Interesting snippet at the bottom of BBC Wales piece on yesterday’s evidence to the current Welsh Affairs Select Committee on the relationship between the Government in Westminster and Cardiff Bay from Dr Richard Wyn Jones of the Wales Governance Centre, he said that the current Government of Wales settlement is leading to a very powerful executive in Cardiff Bay, which is not tightly regulated.
He also claimed the main reason for this is AM’s failure to scrutinise the assembly government adequately was leading to "executive dominance". That won’t come as a surprise to those who follow Welsh politics. WAG is very bad at dealing with criticism even the constructive kind.
One of the reasons for the poor standard of Opposition scrutiny is simply down to numbers, the current Assembly Government is made up of the two largest parties, so there are numerous occasions when AM's leave one Committee’s to go to another before the meeting is finished. This issue was addressed in the Richard Commission report saying there should be 80 AM's in Cardiff Bay in part to deal with scrutiny.
However I agree with Richard Wyn Jones that the Opposition could still do better with the opportunities they have, take First Minister Questions, I mean what does it say that its Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams landing the telling blows instead of the official leader of the Opposition Nick Bourne who is more often than not missing in action for the main opportunity to hold the First Minister to account every week.
And the lack of scrutiny is a wider problem that just in the day to day workings of the Assembly and Assembly Government; it’s an issue that goes to the heart of democracy in Wales and an issue that needs to be addressed asap because without it Welsh politics and the National Assembly will continue to suffer from a lack of credibility.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Wales’s public sector will account 69% of the Welsh economy in 2010/11
Wales will be second only to Northern Ireland in terms of the size if its public sector this year as these figures calculated by the Centre for Economics and Business Research using UK Treasury data show, and one of the main reasons Wales remains at the bottom of the economic pile and why without major changes in political thinking this pattern will continue.
Public spending as a share of the London and South East of England economies went up to around 40 per cent of regional gross value added (GVA) from 33 per cent three years ago it remain a private sector-dominated economy.
But the picture is very different everywhere else: in Northern Ireland, the state will account for an astonishing 69.2 per cent of GVA in 2010-11; in Wales it will be 69.1 per cent, rivalling the levels of state spending seen in the old Warsaw Pact countries. Scotland’s state spending will hit 57.7 per cent of GVA, more than Sweden and almost as much as Finland and Denmark.
You’re probably not surprised by those figures, I’m certainly not and it blows a hole in the argument that Wales’s public sector isn't too big and smothers private sector development. It also highlights the short-termism that has dominated Labour and Conservative Governments economic thinking on Wales for decades.
It also puts the jobs losses at Anglesey Aluminum, Hoover, Bosch and the thousands of others lost over the past few years into a much starker focus and further highlights the pitiful situation of only 22% of WAG’s Business Support for this year has being spent.
A change of thinking is long overdue, but do we have the leaders with the courage and vision to change the dynamics or is Wales destined for the same old fate?
Public spending as a share of the London and South East of England economies went up to around 40 per cent of regional gross value added (GVA) from 33 per cent three years ago it remain a private sector-dominated economy.
But the picture is very different everywhere else: in Northern Ireland, the state will account for an astonishing 69.2 per cent of GVA in 2010-11; in Wales it will be 69.1 per cent, rivalling the levels of state spending seen in the old Warsaw Pact countries. Scotland’s state spending will hit 57.7 per cent of GVA, more than Sweden and almost as much as Finland and Denmark.
You’re probably not surprised by those figures, I’m certainly not and it blows a hole in the argument that Wales’s public sector isn't too big and smothers private sector development. It also highlights the short-termism that has dominated Labour and Conservative Governments economic thinking on Wales for decades.
It also puts the jobs losses at Anglesey Aluminum, Hoover, Bosch and the thousands of others lost over the past few years into a much starker focus and further highlights the pitiful situation of only 22% of WAG’s Business Support for this year has being spent.
A change of thinking is long overdue, but do we have the leaders with the courage and vision to change the dynamics or is Wales destined for the same old fate?
Monday, February 1, 2010
A No in the referendum more likely if Labour don’t engage
As someone who was hoping that a change of First Minister would bring some much needed energy and drive to Welsh politics, it’s been disappointing to watch Carwyn Jones first few weeks in charge in Cardiff Bay to say the least, being called Rhodri light would be an improvement.
But the next few weeks will tell us a lot about our new First Minister and where his priorities really lie; either with the Welsh public or with the Labour Party.
Whether the debate on the referendum for further law making power is a trigger vote next week is important, but the issue no one seems to be talking about is whether Carwyn can persuade enough Welsh Labour members to engage with the YES vote.
After all many of those opposed to more powers are going to be free to speak their minds in a few months time and if Carwyn can't persuade his Labour colleagues then a win for the NO Campaign would be more likely despite the opinion polls and he will loose a lot of credibility. (If you don’t believe it can happen think back to the 1998 referendum with massive polls leads for the YES Campaign that turned into a win of just a few thousand votes).
The NO Campaign is headed by True Wales’s whose distortions and half truths are resonating with voters fed up with the MP’s expenses scandal, the large scale job loss, the state of the economy and the poor performance of the Welsh Assembly Government and so far those in favour of more powers have laid few telling blows on Rachel Banner and her colleagues.
Who knows what will happen in the coming weeks but the anti devolution and more powers camp seem to be making the most noise at the moment. It makes you wonder if the YES Camp aren’t that confident or sure of their strength of their arguments or even worse are hoping that people will vote YES without a YES campaign.
But the next few weeks will tell us a lot about our new First Minister and where his priorities really lie; either with the Welsh public or with the Labour Party.
Whether the debate on the referendum for further law making power is a trigger vote next week is important, but the issue no one seems to be talking about is whether Carwyn can persuade enough Welsh Labour members to engage with the YES vote.
After all many of those opposed to more powers are going to be free to speak their minds in a few months time and if Carwyn can't persuade his Labour colleagues then a win for the NO Campaign would be more likely despite the opinion polls and he will loose a lot of credibility. (If you don’t believe it can happen think back to the 1998 referendum with massive polls leads for the YES Campaign that turned into a win of just a few thousand votes).
The NO Campaign is headed by True Wales’s whose distortions and half truths are resonating with voters fed up with the MP’s expenses scandal, the large scale job loss, the state of the economy and the poor performance of the Welsh Assembly Government and so far those in favour of more powers have laid few telling blows on Rachel Banner and her colleagues.
Who knows what will happen in the coming weeks but the anti devolution and more powers camp seem to be making the most noise at the moment. It makes you wonder if the YES Camp aren’t that confident or sure of their strength of their arguments or even worse are hoping that people will vote YES without a YES campaign.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Have your say on the Welsh Media part 2
Following on from the first post I wrote on this issue, I have found the website for the ITV Wales News bid and you can leave comments on their site about what you would like to see from the news as well, it’s called Taliesin News.
I can’t find anything on the Tinopolis bid, but there is an interesting article from them on the viability of the news franchise saying that the new service will still need public money to be able stand on their own two feet.
If you want to comment on the pilots directly to the people running the process according BBC Wales Richard Hooper, chair of the IFNC selection panel, has said the meeting will be an opportunity for local people to have they say about local news on television, radio, local newspapers and the web.
He also wants local people to be able to question the bidders about their proposals to deliver a new, innovative, local and regional news service across multiple platforms in Wales.
The meeting takes place from 1500 to 1600 GMT on Wednesday, 3 February at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay.
Anyone who wants to attend must reply to ifncpilots@culture.gsi.gov.uk by midday on Tuesday, 2 February.
I can’t find anything on the Tinopolis bid, but there is an interesting article from them on the viability of the news franchise saying that the new service will still need public money to be able stand on their own two feet.
If you want to comment on the pilots directly to the people running the process according BBC Wales Richard Hooper, chair of the IFNC selection panel, has said the meeting will be an opportunity for local people to have they say about local news on television, radio, local newspapers and the web.
He also wants local people to be able to question the bidders about their proposals to deliver a new, innovative, local and regional news service across multiple platforms in Wales.
The meeting takes place from 1500 to 1600 GMT on Wednesday, 3 February at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay.
Anyone who wants to attend must reply to ifncpilots@culture.gsi.gov.uk by midday on Tuesday, 2 February.
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