Walesbusiness.org is certainly a welcome and timely new addition to the Welsh Blogshere concentrating on Welsh business and the challenges that lie ahead,
It’s got challenging articles from Brian Morgan and exploring the possibility of a Welsh Stock Exchange and is worth a visit.
According to the site this is what their aim is ‘Business as a topic of conversation is a bit like taking a plate out of a microwave oven. It seems hot to you, but never to anyone else…
But changing this perception, and raising the debate about business in Wales and its impact on our society and environment, is what Walesbusiness.org was set up to do.
And it is a truly testing time for Welsh business. The private sector has already had to cope with the deepest recession we have seen in modern times, but at the same time most commentators agree that employment has held up extremely well under the circumstances and this has been a testament to the resilience of our businesses up and down the country.
But in many ways this is only the start of the journey. The private sector must now be the engine of growth as the public sector contracts.
At the same time, the pace of change is ever increasing and businesses have to respond to it. Global markets and global competitors mean that firms need to move even faster. Long term planning is becoming more and more difficult.’
I wish them well.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Locking in Labour, an unintended consequence of electoral reform
Nick Clegg’s announcement on the referendum on the Alternative Vote for next year and the proposal to equalise constituencies last week produced the predictable response from Labour that is was designed to damage them permanently, but there is another consequence here in Wales (and possibly elsewhere) that doesn’t seem to have crossed many people minds about the effect of the two proposals.
Making constituencies the same size will mean that Labour would have fewer seats in Wales, but under the 50% to get elected rule of AV it would mean that many Welsh constituencies would be permanently held by Labour, with other parties finding it increasingly difficult to get 50% of the votes in most parts of Wales.
And despite Labour’s poor performance of late in recent elections in the Valleys, parts of West Wales and North Wales where the largest number of seats are there is a natural Labour vote (because of history) of 50% or above, meaning second preference votes wouldn’t be need for Labour MP’s to get elected and the opposition parties unlikely to benefit from Labour voters second preferences - I’m surprised that no one in the vipers nest of self interest that is the Welsh Labour Party has worked this out yet.
It’s certainly another own goal for the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives whose intentions were to lesson Labour's stranglehold on Wales and with Plaid Cymru supporting AV as well, the referendum campaign will see Welsh political parties and voters, vote for Welsh politics to become even more stale, predictable and uncompetitive.
According to the Western Mail today it seems that Nick Clegg isn’t for turning on moving the date of the AV referendum next year, so it looks like we’re heading for Super Thursday next May.
Making constituencies the same size will mean that Labour would have fewer seats in Wales, but under the 50% to get elected rule of AV it would mean that many Welsh constituencies would be permanently held by Labour, with other parties finding it increasingly difficult to get 50% of the votes in most parts of Wales.
And despite Labour’s poor performance of late in recent elections in the Valleys, parts of West Wales and North Wales where the largest number of seats are there is a natural Labour vote (because of history) of 50% or above, meaning second preference votes wouldn’t be need for Labour MP’s to get elected and the opposition parties unlikely to benefit from Labour voters second preferences - I’m surprised that no one in the vipers nest of self interest that is the Welsh Labour Party has worked this out yet.
It’s certainly another own goal for the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives whose intentions were to lesson Labour's stranglehold on Wales and with Plaid Cymru supporting AV as well, the referendum campaign will see Welsh political parties and voters, vote for Welsh politics to become even more stale, predictable and uncompetitive.
According to the Western Mail today it seems that Nick Clegg isn’t for turning on moving the date of the AV referendum next year, so it looks like we’re heading for Super Thursday next May.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Welsh Unemployment unchanged at 131,000 but likely to rise
Now that there is no longer any political capital to be made out of the unemployment figures by the parties (because they are all in Government somewhere), we are hearing less and less on the state of Welsh unemployment from our politicians.
Unemployment in Wales currently stands at 131,000 that’s 9.1%, the third highest rate in the UK behind the North East of England and London and higher than the UK average rate of 7.8%.
There will be some relief from politicians and business that Welsh unemployment is unchanged for the three months from March to May, but it will be temporary relief with the large scale job losses expected as a result of the cuts yet to filter through due to Wales high dependence of the public sector and weak growth and job creation in the Welsh private sector.
However despite the overall drop in UK unemployment there are other worrying trends in today’s figures for example the number of people out of work for more than a year reached a 13-year high of 787,000 in the UK after a 61,000 rise in the three months from m March to May, the longer people are out of work the harder it is to get back into the workforce.
Plus the rise in part time workers in the UK economy has reached 27%, that more than a quarter of ht workforce and it’s fair to bet that a lot of those people are being paid minim wage and over qualified for the jobs they are doing and not adding value to the economy. If this is going to be a future trend, it would be useful to have figures for Wales, maybe something the politicians should be looking at.
With many commentators saying we are in a ‘jobless recovery’ its not going to help the 131,000 people in Wales get back into the workplace, so what are the Government’s in Westminster and Cardiff doing to create those sustainable long term job opportunities they always talk about or are they just going to keep blaming each other for the mess were in in the coming months and years.
Unemployment in Wales currently stands at 131,000 that’s 9.1%, the third highest rate in the UK behind the North East of England and London and higher than the UK average rate of 7.8%.
There will be some relief from politicians and business that Welsh unemployment is unchanged for the three months from March to May, but it will be temporary relief with the large scale job losses expected as a result of the cuts yet to filter through due to Wales high dependence of the public sector and weak growth and job creation in the Welsh private sector.
However despite the overall drop in UK unemployment there are other worrying trends in today’s figures for example the number of people out of work for more than a year reached a 13-year high of 787,000 in the UK after a 61,000 rise in the three months from m March to May, the longer people are out of work the harder it is to get back into the workforce.
Plus the rise in part time workers in the UK economy has reached 27%, that more than a quarter of ht workforce and it’s fair to bet that a lot of those people are being paid minim wage and over qualified for the jobs they are doing and not adding value to the economy. If this is going to be a future trend, it would be useful to have figures for Wales, maybe something the politicians should be looking at.
With many commentators saying we are in a ‘jobless recovery’ its not going to help the 131,000 people in Wales get back into the workplace, so what are the Government’s in Westminster and Cardiff doing to create those sustainable long term job opportunities they always talk about or are they just going to keep blaming each other for the mess were in in the coming months and years.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
While Spain celebrates winning the World Cup, Catalans take to the street for different reasons
From the Associated Press ‘More than a million people gathered Saturday in northeastern Barcelona to demand greater regional autonomy for Catalonia and protest a recent court ruling forbidding this prosperous region from calling itself a nation.
City government spokesman Manuel Campillo said police had counted 1.1 million people at a vast rally that filled Barcelona's major Gran Via, Diagonal and Paseo de Gracia boulevards. Rally organizers, Omnium Cultural, calculated attendance at 1.5 million, spokesman Daniel Jove said.
Spain's courts recently granted sweeping new powers of self-rule to the region, but on Friday its highest court ruled that the country's Constitution recognized Spain as the country's only nation, dealing a blow to efforts by Catalonia to assume that status.
The verdict came after four years of debate in which conservative and liberal judges locked horns over whether the charter went beyond the limits of Spain's system of granting varying degrees of self-rule to its 17 regions.
Catalans have their own language and are proud of a history which, until 1714, linked them to the independent Kingdom of Aragon.
During the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco (1939-1975) Catalans were forbidden from speaking their language and it was illegal to publish books in Catalan.
Jove said about 1,400 Catalan organizations, including political parties, trade unions as well as cultural and business associations, had called on members to gather.
Sunny, hot weather enticed many people to attend the rally. Television news reports showed a multitudinous crowd waving Catalan nationalist flags, chanting and carrying banners saying "We are a Nation."
More reading from Catalan News Agency, Irish Times, Guardian and WalesHome
City government spokesman Manuel Campillo said police had counted 1.1 million people at a vast rally that filled Barcelona's major Gran Via, Diagonal and Paseo de Gracia boulevards. Rally organizers, Omnium Cultural, calculated attendance at 1.5 million, spokesman Daniel Jove said.
Spain's courts recently granted sweeping new powers of self-rule to the region, but on Friday its highest court ruled that the country's Constitution recognized Spain as the country's only nation, dealing a blow to efforts by Catalonia to assume that status.
The verdict came after four years of debate in which conservative and liberal judges locked horns over whether the charter went beyond the limits of Spain's system of granting varying degrees of self-rule to its 17 regions.
Catalans have their own language and are proud of a history which, until 1714, linked them to the independent Kingdom of Aragon.
During the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco (1939-1975) Catalans were forbidden from speaking their language and it was illegal to publish books in Catalan.
Jove said about 1,400 Catalan organizations, including political parties, trade unions as well as cultural and business associations, had called on members to gather.
Sunny, hot weather enticed many people to attend the rally. Television news reports showed a multitudinous crowd waving Catalan nationalist flags, chanting and carrying banners saying "We are a Nation."
More reading from Catalan News Agency, Irish Times, Guardian and WalesHome
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Scrapping IBW on a par with getting rid of the WDA
It seems that Economic Development Agencies are falling out of fashion across the UK at the moment, part of the UK Coalition agreement was to scrap Regional Development Agencies (RDA’s) in England over the next few years with and transfer their powers to Local Authorities and here in Wales we learnt on Monday during the 'Economic Renewal Programme' launch that WAG is scrapping International Business Wales as well.
It’s no secret that when the Welsh Development Agency (which had its faults) was mothballed and taken into WAG as an act of political vanity by former First Minister Rhodri Morgan other regions of the UK and in Ireland were delighted that their biggest competition was gone for good and the Welsh Economy has suffered as a results, so with Welsh exports falling by £1.7 billion over the past 12 months and the weakness of the pound the decision to scrap IBW looks like history is repeating itself.
I’m sure that International Business Wales didn’t help their cause with Minister and Civil Servants during the expense scandal last year, but with the costs of exports being lower and the prospects for Welsh business expansion and job creation being limited over the coming months one of the things in the new economic development strategy should have been to change the IBW’s main focus to solely helping Welsh Businesses export in these tough economic times rather than scanning the globe for Inward Investment that we all know Wales can no longer compete for on prices and wages, I guess that like a lot of other things must have passed the folks in Department for Economic Development and Transport by.
Like the WDA before it, Wales will come to regret the scrapping of International Business Wales as other parts of the UK and Ireland take advantage of a lack of Welsh focus and identity on the International Business stage, but I’m also sure that no one in WAG will admit their mistakes in the coming years and why Wales will remain a low skill, low wage economy with limited opportunities for the working population in the foreseeable future.
It’s no secret that when the Welsh Development Agency (which had its faults) was mothballed and taken into WAG as an act of political vanity by former First Minister Rhodri Morgan other regions of the UK and in Ireland were delighted that their biggest competition was gone for good and the Welsh Economy has suffered as a results, so with Welsh exports falling by £1.7 billion over the past 12 months and the weakness of the pound the decision to scrap IBW looks like history is repeating itself.
I’m sure that International Business Wales didn’t help their cause with Minister and Civil Servants during the expense scandal last year, but with the costs of exports being lower and the prospects for Welsh business expansion and job creation being limited over the coming months one of the things in the new economic development strategy should have been to change the IBW’s main focus to solely helping Welsh Businesses export in these tough economic times rather than scanning the globe for Inward Investment that we all know Wales can no longer compete for on prices and wages, I guess that like a lot of other things must have passed the folks in Department for Economic Development and Transport by.
Like the WDA before it, Wales will come to regret the scrapping of International Business Wales as other parts of the UK and Ireland take advantage of a lack of Welsh focus and identity on the International Business stage, but I’m also sure that no one in WAG will admit their mistakes in the coming years and why Wales will remain a low skill, low wage economy with limited opportunities for the working population in the foreseeable future.
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