Political Programme Round Up - End of Term

So most of the political fun ends until the party conferences in September but last night programmes did have a few interesting bits for us political watchers.

Peter Hain followed up his awful BBC Wales interview with one on ITV Wales Sharp End with Mai Davies last night and it confirmed what many of us believe that the Secretary of State really does live in a parallel universe. How much longer is he going to keep up the Tory Cuts verses Labour investment line on public services before he gets the message the voters are not buying it and he doesn’t have to agree with the Hotham Commission or the Lords Report on the Barnett Formula but acknowledging their recommendations would show he has some grip on reality and that might start to make people believe that he is fighting for Wales's best interest rather than trying to save the Welsh Labour Party from meltdown.

In his interview with Sharp End’s Gareth Hughes, First Minister Rhodri Morgan gave his strongest hint yet that there could be a referendum in full law making powers by 2011 as agreed in the One Wales document, I bet that news will cheer up Plaid Cymru backbenchers and members after all the avoidance of the issue that we have seen from both Government parties and the flack that has been directed at Ieuan Wyn Jones of late.

Good News from BBC Wales Political Editor Betsan Powys about Rhodri Morgan who does want to stand down as First Minister. It’s good to know that he and his advisers are getting the message especially after rumours of him wanting to stay until the Ryder Cup in 2012 to tee off the first ball at the Celtic Manor were rather depressing.

Over on Dragons Eye Jeremy Colman the Welsh Auditor General has told politicians to avoid the type of slash and burn cuts that could harm Wales in the future in light of the smaller budget settlements that the Assembly will get after 2011. A good point but let’s hope it’s not an excuse for WAG to hide their incompetence and failure to deliver on services and flagships projects over the next few years. The opposition need to keep an eye on this.

Finally we had a rare appearance from Edwina Hart the Heath Minister on Dragon Eye. Edwina Hart may or may not be in the running for the Labour Leadership but how can you be First Minister if you don’t do media interviews regularly (she would have to attend the weekly press conferences for starters) and who doesn't stand up to answer questions in the Chamber what sort of impression would that give at First Minister's Questions?

A victory for one Opposition Leader

I haven’t blogged about the Lib Dems Civil Service story until now because i'm not sure what the story would achieve apart from 'outrage' from the usual sources. The request was timely given that political expenses stories have dominated the headlines and both BBC Wales and the Western Mail ran with it yesterday, but I wonder how smart it is to hammer International Business Wales a branch of the Civil Service that actually achieves most of its aims in investment and job creation for Wales and most people won’t distinguish between them and the Civil Servants in Cathays Park whose expenses should also be subject to the same scrutiny.

But despite my reservations over the initial story it has achieved something Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams scored a direct hit against Rhodri Morgan forcing him to apologise to her over his insistence that civil servants caught up in the story didn’t travel first class. It is very rare despite his Government shortcomings to see the First Minister on the back foot like this as he is normally unruffled politically speaking making this a good day for at least one opposition leader.

It also got me thinking when was the last time the leader of the opposition Conservative Nick Bourne last put Rhodri Morgan under anything like this sort of pressure?

Ieuan’s woes

Following Dafydd Wigley was always going to be tough act for any new leader and so it has proved for Ieuan Wyn Jones with questions about his leadership never far away in his time as Party President despite being the first Plaid Cymru leader to take his party into Government so he is probably use to being under pressure however this time it’s his commitment to fellow AM’s and his portfolio that is question.

Lets be clear there are people briefing against Ieuan Wyn Jones to the press and others as well as trying to destabilise the One Wales Coalition for their own personal ends which is not helping him, but even those who support him have to admit he has brought some of the problems he is facing on himself.

As a Government Minister annoying fellow AM’s and Committee Chair’s is never a good idea especially one as important as the Finance committee who are determined not to let him forget it. They are within their right to want to see a report from his ministerial advisory group on his roads strategy when many AM’s have legitimate concerns over the start of the duelling of the Heads of the Valleys Road and withholding it was not good idea especially if you haven’t got a good enough case to silence your critics as appears to be the case.

He has also been getting flack from AM's for leaving the Chamber last week to attend a conference in the Hilton Hotel on Small Nations and can they survive in the 21 Century leaving Deputy Skills Minister John Griffiths to answer the remainder of questions on his Economy Portfolio, to many it showed a lack of respect to an Institution that Plaid Cymru more than any other party places great importance on and you know you’re in trouble when the normally laid back Tory AM David Melding loses his cool over such matters.

The worrying thing for Plaid Cymru (and supporters of the One Wales Coalition) is the problems he faces are quite small and can be put right with relative ease, but they are starting to become something bigger because Ieuan Wyn Jones and his advisers seem unable to deal with them or shake off the growing reputation he is getting for snubbing AM’s in favour of promoting Wales.

Flexible, Value for Money and Efficient is this the way forward for our public services?

There’s lots of talk in the media and among politicians about the cuts in public services that will have to make over the next few years here in Wales because the block grant will increase by considerably less than the substantial increases which have more than doubled the grant since 1999, following the Government's bank bailout. The big idea from the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) is efficiency saving which is hardly new or untried and won’t deliver the sort of savings that WAG and Local Government will have to make despite the spin to the contrary from Finance Minister Andrew Davies that it’s too early to talk about jobs and service losses.

Any reduction is the block grant is a concern with over 60% of the welsh workforce employed in the public sector any cuts will have a big impact on unemployment, but the questions that need to be asked are those about welsh public services and how effective WAG and Local Government has been in delivering its policies since devolution began back in 1999. It is this which will ultimately signal if WAG can make any sort of efficiency savings and adapt to life with a smaller pot of money and make Wales less reliant on the public sector for jobs it a big ask.

The signs are not good as last week Wales Audit Report into to the failure by WAG to fully implement its flagship Communities First programme despite improvement in communities and today’s report from Estyn showing no significant differences in WAG’s Raise programme to improve education standards of the poorest children despite £14million of investment are worrying.

If Wales is not to slip further behind we will have to hope that WAG Ministers are capable of being more flexible in its attitudes to public services and their delivery in the next decade than they have in the last 10 years.

So much for the progressive alternative

People’s Voice MP Dai Davies said in his victory speech in the Blaenau Gwent by election in 2006 that even the dinosaurs were wiped out, whether he meant it or not it was taken that he was taking about the Labour Party in many parts of the Valleys. His People’s Voice on the other hand was heralded as a progressive left Party and so a natural home for many ex Labour voters fed up with New Labour policies.

So why then have People’s Voice chosen Paul Starling former Editor of the Welsh Mirror, a Nat hater whose anti welsh language and anti devolution to stand in Torfaen against former Secretary of State Paul Murphy MP who shares many of the same views as Mr Starling?

Am I missing something here?, maybe a good slogan for other parties in the General Election in Torfaen should be vote for either Paul’s it doesn’t really matter.