IF ONLY...

A couple of things caught my attention, one of which was the fact that the Westminster Northern Ireland Affairs Committee is investigating whether the rate of Corporation Tax should be cut. The UK Government chancellor is planning to reduce the tax in the UK from 28% to 24% over the next four years however corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland is only 12.5%. At the moment MPs are considering whether Northern Ireland should have a similar or lower rate of Corporation Tax, something that will help attract investment and provide opportunities for business growth...so why can we not do the same thing here in Wales.

In Scotland, plans for a huge tidal energy project which is set to be developed in the Pentland Firth after the rights to the site were awarded to a consortium by the Crown Estate. The Inner Sound, which lies between the Caithness coast and island of Stroma, as one of the Firth's "most energetic" tidal areas. The proposed scheme could involve up to 400 submerged turbines, generating enough energy to power 400,000 homes with a 25-year operational lease for the site was awarded to MeyGen.

This is a joint venture between tidal technology provider Atlantis Resources Corporation, International Power and investment bank Morgan Stanley. The news of the award of the lease comes after two years of feasibility work in the waters of the Pentland Firth. Obviously this is subject to planning consent, the consortium plans to install hundreds of turbines in the Inner Sound area and construction is expected to take place on a phased basis until 2020. The real good news is that project will be one of the biggest in the world, with the potential to generate up to 400MW of sustainable renewable power. So why not here in Wales...

A MISSISSIPPI RIVER BOAT GAMBLE

Despite the positive growth figures, which the Con Dem Government and their media coat-holders have understandably made much of, the cuts are still a major gamble (of epic Mississippi riverboat proportions) on the part of the Con Dem Government. This is literally a case of win or bust, the problem is that this is a major gamble not only with the state of the economy but on the lives of every person who live in Wales.

The reckless combination of slash and burn cuts and the crazed Thatcherite obsession with privatisation (Forestry in England, the Post Office, possibly even the Passport Office, etc) could lead to the loss of half a million public sector jobs - a figure which could well be doubled when considering the impact on the private sector. Certainly Con Dem Government suggestions that the private sector will be able to step in to the jobs vacuum left behind is not so much a case of staggering naivety and more of case of an utter failure to understand the realities of the intertwined nature of the public and private sector in Wales.

Certainly whatever economic planet the Tories (who may be on Planet Bullingdon) and their Lib Dem little helpers /partners /collaborators believe they are living on, certainly does not include Wales, where the private sector is not as strong as it could be, but, is thoroughly intertwined with the public sector and somewhat happily dependent on relatively fat public sector contracts.

There is something else though, which over the term of this Government (however long it lasts) may have a more lasting impact, and that is any scant thought about the impact of their decisions upon Wales or the people of Wales. Even the South Wales Argus, has picked this up (and it is no lover of ‘Welsh Nationalism) in relation to the on-going campaign to save the passport office, stating in it's editorial (27th October) that “Whitehall’s failure to recognise the inalienable rights of Wales to equality with the other nations smacks to us of institutionalised racism” – I could not have put it better myself.

Let's be honest, if the last New Labour Government was pretty ignorant (and somewhat London centric) when it can to Welsh issues (economic and other) and that with the alleged strong Labour voice's around the cabinet table, then this lot in the current Con Dem Government in London are going to be even more cut off from the economic, social and political realities of life as it is lived here in Wales.

I mean these people think that providing a pilot area (in Herefordshire) for next generation broadband project which are set to take place in Scotland and England - will suffice for Wales. Moving swiftly on, the impression given is that the current Welsh Secretary of State is less than a strong voice for Wales in Government. It may well be the literal case that she is not sat around the cabinet table, let alone in the same building or the same city when it comes to decisions being made that affect Wales.

What would be useful is a speedy reform of New Labour’s unfair Barnett Formula and need to be able to exercise control over levels of corporation tax so that our businesses can get the support that they will need during tough times. The reality is that we had better not be holding our collective breath and be expecting the current government to even notice if we collectively went blue and passed out over an issue of principle – get used to the fact that Wales is not and will never be on the Con Dem’s economic or political radar.

So there we are, we face instead the grim prospect of ill-judged and reckless cut backs in public spending, which may lead to an end result of our communities being blamed for being poor and lacking in aspiration by the Con Dem ministers. Wales needs to be in charge of her own resources, and free to make its own economic decisions so that we can mastermind our own economic recovery, rather than cling onto the Con Dem Government's coat-tails and hope for the best.

NOT SEEING THE WOOD FOR THE TREES

Now when it comes to control of natural resources there has been much UK (sorry London centric) media coverage of the Con Dem's avid pursuit of the 'flog it' agenda, especially in relation to the suggested sale of the Forestry Commission. I was pleased to see that Plaid's Elin Jones AM, the Welsh rural affairs minister clearly state that there are no plans to sell swathes of the country's forests in Wales. After all Forestry is a clearly devolved matter and any decisions that affect the future of Wales' national forests will thankfully lie with Welsh ministers, in Cardiff, not in Westminster. I wonder how long it will take for the London centric Press to catch up...

SAYING WHAT YOU MEAN AND MEANING WHAT YOU SAY?

When Conservative Minister Iain Duncan Smith told people in the south Wales town of Merthyr Tydfil they have become static and should seek work in Cardiff and that unemployed people "get on a bus" to find work - there were echo's from the 1980's of the then Tory minister Lord Tebbit's "get on your bike" comments. Understandably these have ruffled more than a few feathers.

Now I suspect that this was not a cheap throw away line (on a BBC 2 Newsnight interview) this is what the Tories really think, this was the moment when the mask slipped, and despite the cuddly "Call me Dave" Cameron makeover this is what the hard-line and not so hard-line Tories actually think.

A measure of proof of this could be the way that most of the Tory backbench MP's were gleefully cheering (if not baying) in the House of Commons by way of vocal support during the Spending Review statement (which also announced details of the fact that over 400,000 public sector workers services were going to be dispensed with) last Wednesday. There were some serious shades of Ra! Ra! We are going to smash the Oiks!!! So much for one nation Conservatism.

One question I would like to ask is how is the National Assembly supposed to help people get to the work on the coastal belt from the valleys - whether by car or bus, by road or rail - when the cuts will reduce capital spending, which is money to be invested in new roads, rail (not to mention hospitals and schools) is going to be cut by 41%.

HERE WE GO...

So there we have it, the devil is in the detail, the Welsh budget has been cut in real terms by 11.4%, with capital spending, money to be invested in new roads, hospitals and schools, being cut by 41%. This works out at around £4.8 billion over the next four years.interestingly enough, the previous New Labour Government, planned, this time over three years to cut Wales' budget by £3 billion. The Con Dem government now also plan cuts of approximately £3 billion over next 3 years which works out at about the same. While the ConDem cuts are a heavy blow, so would the proposed New Labour cuts have been. One thing is true, both the former New Labour Government and the current ConDem Government have no interest in making sure that Wales has a fair funding formula.

The Welsh budget, this year, is some £1.4 billion less than it would have been if we had kept pace with spending increases in England under New Labour. It's also worth noting that Spending Review also announced a further £7 billion cut from the welfare budget, on top of £11 billion previously announced over the Summer. There is a significant degree of geographical unfairness (for want of a better phrase) in this Spending Review on a number of levels. Wales, amongst the devolved nations, is worst off, and is taking a bigger hit than Scotland and Northern Ireland. There are significant if not huge differences between Wales and the south-east of England.

The ConDems are carrying on with the Crossrail, a multi-billion pound infrastructure project in London, not to mention three major science projects all of which are located in the south-east of England, not to mention continued spending on museums, galleries and culture in London.These cuts are far too deep and far too fast, they threaten Wales’s economic recovery and could expose us to the risk of a ‘double-dip’ recession. I (and no doubt many other people would expect this from a Consevative Government, but, their super keen Lib Dem little helpers should really know better.

LACK OF CASH OR LACK OF VISION?

The Severn Barrage was always an expensive unsustainable ‘silver bullet which was relentlessly pushed by New Labour's Peter Hain (and his ilk) to show off their allegedly green credentials, but, in truth it was more likely to have been used to offset the emissions from newly expanded Heathrow. There were plenty of opportunities to invest in and develop smaller, sustainable, less environmentally damaging and more credible renewable energy schemes in the estuary (and elsewhere), such as tidal lagoons and tidal reefs, which would have generated significant amounts of energy (with a far longer period of generation) with significantly less environmental damage, yet New Labour Government conspicuously failed to do so.

We should not expect too much from the Com Dem Coalition Government - it has already quietly shelved plans (17th August) for an independent inquiry into the £25bn-a-year energy industry which has been subject to repeated criticism surrounding accusations of profiteering on electricity and gas. So it should come as no surprise to even the most impartial observers of the consequences of a warm unquestioning and financial rewarding relationship (in cash and kind) between the political parties within the Westminster village (and without) and the energy supply companies.

For sometime before the last Westminster general election, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats made repeated criticisms of New Labour for its failure to tackle prices charged by the Big Six suppliers. Both the opposition parties demanded an inquiry by the Competition Commission. There was a hope that an inquiry into the nefarious activities of the energy supply cartel (sorry companies) might have had the power to reform the industry, encourage new entrants to break the hold of players such as British Gas, EDF and the others on 99 per cent of the market and even possibly impose price caps.

Sadly the ConDem government is equally unimaginative and lacks any aspirational vision for future sustainable green energy development. This failure to invest in renewable energy in the Severn Estuary is unforgivable and clearly shows why it is so important that energy powers be devolved to the National Assembly for Wales. We have rich natural resources and here in Wales we should priorities the development of sustainable, renewable energy. The lands of the Crown Estate off the Welsh shoreline and powers to develop major energy infrastructure must also be devolved immediately to the Welsh Assembly if we are to make any realistic progress on these important issues.

THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST...

As the ConDem cuts begin to hit home, all of our public funded bodies are going to be under pressure to make savings and under threat of reduced budgets. In Wales, the Arts Council of Wales is already planning to withdraw funding worth £3.6m from 32 arts groups in 2011.

Locally, in the former county of Gwent, the cuts are going to hit home hard. One of the casualties of funding cuts could be Gwent Theatre which was has worked hard over the last three decades taking amongst other things live theatre in many of our schools. Gwent Theatre which has previously received £250,000 a year from the Arts
Council of Wales, may be wound up as a result of the loss of funding.

The Theatre's small company of six people: actors, stage manager, educational and administrative staff who will all lose their jobs as the impact of the loss of funding begins to hit home. It's worth remembering that Theatre Gwent's staff have worked with the Theatre company for over twenty years and have consistently delivered work of the highest quality throughout the former county of Gwent.

There will also be a knock on effect with a further reduction in employment opportunities for actors, script writers, musicians, poets and storytellers all of whom will now lose out when the cuts begin to bite. Gwent Theatre provides employment opportunities for up to 40 people in any given year.

The jobs loses and loss of opportunity are bad enough, but, they are only part of the story. Probably the most significant impact of the loss of Gwent Theatre is going to be the loss of its role in educating countless pupils and young people in Gwent's schools. In 2009 – 2010 alone, Gwent Theatre was able to deliver 220
performances to some 14,000 + young people in some 219 schools.

Gwent Theatre held 81 theatre workshops with over 2500 participants. The highly acclaimed Gwent Young Peoples Theatre put on seven productions, with 5183 youth theatre attendances and audience figures of 1,794. This is a pretty good if not an outstanding delivery of work in a single year from a small theatre company.

Gwent Theatre has worked hard over the years to establish itself as a highly successful company which regularly takes its excellent work into our schools and our communities across Gwent – something that more than than fulfils the aims and objectives of the Arts Council of Wales to put the experience of live theatre into
individuals and communities lives.

This may on the surface appear to be an easy hit, but, it is a cut that is far too deep - Gwent Theatre has successfully and faithfully served individuals, schools and communities across Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Newport and Torfaen, and has worked solidly for years to build up good working relations across the greater Gwent area.

It's time to think again funding wise, Gwent Theatre does not deserve this fate and neither should our communities be culturally deprived of the important future contributions to could and should made by Gwent Theatre in future years.

Follow this web link to sign the petition to Save Gwent Theatre.