WORKING HARD FOR WALES?

The Party of Wales has criticised the lack of detail on borrowing powers to Wales provided by the joint statement issued by the UK and Welsh Governments. The statement follows twelve months of bilateral talks between the two governments. The party has also criticised the lack of a clear commitment to the reform of Barnett or a formula to fix the Barnett floor.

Ieuan Wyn Jones AM, the party’s Shadow Finance Minister said:

“The Welsh Government entered into the bilateral discussions with the twin aims of securing borrowing powers and fixing the Barnett floor at 115% of spending in England as originally proposed by Holtham. This statement shows that they have failed on both counts.

“Wales has already lost over 40% of its capital budget, and the economy is in crisis. We need to have borrowing powers immediately so that we can kick start the construction sector and boost jobs. The Treasury’s weasel words on borrowing shows that they have failed to grasp the enormity of the economic crisis we face with 50,000 young people unemployed. The statement doesn’t even tell us how much Wales will be allowed to borrow at some future unspecified date.

“The failure to agree a formula to fix the Barnett floor also shows that the Treasury is now clearly complicit in perpetuating the underfunding of Wales.

“This announcement has the Treasury’s paws all over it, and I can’t understand why any First Minister of Wales would sign up to it. I would have been ashamed to have signed up to this weak and bland statement. There is no mention at all of the longer term need for a wholesale reform of Barnett.”

REBUILDING OUR RAILWAYS

It is worth noting that in 1994 just before privatisation that the subsidy for British Rail came in at about £1.4 billion pounds per year, some sixteen years after the questionable and shambolic privatisation process was completed the subsidy comes in at well over £4 billion pounds. This farcical situation can no longer be justified and Plaid has correctly (once again) called for the Wales and Border franchise (which expires in 2018) to be run as not-for-dividend social model – where any accrued profits are effectively ring fenced and reinvested in the rail franchise.

Even the last Labour in Wales manifesto for the last National Assembly elections in May 2011 included this proposal, admittedly after Plaid Cymru's Ieuan Wyn Jones proposed when serving as Transport Minister in the last Assembly Government. Now apparently Labour in London have woken up to the idea, which if nothing else shows how far they have moved since the heady days of the late 1990’s when a then new Labour spokesperson was quoted as saying that New Labour would have privatised the railway’s when elected if they had not been previously privatised by then Conservative Prime Minister John Major.

Now a major new analysis which lays out a possible policy route to achieve a better railway has been published, by Transport for Quality of Life. The Rebuilding Rail report offers positive options, and recommends a radical but realistic approach by which a future Labour Westminster Government could begin to fix some of the operational problems, extra expenses and travel inconvenience that has been caused by and aggravated by the deliberate fragmentation and privatisation of Britain’s railway system.

For once it would be nice for Wales to take the lead, with a rail franchise run on a not for dividend basis, which could be a publicly owned company with representation from government, passengers, and railway workers. We, in Wales should put party differences aside and make this happen ending the situation where a private company runs the franchise under public contract, receives a public subsidy and where any profits vanish as dividends rather than being reinvested.

PLAID ELECT'S NEW LEADER

Leanne Wood - Plaid's New Leader

Leanne Wood has been elected as the new leader of Plaid Cymru- The Party of Wales.

The result was announced this afternoon at a special event in Cardiff and Leanne Wood will now take over from Ieuan Wyn Jones who stands down after over a decade in charge of the party.

Plaid Cymru Chief Executive and Designated Officer for the election, Rhuanedd Richards said;

“I’m delighted to announce that Leanne Wood has been elected to lead Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales.

“I also wish to congratulate both Elin Jones and Dafydd Elis-Thomas on running such energetic and inspiring campaigns. I know that they will both continue to serve both Plaid and Wales with commitment and passion.

“Our new leader has a crucial job to do for our nation over the coming years.

“Fighting for the future of Wales and our communities is very much at the forefront of people’s minds. Plaid is the only party which will ensure that the interest of Wales and its people will be advanced.

“I look forward to working with Leanne Wood as we continue the work of renewing the party.
“Plaid has a team of thousands of community activists and members who are already playing their part in moving Plaid and Wales forward. I know they too are looking forward to working alongside Leanne Wood over the coming years.”

Plaid Cymru’s new Leader, Leanne Wood said;

“This campaign has not been about individuals. It has been about a vision - a programme, a set of connected politics. Our task now is to build on the work of all of those who have gone before us. We may be small, as a party and as a country, but we can stand tall if we stand together and we stand up for our principles.

"The election is over, now the real work begins. I may not be the leader of the official opposition, but I intend to lead the Official Proposition. The proposition that another Wales is possible. Our positive, ambitious alternative vision can only come from the party of Wales.

"So here’s my message today to the people of Wales: we are your party. The People’s Party, of Wales, for Wales. Join us. Help us to re-build your community. Help us to re-build our economy. Together we’ll build a new Wales that will be fair, a new Wales that will flourish and a new Wales that will be free.”

ANYONE LISTENING?

The man from Admiral (chief operating officer and executive director, David Stevens) hit the nail on the head when talking to the Welsh Affairs Committee inquiry (last week) on inward investment about attracting and developing start-up businesses in Wales. Wales should chase and help to develop young businesses rather than spend time and money chasing big international firms. Start-up enterprises are more valuable to the Welsh economy and less likely to up sticks and pull out in times of economic austerity.

David Stevens from Admiral rightly pointed out that companies with their HQ's and senior management teams based in Wales were more valuable than "off-shoots of big companies based elsewhere". He also pointed out that "Businesses with only 'muscle' in Wales are more likely to withdraw in hard times or if cheaper location options emerge," and that targeting "glossy" adverts to attract "sexy sectors" of industry was not the best strategy for boosting investment. The importance of good infrastructure was highlighted, including railways, with the man from Admiral saying he supported the electrification of the Great Western rail line to Swansea. At present the UK Westminster government only plans to electrify the line as far as Cardiff.

There has been fat to much focus on attracting large scale single enterprises, which promise much but deliver significantly less than anticipated. The LG development near Newport, is a good example of an expensive disaster / fiasco [please take your pick] which promised the usual total of 6,000 jobs - accrued significant public funding - committed by the then Welsh Secretary, William Hague, yet never delivered anything like what was promised.

Anyone (even a Tory) with half a brain or even half an understanding of the state of the Korean and the Far Eastern economies at the time that might has hesitated, but not the then Tory Government. Anyone with a partial understanding of where technological developments in relation to PC monitor screens were going, would have put their hands up and said hang on a moment - but not obviously not in the the corridors of power in Cardiff.

A combination of what can best be described as fantasy island economic assessments, a fatally flawed business case and a forthcoming Westminster election led to one of the spectacularly duller decisions of recent years being made, something that ended up costing us millions of pounds worth of public money. The old WDA has in truth not really consistently delivered anything like long term economic stability and much needed long term job opportunities to our communities that it should have done considering the amounts poured into it.

How well any of this will go down with the dinosaurs making the decisions in WAG is another matter. In the last Government in Cardiff, Plaid's Ieuan Wyn Jones (AM) then Minister for Economic Development tried to change things and to focus on growing indigenous businesses. The Plaid driven One Wales Government made efforts to think and act differently when it came to economic development and support for small to medium sized enterprises, which are the only real thing that will put wealth into our communities, and develop and sustain longer term employment possibilities.

The lazy half-baked Brit Civil service / WDA continues to favour the option of attracting branch factory operations (some of which are only here for a relatively short time) which does little to develop our economy. We need to think differently and focus economic development priorities on attracting and developing start-up companies and smaller local businesses who will be rooted in our country and our communities and offer more flexible employment opportunities.

It's to early to tell whether Carwyn's Labour Government is capable of thought (let alone action) inside or outside of the box. One thing is true though, more of the same old twaddle from Whitehall and Cathays won't do at all, vastly expensive one egg, one basket schemes to generate the standard 6,000 jobs, just won't do.

The London based political parties, when they needed the votes talked the talk but have delivered little, rapidly abandoning any election promises that may have been made to Welsh voters. With a new government in Cardiff (even in times of austerity) we don't need talk, we need concrete steps to encourage growth, boost our manufacturing industry, support and grow our small to medium sized enterprises, otherwise it will just be a case of same old, same old combined with ill thought out out public sector cuts which will do nothing to boost our communities and our economy.

£21million boost to improve train stations

A £21m boost to improve train stations across west Wales and the Valleys has been announced announced by Deputy First Minister, Ieuan Wyn Jones. This is a small but important step towards improving our transport infrastructure. I wonder how much coverage this announcement will get in the South Wales Argus.

FOR WALES SEE ENGLAND

When it comes to standing up for Wales all three of the London based parties had a pretty poor record in the old Parliament. Things have not got off to a good start in the new one either - especially when it comes to rail they have refused to provide a timetable to develop a high speed rail link to Swansea, this effectively puts us out of sight and out of mind as far as High Speed rail.

Plaid’s Ieuan Wyn Jones successfully negotiated the multi-million pound the extension of the proposed upgrade and electrification of the rail line between Swansea and London. When the electrification scheme was originally proposed by New Labour it was to go only as far as Bristol, and only after the intervention of the Plaid driven One Wales Government did they agreed to electrify the line as far as Swansea.

The ConDem Government in Westminster, if one was being kind could be described as evasive when it comes to committing to the extending the electrification programme into Wales - so much for Wales being a ConDem priority. It's not just Swansea - London that needs electrification, there are plenty of other lines including the North Wales Coast line, the Valleys lines and the Severn Tunnel diversionary line.

I mention this because, the proposed multi-million pound upgrade and electrification of the rail line between London and Swansea, which if it goes ahead should be completed by 2017 and which should cut 20 minutes off the existing journey times, would only fix only part of the problem. So why is the Severn Tunnel diversion route important you may well ask?

It's pretty simple really, when the Severn Tunnel is closed for maintenance rail traffic from South Wales is diverted via a single-track 12-mile section of line between Swindon and Kemble (in Gloucestershire) any plans to upgrade this section to double track as it is the only diversionary route between Wales and London were conspicuous by their absence from Network Rail’s plans in 2008/2009.

Talk to anyone who works the rails (or anyone who has relatives who work on the rails) in the south and they will tell you that the aging Severn Tunnel is going to require more maintenance as time passes, yet it remains a vital transport link, but it ranks pretty low on Network Rails list of priorities. In November 2008, the Office of Rail Regulation's settlement for Network Rail allocated some £26 billion pounds some 2.4 billion less than requested; this has forced Network Rail to drop a number of projects (if you think this was bad just wait until the ConDem cuts kick in!).

Anyway, you may have guessed that, one of the project that was dropped was a plan to restore the 12 miles of single track to double from Kemble to Swindon, at the moment the reduced capacity of this line adds an hour to passenger journeys as trains to and from Wales have to wait for services coming in the opposite direction, and lets not forget any impact on rail freight movements.

This is a vital link between Wales and London (and Europe) and the only alternative to using the Severn Tunnel. In the event of a major accident or incident in the tunnel, perhaps a crash, a fire or even flooding, then we need a fully operational alternative so that passenger and freight services to London are not affected.

It is pretty essential that re-doubling work on the line, which would allow at least an hourly service, is carried out as quickly as possible. While the upgrade is under way, its only common sense to electrify the line all the way from Severn Tunnel Junction through to Swindon as well.

So there we are at the moment Wales, is one of the few counties in Europe, save for Albania and Moldova to have no electrified rail-lines, this is one exclusive club we could well do without being a member of. As has been pointed out elsewhere within the blog sphere, there is more to this than the electrification of the railway lines, though - Wales needs a public and concrete commitment to a timetable for High Speed Rail in Wales, otherwise what we are really talking about when it comes to high speed rail is for Wales see England - and that is not acceptable!

WELSH LEADERSHIP DEBATE

A Sky News poll, records that Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones, Deputy First Minister won the first Welsh leaders’ debate, being rated best by 55% of viewers, with 23% saying Welsh Secretary Peter Hain won and 19% backing Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams. Only 3% said the debate was won by the Conservatives’ Shadow Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan. Makes you wonder how the polls would be looking if there had been no London based Party stitch up to exclude Plaid (and the SNP) from the three leadership debates.

A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES

That Plaid has focused on protecting public services, jobs and our most vulnerable people should come as no surprise. Plaid is the only party fighting in this election for the priorities of the people of Wales. With the emphasis on taking pensioners out of poverty and protecting jobs, schools and hospitals from the London parties’ cuts – this manifesto reflects the conscience, values and priorities of the people of Wales.

At the launch of Plaid Cymru’s Manifesto, which will take place later on this morning, in Cardiff, Ieuan Wyn Jones is expected to say that unlike the other parties, protecting the most vulnerable in society is the moral spur which drives the party’s vision for a stronger, more confident Wales. Quite rightly Plaid will prioritise the needs of the families and communities of Wales above all else while the London parties pamper to the “haves” of so-called middle Britain, rather than the “have nots”.

Among Plaid’s election pledges is a promise to fight for a significant increase in the state pension in order to combat poverty amongst older people. The party is also calling for a Venture capital fund to be established in order to help start up businesses, boosting the Welsh economy.

In what will be a closely fought election, with a hung parliament being a real possibility, Plaid with its partners the SNP, will be in a strong position to negotiate the best possible deal for Wales and Scotland, working to ensure that Wales and Scotland get a fair deal.


Plaid’s Manifesto will focus on 7 key priority areas.

They are:

• Protecting the Welsh Budget - including jobs, hospitals and schools - from the London parties’ slash and burn cuts
  
• Increasing the state pension to ensure that our older people have a pension upon which they can live
  
• Caring for our troops and veterans who have been shamefully neglected by this Government and bringing them home from Afghanistan
  
• Helping Welsh business grow by improving connectivity through broadband and high speed rail links as well as creating a Venture capital fund
  
• Creating a new environmental action plan to enable Wales to lead the way in the green revolution and create thousands of high-quality green jobs
  
• Having proper powers for our National Assembly to ensure that we in Wales have the tools to do the job and make an even greater difference to people’s everyday lives
  
• Tackling the deficit by stopping costly and unnecessary Government spending; closing tax loopholes and introducing more progressive taxation measures. Plaid also wants to see reform of the banks and for bonuses to be curbed immediately.

4 Wales, 4 Scotland

The leaders of the SNP and Plaid Cymru, Alex Salmond MSP and Ieuan Wyn Jones AM, have unveiled '4 Wales, 4 Scotland' - the SNP and Plaid Cymru's joint agreement to secure a better deal for the people of Scotland and Wales in the event of a hung parliament.



The key elements of the four part programme will be:

• Fair funding for Wales and Scotland

• Protecting local services and the most vulnerable

• Action to help the green economy

• Support for business growth
  

Wales and Scotland will need strong representation, as both New Labour and David ('Call me Dave') Cameron's Tories are threatening particularly deep and particularly harsh cuts which will seriously damage and endanger Scottish and Welsh economic recoveries. A hung parliament would be the best result, with more Plaid and SNP MP's, especially when you have the Chancellor Alistair Darling already admitting that any cuts planned by the New Labour Government will be "harsher and deeper" than those inflicted during the Thatcher era, then Wales and Scotland needs a strong bloc of SNP and Plaid MPs, who can influence and win vital concessions for Wales and Scotland.

RAIL IMPROVEMENTS

We should all welcome Ieuan Wyn Jones AM, Deputy First Minister's the announcement about the plans to look at reopening the rail service between Blaenau Gwent and Newport along with the planned construction of a new Ebbw Vale Town station (closer to the town) - and we should all hope that work starts ASAP. This is the Plaid driven One Wales Government making a real difference, this is Plaid making a real difference...

Once this has been done plans should be advanced for the extension of the line from Aberbeeg to Abertillery as well as the long proposed railway station at Caerleon – then we can move on to improving facilities for passengers and developing secure parking for rail users at Abergavenny, Chepstow and Severn Tunnel.

A PRETTY UNIQUE ACHIEVEMENT

Wales is pretty unique in many ways, both good and bad; we have membership of a decidedly unenviable yet small club of European nations, especially when it comes to the provision of electrified railways, along with Albania and Moldova, Wales does not to possess a single mile of electrified railway. While only 33% of the rail network is electrified (some of which pre dated the start of World War II) when compared to 100% in Switzerland, 73% in the Netherlands and 57% in Germany.

When the plans to electrify the rail line from Bristol to were unveiled in 2009, and Plaid discovered that Wales did not feature, so it was only natural that Plaid kicked off about it. Some serious negotiations followed and Plaid, and Ieuan Wyn Jones AM, Deputy First Minister, worked exceptionally hard to ensure that the draft of the scheme which originally proposed leaving out the Wales section of the network by terminating the electrification at Bristol, was duly amended so that electrification work would push as far west as Swansea.

Personally, I would have gone one step further and asked Westminster to start the electrification process from the Swansea end of the line, because I trust New Labour about as far as I could through a grand piano, one handed up hill in a heavy driving sleet against the strong wind. That thought aside, we with the prospect of a New Labour defeat at the next election, what about a potential Tory commitment to the project? Well we do have Nick Bourne, waxing lyrical about improving public transport in Wales, which if nothing else might be interpreted to suggest that some of the Tories may have shifted in their opposition to any positive thoughts about Wales.

Mr Bourne, in his blog says;

"Similarly, supportive of a green agenda, will be a commitment to enhance existing rail services in Wales. I believe strongly that we need, once resources allow, a high speed rail link to Swansea from Paddington. This underpins the union as well as being of immense economic and social significance for Wales and the west of England. As a priority we need to see what the cost of this is and when it can be reasonably delivered.

Additionally we need to look at opening new stations, improving existing rail services and possibly opening or re-opening rail lines.

I have always been a strong supporter of rail. Once it may have looked like romantic quixoticism, now happily it makes social, cultural and economic sense as well, and contributes to saving the planet.

That is why I am keen, as is the Party, to look at ways of enhancing rail services in Wales."

Now this all sounds very good, very sensible, very inspirational, etc but – not quite true, as far as the Conservatives in London are concerned. Meanwhile back in October 2009 at the Tory party conference, Theresa Villiers, the Tory Shadow Transport Secretary has a very different idea on proposed plans to finally begin the electrification of the main line between London and Swansea, which were outlined by Lord Adonis ,the New Labour Transport Secretary, in The Times (23rd July 2009) on by stating that it was not possible to give a “cast iron guarantee”.

The depressing impression that you get is that the Tories are going to pursue their clearly stated intention of hacking the hell out of the public purse, by pursing traditional Thatcherite polices of ‘slash and burn’ when it comes to capital projects in an effort to rapidly reduce the borrowing deficit which has been made worse by the best part of 30 years of what could be described a ‘relaxed’ regulation of the banking sector, which led us to the banking crisis.

All our efforts may yet come to nothing if, the Tories win power in London power in May – with a fresh agenda that aims to specifically make serious cuts in capital projects. Our own experience tells us that when the Tories are in power, public services (and ironically military spending – there was a hard review of defense expenditure prior to the Falkland’s War, which effectively gave a green light to the Argentineans to invade) have been dramatically cut in order to try to reduce the size of the state.

Wales needs a modern rail service, with smooth connections to European markets for passenger and freight and with UK Government trying to persuade wants people to make less use of their cars and trying to cut carbon emissions, electrification of the railways is the way to go – a win, win. We can't let the Tories block Wales' rail electrification that way Wales will lose out twice over.