The Assembly term has drawn to a close in Cardiff Bay and it seems like most of Wales has decamped to the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells. Our last week of Assembly activity saw the Welsh Liberal Democrats leading the Welsh news agenda and ensuring that the Labour-Plaid government go into the summer knowing that we’ll be scrutinising their performance every step of the way.
We exposed credit card expenditure of over £700,000 by civil servants working for International Business Wales. After months of research we were in a position to raise serious concerns about the use of public money in attracting investment to Wales. Widespread media coverage, not least as the First Minister, Rhodri Morgan attacked our claims of first class travel, only to be forced into apology the following day once we’d provided the required evidence.
This was scrutiny at its best, resulting in a review of civil service expenses and an additional review of the entire IBW operation. We hope these reviews deliver better value for Welsh taxpayers and better performance in Welsh public service. It’s great to be able to evidence the direct impact our scrutiny of government delivers, but we’re conscious that it’s the offer we make to Wales that will bring us future success.
In this sense, being in opposition can be frustrating. In recent weeks we’ve launched innovative policy proposals on social housing and ambulance services. We’ve taken our solutions to government in the Siambr and to the Welsh media, only to find that positive intent and ‘good news’ just doesn’t get coverage. On both issues, we quite literally received no media coverage, no opportunity to share our proposals with Wales, no easy way to demonstrate our commitment to better government.
We didn’t even get coverage when Jenny Randerson AM made history in passing the first piece of private members legislation, on healthy eating, through the Assembly. This was a tremendous achievement for Jenny and for the wider National Assembly, a genuine good news story. So it really is only our job to ensure we share the story of our tireless work in positive opposition because nobody else will do so.
The summer recess provides an opportunity to build up our offer and to get out and connect with people, not through headlines but face to face, in communities, at events and on the doorstep. For our research staff summer provides a chance to set our sights on the longer term agenda, to plan for next term and of course for forthcoming elections.
For elected members, summer affords the opportunity to spend more time in our constituencies. This can be the most rewarding of times, reminding us why we sought to represent the people and the places we care about. Constituency work is a year round job but a summer of events, openings, meetings and surgeries keeps you plugged into the concerns of the wider community and that’s vital in shaping the work we do in Cardiff Bay and in Westminster.
This will be my first summer as Leader of the Party in Wales, so beyond Brecon and Radnorshire I’ll be using the time to get out and engage with communities across Wales. We still have a long way to establish a more widespread recognition of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, our values and policies.
I’m also aware I need to continue to build up my own profile in the public consciousness – such that Welsh communities know there is a leader on their side, fighting for a better politics and keen to listen to the diverse concerns of families, businesses and individuals.
On top of making visits and joining colleagues in campaigning, I’ll be embarking on a series of town hall meetings, starting on Carmarthen on July 29th. The aim of these meetings will be to reach out beyond our established support base and engage with those who may never have voted Lib Dem before. I’ll be listening to the concerns of the audience, rather than defending the party line on the various policy matters that arise.
As we work towards our general election campaign, this grasp of ‘what matters’ will prove invaluable. I’ll be publishing videos of this and future meetings on our website and You Tube site, so keep an eye out for those videos and let me know what you think, early in August.
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