Freedom Central » Conservatives

The Welsh IDS?

Freedom Central — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 09:22:00 +0000

In this morning’s Wales on Sunday, columnist Matt Withers poses the question: Is Andrew R.T. Davies the Welsh Tory Party’s Iain Duncan Smith?

Mr. Duncan Smith of course, won the UK Tory leadership only to be jettisoned by his own party two years later because he was useless. He has since gone on to reinvent himself as an innovative and effective Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Andrew R.T, Davies has prompted speculation about the impact of his own leadership very early on because of his championing of a free vote on overturning the fox hunting ban as his first choice of issue as Welsh leader. Matt Withers comments:

What, they asked, was he doing? Why, with the news dominated by economic woes, riots, Libya and phone-hacking, did Mr Davies use his first big pronouncement of his leadership to speak out on an issue which isn’t even devolved, let alone one which is hardly at the forefront of people’s minds right now?

Little wonder Labour licked their lips. Privately they are delighted to be facing a leader they think they can safely portray as an old-school Tory right-winger, something they couldn’t do with the scholarly Nick Bourne.

Mr Davies was “struggling to make the leap from aimless backbench posturing to proper opposition”, said Labour AM Vaughan Gething. That won’t worry Mr Davies too much – but it would if his own members starting saying it.

Other parties wonder about him. If he is to inflict defeats on the Government in the Senedd, Mr Davies needs to be already reaching out and building bridges with the other opposition parties.

But I hear that, a congratulatory call from Kirsty Williams to Mr Davies upon his victory apart, the Tory leader has yet to have a discussion with the Lib Dems, his natural first partner given the situation at Westminster. Worse, when the pair bumped into each other at a rural show recently, Mr Davies is said to have immediately accused her of itching to “get into bed with Labour”. Ms Williams, I’m told, is not amused.

Mr. Davies struggled more than many expected to win the leadership. If he is to make a success of it then he will need to change his modus operandi fairly quickly.

Who pays the bills?

Freedom Central — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 04:31:22 +0000

The BBC report that Electoral Commission has published a summary of donations for the second quarter of 2011, a period that covers the Welsh General Election.

However, there does not appear to be a specific report on the Electoral Commission site as yet with regards to that election so it is difficult to identify details of expenditure by and donations to Welsh Parties. This is possibly because the deadline for an expenditure return exceeding £250,000 in that election has not yet passed.

The BBC say that at a UK level donations given to the Conservatives in the three months to the end of June exceeded those for Labour by almost £1m. The Tories were given £4.2m over the most recent quarterly disclosure period while Labour received £3.22m. The Lib Dems were given £972,344 as overall donations to political parties totalled £8.6m:

Notable donations to the Conservatives over the period included £107,000 from Rainham Steel and £265,000 from Focus on Scotland – an “unincorporated association” which is not obliged to reveal the the names of donors using the vehicle to give money.

Labour’s four largest donations all came from trade unions, headed by Unite which gave £765,628.

The Liberal Democrats received £250,000 from Brompton Capital and £200,000 from C&C Alpha Group – both venture capital firms.

Among other parties, the SNP received £126,697, the UK Independence Party £66,552 and the Green Party of England and Wales £16,940.

Follow my leader

Newswire — Sat, 07 May 2011 13:59:03 +0000

Walesonline reports that the Welsh Conservative Assembly group has appointed Pembrokeshire AM, Paul Davies as their interim leader. This is an intriquing choice and offers an immediate advantage to Mr. Davies over a rapidly growing field of contenders.

With the Tories leaderless and Plaid Cymru in dissarray after their losses on Thursday and their mediocre campaign, the opportunity presents itself for Kirsty Williams to quickly re-establish herself as the effective opposition leader in the Assembly.

Cameron comes to town

Peter Black — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 13:20:35 +0000

The Prime Minister was in Swansea yesterday as part of a campaign swing through South Wales. Whilst he was here he took it upon himself to have a go at the Alternative Vote system of voting, demonstrating that he does not fully understand it.

He said AV was “obscure, and only used by three countries” adding that it is “so unfair that candidates who come second or third can end up winning.” As a beneficiary of AV himself when he won the Tory leadership you would think Cameron would know better.

David Cameron is just plain wrong about the fairer votes AV campaign. The voting system he backs results in MPs having jobs for life and being elected without the support of most of their constituents.

The Alternative Vote will mean politicians having to persuade at least half their constituents to vote for them. Members of Parliament will have to really work and earn the support and vote of the people in the constituency.

A yes in the AV referendum will mean fewer MPs with jobs for life in safe seats. It will mean putting the people back in charge, knowing that their vote will make a difference.

Oh yes, and the odds of a third placed candidate coming through to win are pretty huge. In almost every case we would end up redistributing their votes to the first and second candidates.

Tory budget would see school spending gap rise to £881 per pupil

Freedom Central — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 05:55:50 +0000

New figures released by the Welsh Liberal Democrats have revealed that Conservative budget proposals could see the spending gap between England and Wales rise to £881 per pupil.

The new figures come the day after it was revealed that the Labour-Plaid government has allowed the spending gap per pupil to rise to a record level of £604 per pupil.

The Conservatives have proposed to protect bureaucracy and senior salaries in the NHS by slashing budgets in all other departments including housing, local government, education, economic development and rural affairs.

Specifically, they have proposed to cut the education part of the local government budget by £128,350,430, equivalent to a further cut of £277 per pupil.

Jenny Randerson, who is the Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Education Minister said:

“Yesterday we saw the evidence that the Labour-Plaid government is failing our children. Welsh children deserve the same chances as children over the border but we spend £604 per pupil less than in England. Welsh children are now paying the price for this gross underfunding of schools over the last decade.

“The Conservatives are touring the television studios to condemn the Labour-Plaid funding gap when the reality of their proposals is that they would increase the gap up to an eye watering £881.

“It is time for the Conservatives to come clean with the Welsh public about what their budget proposals would mean.”

Why we should suddenly each hug a Tory

Glass Half Empty — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:27:27 +0000

(Please note: the following opinion is that of one Welsh Liberal Democrat activist only and should not be taken as being that of the Welsh Liberal Democrats or any of it’s MPs, AMs or anyone else!)

The day after the election was going to be like Christmas day in the eyes of many Liberal Democrats. We’d spent the last few weeks eying up the bike shaped present under the Christmas tree and couldn’t wait to open it. When we rushed downstairs on that morning to unwrap it, we found it was actually a £5 book token for a store that was now out of business, stapled to a picture of a bike.

It was a pretty grim day. When the public reject the party you support that means they’ve rejected the ideas and philosophy that you have. Being told your ideas are stupid by 77% of the British public isn‘t pleasant. Not even the Chuckle Brothers have ever managed that.

But we are where we are. What is clear is that there was a clear winner and a clear loser on election day. The Conservative Party won. They simply got more votes than any other party. The Labour Party lost, rejected by their former supporters. We sort of stood still, something that will no doubt result in a significant amount of naval gazing in coming months. But a slight gain in votes is still a gain!

But it’s clear, the mandate is with the Conservative Party.

Which is why I am of the opinion that the only option the Lib Dems have is to back the Tories. I personally think our Parliamentary party should opt for the ‘confidence and supply’ option rather than a formal coalition, but that depends on negotiations. I trust our MPs to make the right choice. I think.

Clegg was honest with the public about what the party would do in the event of a hung Parliament and I am glad to see he has chosen to stick with that.

A coalition with Labour is not an option. Brown was rejected by the public, and that also means the whole Labour manifesto and way of governing was. Changing leader does not change the fact that the manifesto Labour candidates stood under was rejected. Whether it’s Milliband, Johnson or Balls (hehe, balls) who is at the head, Labour is not what the public voted for.

But I’m not saying that we should accept a Tory Government under any circumstances. The Liberal Democrats are being responsible, mature and doing the right thing for the public. The Tories have to do the same in negotiations. Offering Clegg the chance to be Minister for Gardening, a Westminster Hall debate on PR and a 10% discount at the Commons bar won’t suffice. There has to be a realistic offer on the table.

An unrealistic offer will mean that Cameron isn’t reciprocating with responsibility, maturity and the right thing, so in those circumstances Clegg would be right in doing a deal with Labour.

But even then, having to drag in the SNP, Greens and anyone from Northern Ireland who just so happen to be in the room that day will not lead to long term credibility. And Plaid can just go stand outside in the rain and claim no-one cares about Wales because they aren’t being listened to, despite being the least popular party in Wales.

Doing a deal with Cameron isn’t going to be comfortable for many of our MPs, or other activists like me. I was brought up to believe that Tories are the scum of the earth and I’ve seen little to change my mind in my years on this planet. But they won, they have a right to form a government. Labour didn’t.

Some will argue that because Labour and the Lib Dems would have a majority of votes cast that does give them a mandate. But a mandate is not just about votes cast and votes in the common but in this case the strong indication of a need for change from the electorate. We will be punished if we ignore that.

The next few days will be interesting, and we will see what happens. For all I know something significant has already happened while I’ve been writing this and watching Deal or No Deal. If so, feel free to ignore this.

But failing that, we have to accept a Conservative Government, we have to accept Prime Minister Cameron and we have to accept the changes that they will make.

Just remember though, we don’t have to like them!

The Tories definitely don’t like Islands

Jeremy Townsend — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:38:59 +0000

Consider this map of the UK. Now like ye olde spot the difference games you get in Heat, see how many circles of shame you can make when compared to the Tories latest idea of the UK? Apparently we are all in this together.

Unless you live on an island. In which case you aren’t with us. Wonder what their candidate for Ynys Mon makes of not being in it..

Tweet of the day

Freedom Central — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 08:28:19 +0000

I wonder how many Tory MPs would have stayed with their first wives if they’d got a tax break?

Nick Barlow

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Tories mislead on housing order

Peter Black — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 05:35:52 +0000

Today is likely to see the rejection of the Welsh Assembly’s latest attempt to draw down powers to legislate on affordable housing. Despite having three years, the Labour-Plaid Cymru Government have not been able to get their act together sufficiently to deliver a coherent and legally sound order, and when they did it was too late. The Legislative Competence Order will fall foul of Tory opportunism.

The behaviour of the Welsh Conservatives on this matter has been wholly disreputable. They have indulged in scaremongering, misleading the public as to the powers that would be made available to Welsh Ministers if the LCO is approved by Westminster.

The Tories have been putting it about that “the LCO in its present form could potentially give the Welsh Assembly Government the right to impose the location of Gypsy and traveller sites upon local communities contrary to the wishes of local authorities.” That is not supported by the facts.

The Conservatives say that they believe such decisions should be taken locally and I agree with them. There is nothing in the powers being given to the Assembly by this Order that would prevent that happening. What is being sought is the power to compel local planning authorities to make an assessment as to need and to make provision in their overall plan. Where sites are located and the process for approving them remains entirely with the planning authority and cannot be dictated to by the Welsh Government.

Indeed as planning is a quasi-judicial process I would argue that any attempt to impose planning permission by statute would prove to be sub-judice and subject to challenge in the courts. No government would seek to attempt such a thing.

The Tories are playing politics with this issue in the hope of winning a few votes. In doing so they are preventing a vital piece of legislation reaching the statute book. Their reasons for playing games with people’s homes in this way appear to be clouded in misunderstanding and prejudice. I regret very much that they feel the need to add to that by misleading people as to the way that these powers can and will be used.

Vote Labservative

Freedom Central — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:48:38 +0000