Thursday, 4 July 2019

Is May's last act an attempt to destroy devolution settlement.

So will the last act of Prime Minister Theresa May be to take revenge on Scotland for voting SNP and swinging  towards Independence may be to try and weaken the Scottish Parliament and by proxy the Welsh Assembly.



A review is to examine whether the UK government's Wales Office should be beefed-up, BBC Wales has been told.
Prime Minister Theresa May will stress the importance of the union in a speech in Scotland on Thursday.She is expected to announce a review into how UK departments deal with devolution.Whether the Wales Office - which has limited powers - should have a stronger role in setting UK government policy on Wales is expected to be on its agenda.The Wales Office was created at the start of devolution 20 years ago and is currently led by Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns.Its powers are much smaller than the Welsh Government in Cardiff, which controls matters such as health and education.It works with UK government departments to ensure Wales' interests are fully represented.
It is expected it will examine the parts of the UK government that cover Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which includes the Wales Office, as well as the role of their respective cabinet ministers.
It could mean Whitehall departments working more closely with the Wales Office.
But a source stressed that it was not about the UK government taking action on things that are devolved to the Welsh Government and the assembly.
"Alun is way past wanting to please politicians. It is people not politicians that Alun cares about."
Mrs May will say devolution has been a source of strength for the UK, not a sign of weakness, in her speech in Scotland.
Strengthening the union must continue to be a top priority for the next prime minister, she will say.
The leadership contest to replace her as Conservative leader, and prime minister, is due to end on 23 July.
 Lord Dunlop, the former Scotland Office minister, will chair the review, looking at how the UK government's structures - including government departments - can co-operate to ensure devolution works.
"If some politicians say that is a threat to them, the challenge is why is that a threat," the source said.
I wouldn't trust Alun Cairns to run a Whelk stall . 
He is of course the  person responsible for the much criticised  renaming of the Second Severn Crossing  as the Prince of Wales Bridge the cost of huge new signs on the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge have been branded "absurd and wasteful".
The signs were placed across the carriageway in May after the bridge was renamed despite thousands of people objecting to the decision.
The cost of the new signs has now been revealed - a total of £216,513.39.
The figure was released through a freedom of information request made by WalesOnline to Highways England.
Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood has criticised the cost, calling it "ill-judged".
When asked what the total cost for the signs was, a spokesperson for Highways England said: "Working on behalf of [the Wales Office] Highways England was commissioned to manage the design, creation, installation and the associated traffic management at a total cost of £216,513.39."
indeed it is an example of what we can expect from May's review and The Tory leadership frontrunne Boris Johnson tclaiming he will declare himself “minister for the Union” as well as prime minister to stop demands for Scottish independence. We can expect a  huge move against any ongoing  devolution 
Writing in a Sunday newspaper, Johnson said: “I believe the occupant of No10 should be not just prime minister and first lord of the treasury and minister for the civil service. He or she should be minister for the Union as well.”

One wonders if May and Johnson have collaborated in this codswallop?
Nicola Sturgeon said the proposed devolution review  it was a "desperate act by a prime minister who has shown zero respect for the Scottish Parliament during her time in office".
"It's for the Scottish people - not a Tory PM - to consider and decide what future we want for our parliament and country."
If the review aims are to beef up the role pf both Alun Cairns and David Mundell (who sometimes makes Cairns look competent) , in Scotland then it is  very misguided.
But in reality  it is a petty act of revenge from the worst Prime Minister in living memory .
I suspect however we can expect Boris Johnson to even take it further and with a Labour leader in Jeremy Corbyn who seems to have hardly understood the reality of devolution , then twenty years after both the devolved legislatures in Wales and Scotland are under threat from rabid unionists. 


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