Freedom Central » Bethan Jenkins

Plaid Cymru chairman Dixon quits over party’s direction

Freedom Central — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 07:34:24 +0000

The BBC report that the national chair of Plaid Cymru has handed in his resignation citing personal and “significant political” reasons.

Writing on his blog Mr. Dixon cited personal and “significant political” reasons for his decision:

But it isn’t as simple as just the personal and it would be dishonest of me to pretend that it is; there are some significant political reasons as well. There are a number of ways in which I feel that the party has moved, or is moving, in a direction which I cannot support, but being a national office-holder has fettered my freedom to say so.

His decision is most probably unrelated to but nevertheless comes following some unwelcome publicity for Plaid Cymru regarding manoeurvrings around the party’s selection processes for regional list seats.

Last week’s Wales on Sunday reported that that many Plaid Cymru members are throwing their weight behind a bid to unseat Bethan Jenkins in an attempt to “punish” her boyfriend, Neil McEvoy for his attempt to get into the Assembly and the subsequent threat to South Wales Central AM, Chris Franks.

The Inside Out blog highlighted further developments in this battle when they revealed that copies of an email sent by Mr. McEvoy are circulating in which he urges ex-car workers to sign a letter of mass support for Bethan after her campaigning work on their behalf.

This week I have mostly been reading…

Matt O'Grady — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:05:37 +0000

I’m ill, and still blogging. That is commitment. Someone email me a lemsip.

As the contest to succeed Rhodri Morgan as Labour leader/First Minister begins, it’s obviously going to be the main subject on the blogs. We now have three declared candidates. Edwina Hart, Huw Lewis and Carwyn Jones. Not much surprise or inspiration there really. Carwyn Jones’ campaign website went live today and a formal declaration is probable tomorrow.

But there isn’t much agreement on who the eventual winner will be. Glyn Davies has first-hand experience in working with both Edwina and Carwyn during his time in the assembly. He is of the impression that it’s between the two of them and that it could be close.

But not everyone has written off Huw Lewis’s chances. Bethan Jenkins points out that he “is keen, floated ideas in various meetings and conferences, and has an eagerness to succeed”. She may be right, and if it does become a battle of ideas then that could easily play into his hands, and Carwyn would be pretty buggered. His answer to every Assembly question is the same “well, under the Tories it would be worse” – that’s not a bloody answer! .

But, it’s not the Plaid group that matters in this one, it’s the Labour group. As Guerrilla Welsh-Fare points out, Huw doesn’t exactly have the backing of the political stars of the Labour group. Can the backing of the likes of Karen Sinclair and Irene James really swing many votes his way? Probably not. But he does have the support of Tory MP David Jones. I’m sure he is grateful. Edwina and Carwyn are both yet to declare exactly who their six are, assuming they have them all signed up by now!

But as Betsan Powys highlights, there are more than just Assembly Members involved in this. There are more Labour MPs than AMs and their votes will count the same in Labour’s strange electoral college type thingy.

And so to the odds this week:

Carwyn Jones: Evens (still)
Huw Lewis: 5/2
Edwina Hart: 7/2
Jane Hutt: 14/1

……has anyone even bothered to ask Jane Hutt if she is planning on running? Someone should email her and check or something. I guess it doesn’t matter either way.

Swansea based blogger Inside Out suggests settling the contest with pistols. The one problem with that is it would create by-elections, and we’re all too busy for that!

The Institute of Welsh Affairs point out that the ban on dual candidates could end up coming back to haunt Labour, given that both Edwina and Carywn are at serious risk of losing their seats to the Tories in 18 months time. We all know that the ban was implemented for party political reasons and to save Labour cabinet members blushes, could they really consider u-turning on this for political reasons as well?

I’m not really a fan of the latest campaign by the BMA to remove sunbeds from all Welsh Leisure Centres. I suppose my issue with this is on two levels. In moderation, there is nothing particularly harmful about them. If someone wants to pay the council to help them get a tan before they go on holiday then there isn’t anything wrong with that, although I think it‘s a fairly odd concept of getting a tan before you go on holiday! But there are many providers of tanning facilities, it’s not like removing them from council properties is going to stop people from using them. There is a second issue, as highlighted by Peter Black on this site, that the revenue raised by these facilities reduces the amount of subsidy they require from the council.

According to Politics Cymru, Vaughan Roderick has blogged on the possible general election results. Given my knowledge of Welsh I will have to take their word for it. The results stem from the Politics Home survey of marginal constituencies. It doesn’t make exactly comfortable reading for the Lib Dems, with a prediction of us losing Ceredigion and not making any gains. But given this week also included the first poll in 27 years that put us ahead of Labour, you have to wonder how credible any poll is that thinks that we won’t take Swansea West and Newport East in these circumstances? But then again, I would say that wouldn’t I?

I don’t agree with Sweet and Tender Hooligan that Plaid and the SNP should participate in the potential debate between party leaders in advance of the general election. There is a simple reason for this. It is a debate between potential Prime Ministers. If a Party is not standing enough candidates to actually even hypothetically win the election, then how can they claim they should be part of a Prime Minister’s debate? Welsh and Scottish debates should take place, but during Welsh and Scottish general elections when their candidates could potentially become the next First Minister, not during an election they are not even trying to win.

Right, I’m going to go sit on my sofa and feel sorry for myself. And get snot everywhere. Yeah, that was what you wanted to picture right now.

This week I have mostly been reading…

Matt O'Grady — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:21:54 +0000

Good news everyone! ‘This week I have mostly been reading’ is back. Is it bigger and better than ever? No. It is pretty much the same, so if you want to close the window now, don’t worry, I won’t judge you. Or at least anymore than I have already judged you. Which is quite a lot. Loser.

Well, wasn’t summer shite? The weather was crap and little of interest happened within the world. Guess what? Autumn won’t be much better, and winter is very much the same, except with Christmas, which will be over-rated, Dad will burn dinner and the TV will be disappointing. But at least we are guaranteed one interesting thing happening, the Welsh Labour Leadership Donkey Race. As Betsan Powys notes, we don’t actually know when, where how or any other details, just that it will happen.

Oddest post of the week is going to Glyn Davies, who has managed to locate the whereabouts of a tumour he had removed a few years ago. Eww. Please bear in mind I have awarded him weird post of the week before reading any other blogs. I am confident that he will not be beaten. Although he does make a good point about the relationship between the Welsh NHS and the private sector.

One thing that did happen during the summer was the shock resignation of Adam Price MP, who after a brief stint in America (which I am certain Obama won’t even notice Miss Jenkins) will be attempting to head to the Bay. In this post he declares that neither him nor constituency colleague Rhodri Glyn Thomas will be backing any particular successor. In the post Mr Price also attacks the Liberal Democrats for being honest about their tuition fees stance, while ignoring the fact that his party just outright lied about them.

Cambria Politico believes that the most likely successor is Adam Price’s former advisor, Jonathan Edwards, described as a ‘staunch nationalist’ with a ‘broad knowledge of economics and considerable experience in public affairs’. I’m sure that is just what he people of Camarthen East are looking for….

Bethan Jenkins AM thinks we should close tax loopholes for the rich in order to help poorer, younger people, particularly with tuition fees. Given that Plaid no longer support the scrapping of tuition fees, and we aim to (even if we recognise that it is difficult), maybe she should reconsider her political priorities herself?

Why on earth am I a) watching and b) getting angry about the bloody X-Factor? Christ I need a life!

The Cynical Dragon believes that the Welsh Liberal Democrats need more hugs. Maybe if more people hugged me I wouldn’t be so bitter. That’s a lie, I probably would be. His review of a Tory leaflet may be short, but is well worth reading.

I (unsurprisingly) won’t agree with David Jones MP that Nick Clegg’s speech was a blown chance. I do agree that it’s obvious he wants to be Prime Minister and that it isn’t as shocking as everyone makes out that he actually said it, but aside from that, I guess Mr Jones wasn’t really listening. It isn’t easy for members, who like me, joined the party on promises to raise taxes and spend on the public, to suddenly hear that we want to cut taxes and look at tough spending choices. But what does make it easier is to have a leader who can inspire confidence that these are the right policies for the circumstances our country finds itself in. No-one I have spoken to came out of the hall lacking any confidence that our party is heading in the right direction and that we are the only party being honest with the public about what we would do in government.

But aside from that, Nick Clegg is the only leader talking about the situation young people find themselves in, and the future that awaits them. Labour gave us a minimum wage, great, but if you are young you get less. Labour gave us tuition fees. Labour gave us ASBOs. Labour put our young people on the DNA database. Labour screwed young people over again and again. After paying my tuition fees I got to work scrubbing McDonalds toilets for £4 an hour, and am now trapped in debt and can’t get a loan on a lower APR than my credit cards because Labour fucked the economy up. But the good news is, I can spend a lifetime not just paying back my own student loan, but the billions given to the banks to not lend me the money I need.

Sorry, that turned into a rant. But no Mr Jones, Clegg’s speech hit the right notes. Lets see if Gordon and Dave can manage the same.

Hopefully within the next week we will know a little more about the Donkey Race and exactly who the runners and riders are. We all know who we are expecting, but it will be interesting to see this confirmed. Given that it’s his birthday this Tuesday, it may be then we get our answer.

The latest updates on the odds from Ladbrokes are:

Carwyn Jones: Evens
Huw Lewis: 11/4
Edwina Hart: 4/1
Jane Hutt: 14/1

Which disagrees slightly from the odds given by Betsan Powys’ expert.

I’ve already said where my money is, and still think that even at these odds Edwina represents the best value, especially given the verdict of Betsans’ expert!

This week I have mostly been reading….

Matt O'Grady — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:43:05 +0000

Sorry this post is late (as if anyone noticed). I got distracted by stuff. A lousy excuse, but that’s all you’re getting.

The All Wales Convention has made an appearance on a few blogs this week following the final meeting this week. Alwyn Ap Huw believes that the recommendation will be a powerful ‘not yet’, which I doubt is the result most in the welsh political world are looking for. More info on the final meeting can be found on Betsan Powys’ blog.

With the new speaker now elected, and thankfully not being Margaret Beckett, Tom Bodden of the Daily Post wonders if the Assembly should be looking into similar recommendations for Assembly Members who break the rules as are being looked into in Westminster. The Assembly has always been a step ahead on expenses, revealing a large amount of data that showed just how ridiculous some of the claims Members were able to make. But there have never been reforms to tighten the system following that ipod claim. Could the Assembly be left a step behind by Parliamentary reforms?

Two different issues appear about the BNP this week. Nick Bourne thinks (correctly so) that Nick Griffin’s comment that “there is no such thing as a black Welshman” is offensive. Peter Black goes down a different route, looking at the lobbying by teaching unions to have BNP supporting teachers removed. The whole idea that someone should be fired from their jobs for their political beliefs is one that fills me with a sort of cold fear. Everyone, including idiots and bigots, is entitled to their view. The only time it should be questioned is if someone’s views interfere directly with their work. Banning a BNP teacher for picking on an Asian child would be fine, as would banning a Labour supporting teacher who picked on a rich kid or a Lib Dem supporting teacher for picking on a child who doesn’t believe in a written constitution. But no teacher should be banned without evidence that their politics has interfered with their job.

The following blogs have Michael Jackson related posts:

They all take a different view on the situation. Nothing I have to say on this subject will be helpful and will probably just offend.

It’s not just MP’s expenses that are making the news this week. Bethan Jenkins spoke on Sunday at a discussion held in the Senedd about the Royal Family. Apparently Prince Charles alone costs the taxpayer £3million, and despite his personal income increasing, the amount of tax he has paid has fallen 10%. Where’s the bloody Taxpayers Alliance now? Why aren’t the public baying for blue blood in the same way they want to punish politicians? Maybe it’s just me, although I do tend to see blood as the answer for most things.

Am I the only one given nightmares by the thought of Carwyn Jones and Brian Gibbons singing at the Labour Christmas party? I hope it was ‘Fairytale in New York’.

Politics Cymru is making excellent use of video. Along with their podcast thingy there is now a weekly feature on what is happening in the press conferences. Having attended a few of our press briefings, it’s always strange to see what the journalists are picking up on. Often stories can be made or quashed, and it’s nice to hear what the other parties are using theirs for.

Most unexpected post of the week has to be on Sweet and Tender Hooligans blog, which seems to be possibly the only blog in existence about Welsh politics and music. I reckon it will forever remain the only webpage in history that contains mentions of both Killswitch Engage and David Melding. I’m not gonna try and compete with him on the music front (or really the political one), but I will post a link to the excellent Killswitch song “Rose of Sharyn”.

Y Barcud Oren #8

Gareth Aubrey — Sat, 16 May 2009 05:56:00 +0000

Forever delayed but back at last in the wake of the most important Wednesday of the Welsh political year (and I’m not referring to Lembit’s council tax summons…)

Here’s Your Starter For Spring, All Conferring

The Assembly has of course been off on recess, which gave everyone time to get through the rest of spring conference season. Having survived Tory attempts to Welshify themselves at a cricket ground and Plaid’s efforts to cast off the cottage burning we were first to the plate in the second half.

The result was record turnout for a Welsh Lib Dem conference, a jam-packed policy agenda, a great Q&A session with both our leaders and a typically firebrand keynote speech from the leader herself. The press coverage was similarly upbeat and there’s plenty of reaction from the blogosphere to get your teeth into here, here, here, and here.

But one thing that sticks uppermost in my mind is that I spent a goodly chunk of Saturday night in the bar talking to the executive member for education – in Blaenau Gwent. So don’t tell me we haven’t grown and don’t matter outside Mid Wales and the cities…

And then it was Labour’s turn, closing things off in Swansea with not so much a conference as a leaving do in the staff canteen. With Rhodri heading towards voluntary retirement and Labour generally hurtling towards involuntary booting out on their arses, they had little option but to mutter, mutter against the dying of the light. Paul Murphy did his best “You’re Welsh, You’ll Vote Labour” routine, but the BBC’s sermon metaphor rather hit the nail on the head of that one.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Get Out Of The Cock-Up

Meanwhile, the Welsh Assembly Government’s tuition fees policy was rapidly leaving behind the cynghanedd and acquainting itself with the Icelandic Sagas.

For starters, John Dixon decided that expelling 17-year-old Arianwen Caiach-Taylor for dissent was not vengeance enough and set about pursuing her mother too. Sian Caiach, a former NHS whistleblower, twice Plaid parliamentary candidate and current Plaid councillor in Carmarthenshire, found herself accused of pretty much every Plaid leak for the last three years. That accusation was of course somewhat dented by The Western Mail stating directly beneath those accusations that Cllr Caiach wasn’t the leak…

The new media then took over the story as The Next Leader Of Plaid Cymru™ walked into an elephant trap of Borisian proportions. Post-conference, the blogosphere had been engrossed in a debate about astroturfing by Plaid staff writing anonymous blogs ignited by a Freedom Central piece from Peter Black, a debate largely predicated on the inability of Plaid members to understand the meaning of the word anonymous.

In the midst of all this, Adam Price was sufficiently irked by Peter’s own blog – pointing out that it was pretty ridiculous for Plaid (of all parties) to suggest that the best way to get Wales out of recession was to go cap in hand to Westminster – that he launched into a full-throated… explanation of why his party are sufficiently stupid as to think that junior coalition partners don’t matter.

Which was fine, except that Freedom Central had just discovered by way of FOI that, while Adam had talked the talk on fees, threatening judicial review no less, his official contribution as a Member of Parliament had been, well, naff all. Adam invoked the astroturfing row in his defence, but wasn’t able to muster any factual answer beyond a protestation that he’d spoken to Plaid’s special adviser (something that is somewhat less convincing when it appears in paragraph seven, while an impassioned defence of that special adviser in his previous life as MP for Ceredigion appears in paragraph one…)

By this point, however, it was clear that the incompetency pact has kicked in and that Labour had to do something monumentally dumb to take the heat off their coalition partners.

Carwyn Jones, Leader Of The House and front-runner to take over from Rhodri Morgan as Labour leader, was only too happy to oblige, telling the Assembly that the decision to make the announcement about tuition fees on March 18th had only been taken at 12:30pm on March 17th. Which was funny, given that official e-mails confirmed that, after some effort had been made to move the statement so it would fall after Plaid conference (and thus spare them the embarrassment of holding a conference at a University having just shafted all students everywhere) the date of the statement had been confirmed on March 10th. They say the devolved assemblies do things differently, but lying to the House is still lying to the House, so for one leadership candidate it rather looks like it might be man overboard…

The betrayal was finally completed on Wednesday. After Plaid and Labour were too gutless (that word again, Adam, happy now?) to have a vote on the whole shambles, the Liberal Democrats forced one themselves. To their credit, Leanne Wood and Bethan Jenkins backed up the rhetoric and voted against the government, but otherwise (apart from the notably absent Ieuan Wyn Jones) the coalition held firm.

And nothing touched me deep inside, the day Plaid Cymru died…

Y Barcud Oren appears (theoretically) regularly at Liberal Democrat Voice and cross-posted at Freedom Central

Breaking News – Welsh Lib Dems lose vote to block Welsh Top-Up Fees.

Newswire — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:32:00 +0000

Aside from the notable exceptions of Leanne Wood and Bethan Jenkins, Plaid Cymru failed to follow their party policy and have now allowed the introduction of Top-Up fees in Wales. Plaid’s line has always been that they were against fees but could not persuade Labour. This afternoon, they didn’t need to. There were enough votes to do without Labour, but they failed to vote for their own policy. This will doubtless raise many questions amongst the membership. Expect anger, expect rage, and probably expect more expulsions as a result.

We shouldn’t forget though, this is not about Plaid’s hopeless divisions, and fake excuses which have been so clearly exposed this afternoon, it is about the future of Welsh students, many of whom have just been handed a future of debt!

The full list of Plaid Members who abandoned Welsh students this afternoon, including their “Missing” leader is below. (Congrats again to those two brave and noble Plaid Ams, The Welsh Tories and independent AM Trish Law for doing the right thing today.)

Peter Black (South Wales West)
The National Assembly For Wales:
Calls on the Welsh Assembly Government to reverse its decision to scrap the tuition fees grant.

Jones, Helen Mary – AGAINST
Jones, Gareth – AGAINST
Jones, Allun Ffred – AGAINST
Jones, Elin – AGAINST
Jones, Ieuan Wyn – DID NOT VOTE
Davies, Jocelyn – AGAINST
Franks, Christopher – AGAINST
Ryder, Janet – AGAINST
Thomas, Rhodri Glyn – AGAINST
Lloyd, Dai -AGAINST
Asghar, Mohammed -AGAINST
Evans, Nerys – AGAINST

On Scrutinising Government

Ali Goldsworthy — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:50:00 +0000

Peter’s post seems to have caused a bit of debate. For what it’s worth I agree with him, a political party can’t on one hand criticise people for generating anonymous smears and then have staff permitted to do exactly the same thing in some sort of semi official capacity.

We have also touched a nerve with some Plaid bloggers who feel that the attention they’ve received over the last week or so was because we were threatened. I hate to shatter the conspiracy theory, but Plaid are part of the Government, the Lib Dems are one of the two opposition parties. In a functioning democracy one of the main tasks of being an opposition party is to scrutinise the performance of the Government. When one part of the coalition is obviously split over an issue, which was a key plank of their manifesto it would be somewhat remiss of us not to point that out.

Whilst we are on fees, I’ve been doing a bit of digging, trying to establish just how much complaining Plaid had done about the consultation process their own Adam Price branded

‘rushed incomplete.. and deeply flawed.. these deficiencies are grave enough to cast doubt on the legality of any policy proposals.’

So I stuck in an FOI request fully expecting to find Plaid Cymru, and Adam in particular, had made loud and repeated noises about the potential illegality of the consultation. I mean, surely if that was what you thought and your party was in Government you would put it in those stark terms beforehand – you would want to avoid all this going public, especially if you co authored the document on which the work was based.

What did I find? Well to be fair, I found that Plaid had recorded some reservations. I got hold of details of a conversation between two SpAd’s (Special Advisors) requesting more time for the consultation. This request was ignored on advice from Civil Servants that ‘there is no scope to add any additional time to the consultation period’ (their emphasis not mine).

At no point is it suggested that not doing so would place the consultation in jeopardy, nor is there a record of Adam himself raising these concerns. To be clear, my request specifically asked for notes of emails, phone conversations and meetings. I wanted to give the maximum opportunity for these sorts of complaint to come to light.

So what was the big public hoo ha about then? I’m sure Adam like many others in Plaid was angry about the party’s decision to drop a key pledge – it will as Bethan Jenkins suggested cost them votes. And I’m not surprised people have been quitting the party and kicking off about it.

But why on earth wouldn’t Adam have used the many internal channels available to him as one of Plaid’s most influential politicians to voice these concerns beforehand. What’s happened to those rumours about him wanting to be Plaids leader in the assembly?

Whilst I’m talking about Adam his post today is especially intriguing. He suggests Peter has accused him and his party of economic illiteracy. Well we can of course use a fiscal stimulus and increase the money supply (or engage in quantitative easing to give it it’s hip new name) as Plaid have suggested but we will need to pay it back. More debt to shoulder and pay back. That is not what we need.

Peter is more than capable of defending himself but I’ll add environmental illiteracy to the charges. How can a party that backs the Sustainable Development Commission also prop up Ieuan Air and an enlarged M4 with their polluting ways. I’m just wondering if these contradictions were discussed at Plaid’s green conference yesterday?

I started this post off talking about the need to scrutinise a Government and how it is part of a functioning democracy. That of course means praising the good as well as pointing out the bad. Otherwise this descends in to some sort of ya-boo fight. Bethan Jenkins – you’ve done great work on eating disorders, Nerys has on domestic violence and I really rate Helen Mary.

Plaid needn’t think it will just be them getting this increased level of scrutiny. Labour – there will be more heading your way too.

Oh and I’ve never watched an episode of Star Trek.

—

The FOI we asked was

“Copies all of documents, correspondence and minutes or notes from meetings between Jane Hutt AM or her officials relating to concerns over the process of consultation on the proposals refocussing higher education student finance in Wales.

I am specifically looking for, but not limiting the request to, notes of telephone conversations, emails, notes for/of meetings and meeting papers. Additionally this request refers to correspondence (in the form mentioned above but again not limited to that) between ministers (or their staff), AM’s (or their staff), MP’s (or their staff) and political parties and Jane Hutt AM or her officials.”

this was refined in discussion with officials to

‘written records relating to any concerns over the process of consultation on the proposals to refocus higher education student finance’

big thanks to them (if they are reading this) for getting it back to us within the timeframes. If you want a full copy drop me a line on alisonATalisongoldsworthy.co.uk

Responding to the critics

Peter Black — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:47:00 +0000

A quick post in response to two specific points made by Bethan Jenkins on her blog yesterday. Bethan says that it is ironic that the Welsh Liberal Democrats are attacking Plaid Cymru for being gutless in government, though that has not stopped her criticising One Wales for the same failings. She says that ‘Plaid is fighting for more powers’, and ‘are spearheading the debate on the future of Wales’. Really?

That is why they signed up to the toothless talking shop that is the Welsh Constitutional Convention then, a body that has effectively sidelined debate on the 2006 Government of Wales Act and the LCO system. Presumably it is also why they have failed to respond to requests from the Welsh Liberal Democrats to form an all-party ‘yes’ campaign.

The truth is that Plaid Cymru have ducked a proper debate on the future of Wales so as to avoid upsetting the coalition government apple cart. Instead they have reverted to type, seeking to push for full independence in a way that can only undermine a future referendum on dismantling the complicated, cumbersome, wasteful and time-consuming LCO system.

As for the charge that the Welsh Liberal Democrats failed to make a decision as to whether to join a coalition after the 2007 elections, that is simply untrue. The Party’s Conference voted in favour of the rainbow coalition only to see Plaid Cymru opt to play second fiddle to Labour instead. You have made your own bed Bethan, it is no good complaining now.

Labour and Plaid Cymru to merge?

Freedom Central — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 07:44:00 +0000

Aneurin Glyndwr may be on an Easter break but its writers must have choked on their chocolate egg this morning when they opened the Western Mail and found this article advocating a long-term strategic partnership between Labour and Plaid Cymru.

Two Labour activists, Nick Davies and Darren Williams have published a book called ‘Clear Red Water: Devolution and Socialist Policies’ in which they argue that Labour and Plaid should extend their coalition deal beyond the 2011 Assembly elections, forming joint policy groups to develop a long-term socialist programme for Wales.

Such an idea will both delight and revolt the likes of Leanne Wood and Bethan Jenkins who have been trying to take their party to the left but who cannot stand the thought of being in the same bed as New Labour for a minute longer than they have to.

It will almost certainly alienate those Tory Dragons who remain members of Plaid Cymru in Gwynedd and other parts of rural Wales, and who have been resisting the concept of an independent socialist republic.

What it means in practical terms is quite interesting. It would involve Labour and Plaid Cymru going to the polls in 2011 with a joint manifesto, possibly with an electoral pact in place as well. It would link Plaid Cymru closely to the unpopular Gordon Brown Government at the forthcoming European and General Elections.

It may eventually see a merger between the two parties in which those on the left of Plaid join with Welsh Labour to form a Welsh Socialist Party whilst the rump of both parties go off to seek alliances elsewhere – nationalists to an expanded Llais Gwynedd, Social Democrats to the Liberal Democrats or even the Tories.

It is an interesting concept and one from which the leadership of both parties will do everything they can to distance themselves in weeks to come.

Y Barcud Oren #6

Gareth Aubrey — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:47:00 +0000

Are you sitting comfortably (having recovered of course from the power of Kirsty’s performance in Harrogate)? Then let’s begin by opening our books to the odds of the One Wales Government lasting the month…

The Civil War Of Unit Three Plus One

To begin at the beginning, back in October an independent review recommended abolishing the grant that Welsh students studying in Wales receive to negate their top-up fees, in favour of more means-tested help. A month later, Education Minister Jane Hutt endorsed that review’s findings. Which was all well and good, except that Plaid stood on an anti-fees platform in 2007. Then again, the One Wales Agreement wasn’t exactly clear on the matter, guaranteeing the existing fee position only until 2009/10 and talking about “maintaining the current level of resource”.

The opposition on the Plaid benches quickly appeared from the usual suspects; The Next Leader Of Plaid Cymru™ for the parliamentary party, the Secretary General of the People’s Democratic Republic Of Treherbert for the assembly group, and John Dixon (Winner, Academy Award For Most Abysmal Performance By An Assembly Candidate 2007) for the grassroots. (Oh, yes, and Bethan Jenkins probably said something about it, but frankly, who cares?)

Matters came to a head at last month’s Plaid National Council meeting, where a motion from Plaid’s ministerial team to review their stance on fees was firmly rejected. The response from the ministerial team was simple; we cannot deliver this. Elin Jones then added further fuel to the fire, claiming that not only would her ministerial colleagues back the change, but the majority of the assembly group would too. Not that that would be a stupefyingly moronic thing for the AM for Aberystwyth University and the University of Wales, Lampeter to say, of course…

Having been spurned by Ieuan Wyn’s desire for continued vehicular buttock comfort, the rebels unleashed their fury. Leanne and the other one took a aggressive, principled stand and agreed… to… abstain… Adam Price, meanwhile, got inventive, threatening a judicial review of the minister’s decision. The press speculation swirled along throughout last week, aided and abetted by some grenade throwing courtesy of Peter Hain.

And then, just when you thought things couldn’t get any more surreal, Ieuan Wyn forced a vote of Plaid’s National Executive which backed his line of allowing fees to be introduced in practice while opposing them in principle. If you’re feeling like you’ve stumbled on an episode of “Da, Weinidog” you’re not alone…

Ain’t Too Proud To Beg

Still, having managed to piss off both halves of their core vote (the nationalists and the communists), Plaid headed for safer ground, launching walescan.com, the website that’s supposed to inspire the “independence generation” to rise up with idealistic fervour and lead the nation (as if the lack of Facebook was what was stopping them before…)

But before they break out the “Ie Gallen Ni” T-shirts, Plaid might like to compare their Monday morning press release with their Thursday afternoon one. For the week before walescan appeared, the Assembly had debated the Welsh Assembly Government’s actions to lead Wales out of the recession; while I enjoyed Peter Black’s mental picture of Rhodri Morgan parting the Bristol Channel, I was amazed that in the “metaphors involving leaders standing next to large bodies of water” stakes he didn’t opt for a certain King of Denmark.

And lo, on the Thursday, the Leader of Plaid Cymru (and not the Deputy First Minister and Minister for Economy and Transport, obviously…) launched a discussion paper detailing Plaid’s plans to boldly… go cap in hand to Westminster for £3bn. So, independence, then…

Y Barcud Oren appears (theoretically) regularly at Liberal Democrat Voice and cross-posted at Freedom Central