Freedom Central » Europe

West Wales and Valleys would take a huge financial hit if Labour MPs had their way

Eluned Parrott — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:26:52 +0000

A suggestion by former Labour Minister, Jack Straw Britain should repatriate £4.2bn in EU funds to Britain will be disastrous for West Wales and the Valleys.

According to the Guardian, the former Justice Secretary wants all of the money Europe spends on structural funds to be taken off them and handed to the UK Government to distribute instead. Wales is a net beneficiary of this funding to the tune of £915 million.

I strongly disagree with Jack Straw’s comments about European funding. Clearly the Eurosceptics have been dripping poison into his ear. West Wales and the Valleys would take a huge financial hit if Labour had their own way.

Under their plan, Wales could well be a loser in a UK wide distribution of these funds as other parts of the UK could benefit at the expense of our poorest areas.

It is also in Wales’ best interests to ensure that all of Europe has an opportunity to prosper as a huge proportion of Wales’ exports go to the European Union. A healthy European market means more opportunities for Wales.

Repair EU Relations

William Powell AM — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:18:34 +0000

I welcome the call for calm heads and proportionate language in reacting to the fallout of David Cameron’s exit from the EU Summit.

References to British Bulldogs, Neville Chamberlain and 1938 reveal a paranoid Dads’ Army approach to our European partners which ill serves British – and especially Welsh – interests.

As Kirsty Williams has stated: “Walking away from the European table with nothing now leaves Wales and the UK on the fringes of the largest single market in the world” – a legacy of course of Margaret Thatcher’s administration in the 1980s.

Gerry Holtham is also right to observe the real danger of major US firms abandoning the City – which Cameron is purporting to protect – should the UK leave the European Union altogether.

However, the greatest threat from Cameron’s sleepless night in Brussels is to our Welsh rural economy. At a time when UK agriculture ministers are negotiating a CAP and Common Fisheries Policy that best suits our needs, we need such self imposed isolation “like a hole in the head”.

There is an urgent need to remedy the harm that has been inflicted upon us – and to start rebuilding our fractured relations. The very future of Wales and its rural economy depends upon the success of our endeavours.

Letters from Strasbourg: The EU on full alert – Cameron’s coming!

Andrzej Szustak — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:56:03 +0000

The Conservatives will probably take power in the UK this spring and their ‘comeback’ will mark a political change not only in the UK, but also throughout the continent. The Tories’ lukewarm attitude to the European Union is well known and most of the present Conservatives are even more Eurosceptic than their predecessors under Thatcher and Major. At the same time, the global political and economic situation makes Britain more and more involved in the process of European integration. David Cameron will need to reconcile these two contradictions if he is to govern effectively. Is he skilful enough to do it?

Obviously, the present institutional shape of the European Union is not perfect but, precisely for this reason, it needs the pragmatic voice of Britain. During the new Spanish presidency the EU will try to replace the old ‘Lisbon agenda’ of economic reform with a new economic programme, the so-called ‘Europe 2020’. With a fresh memory of the economic crisis, the majority of the European governments are focused on boosting demand in their economies. For its own good, as well as for the good of the European community, the UK should turn ‘Europe 2020’ into a more pragmatic programme with objectives such as reforming the Common and Agricultural Policy (CAP), developing the European energy grid, or adopting social policies focused on raising employment and productivity and fighting underperforming education systems. The pragmatism will also be necessary to increase military cooperation within the EU. The British may sneer at the military deficiencies of more than half the EU member states. However, as argued by Lord Robertson and Lord Ashdown in a report prepared for the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), the UK can no longer afford to maintain a full spectrum of military capabilities and should pool resources with some of the more capable EU members.

Will David Cameron’s government be able to achieve at least some of these goals? He has already proved susceptible to the Tories’ growing Euroscepticism by deciding to disengage the Conservatives form the centre-right European Peoples’ Party (EPP). The breach of cooperation with the leading force in the European Parliament has marginalised to some extent the British representation in the EU. If Cameron takes his extreme anti-European Party colleagues’ advice and insists on a renegotiation of the Lisbon treaty (hardly anyone in the EU wants to restart the process that took almost ten years) or blocks the vote in the EU Council (as Major did in 1996), he will achieve nothing but further alienation of the UK in Europe.

Andrzej is a Polish student studying in France. He interned with the Welsh Liberal Democrats last summer. This is one of a series of ‘Letters from Strasbourg’ in which Andrzej discusses personal views from the European mainland.

European Elections – a retrospective

Dominic Hannigan — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:43:05 +0000

Last week’s election was a strange one in Wales. Certainly the strangest one that I have ever experienced. The outcome was no less strange than the campaign. The Tories topping the poll, a country that has relied on the benefits of the EU for ten years electing an MEP who wants full withdrawal, a Labour vote obliterating.

For a whole generation, this was the most exciting election they have ever seen. So now a couple of days have passed, I thought it was time to make an assessment of what the results mean for the main parties, and for the coming General Election.

Labour.

Labour were clearly the biggest losers of the night. I feel very sorry for Lisa Stevens, who when selected in second place would have felt that she was all but guaranteed a seat in Brussels. But I think there is more comfort for Labour in Sunday’s result that many realise. As I watched the constituency results come in from across Wales, one thing became very clear to me. The Labour meltdown was very concentrated outside their heartlands. The results in Plaid’s publicly stated medium term Assembly targets provided much more cheer for Labour. Neath, Caerphilly, Islwyn, as well as seats like Swansea East and most of the other valleys seats remained clear Labour victories. It was a drubbing, particularly in Tory/Labour marginals, but Labour strategists must be pleased that some of the individual, constituency results were not far worse.

Plaid Cymru.

Plaid turned a reasonable result into a disaster by a very poor media strategy in the days running up to the election. The hype and spin about beating Labour and taking two seats was off the chart. Even as late as 8pm on Sunday night, Adam Price was telling BBC UK that they had pushed Labour into third place. I was looking at the Caerphilly result at the time and saying “No you have not.” If this result causes problems amongst Plaid activists, it will be the party leadership’s own fault. What was in fact a steady result, could easily be turned into a disappointment which many Members may blame on association with Labour.

Tories.

The Conservatives played a far more sophisticated media game in the run up to the elections than Plaid Cymru. They espoused ambition to take two seats but privately briefed that they did not expect to. Consequently, moving into first place across Wales gave them a far bigger media hit coming out of Sunday night. They have also been careful to say that this result is only a step forward, and not a victory. A solid result, that so far at least does not appear to have made the Tories complacent. They seem to accept that it is more symbolic at this stage than a guarantee of huge gains in the General Election.

UKIP

Obviously a phenomenal result for UKIP, against the backdrop of the UK as a whole. Many in Labour will however feel confident of taking the seat back in five years time, particularly if they are back in opposition at Westminster. UKIP have a long way to go to prove their projection of success in the Assembly elections, but they share the moment of Sunday with the Tories.

Welsh Lib Dems.

While on the face of it, it was a huge disappointment not to win a seat, closer analysis of the figures show much more to be cheery about. Results in Cardiff, Swansea and Newport all showed that it is in fact possible for the Welsh Lib Dems to persuade our supporters in other elections to come across to vote in European elections too. It is clear that almost without exception, where we worked on the ground in this election, we got strong results, it was the UKIP tide in our dead areas that did for us. Swansea West and Newport East both saw us coming within a couple of hundred votes from Labour, a great sign for the General Election, while the massive swing from Plaid in Ceredigion will provide huge optimism for Mark Williams and his team. If the swing is repeated at a General Election, his majority would top 1500. B+R, while won by the Tories saw a much improved result on last time, suggesting the effect of Kirsty becoming leader is beginning to show. Montgomeryshire was less good, but by no means was it the disaster that our opponents predicted.

All in all for the party, it could of course have been better, but in the context of a disappointing UK result (Wales was the only UK Euro constituency where our vote increased) and some good solid progress in many areas, party history will probably paint election 09 as steady on the tiller.

Kirsty on tonight’s results in Wales

Newswire — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:04:31 +0000

The Party’s press release sees a positive reaction from Kirsty:

Commenting on the Welsh European election results, Kirsty Williams, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats said, ‘This evening’s results clearly show that where we campaign, we see a return at the ballot box, and the party continues to move forward in these parts of Wales.

“I was determined that we would run this campaign in a positive way on the issues really affecting Welsh families. We did that, and despite the hugely negative atmosphere this election was held in, where we worked, we were able to get that positive message across and saw good swings to us. People have seen that the Liberal Democrats have led the way on economic recovery, parliamentary reform and on the green agenda, and this puts us in a good position for the general election.

“These local results show that in Newport East, Swansea West and other places we are poised to win seats from Labour at the general election. With a similar swing, we would win these seats, and increase our majority in Ceredigion significantly.”

Europe Elects 2009 – Live Results Service

Newswire — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:59:53 +0000

Good evening, and welcome to Freedom Central’s Live Results Service for tonights count. We are expecting results from across Wales from around 8.30pm this evening. We will do our very best to get all the information to you as it happens. Turnout across Wales is 30.5%, down from 2004, but up from 1999, when the elections were also held without local elections in Wales. This is without doubt the most interesting election in many years, with a variety of potential outcomes. We will know soon enough.

19.19 – Counting now well underway, early reports show Labour vote holding up better than expected in their heartlands but still significantly down and suffering badly elsewhere. Expected that Welsh Lib Dems will win several constituencies, a first time achievment in European elections. More soon.

19.34 – Rumours of good LD swing in Merthyr, Swansea West. BBC predicting Nick Griffin expected to be elected in North West England.

19.48 UKIP crying fowl on BBC about folded ballot papers issue. Suggests they are expecting fall in vote, at least in SE England.

19.59 – Rumours that Plaid have failed to beat Labour in Caerphilly, a key target if they are to overtake Labour in Wales wide vote share

20.10 – Nick Bourne and Adam Price have both just told the BBC they expect to push Labour into third across Wales

20.29 – Labour winning constituencies across South Wales, which means would have to do very badly elsewhere to lose top spot

21.00 – Lib Dems expected to clearly win Cardiff Central, up from third last time, Labour pushed into 3rd.

21`.06 – BBC reporting they have been told Nick Griffin will not win seat

21.11 – results beginning to come in from the constituencies – Strong 2nd to the Tories in Brecon and Radnor, trong 3rd in Cardiff South and Penarth. Strong Tory win in Cardiff North. Strong PLaid result in their heartlands.

21.43 – Lib Dems hold marginal final seat in North East England

22.27 – Multiple sources saying Tories will top the poll – which is clearly unprecedented. BBC and figures coming in would suggest a narrow UKIP win of fourth seat at this stage

22.29 – Ceredigion result shows a 5.3% swing to Welsh Lib Dems from PLaid from 2004, a year from a General Election. This would suggest that if swing repeated at GE, Mark Williams will be re-elected with a majority of over 1500.

22.35 – Narrow loss to Labour in Swansea West, a couple of hundred votes.

22.47 – Only 176 votes behind Labour in Newport East, a great Lib Dem result.

23.29- FC’s projection – Con 21%, Lab 20.2%, Plaid 18.5%, UKIP 12.94%, WLD 10.67 TBC

23.46 – Confirmed, Tories 21%,Labour 20%, Plaid 18%, UKIP 13%, WLD, 11%. UKIP take 4th seat. There will be official comment from the party soon, but the initial thinking is that we have performed very well in our held and target seats, but the UKIP tide in our dead areas was just too much to withhold. Unlikely to be seen as particularly bad news for us. This will instead be targeted at Labour, and to a lesser extent at Plaid, who clearly overhyped themsleves in recent weeks, and some in the party will feel they may have been damaged by association with Labour.

What is going to happen?

Peter Black — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:33:50 +0000

I hate counts at the best of times but at least for the most part they are over within hours of the close of polls. The European Elections are different and we have all been forced to wait three days until we find out what has happened.

Inevitably, this has spawned a huge amount of speculation, some of it well-informed, some of it not. There are no exit polls and even the verification is little help as the ballot papers are sorted upside down. The reality is that nobody actually knows what is going to happen at 9pm tonight.

Of course we have had some information coming out of verifications. For example a number of people are convinced that UKIP have out-polled Labour in Llanelli and Carmarthenshire.

Town Councillor Alex Williams offers a different story from Ogmore on his blog. He managed to sample 148 ballots at the Ogmore verification and found the following division:

Labour – 38
Conservatives – 23
Liberal Democrats – 27
Plaid Cymru – 28
UKIP – 22
BNP – 10

Reports that the Welsh Liberal Democrats have had back from verifications indicate that we have done well in those areas we campaigned in. The party has in fact put twice as much literature out as previous European Elections, we have done more canvassing and we have got our lead candidates out to meet more people than in 2004.

I have been told that our share of the vote is up on 2004 and that in seats we hope to compete in and win at the General Election we have done very well. We will have to see tonight whether that is correct.

The other rumours that are doing the rounds are that Labour have been toppled from their perch as the highest polling party in Welsh elections, a position they have held since 1918. Labour spin doctors themselves are saying that they may have come 3rd.

Some Conservatives have told me that they believe that they have failed to top the poll as promised and think that this honour falls to Plaid Cymru. That is very possible but it does not guarantee a second seat for them. This depends on whether another party such as UKIP or the Welsh Liberal Democrats can secure 50% of their vote plus one.

In reality I believe that the fourth seat in Wales could still go to any one of five parties. I do not do crystal balls but my best guess is that Plaid will secure the most votes, Labour will come second, the Tories third and that fourth place will fall to either the Welsh Liberal Democrats or UKIP.

A number of commentators have written off the chances of the Welsh Lib Dems but I have not done so yet. Whatever happens however, I believe that we will have made significant progress on last time and will have established ourselves in a good position for the General Election when it comes.

Only eleven and a half hours to go. I don’t think I can take the suspense.

TUC hold Soviet style hustings

Newswire — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:03:00 +0000

News reaches FC of a TUC hustings on Tuesday night, to which only Labour, Plaid and NO2EU candidates were invited.

Apparently, the Welsh Lib Dems were not invited because “we wanted to have candidates more representative of trade unions”.

Surely it is up to Union members to decide who is representative of them? I suppose that the Cardiff TUC leadership believe they know what is best for their members. These undemocratic dinosaurs shouldn’t be allowed to keep their grip on Trade Unionism. At least Welsh Lib Dem candidates got to spend their time out on the doorsteps meeting real people for the evening instead of taking part in a stage managed puppet show.

Welsh Lib Dem Euro Candidates publish expenses pledge.

Ali Goldsworthy — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:03:00 +0000

Part of being approved as a Euro candidate for the the Lib Dems (including the Welsh Lib Dems) means committing to abide by a strict code on expenses. If at times some of the allegations in Westminster have been enough to make people weep over the state of our Democracy the ongoing abuses in the European Parliament could make people cry a full on river. I’ve reproduced the code at the end of this message. Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies has long been a champion of transparency in how our tax money is spent by elected members.

In Europe I’d love to say that the British, whichever party they were from, were different and conducted themselves in a way we could all be proud of. This snippet from Sunday’s Observer, shows that is a pride we can not have. UKIP, hang your head in shame.

“It will be rather perverse of voters to punish the sins of Parliament by rewarding UKIP. That party is hardly a paragon of virtue. One of the MEPs elected under UKIP’s banner at the last Euro elections was later jailed for benefit fraud. Another was charged with money laundering. As for the BNP, that party is no stranger to criminality”

LIBERAL DEMOCRAT CODE OF CONDUCT FOR MEPs

The Liberal Democrat European Parliamentary Party (LDEPP) is committed to the highest standards of public service.

Each of its Members undertakes to ensure strict observance of the European Parliament’s Rules governing the Payment of Expenses and Allowances to Members (PEAM).[1]

In addition, they agree to meet a common measure of transparency in order to ensure their accountability to the European Parliament, to the UK Liberal Democrats and to their electors.

This Guidance Note shall be appended to the Standing Orders of LDEPP.

Declaration of Interests

In their official Declarations of Financial Interests, LDEPP Members will declare whether they are members of the Parliament’s Voluntary Pension Scheme.

Members will declare whether they employ as assistants, or pay as service providers or paying agents, members of their family. In such cases, the level of payment shall be shown within bands of €10,000.

General Expenditure Allowance

As specified under PEAM Article 13, the Allowance is a monthly lump sum intended to meet expenditure resulting from ‘activities in their capacity as Members not covered by other allowances’. Inter alia, the Allowance covers the following items:

Travel and ancillary expenses within the UK
Office management and running costs
Purchase or rental of office equipment
Telephone and postage
Office supplies
Purchase of publications
Internet
IT hardware and software

The allowance may not be used to cover personal expenses or to finance subsidies or gifts of a political nature. It may not be used to contribute towards the Voluntary Pension Scheme.

An annual account shall be made of Members’ use of the Allowance. This account shall be certified by an independent, professionally qualified accountant, who shall have received a copy of this Note and of Parliament’s Rules. The audit statement must demonstrate compliance with the Rules of the Parliament, and will be filed with the delegation’s Whip. A summary of the account shall be published on each Member’s website.

Secretarial Assistance Allowance

PEAM Article 14 establishes the rules for the employment or engagement of assistants.

All staff employed by LDEPP Members must have a contract of employment in accordance with the law of a Member State.

The names of assistants and their job titles should be published, with their consent, on each Member’s website.

The names and functions of service providers should be published on Members’ websites.

Travel Allowance

Under PEAM Article 10, Members are entitled to an allowance to meet expenses incurred in connection with travel (outside the UK) undertaken in the performance of their official duties.

Members shall publish on their website the total claimed in the preceding year.

Daily Allowance

Under PEAM Article 11, Members are entitled to a subsistence allowance for the days or part days on which that they are present in the Parliament. Members shall publish on their website the total amount they claimed in the preceding year.

The next mandate

LDEPP Members support the implementation in full of the Members’ Statute (2005) as from July 2009.

Equally, LDEPP is committed to achieving a comprehensive agreement on an Assistants’ Statute to enter into force at the beginning of the next mandate.

This Note will be revised in due course to take account of these changes.

[1] Shortly to be published on the European Parliament’s website.

Update: in this morning’s Western Mail Labour MEPs have promised to publish all their receipts for claims under the European Parliament’s £44,000-a-year office allowance. However, as is set out above this is a monthly lump sum payable to members irrespective of receipts. The Liberal Democrat committment to an audited account offers greater transparency and certainty. Labour’s challenge to other political parties to follow their lead rings a little hollow therefore. In reality Labour are playing catch-up, not leading.

WLDs launch European Manifesto

Newswire — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:35:00 +0000

After the succesful campaign launch on Monday, Kirsty today unveiled the party’s manifesto for the Euro elections in Wales.

The manifesto contains a number of key commitments such as:

Using the EU to close tax loopholes in order to fund big, permanent tax cuts for ordinary people
Better co-operation across Europe in banking regulation, to ensure that we can help stop the recession next time
Finish the single market to ensure that Welsh products and services can be sold across the European.

The manifesto can be found at:

English:
https://81.149.144.141/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://81.149.144.141/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://welshlibdems.org.uk/documents/files/Stronger%252520Together%252520WLD%252520(en-w).pdf//t_blank

Cymraeg: https://81.149.144.141/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://welshlibdems.org.uk/documents/files/yn%2520gryfach%2520gyda_n%2520gilydd%2520DRC%2520(cy-g).pdf//t_blank