How Fedarlist are the LibDems Two.

Last Week I asked the question "Just How Federal are the Liberal Democrats?".

I was asking the question about Wales in particular but it seems Mebyon Kernow leader Dick Cole when looking at the very question  with regards Cornwall has the answer.

At the moment Mebyon Kernow  platform It primarily campaigns for devolution to Cornwall in the form of a Cornish Assembly,

Some Cornish Nationalist   would clearly like the aim of the party to be independence . But if this is what  MK want then you could ask why not simply join the Liberal Democrats.

 They have has Dicck Cole points out claimed they are in favour of a Cornish Assembly..

But its as Dick indicates just words. 

As just one example by him  shows the LibDems will not provide what they promise

At another conference of Cornish Liberal Democrats in November 2005, they re-affirmed their commitment to the campaign for a Cornish Assembly. The motion specifically stated that “devolution to a Cornish tier of strategic regional government” was needed in advance of any reform to local government structures. In their press material to publicise the event, Andrew George MP said: “… the Government will not get away with their belief that they can fob us off with a rearrangement of deckchairs on the Titanic of local government.”

Worryingly for us in Wales it seem that the LibDems  may be about to offer us little more .

According yo Dicks Blog.

It has been announced that the Liberal Democrats will be debating devolution at their spring conference in York next month.

One local Liberal Democrat was reported as saying that the proposal for their conference was for “asymmetric devolution,” where “different regions could assume different powers from government.”

He is also reported as saying that the “culture, identity and history” of Cornwall made it a special case and that the “foundations for a devolved assembly, based on the Welsh model, had already been laid through the creation of the unitary authority.”

This does not look like the LibDems here will be demanding much in the way of "Parity with Scotland"  for Wales and even if they do who can realy say it what they actualy want.

And heres a lesson for Plaid the three Unionist Parties in the Assembly can bicker about piss poor proposals from Westminster on tax raising powers but its time to leave piecemeal  devolution behind.

Plaid leader has said this is a not a priority for the party  .

I welcome such a statement . 


Is it not  about time Plaid lays down the minimum of devolution it will enter into any "Cross Party Consensus" and  ask the other Parties how far they really want to go?

Betws yn Rhos By-Election

There was a By-election on Thursday  for the Betws yn Rhos division of Conwy Council

Betws yn Rhos - results

Election Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Ifor Glyn Lloyd	Independent/ Annibynnol	347	46%	Elected
Clwyd Roberts	Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales	197	26%	Not elected
Caroline Mary Evans	Independent/ Annibynnol	127	17%	Not elected
Bryn Jones	Welsh Conservative Party Candidate/Ymgeisydd Plaid Geidwadol Cymru	83	11%	Not elected

There was only a slight change from from the 2012 result.

Election Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Doctor Ahmed Jamil	No party name given/Ni roddwyd enw plaid	340	43%	Elected
Clwyd Roberts	Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales	219	28%	Not elected
Bryn Jones	Independent/ Annibynnol	167	21%	Not elected
Eryl Ellis Williams	Independent/ Annibynnol	40	5%	Not elected
John Oddy	Independent/ Annibynnol	18	2%	Not elected

Again its hard ro read anything in this with the Independents holding of Plaid . The problem of course is we have no idea how different the views of the new Independent is from the previous incumant.

The result leaves the council make up relatively unchanged

				Independent 18 Conservative 13 Plaid Cymru 12 Welsh Labour 9 Welsh Liberal Democrat 5 The Labour and Co-operative Party Candidate 1 No party name given 1
				The Council is led by Plaids Dilwyn Roberts in a coalition with Labour .Libdems and  independents so maybe you would expect the opposition Conservatives to do better

Westminster Aroggance screws up Bag Tax in England

On of the great advantages of Devolution is that Wales.Scotland, Northern Ireland and England can learn from  each other, and when one puts forward legislation,  look at and it they wish adopt it and learn from any mistakes.

Welsha Carrier tax is Working

Since Wales introduced a charge on plastic bags it has largely been as a success so it is no surprise  that Northern Ireland and soon Scotland have fallen suit. The scheme to make people pay for their carrier bags has already worked in Wales where the number handed out has dropped by three quarters, while Northern Ireland has seen a reduction of 80%.

But since England has neither its own parliament or assembly it is left to Westminster MPs to introduce this policy and it looks like they made a mess of it.
 Which has led  to a group of MPs has described the Government plan to introduce a 5p charge for plastic bags In England as a "complete mess".

But it lloks like its going to be a mess in Englan

The Coalition hopes that introducing a levy on carrier bags next year will reduce the number of people using them, helping prevent littering and damage to the environment in the process as it has  here

.

But the scheme will apply only to major supermarkets and retailers while paper or bio-degradable bags will be exempt from the charge.
The Environmental Audit Committee says making exceptions will cause confusion among shoppers.

So it seems that Westminster may have possibly  cocked  up legislation for such a charge because they could not bring themselves simply to simply admit that they only needed to copy the Welsh assemblies legislation.

Devolution means adopting legislation to your needs but it does not mean doing things differently for the sake of it.

If I was the Minister in charge of this I'd pop down to the bay and look at how we did this and copy it almost in its entirety.

But maybe and English parliament  may have done things better being more inclined to admit that the others devolved countries have got it right.

Are there votes in being Pro-EU?

Last nights Party Political broadcast by LibDem leader Nick Clegg was interesting you can see it on Subordinate Central Here .

Virtually one that is intended  for the European Parliamentary Elections between 22 and 25 May 2014,

its an interesting move  . In the past the LibDems may have paid a price for being seen as the most Pro European party in these elections.

But with the Tories so scared of UKIP they are trying to get a bill through binding the next Westminster Parliament no matter whose in charge  to a In-Out referendum. Maybe its not a foolish move.

True Euro-scepticism is on the rise  there's no real evidence that quitting the European Union is the majority view of the citizens of the UK.

Indeed the LibDems may be helped with Ukip making the  elections here about Europe and not referendum on the Westminster Coalition government.

It may be wishful thinking on Nick Clegg's behalf , But it is probably their only weapon in their armoury.

At the last election in 2009 excluding Northern Ireland the Libdems got 11 seats out of 69 contested on 13.9 % of the vote and came fourth  . This was when Labour were unpopular.

If they can hang on to this percentage they will probably hail it as a revival in their fortunes.

It would be ironic if they could actually reap benefit from campaigning against the Euro scepticism that is infesting our media including the BBC who seem to be in a love in with Nigel-Farage.

Maybe Plaid should loo at this approach closely an argument that Wales is better of in Europe rather than being bullied by Right -Wingers Tory Toffs in Westminster may be a fruitful one,

Community Council by-election has extra spice.

There will  Be A byelection here in Beddau  for a seat on Llantrisant  Community Council . Norrmaly it would not be of much of interest . Indeed it would be hard to fill the vacancy with the likelihood of someone being co-opted


But he recent announcement of the intend closure of Beddau Library and Day Centre by the Labour controlled R.CT.  will undoubtedly add extra spice


It is interesting  to note none of the candidates appear to be directly living in the Ward . Though most are near neighbours

The furthest  is Mr Bishop of the Pluralist Party of which he is apparently the leader

It seems that only candidate and sitting councillors are allowed to join his party

At he last Election Labour were easily ahead

Candidate	Political Party	Votes	Result
JULIE ANN BARTON	Welsh Labour	584	Elected
DAVID HUW BRAY	Welsh Labour	580	Elected
LYNDA DAVIES	Welsh Labour	605	Elected
NICHOLAS POWELL	Independent	345	Elected
JAMES CHRISTOPHER RADCLIFFE	Plaid Cymru	223
MICK TEMS	Plaid Cymru	206

As the Library will play a part in this  A support group has been set up to try and come up with ideas on how to run the library on a voluntary basis should the Council decide to carry out its threat to close it.


I am afraid I can't be part of this  . To me  it  could create a dangerous precedent where it could be argued  that all such amenities should be run on a voluntary basis in the Big Society of David Cameron.

I know I am in danger of being accused "Of cutting of my nose to spite my face" but its where I stand.

However for   looking for ideas and volunteers and will be holding a public meeting at The Welfare Hall, Beddau on 20th February from 3pm - 7pm.

Just how Federal are the Liberal Democrats?

There's a insight into the Liberal Democrats way of thinking  Westminster. wags the "Welsh" Parties tail  coming from Peter Black

Commentating in his Blog  on News that the Tory  Assembly group were opposed a “lockstep” model of income tax-varying powers, which would mean Welsh Ministers could not alter the three bands of income tax independently from one another.

He writes

It is a fact that all of the three main parties accomodate differences of opinion on how Welsh devolution should develop. Whilst there is unanimity in Cardiff Bay that the recommendations of the Silk Commission should be adopted in full, that is certainly not the case in Westminster.

Labour MPs, including Shadow Cabinet Members appear to be biting their lips, reassured by the fact that the draft Wales Bill does not take them too far out of their comfort zone, whilst those Liberal Democrats who have Ministerial responsibilities are tied into collective responsibility, having done everything they can to negotiate a progressive deal for Wales. Coalition is about compromise and both sides have had to accept provisions they are not entirely enthusiastic about.

So basically Peter is arguing that because of "collective responsibility"  the LibDems are excused from letting Wales down


He continues

The Tories on the other hand appear to be a completely different kettle of fish. Like the Liberal Democrats they have compromised at Westminster, but differences of view on either side of the Severn Bridge have become an excuse for open warfare. In truth their disagreements on policy have turned into a proxy argument that is allowing personality clashes to surface publicly in an on-going power struggle over who really runs the Welsh Tory Party.

Tke LibDEms like to claim they are Federal party and unlike Labour and the Tories they have a clear Welsh leader in La Pasionaria (Kirsty Williams).

But how federal are they did the LoibDems who agreed the useless proposals on Tax at Westminster contact La Pasionaria and ask her where the line in the sand was drawn?

They like to argue that La Pasionaria  like Labour's Carwyn Jones and the Tory's Andrew R.T. Davies  is the clear leader  of the LibDems in Wales .

But it seems that  she has no say when Welsh future  powers are being decided at Westminster..

Indeed is it not  about time  giving that Scotland  will be voting in an Independent Referendum this year  we get a clear statement of what the LibDems mean by Federalism.as an alternative to voting YES or keeping the Status Quo.

Or is Federalism  something they talk about but have no real desire or plan to implement it.

Brighton: Red and Blue unite against Greens

 Let me be honest from the start I'm not at all sure that holding referenda on Council Tax rises . It makes like difficult and the lesson from California on their infamous proposition 13 is a sobering one

The propositionin  abdopted im 1978 the state  decreased property taxes by assessing property values at their 1975 value and restricted annual increases of assessed value of real property to an inflation factor, not to exceed 2% per year. It also prohibited reassessment of a new base year value except for in cases of (a) change in ownership, or (b) completion of new construction.
In addition to decreasing property taxes, the initiative also contained language requiring a two-thirds majority in both legislative houses for future increases of any state tax rates or amounts of revenue collected, including income tax rates. It also requires a two-thirds vote majority in local elections for local governments wishing to increase special taxes. 

As a result it has made it difficult for the state to raise income by tax increases and at some times  almost bankrupted the state

Nevertheless the  vote of no confidence in Brighton's Green Party administration which  has been passed as the controversy over its proposed council tax rise intensifies loks like the Labour Party and Tories actually are afraid that the Greens might win and get the public behindbehind them.

The Green Party wants to raise council tax by 4.75%, which would need a majority yes vote in a referendum. Which is what the Tories led coalition at Westminster  have legislated for

The Labour and Tory groups called on leader Jason Kitcat to stand down, but he said he was "not going anywhere".
Both the Labour and Conservative groups said they planned to oppose the Green Party budget next month.
'Crisis looming'

 Labour group leader Warren Morgan said his party wanted a 2% increase because a freeze would mean more cuts being forced on the council.
He said residents could not afford another £6 a month on top of all the other bills that were going up.
'Political squabbling' Mr Morgan said he had called for a "caretaker" administration that would see all three parties governing on a consensus basis with a 2% tax increase.
"It would focus on getting those basic services like refuse collection right, instead of all this political squabbling and point scoring and gestures that people are coming up with - that is what residents are telling us they want," he said.
Running thier first council has not been easy for the Greens The city faced disrupted rubbish collections last summer and this month - the council later said it had made changes to the service but the transition period had not been as smooth as hoped for.

So now it looks like Labour and the Tories may go into coalition and oust the Greens.

It looks like as in Wales Labour prefer the Tories  toa progressive party and are more intent on destroying the Greens in England  rather than the Tories as they are  with plaid in wales.