Plaid at least see through Tax varying Con job.

Here at National Left there's a certain amount of relief that Plaid Leader  Leanne Wood has seen through the Conservative Con  (Pun intended) over  granting Wales so called Tax varying powers.

In an  interview with WalesOnlinel,  Leanne seems to be agreeing with this Blog (though she may not have read it) that this wasn't worth putting vital campaign resources into.  as the Westminster government refused to remove a controversial “lockstep” which means the Welsh Government would only be able to move all three income tax bands together, rather than vary individual bands. The decision - which the UK Government said was to ward against possible movement of peoples around the border to take advantage of more favourable tax arrangements - meant the powers were “useless”, Ms Wood said, and was one of many “deliberate barriers” set up by the UK and Welsh governments in the wake of the commission’s first report.


She said:

 “All we can do is look what has happened in Scotland. Those powers have been there since the very beginning. They’ve included a lockstep, they’ve never been used. By any of the governments.
“You’ve had Labour governments - Labour-Lib Dem governments, SNP governments. None of them have opted to use those powers, because there’s no point in using them in that form.
“So to be honest with you, if the lockstep is still there then pursuing this course of action won’t be a priority for Plaid Cymru.
“We will be putting forward a Programme of Government for 2016, that will be based on a range of measures for improving the economy. Clearly sharing income tax powers and being able to vary the different bands of income tax would’ve been a fantastic set of tools to be able to do the job of improving the Welsh economy, and future governments will be hampered without having those tools, there’s no doubt about that. But there are other mechanisms, and there are other tools.”

Indeed the only scenario I can see in which these "powers " would be used  would occur if there was a Labour Government in Westminster and a Tory government in Cardiff Bay  with the latter varying some tax rates as an experiment with which to  woo English voters for the next UK General Election.

There is a danger that rejection of the Conservative proposals on Tax  in a referendum would be portrayed by the very people as a rejection of further devolution by the vary people campaigning for a Yes vote.

But Plaid should be campaigning for much more anyway and its good that they appear not to be sucked in to supporting something that drains their resources and give us something which is not what we want and need true control over our finances.

Wasting Mule's Movers and Shakers 2013. Wow!

 The Mule has published its Movers and Shakers in Welsh Politics 20136 its hardly an asspiring read

The movers and shakers in Wales' political power list of 2013

 READING THE RIOT ACT 
ANN CLWYD, Labour Cynon Valley MP
WM: Ms Clwyd’s deeply moving account of her husband’s last days spent in “battery hen” conditions in a Cardiff hospital led to her being asked to do a major review of patient care in England and cemented her enduring reputation as one of Wales’ political giants.

NL: Except of course that  this Giant has been a MP for nerarly 20 years including 13 years in government and it has taken the death of her husband to alert her to the dire state of the NHS  in Wales 


THE ORGAN MAESTRO
MARK DRAKEFORD, Health minister
WM: Wales is on track to become the first nation in the UK where it will be assumed that people are happy for their organs to be donated to others when they die.

NL: However this had cross party support so may well have come about whoever was in charge 


REFERENDUM MAN
DAVID JONES, Secretary of State for Wales
WM: Foes of the Clwyd West Conservative MP describe him as a devo-sceptic but he is now a passionate campaigner for a referendum which could give the Assembly the power to raise and lower income tax rates.

NL:Except that its not the Tax powers Silk recommended and  since it has never been used in Scotland why do we expect change in Wales.

 THE MAN WHO BOUGHT THE AIRPORT
CARWYN JONES, First Minister of Wales
WM:The First Minister made international waves in March with the £52m purchase of Cardiff Airport – here was 21st century state-intervention, Welsh Labour-style.

N: However this was hardly on the same scale of  Lévesque buying out Hydro Quebec in 1962 which has become a symbol of Quebecois belief in themselves.^]


 THE HOME PROTECTOR
PETER BLACK, Liberal Democrat South Wales West MP
WM: Mr Black successfully piloted the Assembly’s very first Private Member’s Bill which established clear rights for mobile home residents. 

NL: Which shows more or less the  powers the assembly has and the ambition of those who use them.


KENNEDY CYMRU?
 RHUN AP IORWERTH, Plaid Cymru by-election winner
WM:It is notoriously hard to predict how the Anglesey electorate will vote, but his 9,166 vote majority was the definition of “thumping” and instantly marked the former television presenter out as a potential future leader of Plaid.

NL Does the Mule mean the assassinated American president or the former LibDem Leader? Either way not the the much of a future realy.


BACKBENCH GIANT
WM LEIGHTON ANDREWS, Labour Rhondda AM and former education minster
Critics of the Assembly once bemoaned the lack of talent on the back-benches but the resignation of Mr Andrews means there is at least one big beast with a licence to roam. His decision to order the regrading of GCSE papers may have riled his Westminster counterparts but it resulted in 2,400 English language pupils getting a better result; in June he resigned amid controversy about his defence of a local primary school that faced closure.
He Tweeted: “I have always wanted to live long enough to read and hear my obituaries
NL The only gigantic thing about Andrews is his ego


READY FOR A SECOND ACT
WM ADAM PRICE, Plaid Cymru Carmarthen East and Dinefwr Assembly candidate

WM:  s an MP he tried to impeach Tony Blair and he did not lose his knack for making headlines when he went to Harvard. His selection in July as the Assembly candidate for his old Westminster seat ended speculation about whether he wanted to jump back into the political arena.
He told the Western Mail: “There’s only one goal for us worth going for – and that’s to form a Government. That’s the project I’m signing up for.”

NL: Well he's got to get elected first and that's not entirely sure
 

THE QUIET REVOLUTIONARY
PAUL SILK, chairman, Commission on Devolution in Wales

WM:  Paul Silk was a highly significant under-the-radar figure during his half a decade as clerk to the National Assembly but as chairman of the cross-party commission charged with recommending changes to the devolution settlement he has opened the door to the Welsh Government gaining a raft of new fiscal powers.


NL: More like a twiddler than a reformer and   there no real sign that these powers wil come either from Labour or Conservatives and NL ask what was the point anyway?

PUT THEM IN CHAINS
DAVID DAVIES, chairman, Welsh Affairs committee

WM: The Monmouth MP steers so far away from the middle of the road it’s a wonder there are any verges left in his constituency.In November he denounced young men who abandon women and their children, saying: “It is utterly shocking and I hope that the ministers will take note of this and get hold of some of these feckless fathers, drag them off, make them work, put them in chains if necessary, make them work and make them pay back to society for the cost of bringing up the children they chose to bring into this world

NL: The Mule still has this Mans crap online are they as disproving as they claim?
 
THE FEDERALIST
DAFYDD ELIS-THOMAS, Plaid Cymru Dwyfor Meirionnydd AM and peer

WM: The SNP may be pushing for a Yes vote in Scotland’s September independence referendum but Dafydd-El made it clear in June that he had no interest in breaking away from the UK, saying: “I’m an out and out UK federalist... There was never a project for Welsh independence, anyway.”

NL:  Not even Dafydd El knows what he believes any more I suspect

THE HARSHEST CRITIC
MICHAEL GOVE, Education Secretary

 WM: Wales’ bottom-of-the-UK results for reading, maths and science in the OECD rankings were a desperate disappointment that prompted the Conservatives’ Mr Gove to deliver a stinging critique of post-devolution Labour education policy.

NL: Frankly he should sort the mess out in his country  and leave the criticism to his Party leader in the Assembly. Whats his name.

THE NEXT GENERATION
STEPHEN KINNOCK

WM: Neil Kinnock’s gruelling years at the helm of the Labour party did not put his son off politics. Not only has he married Helle Thoring-Schmidt, the present Danish prime minister, he has let it be known he would like to succeed Hywel Francis as the Labour MP for Aberavon.
He said: “My mam and dad are really pleased that I have decided to stand, and they have been very supportive.”

NL:The Mule seems to behind this carpet bagger why?



THE CRITICAL FRIEND
LEE WATERS, director of the Institute of  Welsh Affairs

WM: He has been at the heart of Wales’ politics since the dawn of the devolution era as a key aide to former Welsh Secretary Ron Davies, as a leading political journalist, and as a pivotal member of the 2011 referendum Yes campaign. As the new director of the IWA he has done his best to puncture the cosy consensus which often cloaks political debate.
In one of his first articles, he said: “When challenged Carwyn Jones can show his innate ability. But he is not often challenged externally, and he doesn’t encourage challenge from within: not from his ministers, his advisers or from wider circles.”

NL: Looks like another Labour wannabee biding his time before getting a safe seat . Provre me wromg Mr Waters.

NOT SAYING NEVER
KIRSTY WILLIAMS, Welsh Liberal Democrat leader and Brecon and Radnorshire AM


WM: There are strikingly few female frontbenchers among the Westminster Lib Dems and Ms Williams’ spirited performance at the UK conference triggered a wave of interest in her long-term plans. In recent interviews she has not ruled out the possibility of standing for the Commons.
She said: “I got myself into a bunch of trouble for saying, ‘Never say never’... My husband and I have a bit of a pre-nup: for most people it’s about money, for us it’s about me not going to London, so it would take a serious renegotiation on my behalf to get me out of that.”

NL: Except the LibDems are likely to lose half their seats  and even a coalition with Labour or again with the Conservatives will mean they will stil be the whipping boys when it comes to unpopular polices.



THE END OF ONE CHAPTER
ELFYN LLWYD, Plaid Cymru Westminster leader 
WM In October he announced he would stand down at the next election, and
the selection of Liz Saville Roberts as the Plaid 2015 candidate raises the prospect of the party gaining its first female MP.

Mr Llwyd said: “I’ll never leave Plaid until I leave this earth. I’ll be leaving this job with the party in better health than it’s ever been.

NL: What new Chapter Lord Elfyn of Bala? maybe not 

Lets hope for something better in 2014 but don.t hold your breath.

Nadolig Llawen

Like everyone else I will be taking a break over Christmas so I would like tom wish you al l a Merry Christmas  whatever your Religion or as in my case lack of one. The message of Peace On Earth And Good Will To All Men is one we all should share

And we al desevre to put our troubles away and enjoy ourselves even for a few days.

Nadolig Llawen I bawb.

Glyn

Is Vince planning a palace coup?

Vince Cable  was on the  The Andrew Marr Show in which he went much further than his leader Nick Clegg in accusing  the Conservatives of grubbing for Ukip votes with irresponsible and populist rhetoric reminiscent both of Enoch Powell and prewar antisemitism.

He said the Tories were creating a panic in Britain about the scale of migration from the European Union, saying it was the duty of political leaders to provide reassurance during times of national anxiety.

Cables brandied David Cameron as irresponsible in his pandering for Ukip votes and likening the rhetoric to Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech highly regarded as racist and this at will cause most friction as the coalition seeks to remain a functioning government before the 2015 general election. 

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr programme, Cable said:

 "I think there's a bigger picture here. We periodically get these immigration panics, I remember going back to Enoch Powell and 'rivers of blood' and all that, and if you go back a century there were panics over Jewish immigrants.

But whilst Powell was a Lone Wolf in  at least voicing his appalling views it is the leader of the Tory party ans Prime Minister a man that projected himself as a moderate reformer whose pushing this with the full support of his party


Cable also voiced his concern  for the country's social fabric because of the scale of public spending cuts and for the first time warned there may have to be an increase in interest rates to ease a "raging housing boom" in the south-east.

He said if no action were taken, there was a risk that in parts of London housing would be too expensive for anyone but foreigners and bankers.

 There is a raging housing boom, in London and the south east but not in other parts of the country," he said.
"The danger of raising interest rates is that you hit those parts of the country which are not yet fully recovered, you push up the exchange rate and that hits manufacturing.
"We don't want that. On the other hand, if you do not increase interest rates -– if that is the way the governor and the Bank of England go – then this boom that is taking place in housing prices gets out of control and the only people that can afford to live in large parts of London are foreigners and bankers, and we don't want that either."
"We certainly do need to look at that [Help to Buy] again. I notice that the ratings agency Standard & Poor's is expressing serious concerns on that front. It was conceived in different circumstances."
"We can be proud as a party of what we have done in government, lifting large numbers of low earners out of tax altogether," he continued. "We will argue for a fairere tax system, the Conservatives want to go in the opposite direction. We will be arguing on a very, very distinct agenda on tax when the election comes.

Which makes me wonder is Cable preparing a distinctive voice for his party before the next Election?

Is he envisioning a scenario of  him challenging Clegg for the leadership winning and then pulling the LibDems out  of the Coalition.

But unless the LibDems  were still to back the Tories in a confidence  vote  this would perpetuate  a General Election probably not enough time to remove the toxic effect of the coalition on his party

Quite frankly the only option for him would be to resign from the cabinet and present himself as a leader in waiting. Taking over after the next General Election but then his hopes would ride on the LibDems losing seats hardly something to admit to.

But then with a hung parliament and the LibDems courted for another coalition what would he do.

What Internet Browser should I use for this Blog?

 This morning I'm just going to comment on my Internet Browser


At the moment I am using Firefox as my server for this Blog . I usually use Google  as it supposed to ne the one Blogger was designed for.

But recently it has given me problems especially with commentating on my own Blog, Have you been unable to post a comment?

Internet Explorer keeps crashing and Opera may be  a Browser  to many. and last time I used it it t didn't t work with Blogger

But Firefox seems to be working and unless Google changed I wil be using this  for now.

Croesyceiliog North on Torfaen Coubcil Byelection

There was a Council byelection on Thursday (2oth Dec )  Croesyceiliog North on Torfaen Council which bypassed my RADAR  and probably most of yous as well..


Result
December 20, 2013
Lab 227 (45.8%; -13.5)
UKIP 122 (24.6%; +24.6)
Ind 79 (15.9%; 8.3)
Con 55 (11.1%; -5.5)
PC 13 (2.6%; +2.6) Lab Hold
Majority 105
 


Previou Election 2 seats May 2012

Lab 479 627
Ind 258 224 92
Con 175


So Labour hold the seat on a small turn out?

A  pretty good boost  for UKip an embarrassment  for the others, Plaid in particular


Whast this tell us I don't know apart from Ukip being the party of protest maybe

But with less people voting in total than the candidate at the previous election Indifference wins the day yet again
 

Cardiff must not br another London.

As this is the anniversary of Cardiff becoming  1955) the capitol of Wales  though we had no choice in the matter it is interesting to consider Vince Cable's The business secretary claiming  that expanding Heathrow Airport would mean London would continue to be a “giant suction machine draining the life” out of the rest of the count


I'm also minded to repeat Eurfyl  ap Gwylims brilliant performance during the last General Election against  a sneering Jeremey Paxman.

Paxman had gone on the attack as he interviewed Dr ap Gwilym, asking why Plaid is calling for more cash for Wales when the country already gets more than every English region. When the Plaid adviser pointed out that London is in England and gets 115% of average UK public funding per head against 112% for Wales, Paxman tried to suggest that London was not a region.

Dr ap Gwilym told Paxman he should do his homework and said London was classified as a region by the Treasury., Resulting in Paxman going losing it.

At the moments all roads lead to London and the needs of that City outride the rest of the UK. Whilst at the same time we here moans from there amongst the great and god that they are subsidising the rest of us.

But we need to take a lesson from this a devolved government in Wales must look at Cardiff in the same way .

Prior to Cardiff becoming our Capitol our great institutions were scattered through out Wales . thats why the National Library is in Aberystwyth.

We must not make the mistake that everything must be in Cardiff and we need to consider spreading our resources throughout our Nation.