Friday 20 May 2016

"Not A Coalition" La Pasionaria joins Welsh Cabinet

So Carwyn (Not a Coalition) has appointed  La Pasionaria (Kirsty Williams) to his Labour Governments Cabinet 
I have often expressed my admiration for Ms Williams integration of Labour Ministers in the Siamber (Hence the La Pasionaria tag) and it will be interesting to see her defending any perceived failings in Education over the next five years 

Some cynics may feel that rather than spending Five lonely years  on the opposition side seeing the likes of Neil Hamilton receiving more speaking time than she and her party will be seen as an irrelevance.


The salary will help and with the "Not a Coalition" tag she may have opportunities to speak outside the confines of Cabinet and is not tied to collective ministerial responsibility, the convention in governments using the Westminster System that members of the cabinet must publicly support all governmental decisions made in Cabinet, even if they do not privately agree with them. This support includes voting for the government in the legislature.

I can't see her Labour colleagues putting up with too much Freedom to disagree being granted  to La Pasionaria.

Its still subject to a Lib Dem special conference approval so it may be interesting to see how the Party reacts to the claim that Carwyn (Not a Coalition) will demand that Ms Williams implements "Welsh " Labour Manifesto.

The Lib Dem Manifesto promised..


..to cap class sizes in primary schools from 30 to just 25 pupils.
To achieve this they would invest in more teachers introducing a £42m grant to fund the changes.
They want to give teachers more power and freedom to decide what they want to teach, with an independent body of teachers setting the curriculum.
A “curriculum for life” teaching children to manage their finances, first aid, politics, coding, sex and relationships, consent and sexuality, would be introduced.


Labour promised 
 £100m extra to drive standards in schools, and to create 100,000 "all-age" apprenticeships.It also says the party would invest £2bn between now and 2023 in the 21st century schools building programme, which is already in operation. Legislating, "if necessary", to give communities better access to facilities before and after the a school day, as well as at weekends
  • Pilot a new model of Community Learning Centres "providing extended services from 8am to 6pm with childcare, parenting support, family learning and community access to facilities built around the school day"
  • Create a Music Endowment Fund to help youngsters access music services and instruments
  • Pilot of "lunch and fun" clubs at schools
  • A new funding body for higher and further education in Wales
  • A target of one million people speaking the Welsh language by 2050

So in reality there not a huge difference  but Ms Williams may have a problem with reducing class sizes .

The real problem is that with the "Not a Coalition" claim., any success Ms Williams will appear to have has her Party will find it hard to claim credit .

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