green League	252,872	8.53	15	+5
Left Alliance	211,615	7.14	12	–2
Swedish People's Party of Finland	144,520	4.87	9	0
Christian Democrats	105,022	3.54	5	–1

There is also one member from the autonomous Aland Islands who tend to align with the Swedish Peoples PartyThe Election was held under the same  system as we use in  Wales for the Assembly elections 

The previous government consisted of  by a four party coalition, composed of the National Coalition Party, Social Democratic Party, Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats as well as the MP for Åland.

So its likely that there will be rejigging of coalition partners and Finland will carry on under a Centre led government 

The nature of Finnish politics is somewhat confusing with even the Fins party the nearest thing to Ukip being described as   as fiscally centre-left, socially conservative,^[18] a "centre-based populist party" or the "most left-wing of the non-socialist parties"

But the point is that even with no party  close to the 101 the Finish government will be formed there will be no crisis . It might even see the Swedish Peoples Party entering government. again .

And yet in here UK  a multi-party coalition seems to be impossible .

Although both the SNP and Plaid have said they will enter into coalition with Labour the London media treat this as  spectra and indicate  that it would be somehow undemocratic 

But in all this talk of coalitions why haven;'t it  been brought up that two of the parties who have already said they will continue  with the Austerity programme , cuting the deficit and preserving the Union.

They worked together under"Better Together" for a Yes vote last years they may well find it convenient  to work together  "to save the UK from the anarchy of the SNP"
A Labour-Tory grand coalition as in Germany between the CDU and SDP.

Is it worth a bet.?



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Jeff Jones on Chaos after the election if SNP try to stop Austerity project

The Wasting Mule on  Kine has a opinion piece by Jeff ones former Labour Leader of Bridgend Council though the Mule doesn't seem to mention it.

They if you look do tel us Jeff runs Metier Consulting (whatever that is) but he does like to portray himself as political pundit if not am expert

His latest contribution is under the banner headline is.

General election 2015: a government that depends on Scottish Nationalist votes could be dangerous for us all

You don;t have to read ro far in to se what Jef realy wants on May 7th

The Labour leader has had a good campaign, according to most political pundits. In the TV debates he has been more impressive than Cameron, who seems to have adopted a lounge lizard approach to politics.To quote one commentator, Miliband’s “hunger to bring change was manifest” in the TV debates. In contrast Cameron seems to take power for granted, and looked as if he already had one eye on retirement before 2020.

He does state 

The Nationalists in both Scotland and Wales want to see not just an end to austerity but a UK Government spending billions more in Scotland and Wales. Both have also said that they will not support a Tory government even if the Tories are the largest party and have obtained the most votes on May 7.

He seems to have a short memory  

We are really heading for uncharted waters which could have a profound effect on the UK economy. The last time a nationalist party had this power was after the two elections of 1910 when the Irish Nationalists held the balance of power, kept the Liberals in office and ensured that Irish Home Rule dominated UK politics.

The General Election of February 1974 saw Labour on the most seats (301, which was 17 seats short of an overall majority) with the Conservatives on 297 seats, although the Conservatives had a larger share of the popular vote.

United Kingdom general election February 1974
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative	623	297	5	42	- 37	46.771	37.9	11,872,180	- 8.5
	Labour	623	301	34	14	+ 20	47.401	37.2	11,645,616	- 5.9
	Liberal	517	14	8	0	+ 8	2.204	19.3	6,059,519	+ 11.8
	SNP	70	7	6	0	+ 6	1.102	2.0	633,180	+ 0.9
	UUP	7	7	1	2	- 1	1.102	0.8	232,103	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	36	2	2	0	+ 2	0.314	0.5	171,374	- 0.

Even the second election in October of the same year only saw a majority of 3

UK general election October 1974
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	623	319	20	2	+ 18	50.236	39.2	11,457,079	+ 2.0
	Conservative	622	277	2	22	- 20	43.622	35.8	10,462,565	- 2.1
	Liberal	619	13	1	2	- 1	2.047	18.3	5,346,704	- 1.0
	SNP	71	11	4	0	+ 4	1.732	2.9	839,617	+ 0.9
	UUP	7	6	0	1	- 1	0.944	0.9	256,065	+ 0.1
	Plaid Cymru	36	3	1	0	+ 1	0.472	0.6	166,321	+ 0.1
	SDLP	9	1	0	0	0		0.6	154,193	+ 0.

Jef seems to be worried that a left leaning party may  actualy make changes to the Austerity project that the Con/LibDem Austerity programm has thrown on us for 5 years.

But it apears that is wories are not about Labour (is he stil a member.)

Political chaos after May 7 because of the irresponsible attitude of the SNP will affect all of us. Foreign investors and those who run the world money markets look for political stability when they advise their clients where to invest or which country’s bonds to buy.The economic recovery is still pretty fragile. Whoever forms a government will still need to make difficult and unpopular decisions. Whether it is Cameron or Miliband, they have to think of the long-term economic interests of all the UK and not give in to the fantasy demands of the SNP and their fellow travellers.Nicola Sturgeon might have been very impressive in the TV debates, but that’s easy when you play to the gallery and know that, unlike either Miliband or Cameron, you will never have to take the difficult decisions. The SNP’s record in Scotland isn’t that impressive, and let’s also not forget that government is easy when you don’t raise a penny in taxes and through the Barnett Formula receive billions more than you should from taxpayers in the rest of the UK.A messy political outcome giving the SNP an opportunity to play a role in who governs could really have a detrimental effect on how the money markets perceive the UK as a place to invest in. The SNP leadership might not care but the rest of us should.

It looks like Jeff wants Labour in power after May buut would rater have the Tories in Power to carry o the "Good Work". ratherthan have an Anti-Austerit Aliance influencing goverment.

Labour in Wales are relying on voters here backing them because they are not the Tories and in doing so offer us nothing. 

Labour real Target seats are the sort of Marginal English seats  that Ed Milibandhas made a direct pitch for the support of disaffected “one nation” Tories, insisting that he is on “the centre ground of politics” and would save the country from David Cameron’s rightwing, anti-EU agenda.

He said

I want to reach out to Tory voters, to Liberal Democrat voters, to Ukip voters, to non-voters …

Scotland has woken up to Labour taken their votes for granted and then betraying them in order to appeal to the right wing media .and carrying o  the whole Thatcherite politics that the New  Labour Blair project was just a watered down version of,

Its time we in Wales woke up as well.