GETTING BACK ON TRACK?

One way the Government in Cardiff could seriously reduce traffic on the M4 and on local roads in and around on Newport and across South Monmouthshire would be by supporting calls for new railway stations at Llanwern (it’s worth remembering that Newport Unlimited proposed a 1,000 space ‘park and ride’ facility for the proposed new station), Magor and Caerleon. These new stations  along with extra parking at Chepstow and extra parking (not to mention a road link to M48) at Severn Tunnel Junction would give hard pressed commuters something like a real choice when it comes to getting to and from work.  Ongoing and successful campaigns at Severn Tunnel and Chepstow have shown that people value their rail services and that the simple provision of better facilities and more stopping services can make a real difference.  New stations at Caerleon, Llanwern and at Magor would prove to be a less costly option and less environmentally damaging and more sustainable option and could help to cut congestion on already overused local roads.

TIME TO BREAK UP THE BANKS

Ahead of the Second Reading of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Bill, Plaid Cymru has renewed the call for full legal separation of retail and investment functions of banks, to truly ensure that banks can never again game the system and gamble with ordinary depositors' money.

Plaid Cymru’s Treasury spokesperson Jonathan Edwards MP said:

"The Government's plan to ‘electrify’ the ring-fencing of the big banks’ commercial and investment functions, despite being a step in the right direction, does not go far enough.   

“A full legal separation of these functions is only way to ensure that banks behave and do not have to be bailed out again. Even though everyone is now focused on the recovery, the mess of the past has still not been sorted out and is proving to be a major economic drag.

"We know that bankers will try and game the system, history has proved this. The only way to truly protect against the banks being bailed out again – at massive cost to the taxpayer – is for full legal separation of retail and investment functions.  This is the only way to end moral hazard and to stop casino bankers using public money as a safety net.

"Despite the seemingly tough talk of ‘electrifying’ the ring-fencing of the retail and investment functions of banks – the measure still fails to break up the banks. All that the Government would do is reserve the right to break up the banks. Instead, George Osborne should be actually breaking them up.

"Breaking up the banks is what Plaid Cymru has argued for since the banking crisis and financial crisis began in 2008.

"Labour, meanwhile, presided over the financial crash of 2008 having been slavish adherents to light touch regulation and in awe of bankers and the City of London. Ed Balls has said that 'the jury is still out' and has only talked of demanding a 'reserve power' for separation of the banks, mirroring Osborne’s position. [1] 

“Clearly Labour are not committed to separating the banks. Both Tories and Labour are addicted to high finance.

"After the scandals of PPI mis-selling, LIBOR, countless bankers’ bonuses furores, the financial crash of 2008, the massive government bail-outs, and the economic crisis that we are still living through today – active full legal separation of banks’ retail and investment functions is what is required. My fear is that the financial sector will see Osborne's reserved right to break up the banks as an empty threat.

"Those that say that banks would relocate to other countries if full legal separation were to happen are wrong. Where else would bail them out? Banks must be made to serve the real economy instead of being too big to fail. The producing economies of the British State, such as the Welsh economy, are bled dry by the sectoral dominance of the banking sector, and the regional dominance of London and the South East of England.

"Rather than being the goose that lays the golden egg, the banks, for far too long, have held a golden gun to governments and ordinary working people.  This Bill is the one opportunity policy makers will have to protect the real economy from the excesses of banks in the future.  Otherwise it's only a matter of time before we will be asked to bail the bankers out again."

AND SPEAKING OF BRIDGE TOLLS

No it's not the Severn Bridge!

Towards the end of February, a few Westminster MP’s gathered to back a private members bill which aimed to allow hospital patients free travel (to and from treatment) across a toll bridge across a wide river estuary (it was the Humber Bridge, not the Severn bridge(s)). Patients in northern Lincolnshire have no choice other than to use the Humber Bridge to access medical treatment at hospitals in Hull and East Yorkshire. The Bridge tolls were cut by half in April 2012 by a Westminster Government subsidy, falling from £3 each way for cars to £1.50 per crossing (interesting that a Conservative dominated coalition government can do this for a toll bridge in England but is quite unprepared to even consider attempting to reduce tools on the Severn bridges. Despite the reduction in tolls, local campaigners say cancer sufferers who need regular chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions are continually being hit by the £3 return toll charge. The proposed private members bill would give the Humber Bridge Board greater financial freedom and may potentially pave the way for toll-free crossings for hospital patients. A bill was introduced to parliament in January, its passage was however delayed after the Tory MP and former Transport Minister Christopher Chope (Christchurch, Dorset) raised an objection in the House of Commons. The Humber Bridge which was opened to traffic in 1981, has often been at the centre of political controversy over the rising cost of tolls, something that has been blamed on the legacy of spiralling debt from its construction. The Humber Bridge Bill has reached the second reading stage in the House of Commons and will to pass through the various stages of parliament over the next six months. So what exactly are those MP's from the South East doing with their time?

FROM THE LAND OF CHEESE AND CHOCOLATE…

George Osborne and the Con Dems are prettymuch on their own when it comes to standing up for the bankers and their bonuses. Swiss voters have overwhelmingly voted in a referendum to impose some of the world's toughest controls on executive pay. Almost 68% of the Swiss voters backed plans to give shareholders a veto on compensation and ban big payouts for new and departing managers.

More popular than the Bankers...

While understandably some Business groups argued the proposals would damage Swiss competitiveness ordinary Swiss voters were more concerned with the growing economic divide in the country. The Swiss vote came a few days after the European Union agreed new measures to cap bankers bonuses. Referendum results showed that all 26 Swiss cantons backed the proposals, with 1.6 million voters voting "Yes" with 762,000 voting “NO”.

Multibillion dollar losses by Swiss banking giant UBS (which were covered by the Swiss government), and thousands of redundancies at pharmaceutical company Novartis, have caused a wave of anger in Switzerland as high salaries and bonuses for managers had remained unchanged. The new measures  give Switzerland some of the world's strictest corporate rules, with Shareholders having a veto on salaries, golden handshakes will be forbidden, and managers of companies who flout the rules may  face prison (now there’s a nice idea!).

The so called "fat cat initiative" will be written into the Swiss constitution and apply to all Swiss companies listed on Switzerland's stock exchange. Last week the European Union agreed a deal which means that bankers bonuses will be capped at a year's salary, but can rise to two year's pay but only if shareholders approve. The Con Dem Government has argued the EU bonus rules will drive away talent and restrict growth in the financial sector.

Remember this...

"It is wholly untenable to have millions of people making sacrifices in their living standards only to see the banks getting away scot-free." 

Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister, 17 December 2010 

and also this...

"Bankers have to realise that the British public helped to bail out the banks and it is very galling when they see bankers pay themselves unjustified bonuses." 

David Cameron, Prime Minister, 17 December 2010

The former New Labour government made much of its light (more like non-existent) financial regulatory touch, well at least until the wheels came spectacularly off the wagon. The Con Dem's have effectively refused to take any action over banking regulation until after the next Westminster general election. Interestingly enough before the government limos arrived (and they were in government) before the last Westminster election Vince Cable (currently the Business Secretary) and George Osborne (currently Chancellor) were at it hammer and tongs as to who was going to be toughest when it came to regulating and controlling the worst excesses of the banks.

Personally I think that The Con Dem UK Government (and their formerly New Labour predecessors) have missed an opportunity to break up and 'privatise' the larger 'publicly owned' financial institutions, they should have sold the shares on the open market with specific quotas on how many shares any one institution can own. From where many people are sat these bloated overgrown banking organisations appear to be a serious block on the ‘free market’ and too busy lining their own pockets. George Osborne and the Tories appear to have reluctantly gone along with the much publicly stated need to regulate the more unsavoury aspects of the banking sector, but, whether they will actually and eventually do anything is open to question.

Perhaps they ought to come clean and simply declare an interest as regulating the banks in the City may impinge on the acquisition of future lucrative directorships in City banks unless they have them already that is? One question that may also remain unanswered is whether or not they will do anything about tax evasion, tax avoidance and the regulation tax havens? It's odd really because the Con Dem's have displayed such zeal in their efforts to chase people on benefits.

REDEFINING INERTIA?

Inertia can be defined as the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest, or the tendency of an object to resist any change in its motion (see Labour in Wales Government).

How to redefine inertia?

Even the most passive observer of the hitherto inert Labour in Wales Government in Cardiff should not be surprised to see that road has been chosen over rail in relation to transport priorities. This largely passive if not mostly harmless government has shelved several rail schemes that could make a real difference to people’s lives and deliver value for money in favour of questionable expensive road schemes that won’t deliver much to our communities let alone value for money. 

Road over Rail?

Back in January (2013) the Welsh Government released figures that show that it intends to spend around £805 million pounds on finishing off the Heads of the Valleys Road (something that has been on the drawing board by my reckoning since 1958) by 2020. The Western Mail (28th February 2013) revealed that the road scheme will provide scant benefits for our economy and that seven far more beneficial rail schemes may have been quietly sidelined: 

·      Aberystwyth (Bow Street): new station outside the town with car parking (estimated cost between £1.5 and £2 million (2011)).This would provide a welcome boost to commutes into and out of Aberystwyth and reduce road congestion.

·     Abertillery: new station and 1.5 miles of new track to link Abertillery to Ebbw Vale line at Llanhilleth (estimated cost £16.7 million (2012)). This would provide a key rail link for Abertillery to Cardiff (and eventually to Newport).

·    Bridgend: new station at Brackla, upgraded track and signals at Tondu (estimated cost £12 million (2005)). This means that the train service from Maesteg to Cardiff could run every 30 minutes.

·     Ebbw Vale: extra tracks and new Ebbw Vale town station (estimated cost £32 million (2012)). This means that train services could run from much closer to the town centre and could lead to further development work at Ebbw Vale Parkway, with trains running every hour from Ebbw Vale to Newport (subject to further work outside Newport) in addition to the existing service between Ebbw Vale and Cardiff.

·      Llantrisant: new railway line (on old track) and new stations at St Fagans, Talbot Green, Llantrisant, Gwaun Meisgyn and Beddau (estimated cost £37 million pounds (2011)). This could provide a rail service into Cardiff. 

·        Nelson: new stations at Nelson, Trelewis and Bedlinog (estimated cost £7.9 million (2011)). This could boost rail services into Caerphilly and Cardiff.

·      Newport and South Monmouthshire: new station at Llanwern, extra parking at Chepstow and extra parking (and road link to M48) at Severn Tunnel Junction (estimated cost £43 million (2011)).  This could help provide trains from Chepstow into Cardiff every 30 minutes and cut congestion on the roads.

More locally, back in 2005, the Welsh Government promised to deliver phase 2 of the Ebbw Vale rail project, with direct trains from Ebbw Vale to Newport and an extension of the line towards Ebbw Vale and Abertillery by 2009.  Some four years down the line, so to speak we are still waiting and it looks like we may wait a long time before anything gets done.

The end of the line for the moment?

Our own government, not the Con Dems in Westminster, has chosen to reduce investment its capital investment in railways from £37 million (2013) to £12 million (2014-15) this £16 million pound saving would not even pay 10% of the provisional costs of the Heads of the Valleys road scheme.  Now it would be easy to suggest that Labour in Wales’s decision is literally be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul as the budget won’t stretch to paying for everything. Limited budgets aside for the moment, this is still a bad decision, one that does little to build (or rebuild) our fragmented public transport system.

The underlying problem is that rail investment is not yet devolved and the real decisions about significant infrastructure investment in Wales are still being made in Westminster and Whitehall. So obviously when looking at transport infrastructure spending and development with a London centric perspective tends to ensure that smaller projects that could have a significant impact here in Wales tend to drop down the long list of priorities.

This lack of budgetary authority is something that directly interferes with our ability to choose the most cost effective transport option. Full budgetary authority for transport in Wales needs to be devolved to the Welsh Government because the combination of spilt budgetary authority (between Cardiff and London) and the ineffective arms length relationship between the Welsh Government and Network Rail is not addressing our countries transport needs.

Now the lack of budgetary authority is only part of the problem. It is worth remembering that the Transport (Wales) Act (which was effective from February 2006) gave the National Assembly the power to plan and co-ordinate an integrated transport system. Now this may not sit well with what appears to be an old style Welsh Office inspired civil service that may still be thinking in London centric terms having failed to grasp the concept of devolution. That aside, the real problem is the almost total lack of any vision on the part of the Labour in Wales government, which like various other Labour groups across our country is more concerned with being there than doing anything.   

TIME FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood has said her party can deliver the brighter future that the people of Wales are crying out for.  Speaking at the Plaid Cymru Spring Conference in Beaumaris, Ynys Mon, Ms Wood told the audience that during her first year as party leader she had learnt that people “the length and breadth of Wales have an unquenchable hope, a huge appetite for a different course.”


She also said she had learnt that many people share an acceptance that “we cannot continue as we are.”  Plaid Cymru, Ms Wood said, is the only party that Wales can rightly call its own and the only party that can bring about the “new direction, new start and new leadership” so desperately needed. In her second speech to spring conference as leader, Ms Wood outlined some of the ideas her party would implement if it held the reins of power at Welsh Government.

“I want a connected country,” said Ms Wood.  “That means improving our internal road network, continuing the work begun by Ieuan, making use of rail electrification to build a Valleys Metro and bring Cardiff to Bangor rail times to within three hours.  And it means creative investment in our ports and airports to connect Wales to the world.

“I want a country where people have opportunities to do well – that means improving the skills of our people to build a new sustainable, manufacturing economy and more engineering skills in particular, delivered in communities through a green skills construction college.

“It means training people in Wales and incentivising them to stay in Wales, innovating in our public sector with training to develop the best quality public services.

“It means supporting more small businesses to enable them to take on new workers or trainees and it means improving the education of all of our children by working towards a system whereby all children are given the gift of bilingualism from three.”

Ms Wood said Plaid Cymru would provide leadership and excellence in education in contrast to the finger-pointing and poor results that have characterised Labour’s unbroken rule over the Welsh education since devolution.

“This May, the Labour party will have been in power in Wales for sixteen years,” said Ms Wood. 

“There will be teenagers doing their GCSEs this summer who have lived their whole lives under a Labour Education minister. 

“These young people have watched as Wales; in the past a watchword for educational excellence, has slipped further and further behind – not just England, but 36 other countries in reading and 38 more in maths.

“When a child fails their education, the consequences stay with them for life.  Ask anyone who didn’t pass the 11 plus.  But when our education system fails our children, who takes responsibility? 

“To date, no one.  Not one education minister has ever been sacked for poor results – in this Government failure is rewarded with promotion.”

She also lamented the number of reviews the Welsh Government has ordered since forming a minority Government less than two years ago.

She said: “There have been almost as many reviews announced under this fourth Assembly as in the whole history of devolution.  Why?  Because a Government that has been in power for so long has run out of excuses for failure.

“They want to create the semblance of activity.  The few targets that they have set in their sixteen years in Government they have missed.  90% of UK GVA by 2010? Missed. 25% of people Welsh-speaking by 2010? Missed. 

“Welsh Ambulances arriving within eight minutes of an incident in 65% of cases. Missed month after month after month.

“Our Assembly was meant to fill the accountability gap.  No longer would those taking the decisions be free to ignore the consequences of getting those decisions wrong. 

“We now have our own democracy, yet we are caught in a one party state-of-denial where Labour politicians from Wales can vote with the UKIP-type Tories against the best interests of Wales, yet in Cardiff Bay Labour politicians bemoan a cut in the EU budget. 

“They cannot be allowed to be immune from criticism and from never taking responsibility for the multiple crises – the crisis in our health service, the crisis in our schools, the crisis in our economy – that Labour has left for us. 

“They appear to be clueless as to the cause of these problems, and clueless as to the solutions.  Which is why we have had 59 task and finish groups established since May 2011.  Well I know the source of the problem, and I have a simple solution. 

“It’s time to task and finish off this Government!”

Ms Wood finished her speech by saying it was time to provide the vision and the positive future that people are calling out for.

“Our history will be what we make it,” she said.  “And we can start today by imagining a different future. 

“What have I learned this last year as leader?

“I’ve learned that people the length and breadth of Wales have an unquenchable hope, a huge appetite for a different course – an acceptance that we cannot continue as we are.  Our country contains an enormous well-spring of positive, creative, almost limitless social energy. 

“People want to make a difference to their world and their Wales.  That’s why you’re here, that’s why I’m here, that’s why are here together.  And together this small nation can and will do great things. 

“People are calling out for a vision.  Yes, there is scepticism; that is hardly surprising.  The old models of our economy, our politics, our environment are broken. 

“The old institutions are rotten to the core.  People are looking for new direction, a new start and new leadership.  And we need to make sure they find it here, at home, in the only party that this country of ours can rightly call its own.  The Party of Wales.”

A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES?

At the end of the day it comes down to a question of priorities, two different issues bankers bonuses and the bedroom tax may well clearly define this Conservative dominated coalition government, and show that its priorities are at odds with those of most ordinary voters. David Cameron and Boris Johnson defence of pretty indefensible bankers bonuses and their strident criticism of European Union attempts to curb them is all too typical of a Westminster based political party that still reveres the City.

DC on a sticky wicket after the Eastleigh By-election?

This is not I suspect simply a Conservative position and that  this defence of bankers bonuses would also probably be made by the Labour Party if it was in power.  The EU has brought in a reasonable cap on bankers bonuses, seeking to limit them to no more than a year's basic pay, with an option for shareholders to agree to double it. I suspect that many voters along with many economists blame excessive bonuses in the financial sector for encouraging the risky irresponsible behaviour that brought on the 2008 financial crisis.

Top bankers and financial traders earned bonuses multiple times their base salaries, generating public anger over bonuses especially following the huge publically funded bail-outs of banks. Dave and Boris’s defence of the bankers and the Labour Party’s relative silence on the issue may, in my option have more to do with future job prospects for former Westminster politicians than it does with any heartfelt ideological love of the free market.

The other issue that will help define this Con Dem Coalition Government is its desire to bring in the "bedroom tax” (or housing under-occupancy penalty) which will hit on some of the society’s  most vulnerable people - including pensioners, people will disabilities, separated families and families of service personnel. The Con Dems are seeking to penalise those who are in receipt of housing benefit while having one or more spare bedrooms in their houses. Even the Department for Work and Pensions' figures show that 63% of the 660,000 claimants affected by the bedroom tax or their partners are disabled.

Plaid Cymru, the SNP and the Greens (and even the Labour Party in Westminster) have put pressure on the Con Dem Government to think again. The bed room tax is an ideologically driven exercise to save money at the expense of some of vulnerable people – potentially it could force around 400,000 disabled people and their partners out of their homes and is wrong both in principle and in practice.

This Conservative dominated coalition has defined itself by failing to tackle tax evasion to recover lost tax, by failing to deal with excessive profiteering by the big six energy companies and failing to curb the bankers excesses. Instead this Con Dem government is going after those who can least afford to be taxed and is actually going out to bat for the City and standing up for bankers bonuses.